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CLASS
TOPICS |
ASSIGNMENTS |
READINGS |
| 1 |
- Introductions
- Course
Overview
- Inventory
Quiz
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- Writing
Sample
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- HO-Giustini
- + (buy
texts)
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| 2 |
- Common
Ground
- Inventory-Review
- Elements
of Screenplay
- Writer's
Responsibilities
- Intro:
Story Development Process
- The
Premise: Basic Elements
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- 3 Premises
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- WGA
Handouts
- EGRI:
Preface+ Chap. 1: Premise
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| 3 |
- Read-React-Discuss:
- 3
Premises
- From
Premise to Initial Outlines to
- Treatment
- Script
Architecture:A Sense of the Whole Defining
Story
- Animating
Forces: 3-D Characters, Dialectical
Approaches to Character,
- Character
Growth & Change
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- Initial
Outline
- Master
Scene Analysis
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- FIELD:
- Chap.
1-Where Begin
- Chap.
2-Structure
- Chap.
3-The Paradigm
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- EGRI: Chap.
- 2-
Character, 12-75.
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| 4 |
- Classical
Structure:
- 3 Act
Paradigm
- Applications: Shorts & Features
- Modern
Alternatives
- Read-React-Discuss: Initial Outlines
- Functions
of TREATMENTS
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- Treatment
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FIELD: Chap. 4- Four Pages
- EGRI: Chap. 2-Character 86-100, 106-13
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| 5 |
- Read-React-Discuss: Treatments
- Field:
Subject & Structure
- Finding
Story
- Focus
& Hooks:
- World of
the Story-Telling Images
- Whose
Story?
- Dramatic
Questions?
- Social
Context
- Dramatization: Source Material, Creating Conflict
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- Opening
Scene Script Coverage
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- EGRI Chap.
3-Conflict 125-178.
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| 6 |
- Construction: Act I
- 1st 10
Pages
- Elements:
Set-up
- Types of
Plots (Egri)
- Applying 3
Act Structure to Outlines
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- Step
Outline
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- FIELD:
7-Visual Dynamic/Character
- 8-Structuring Act I
- 9-1st 10
Pages
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| 7 |
- Read-React-Discuss:
- Opening
Scene
- Plotting
Conflict & Progressive Action Plots: Rising,
Static, Jumping
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1st 10 Pages |
- FIELD:
Chaps.11-14
- New Paradigm
- Writing
Act II
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| 8 |
- World of
the Story
- Finding
Focus: Dramatic Q's
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| 9 |
- Act
I
- A Vivid
World: Crooklyn
- Writer's
POV: Pickpocket, Raging Bull
- Telling
Image: Opening Main Title- Raging Bull (Beauty & Terror)
- Variations
on a Theme: Raging Bull (Terror in the Ring, at Home, on Street)
- Clear
Dramatic Questions: Raging Bull, Trainspotting
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| 10 |
- Student
Writing Issues
- Commitment
- Writing
Documentary
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| 11 |
- 1st 10
Pages
- Economical, Purposeful, Intense
- How the
Dramatic Question is Tied to Conflict
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| 12 |
- Cross-Fertilization of Documentary & Fiction Film
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- TV: Once
and Again
- Film:
Totally F***ed Up
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- Comparing
Documentary & Fiction Film Forms
- Documentary Realism and Authenticity v. Truth of Fiction
- Documentary: Finding Story and Drama in Life
- Types of
Documentary Material: Observed, Elicited, Staged
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| 13 |
- Scene
Construction: Beats & Valences- The Graduate
- Nature of
Action: Within a Scene (Beats)
- Across
Scenes (Bits, Scenes, Sequences)
- Dynamics:
Dramatically Charged, Conflict, Change
- Looking at
ACT II- The Arc- Trainspotting, Raging Bull
- ACT II-
Internal & External Forms of Conflict
- Primary
and Secondary: Plots and Subplots
- Character
Growth, Change, Evolution
- ACT
I-Questions and ACT III-Answers
- Open
Endings- The 400 Blows Ironic Endings-
Trainspotting
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| 14 |
- STEP
OUTLINES: Issues and Notes for Revision
- Read-React-Discuss: Selected Student Outlines
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| 15 |
- Mid-Term
Review
- Story
Development
- Applying
Concepts from Readings to Student Projects:
- Visual
Treatment of Story Ideas
- Focus:
Dramatic Question
- Distinct
Writer and Character POV's
- Creating
Vivid Characters
- Nature of
Conflict
- Plot v. Character or Character Determines Plot
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| 16 |
- Vivid Story Worlds: Boogie Nights, Like Water For
Chocolate
- Not Just
Locations
- Distinctive Qualities
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| 17 |
- Re-Writing Issues
- Student Work: 1st 10 Pages
- Clarity
& Vividness?
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- Description- Too Much or Too Little?
- Hooks?
(Characters and Dramatic Questions)
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| 18 |
- More
Re-writing Issues: Dialogue
- Purposeful
(Boogie Nights, Fight Club)
- Economic
- Juxtaposition
- Dynamic
Openings
- Seeds of
Conflict: Dramatic Questions
- (Fight
Club- pg. 1, Like Water for Chocolate- pg.3)
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| 19 |
- Revisions-1st 10 Pages
- Student
Projects
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| 20 |
- Image
Anchors for Scenes
- Image
Systems:
- Boogie
Nights (mirrors)
- The
Graduate (water)
- Repulsion
(apartment)
- Witness
(eyes,community)
- Visually
Marking How Characters Evolve and Change
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| 21 |
- Scene
Construction II: The Verdict
- Additional
Concepts (Paul Lucey-Story Sense): Box, Button, Make-point, 3-Part
Structure, Conflict within the scene, Unzipping the
Character
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| 22 |
- Plot-Subplot
- Using
Other Characters as Mirrors Reflecting Protagonist-
- Boogie
Nights, The Ice Storm
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| 23 |
- Finding
Character Heat & Juice: Character Interviews
- Telling
Images: New York, The Ice Storm
- Short Film
Form: John (American Film Institute- Student Academy Award)
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| 24 |
- Finding
the Right Proportion: Description to Dialogue
- Telling
Story ThroughVisual Action-The Ice Storm
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| 25 |
- ACT III-
Resolutions & the Climax- The Ice Storm, She's Gotta Have
It
- Read-React-Discuss: Student work
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