dLESSON LOG IN CREATIVE WRITING

Quarter: FIRST SEM: FIRST

Week: 1 Date: November 6-10, 2023

STRAND TIME/DAY
11 GAS 5:00-6:00 PM (M, T, TH, F)

I. Objectives

A. Content Standard The learners have an understanding:

o of drama as a genre and are able to analyze its elements and techniques.
o of the different orientations of creative writing.
B. Performance The learners shall be able to:
Standard o compose at least one scene for a one act play that can be staged.
o Produce a craft essay on the personal creative process deploying a consciously
selected orientation of creative writing.
C. Learning o Identify the various elements, techniques, and literary devices in drama.
Competency o Understanding intertextuality as a technique of drama.
o Conceptualize a character/setting/plot for a one-act play.
o Explore different staging modalities vis-à-vis envisioning the script.
o Write short exercises involving characters, dialogue, plot, and other elements of
drama.
o Write at least one scene for one-act play applying the various elements,
techniques, and literary devices.
o Write a craft essay demonstrating awareness of and sensitivity to the different
literary and/or socio-political context of creative writing.
D. Learning o Define drama
Objectives o Explore the different types of drama
o Identify the elements of drama
II. TOPIC Element of Drama

III. Learning
Resources
A. References

IV. Procedure

A. Presentation of 1. Prayer
the Lesson. 2. Attendance Checking
3. Motivation
Show an example of a stage play.
Question:
How does this differ from TV shows?
4. Class discussion
Questions:
What is drama?
What are the different types of drama?
What are the element of drama? How do these differ from the elements of fiction?

5. Generalization
Drama is a written work that tells a story through action and speech and is meant to be
acted on a stage.
Types of Drama
Comedy: A comedy is a type of drama that is written to be entertaining or amusing for the
audience.
Tragedy: A tragedy is a type of drama that can be described as serious in nature and often
includes a catastrophic ending.
Farce: A farce is a subcategory of comedy. Theses low comedies include ridiculous and
slapstick comedic situations in order to create humor for the audience.
Melodrama: While it originally referred to dramas that included accompanying music,
melodramas now refer to plays that include highly emotional situations in order to play on
the feelings of the audience.
Musical Drama: Musical dramas refer to plays in which characters engage in dialogue but
also include scenes in which the passion of the character is so great he expresses himself in
song.

Elements of Drama
Plot (“Mythos”)
When we think of a movie or play, the first thing we probably think of is the plot. The plot
is the progression of events from A to Z, from beginning to end. Our knowledge of the
situation grows as the story goes on, even if it’s being told in a non-chronological order
(see Citizen Kane or Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal”).
Aristotle explains that plot shows a “reversal of fortune” – in other words, the situation in
a play or film may start out good and become bad (see MacBeth) or start out bad and
become good (see most romantic comedies, or any story with a happy ending).
In Aristotle’s view, plot serves as the foundation of the drama. It reflects life in that it
consists of a series of actions that lead to results. It’s mostly the plot that makes a story
interesting or un-interesting – humans are creatures of action, and we understand action.

Character (“Ethos”)
For Aristotle, the characters in a drama are secondary to the plot. Characters are mainly
representative of certain morals or qualities (i.e., their character) and how those morals or
qualities affect the outcome of the plot.
For example, in Greek plays, it was often the hubris (excessive pride) of a character that
would lead to tragedy – Oedipus Rex comes to mind. Similarly, in Star Wars, Anakin
believed he could save his wife from death but this overconfidence actually led to her
death.
In this way, we get a certain commentary on how certain traits are positive or negative,
how they can lead to good or bad. A character’s personality or choices contribute directly
to that “reversal of fortune” (in Aristotle’s view, the main “point” of the plot) mentioned
earlier.

Thought (“Dianoia”)
The thought of a drama is its theme. One theme of Hamlet is uncertainty, for example,
while Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner explores what it means to be human.
There may literally be a specific thought (recognition or realization) that prompted an
author to create the work, something that’s then woven throughout the story.
Traditionally, characters in a play or movie may comment on the theme or ask questions
around it, prompting the audience to do the same. Frodo asks Sam why they are sacrificing
so much to bring the Ring to Mordor, and Sam responds that “There’s good in the world…
worth fighting for,” drawing our attention to one of the Lord of the Rings’ themes:
sacrifice.
In films, the director has a lot of influence on themes by being in control of the camera –
Stanley Kubrick’s films use many visuals and placement of actors in a scene to
communicate certain themes.

Diction (“Lexis”)
By diction, Aristotle meant the language through which the story is presented. Information
 can be presented verbally (whether that’s through speech or song) or non-verbally (facial
expressions, a written note in a movie).
Aristotle considers it important that a work strikes the proper balance between poetic and
prosaic (regular) diction. If a play is all poetic and so no one understands it, what’s the
point? Regular speech provides clarity while poetic speech provides beauty and stimulates
thought – they have to work together, however.

Melody (“Melos”)
Melody refers to music and how it’s implemented in the story. Of course, back in ancient
Greek plays, there was a chorus that would comment on the events and – at certain
moments – dance and sing.
Melody also refers to the natural flow of events. Like a piece of music, plot has a certain
flow that has to feel natural in order to “function” properly.

Spectacle (“Opsis”)
Spectacle refers to what a film or play looks like. In a play, fancy costumes and
meticulously-designed set pieces help the audience become more invested in the
narrative.
The same thing happens with films. Think of Star Wars – the fact that it’s set in space adds
something to it, and its spectacle (combined with a classic “hero’s journey” narrative)
made it incredibly popular when it first aired in 1977 and even today.
Of course, a work can’t be just spectacle. There needs to be a fulfilling plot, too. As George
Lucas once said, “a special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.”

B. Performance Group work: Imitate one scene from a stage play that exhibits at least one of the types of
Task/Activity drama
C. Evaluation Quiz

D. Assignment Study

Prepared by: Adriane N. Guevarra