Madurai Kamaraj University

(University with Potential for Excellence)

Directorate of Distance Education

B.Sc Visual Communication- IIIrd Year

Elements of Screen Play and Direction –UVIS11

UNIT – I
LESSON 1

Introduction to Storytelling

INTRODUCTION

Storytelling is the social and culture activity of conveying stories in words,

sounds, and/or images, often by improvisation, theatrics, or embellishment.
Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means
of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and instilling moral values.
Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative
point of view. The term 'storytelling' is used in a narrow sense to refer specifically

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to oral storytelling and also in a looser sense to refer to techniques used in other
media to unfold or disclose the narrative of a story.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to understand

 How films are used as a storytelling device?

 History of Storytelling.
 What is story?
 Difference between plays, novels and films.
UNIT STRUCTURE
1.1. Historical Perspective of Storytelling
1.2. Contemporary Storytelling
1.3. Oral Traditions
1.4. Storytelling on Film
1.5. Storytelling as art form
1.6. Story
1.7. The Novel vs. the Screenplay
1.8. Let Us Sum Up
1.9. Unit End Exercises
1.10. Points for Discussion
1.11. Answers to Check your Progress
1.12. Suggested Readings

1.1. Historical Perspective of Storytelling

Storytelling predates writing, with the earliest forms of storytelling usually

oral combined with gestures and expressions. In addition to being part of
religious rituals, some archaeologists believe rock art may have served as a form

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of storytelling for many ancient cultures. The Australian aboriginal people painted
symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember
the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music,
rock art and dance, which bring understanding and meaning of human existence
through remembrance and enactment of stories. People have used the carved
trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record
stories in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent
stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status.

With the advent of writing and the use of stable, portable media, stories
were recorded, transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. Stories
have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo,
ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins
(parchment), bark cloth, paper, silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded
on film and stored electronically in digital form. Oral stories continue to be
created, improvisationally by impromptu storytellers, as well as committed to
memory and passed from generation to generation, despite the increasing
popularity of written and televised media in much of the world.

1.2. Contemporary Storytelling

Modern storytelling has a broad purview. In addition to its traditional

forms (fairytales, folktales,mythology, legends, fables etc.), it has extended itself
to representing history, personal narrative, political commentary and evolving
cultural norms. Contemporary storytelling is also widely used to address
educational objectives. New forms of media are creating new ways for people to
record, express and consume stories. Tools for asynchronous group
communication can provide an environment for individuals to reframe or recast
individual stories into group stories. Games and other digital platforms, such as
those used in interactive fiction or interactive storytelling, may be used to position
the user as a character within a bigger world. Documentaries, including
interactive web documentaries, employ storytelling narrative techniques to

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communicate information about their topic. Self-revelatory stories, created for
their cathartic and therapeutic effect, are growing in their use and application, as
in Psychodrama, Drama Therapy and Playback Theatre.

1.3. Oral Traditions

Albert Bates Lord examined oral narratives from field transcripts of

Yugoslav oral bards collected by Milman Parry in the 1930s, and the texts of epics
such as the Odyssey and Beowulf. Lord found that a large part of the stories
consisted of text which was improvised during the telling process.

Lord identified two types of story vocabulary. The first he called

"formulas": "rosy-fingered dawn", "the wine-dark sea" and other specific set
phrases had long been known of in Homer and other oral epics. Lord, however,
discovered that across many story traditions, fully 90% of an oral epic is
assembled from lines which are repeated verbatim or which use one-for-one word
substitutions. In other words, oral stories are built out of set phrases which have
been stockpiled from a lifetime of hearing and telling stories.

The other type of story vocabulary is theme, a set sequence of story actions
that structure a tale. Just as the teller of tales proceeds line-by-line using formulas,
so he proceeds from event-to-event using themes. One near-universal theme is
repetition, as evidenced in Western folklore with the "rule of three": three brothers
set out, three attempts are made, three riddles are asked. A theme can be as simple
as a specific set sequence describing the arming of a hero, starting with shirt and
trousers and ending with headdress and weapons. A theme can be large enough to
be a plot component. For example: a hero proposes a journey to a dangerous place
/ he disguises himself / his disguise fools everybody / except for a common person
of little account (a crone, a tavern maid or a woodcutter) / who immediately
recognizes him / the commoner becomes the hero's ally, showing unexpected
resources of skill or initiative. A theme does not belong to a specific story, but
may be found with minor variation in many different stories. Themes may be no
more than handy prefabricated parts for constructing a tale, or they may represent
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universal truths – ritual-based, religious truths, as James Frazer saw in The Golden
Bough, or archetypal, psychological truths, as Joseph Campbell describes in The
Hero With a Thousand Faces.

The story was described by Reynolds Price, when he wrote:

A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens –
second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter.
Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of
silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of
our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable
constructs of psychopaths.

1.4. Storytelling on Films

Story is at the heart of any good film. Special effects, setting, stars – unless
there is a good story to be told – are meaningless. Traditionally, stories were
passed down from generation to generation by the storyteller – someone whose
job it was to share the stories which help us to make sense of our world. Today,
we receive our stories primarily through screens: the television screen, the digital
screen, the tablet, the mobile device. This resource aims to help children
understand how stories are told on screen, and the types of tales that inspire
filmmakers. It offers teachers suggestions of suitable films that could be shown to
support a storytelling focus in class and proposes some ways into exploring these
film texts, as well as exploring film language and the art and craft of creating story
on screen. The suggestions here are intended for teachers of primary-aged children
but could be adapted for a range of contexts, and used as part of activity around
National Storytelling Week or throughout the year.

Generally, stories follow a similar structure. In very basic terms, this could
be described in three parts: Start: characters, setting and genre established Middle:
problems are encountered End: the problems are solved and equilibrium is
resolved. Storytellers can create their own spin on this structure by mixing up the
characters, settings and genres, and even by putting the end at the start and the
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middle at the end. When telling stories, audience is the most important
consideration, and new audiences expect to be surprised and intrigued, so
storytellers work hard to keep them interested with quirky twists and unexpected
outcomes. Key questions to ask about a film‘s story structure:

 How does the film fit into the basic structure outlined above?

 Why do you think it is structured in the way it is?

 How could it be structured differently and what effect would this

have on the development of the story?

Storytellers need a language through which they can articulate their story.
Traditionally, they used the spoken word or song. At the end of the 19th century,
the Kinetographic camera (the movie camera) was invented as a tool that could be
used to tell stories through moving images. The earliest films tended to lack a
story structure, instead just capturing movement, but as the medium became more
popular filmmakers developed a ‗film language‘ – or a set of grammar rules for
how to tell stories on film. There are grammar rules which writers adhere to – for
example:

 sentence structure

 nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs

 capital letters

 compound words

 antonyms, synonyms

 contractions

These are the written and spoken word tools that are used to tell stories. Film has
its own set of rules, called film language:

 shot types

 camera movement
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  mise en scène

 lighting

 sound

 editing

These are the tools that filmmakers use to tell stories on screen, shot by shot and
scene by scene. Key questions to ask about film language:

 Using the Film High Five model on page 4, interrogate any film
clip in terms of film language tools and how they are used to create
the story.

Screen stories: There are thousands of films made every year, so where do
filmmakers find their inspiration? Are there certain story types that are more
suited to the screen? The most popular film genres are comedy, action and
adventure. Other film genres include:

 drama

 thriller

 crime

 horror

 romantic comedy

 documentary

 science fiction

 western

 musical and more besides.

Some films might combine two or more genres within their main storyline. Key
questions:

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  Carry out an Internet search for the films released this month, then
try to categorise them by genre, going on the films‘ synopses.

 What is your favourite film genre and why?

 Why do you think there are so many comedies, action movies and
adventure stories made?

 Think of the most recent film you have seen at the cinema. What
type of story was it? Look at imdb.com and the film‘s website to
find out where the filmmaker got his or her inspiration to make the
film.

 Many books are adapted into films. Which book would you like to
see made into a film and why? Using the film language tools
outlined earlier, think about how you would make your story
choice into a film.

1.5. Storytelling as art form

Aesthetics: The art of narrative is, by definition, an aesthetic enterprise, and there
are a number of artistic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories.
Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure with identifiable
beginnings, middles, and endings, or exposition-development-climax-resolution-
denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on
temporality, which includes retention of the past, attention to present action and
protention/future anticipation; a substantial focus on characters and
characterization which is "arguably the most important single component of the
novel"; a given heterogloss of different voices dialogically at play – "the sound of
the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and
registers"; possesses a narrator or narrator-like voice, which by definition
"addresses" and "interacts with" reading audiences (see Reader Response theory);
communicates with a Wayne Booth-esque rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of
interpretation, which is at times beneath the surface, conditioning a plotted

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narrative, and at other times much more visible, "arguing" for and against various
positions; relies substantially on now-standard aesthetic figuration, particularly
including the use of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony (see Hayden
White, Metahistory for expansion of this idea); is often enmeshed in
intertextuality, with copious connections, references, allusions, similarities,
parallels, etc. to other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort
toward bildungsroman, a description of identity development with an effort to
evince becoming in character and community.

Festivals: Storytelling festivals feature the work of several storytellers. Elements

of the oral storytelling art form include visualization (the seeing of images in the
mind's eye), and vocal and bodily gestures. In many ways, the art of storytelling
draws upon other art forms such as acting, oral interpretation andperformance
studies.

Several storytelling organizations started in the U.S. during the 1970s. One such
organization was the National Association for the Perpetuation and Preservation
of Storytelling (NAPPS), now the National Storytelling Network (NSN) and the
International Storytelling Center (ISC). NSN is a professional organization that
helps to organize resources for tellers and festival planners. The ISC runs
the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. Australia followed their
American counterparts with the establishment of storytelling guilds in the late
1970s. Australian storytelling today has individuals and groups across the country
who meet to share their stories. The UK's Society for Storytelling was founded in
1993, bringing together tellers and listeners, and each year since 2000 has run a
National Storytelling Week the first week of February.

Currently, there are dozens of storytelling festivals and hundreds of professional

storytellers around the world, and an international celebration of the art occurs
on World Storytelling Day.

1.6. Story

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A narrative or story is any report of connected events, real or imaginary, presented
in a sequence of written or spoken words, and/or still or moving images.

Narrative can be organized in a number of thematic and/or formal categories: non-

fiction (such as definitively including creative non-
fiction, biography, journalism, transcript poetry, and historiography);
fictionalization of historical events (such as anecdote, myth, legend, and historical
fiction); and fiction proper (such as literature in prose and sometimes poetry, such
as short stories, novels, and narrative poems and songs, and imaginary narratives
as portrayed in other textual forms, games, or live or recorded performances).
Narrative is found in all forms of human creativity, art, and entertainment,
including speech, literature, theatre, music and song, comics, journalism, film, tele
vision and video,radio, gameplay, unstructured recreation, and performance in
general, as well as some painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and
other visual arts (though several modern art movements refuse the narrative in
favor of the abstract and conceptual), as long as a sequence of events is presented.
The word derives from the Latin verb narrate, "to tell", which is derived from the
adjective, "knowing" or "skilled".

Oral storytelling is perhaps the earliest method for sharing narratives. During most
people's childhoods, narratives are used to guide them on proper behavior, cultural
history, formation of a communal identity, and values, as especially studied
in anthropology today among traditional indigenous peoples. Narratives may also
be nested within other narratives, such as narratives told by an unreliable
narrator (a character) typically found in noir fiction genre. An important part of
narration is the narrative mode, the set of methods used to communicate the
narrative through a process narration.

Along with exposition, argumentation, and description, narration, broadly defined,

is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse. More narrowly defined, it is
the fiction-writing mode in which the narrator communicates directly to the
reader.

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Owen Flanagan of Duke University, a leading consciousness researcher, writes
that "Evidence strongly suggests that humans in all cultures come to cast their
own identity in some sort of narrative form. We are inveterate
storytellers." Stories are an important aspect of culture. Many works of art and
most works of literature tell stories; indeed, most of the humanities involve
stories.

Stories are of ancient origin, existing in ancient Egyptian, ancient

Greek, Chinese and Indian cultures and their myths. Stories are also a ubiquitous
component of human communication, used as parables and examples to illustrate
points. Storytelling was probably one of the earliest forms of entertainment. As
noted by Owen Flanagan, narrative may also refer to psychological processes in
self-identity, memory and meaning-making.

Semiotics begins with the individual building blocks of meaning called signs;
and semantics, the way in which signs are combined into codes to transmit
messages. This is part of a general communication system using both verbal and
non-verbal elements, and creating a discourse with different modalitie sand forms.

In On Realism in Art Roman Jakobson argues that literature exists as a separate

entity. He and many other semioticians prefer the view that all texts, whether
spoken or written, are the same, except that some authors encode their texts with
distinctive literary qualities that distinguish them from other forms of discourse.
Nevertheless, there is a clear trend to address literary narrative forms as separable
from other forms. This is first seen in Russian Formalism through Victor
Shklovsky's analysis of the relationship between composition and style, and in the
work of Vladimir Propp, who analysed the plotsused in traditional folk-tales and
identified 31 distinct functional components. This trend (or these trends)
continued in the work of the Prague School and of French scholars such as Claude
Lévi-Straussand Roland Barthes. It leads to a structural analysis of narrative and
an increasingly influential body of modern work that raises important
epistemological questions

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  What is text?

 What is its role (culture)?

 How is it manifested as art, cinema, theater, or literature?

 Why is narrative divided into different genres, such as poetry, short stories,
and novels?

In literary theoretic approach, narrative is being narrowly defined as fiction-

writing mode in which the narrator is communicating directly to the reader. Until
the late 19th century, literary criticism as an academic exercise dealt solely
with poetry. Most poems did not have a narrator distinct from the author.

But novels, lending a number of voices to several characters in addition to

narrator's, created a possibility of narrator's views differing significantly from the
author's views. With the rise of the novel in the 18th century, the concept of the
narrator made the question of narrator a prominent one for literary theory. It has
been proposed that perspective and interpretive knowledge are the essential
characteristics, while focalization and structure are lateral characteristics of the
narrator.

A writer's choice in the narrator is crucial for the way a work of fiction is
perceived by the reader. There is a distinction between first-person and third-
person narrative, which Gérard Genette refers to as intradiegetic and extradiegetic
narrative, respectively. Intradiagetic narrators are of two types: a homodiegetic
narrator participates as a character in the story. Such a narrator cannot know more
about other characters than what their actions reveal. A heterodiegetic narrator, in
contrast, describes the experiences of the characters that appear in the story in
which he or she does not participate.

Most narrators present their story from one of the following perspectives
(called narrative modes): first-person, or third-person limited or omniscient.
Generally, a first-person narrator brings greater focus on the feelings, opinions,
and perceptions of a particular character in a story, and on how the character
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views the world and the views of other characters. If the writer's intention is to get
inside the world of a character, then it is a good choice, although a third-person
limited narrator is an alternative that does not require the writer to reveal all that a
first-person character would know. By contrast, a third-person omniscient
narrator gives a panoramic view of the world of the story, looking into many
characters and into the broader background of a story. A third-person omniscient
narrator can be an animal or an object, or it can be a more abstract instance that
does not refer to itself. For stories in which the context and the views of many
characters are important, a third-person narrator is a better choice. However, a
third-person narrator does not need to be an omnipresent guide, but instead may
merely be the protagonist referring to himself in the third person (also known as
third person limited narrator).

Multiple narrators: A writer may choose to let several narrators tell the story
from different points of view. Then it is up to the reader to decide which narrator
seems most reliable for each part of the story. It may refer to the style of the writer
in which he/she expresses the paragraph written. See for instance the works
of Louise Erdrich. William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is a prime example of the
use of multiple narrators. Faulkner employs stream of consciousness to narrate the
story from various perspectives.

In Indigenous American communities, narratives and storytelling are often told by

a number of elders in the community. In this way, the stories are never static
because they are shaped by the relationship between narrator and audience. Thus,
each individual story may have countless variations. Narrators often incorporate
minor changes in the story in order to tailor the story to different audiences.

Aesthetics approach: Narrative is a highly aesthetic art. Thoughtfully composed

stories have a number of aesthetic elements. Such elements include the idea
of narrative structure, with identifiable beginnings, middles and ends, or
exposition-development-climax-denouement, with coherent plot lines; a strong
focus on temporality including retention of the past, attention to present action and

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protention/future anticipation; a substantial focus on character and
characterization, "arguably the most important single component of the novel"
(David Lodge The Art of Fiction 67); different voices interacting, "the sound of
the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and
registers" (Lodge The Art of Fiction 97; see also the theory of Mikhail Bakhtin for
expansion of this idea); a narrator or narrator-like voice, which "addresses" and
"interacts with" reading audiences; communicates with a Wayne Booth-esque
rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of interpretation, which is at times beneath the
surface, forming a plotted narrative, and at other times much more visible,
"arguing" for and against various positions; relies substantially on the use of
literary tropes (see Hayden White, Meta history for expansion of this idea); is
often intertextual with other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort
toward bildungsroman, a description of identity development with an effort to
evince becoming in character and community.

Psychological approach: Within philosophy of mind, the social sciences and

various clinical fields including medicine, narrative can refer to aspects of human
psychology. A personal narrative process is involved in a person's sense
of personal or cultural identity, and in the creation and construction of memories;
it is thought by some to be the fundamental nature of the self. The breakdown of a
coherent or positive narrative has been implicated in the development
of psychosis and mental disorder, and its repair said to play an important role in
journeys of recovery. Narrative Therapy is a school of (family) psychotherapy.

Illness narratives are a way for a person affected by an illness to make sense of his
or her experiences. They typically follow one of several set
patterns: restitution, chaos, or quest narratives. In the restitution narrative, the
person sees the illness as a temporary detour. The primary goal is to return
permanently to normal life and normal health. These may also be called cure
narratives. In the chaos narrative, the person sees the illness as a permanent state
that will inexorably get worse, with no redeeming virtues. This is typical of
diseases like Alzheimer's disease: the patient gets worse and worse, and there is no
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hope of returning to normal life. The third major type, the quest narrative,
positions the illness experience as an opportunity to transform oneself into a better
person through overcoming adversity and re-learning what is most important in
life; the physical outcome of the illness is less important than the spiritual and
psychological transformation. This is typical of the triumphant view of cancer
survivorship in the breast cancer culture.

Personality traits, more specifically the Big Five personality traits, appear to be
associated with the type of language or patterns of word use found in an
individual's self-narrative. In other words, language use in self-narratives
accurately reflects human personality. The linguistic correlates of each Big Five
trait are as follows:

Extraversion - positively correlated with words referring to humans, social

processes and family;

Agreeableness - positively correlated with family, inclusiveness and certainty;

negatively correlated with anger and body (i.e., few negative comments about
health/body);

Conscientiousness - positively correlated with achievement and work; negatively

related to body, death, anger and exclusiveness;

Neuroticism - positively correlated with sadness, negative emotion, body, anger,

home and anxiety; negatively correlated with work;

Openness - positively correlated with perceptual processes, hearing and

exclusiveness

Social sciences approaches: Human beings often claim to understand events

when they manage to formulate a coherent story or narrative explaining how they
believe the event was generated. Narratives thus lie at foundations of our
cognitive procedures and also provide an explanatory framework for the social
sciences, particularly when it is difficult to assemble enough cases to permit
statistical analysis. Narrative is often used in case study research in the social

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sciences. Here it has been found that the dense, contextual, and interpenetrating
nature of social forces uncovered by detailed narratives is often more interesting
and useful for both social theory and social policy than other forms of social
inquiry.

Sociologists Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein have contributed to the

formation of a constructionist approach to narrative in sociology. From their book
The Self We Live By: Narrative Identity in a Postmodern World (2000), to more
recent texts such as Analyzing Narrative Reality (2009) and Varieties of Narrative
Analysis (2012), they have developed an analytic framework for researching
stories and storytelling that is centered on the interplay of institutional discourses
(big stories) on the one hand, and everyday accounts (little stories) on the other.
The goal is the sociological understanding of formal and lived texts of experience,
featuring the production, practices, and communication of accounts.

Inquiry approach: In order to avoid "hardened stories," or "narratives that

become context-free, portable and ready to be used anywhere and anytime for
illustrative purposes" and are being used as conceptual metaphors as defined by
linguist George Lakoff, an approach called narrative inquiry was proposed, resting
on the epistemological assumption that human beings make sense of random or
complex multicausal experience by the imposition of story structures." Human
propensity to simplify data through a predilection for narratives over
complex data sets typically leads to narrative fallacy. It is easier for the human
mind to remember and make decisions on the basis of stories with meaning, than
to remember strings of data. This is one reason why narratives are so powerful and
why many of the classics in the humanities and social sciences are written in the
narrative format. But humans read meaning into data and compose stories, even
where this is unwarranted. In narrative inquiry, the way to avoid the narrative
fallacy is no different from the way to avoid other error in scholarly research, i.e.,
by applying the usual methodical checks for validity and reliability in how data
are collected, analyzed, and presented. Several criteria for assessing the validity of

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narrative research was proposed, including the objective aspect, the emotional
aspect, the social/moral aspect, and the clarity of the story.

A narrative can take on the shape of a story, which gives listeners an entertaining
and collaborative avenue for acquiring knowledge. Many cultures
use storytelling as a way to record histories, myths, and values. These stories can
be seen as living entities of narrative among cultural communities, as they carry
the shared experience and history of the culture within them. Stories are often
used withinindigenous cultures in order to share knowledge to the younger
generation. Due to indigenous narratives leaving room for open-ended
interpretation, native stories often engage children in the storytelling process so
that they can make their own meaning and explanations within the story. This
promotes holistic thinking among native children, which works towards merging
an individual and world identity. Such an identity upholds native epistemology
and gives children a sense of belonging as their cultural identity develops through
the sharing and passing on of stories.

For example, a number of indigenous stories are used to illustrate a value or

lesson. In the Western Apache tribe, stories can be used to warn of the misfortune
that befalls people when they do not follow acceptable behavior. One story speaks
to the offense of a mother's meddling in her married son's life. In the story, the
Western Apache tribe is under attack from a neighboring tribe, the Pimas. The
Apache mother hears a scream. Thinking it is her son's wife screaming, she tries to
intervene by yelling at him. This alerts the Pima tribe to her location, and she is
promptly killed due to intervening in her son's life.

Indigenous American cultures use storytelling to teach children the values and
lessons of life. Although storytelling provides entertainment, its primary purpose
is to educate. Alaskan Indigenous Natives state that narratives teach children
where they fit in, what their society expects of them, how to create a peaceful
living environment, and to be responsible, worthy members of their
communities. In the Mexican culture, many adult figures tell their children stories

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in order to teach children values such as individuality, obedience, honesty, trust,
and compassion. For example, one of the versions of La Llorona is used to teach
children to make safe decisions at night and to maintain the morals of the
community.

Narratives are considered by the Canadian Métis community, to help children

understand that the world around them is interconnected to their lives and
communities. For example, the Métis community share the ―Humorous Horse
Story‖ to children, which portrays that horses stumble throughout life just like
humans do. Navajo stories also use dead animals as metaphors by showing that all
things have purpose. Lastly, elders from Alaskan Native communities claim that
the use of animals as metaphors allows children to form their own perspectives
while at the same time self-reflecting on their own lives.

American Indian elders also state that storytelling invites the listeners, especially
children, to draw their own conclusions and perspectives while self-reflecting
upon their lives. Furthermore, they insist that narratives help children grasp and
obtain a wide range of perspectives that help them interpret their lives in the
context of the story. American Indian community members emphasize to children
that the method of obtaining knowledge can be found in stories passed down
through each generation. Moreover, community members also let the children
interpret and build a different perspective of each story.

1.7. The Novel Vs. the Screenplay

James Bonnet explaines the differences between a novel and screenplay as

follows: All writers and filmmakers but will be of special interest to writer /
storymakers who are trying to decide where to best invest their creative energies
and talents - the novel or the screenplay. I'll begin with some general observations
concerning the novelist and the filmwright (a new term I'm coining to describe a
film's true primary creative artist) and then I'll describe the similarities and critical
differences between a novel and a screenplay.

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The novelist creates and describes everything that appears in the novel -- the
characters, the emotions of the characters, their actions, their thoughts, the plot,
the costumes, the atmosphere, the environments, etc. And many of the early
filmmakers and movie moguls were like novelists in that they were the primary
creative artists (filmwrights) who had the responsibility for creating everything
that would become part of the film. But they didn't have the time to do everything
themselves, so they had to hire others to do the costumes, design and build the
sets, act the parts, operate the camera, direct the action, create the special effects,
and so on - all things which novelists would do on their own.

So the large and small production companies or studios were built around the
filmwrights. Charlie Chaplin, Irving Thalberg, Steven Spielberg, and Walt Disney,
among others are filmwrights. All of the other disciplines, including the writers
and directors, have to come to them for approval. And today what we know of as
the screenwriter became one of the many functions that served the interests and
needs of the primary creative artist, the filmwright, the one who was really
making the creative decisions.

The way I see it, the filmwright and the novelist are equivalent and have similar
creative experiences, except that the novelist is a one man or woman band doing
everything themselves, while the filmwright delegates many responsibilities to
others, is generally more sociable, and can handle a great deal more stress.

Looked at in this way (realistically), a screenplay is one facet of a multi-faceted,

collaborative artistic endeavor which is governed by someone else and contains
lots of dialogue, descriptions of the action (which is divided up into scenes and
shots), sparse descriptions of the characters and their emotions, the locations,
camera angles, costumes, etc. Everything else is left to some other discipline. The
end result will be the visual experience of a film or theatrical motion picture.

Looked at in this way, the novelist is a primary creative artist who transforms
imaginary or artistically treated true stories into a fictionalized form of varying
lengths from the novella to the epic and beyond. A feature film is generally

19
somewhere in the neighborhood of two hours long. The novel is, by the way, also
a visual medium, except that the author uses words to help the reader reconstruct
the visual images in their head.

The novel and the screenplay do have one very important thing in common,
however. They both have the same underlying story structure. The same story
principles apply to both. And, in fact, the screenplay can be an excellent first draft
for a novel. The screenplay takes a lot less time to create and you can use it to test
the characters and the structure. If it works as a screenplay, you can then
transform it into a novel by changing the tense from the present to the past and
adding and describing everything else that would be added by the camera, the
actors, costume and set designers, including your special artistry and the
underlying psychology of the characters.

Now a little tough love for screenwriters. The screenwriter is definitely not the
primary creative artist on a film (unless they also get to direct, produce and
executive produce) - and they are often not even allowed on the set. They decide
what goes on paper and that's about it. The director decides what goes on film,
which is far more significant. But let's not forget the producer because he decides
who gets to direct. And the actors pretty much do their own thing, at least as far as
the writer is concerned. So the screenplay, including a screenplay written by
William Shakespeare, is only a suggestion to higher-ups. The producer and then
the director get to decide what parts of the script they will use and what parts they
will throw away - and what parts they will let someone else rewrite. In other
words, you can easily end up being the first of many writers and live to see your
script completely changed and perhaps even totally ruined. Then, to add insult to
injury, if it doesn't go straight to video and does finally reach the silver screen,
you may end up getting no credit at all.

The novelist, on the other hand, who is a primary creative artist, doesn't have these
problems. Once you find a publisher and are working with an editor, you are much
more likely to end up with something that is close to your original idea. Plus there

20
are many more niche markets available to novelists. You don't have to write to
please a general audience or some studio executive who thinks you should be
writing to please males between the ages of 18 to 25 or females between the ages
12 and 22.

In any case, when you, as the novelist, pick up pencil and paper or sit down to
your computer to write a novel, you already have the money, so to speak. You
don't need someone else to put up forty million dollars so you can actually create
it, and you don't need Brad Pitt to commit in order to get the studio to make the
deal. And you don't need a high powered agent to get the script to Brad Pitt. You
are the head of the studio, the filmwright, the director, the primary creative artist.
You make all of the decisions and conjure everything yourself down to the last
detail, including all the leads. And when you're done, the finished novel is a
finished work of art.

Having a finished novel under your arm looking for a publisher is the equivalent
of having a finished film under your arm looking for a distributor. And there are
very few middlemen between you and your book deal. Even some of the top
Eastern agents will respond to your query letters and ask to look at the first two
chapters. You can also approach many publishers on your own, even without an
agent, if you can present yourself in a credible manner and write a good query
letter.

On the other hand, if you're a new screenwriter - i.e. not a professional working
writer who already has good credits and an agent - it is very difficult to approach
the studios or major independent companies on your own without having an agent
or good contacts on the inside. And, generally speaking, for the new writer, the
top literary agents in Hollywood are very hard, if not impossible, to get to. They're
not really in the business of discovering and nurturing talent. They don't need to
be. After you've managed to be discovered or make it big on your own, you'll
come to them anyway. In short, there are many thick layers of resistance and
obstacles between you and getting your screenplay actually turned into a film.

21
And then there's the question of money. If you compare the potential a writer can
make from his hit movie or his best selling novel, it's no contest. The current
WGA low budget minimum for a theatrical motion picture is $53,000, the high
budget minimum is $100,000. Occasionally, a screenwriter gets high six figures or
even a million dollars for his spec screenplay or as a writer-for-hire. A few writers
have gotten as much as three million. And the chances are, no matter how
successful the movie is, aside from residuals and other ancillary rights payments,
you will never see anymore money than that.

Dan Brown, the author of The DaVinci Code, has made over fifty million dollars
in U.S. domestic royalties alone and God knows how much worldwide. That's
equal to 50 to 100 super lucrative movie deals. For one project. Plus he gets all the
benefits of a movie deal anyway with much more favorable terms than any spec
scriptwriter could expect.

Then there is the unkindest cut of all, the question of self-expression. For, in truth,
and this is another no contest, there is a much greater opportunity for self
expression in a novel than a screenplay. That's easy to demonstrate. Toni
Morrison, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Balzac, Dickens, Jane Austin,
Willa Cather, D.H. Lawrence, Mark Twain, Dostoyevski and countless other great
authors all have a unique and recognizable style and are as distinguishable from
one another as painters like Rembrandt and van Gogh or composers like Mozart
and Beethoven. But try to guess who wrote the screenplay without looking at the
credits - if it isn't Charlie Kaufman or David Mamet you're going to have a really
hard time.

So I guess the point of this article is that, these days, if you're a talented and
serious writer / storymaker, and you're trying to decide whether to write a novel or
a screenplay, you should give serious thought to writing a novel. In fact, if you
really weigh the advantages and disadvantages, you will probably conclude that
writing a spec screenplay, when you don't have a great agent and a solid career
already in place, may make almost no sense at all.

22
In any event, as I indicated earlier, the most important thing the novel and
screenplay have in common is story. The forms of both are different but the
underlying principles and structures are the same. Story is at the heart of all the
different media and all the different genres and if you plan to write novels or
write, direct or produce story films, it is important that you learn as much about
story as you can. There are six billion people in the world with a desperate need
for real stories which isn't being met, and if you take the trouble to learn what a
story really is, it will give you a tremendous advantage. (See my other Writers
Store articles: The Essence of Story, What's Wrong with the Three Act Structure,
Conquering the High Concept, and The Real Key to a Writer's Success

1.8. Let Us Sum Up

1.9. Unit End Exercises

1.10. Points for Discussion
1.11. Answers to Check your Progress
1.12. Suggested Readings

1. http://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/resources/primary/Storytelling_Reso
urce_FilmEducation.pdf

2. https://www.writersstore.com/the-novel-vs-the-screenplay-a-tough-
love-guide-for-talented-writers/

3. Beyer, Jürgen, "Prolegomena to a history of story-telling around the

Baltic Sea, c. 1550-1800",Electronic Journal of Folklore, vol. 4 (1997),
43-60

4. Hoffman, Lou. Aligning PR with Storytelling for the "Happily Ever

After", Ishmael's Corner. June 14, 2010.

5. Schank, Roger C.; Robert P. Abelson (1995).Knowledge and Memory:

The Real Story. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 1–
85. ISBN 0-8058-1446-9.

23
 6. Battiste, Marie. Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations
Education: A Literature Review with Recommendations. Ottawa, Ont.:
Indian and Northern Affairs, 2002

7. Langellier, Kristen (1989). "Personal Narratives: Perspectives on

Theory and Research". Text and Performance Quarterly: 267.

8. By Rachel Gillett, Fast Company. "Why Our Brains Crave Storytelling

in Marketing." June 4, 2014. September 9, 2014.

9. Loppie, Charlotte (February 2007). "Learning From the Grandmothers:

Incorporating Indigenous Principles Into Qualitative
Research".Qualitative Health Research.

10. VanDeusen, Kira. Raven and the Rock: Storytelling in Chukotka.

Seattle [u.a.: Univ. of Washington [u.a., 1999.

UNIT – I
LESSON 2

Structure of Screenplay

INTRODUCTION

A properly formatted screenplay serves two purposes. The first purpose is

to tell a story. If you write your screenplay well, your description of a great battle
will explode in the readerʼs ears, your dialogue between two lovers will cause the
readerʼs eyes to tear up, and that emotional speech you write from a great leader
24
will leave a lump in your readerʼs throat. When you read a great screenplay, you
see the movie in your mind and canʼt wait to see it on the big screen. But a
screenplay also serves a necessary secondary purpose as a tool for the filmmaker.
A screenplay is a working document – a blueprint, if you will – that makes it
possible for the director, the cinematographer, the actors, and the many crew
members to do their jobs.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to understand

 How an idea is converted into a story

 How to adapt a story into a screenplay
UNIT STRUCTURE
2.1 Idea into Story
2.2 Three Acts
2.3 Five Key Points
2.4 Eight Beat Screenplay Sequence
2.5 Screenplay Vocabulary
2.6 Screenplay Outline
2.7 Let Us Sum Up
2.8 Unit End Exercises
2.9 Points for Discussion
2.10 Answers to Check your Progress
2.11 Suggested Readings
2.1 Idea into Story

Every story begins with an idea. What's amazing about science fiction
stories is, they often start with a cool idea. Like a spin on space travel or robots
that nobody's ever thought of before. But how do you turn an idea into a story,
with memorable characters and powerful moments? That's often the hard part.

25
 Just the same way there are no rules for good storytelling (other than
"tell a good story"), there's no right or wrong way to get an idea for a story. You
might start out with a character or a cool scene, and build a whole story and
concept around that. You could start with a world, and dream up the whole history
of that world, before you figure out when/how your story starts and what the
notion is. Or whatever.

But oftentimes, a great science fiction story does start with a high-concept
idea — like, say, the first ever generation ship is halfway to another planet when
we discover that the drugs we gave the colonists to protect against cosmic
radiation are causing mutations, and maybe whatever arrives at the new planet
won't be exactly human any more. (Apologies if that doesn't sound like a cool
idea, I just came up with that on the fly.)

No matter how fascinating and inventive your basic story idea might be,
it's still not a story. There's a term among science fiction writers and editors for a
story that just lays out a cool idea and then ends: a H.A.I.T.E. story, which stands
for "Here's An Idea. The End." At the very least, you want to have some
progression in there, a beginning, middle and end, and maybe a few surprises
along the way. And there need to be some people in there, to cope with the
situations you've set up.

But you don't just want to do the very least — you want to create an
awesome story, that will stick in people's minds after they're done reading it. And
for that, you need to engage people's hearts as well as their minds. You need more
than just a fleshed-out plot to go with your concept, you need some emotional
hooks. Joy and pain, man. Like sunshine and rain.

You've got a plot. What's next?

So let's stipulate that you've taken your basic concept and figured out how
it plays out. You've sketched out some of the implications, and what sort of
decisions people on this colony ship might have to make about the mutations.
Would some people embrace becoming a new race? Would there be therapies, to
26
try and reverse the effects in utero? Is there any evidence that the mutations will
make people either more or less suited to survival on the new planet? Does this
maybe lead to a civil war on board the ship between pro- and anti-mutant
factions?

Just spitballing here — one way or the other, there are twists and
developments, and eventually you get to a crux, where everything hangs in the
balance, and there's some resolution.

So you've got all that worked out, more or less, but it's still just a series of
events. As dry as the reconstituted food waste your colonists are subsisting on (in
addition to whatever they can grow in their hydroponicum.) How do you set it on
fire and make it intense? How do you make that collection of events kick your
readers in the hypothalamus?

Again, this is something there's no right way to do. But most of the time, it
has partly to do with identifying the right protagonist (and antagonist, maybe) for
your tale — someone who has needs, desires, an agenda, that are separate from
the overall needs of your story. And also, it has to do with doing a spot of method
acting. Or that other kind of acting, where you just project stuff. Anyway, acting.
Let's take those one by one.

Who's your main character?

Well, duh. Your main character is the captain of the generation ship. Or
the ship's doctor, who's trying to find a cure for the mutations, while struggling
with the ethical questions about whether the mutations are a good thing. Right?
Well, maybe. Or maybe not. Sometimes, the best main character is not someone
who is a vital cog in the plot, but someone who has their own agenda.

You might have to try writing the story a few different ways, with different
characters, before you find the right person or people to carry your tale forward.
Often, it's about finding the person whose responses to the situation are the most
unpredictable, colorful and organic.

27
 Like, maybe your ideal main character isn't the captain of the ship, but
rather a young girl who doesn't know yet if she's one of the mutants because
nobody will let her see her own genetic data until she's old enough. Or maybe it's
one of the young mutants, who feels like he's become better and stronger than
ordinary humans and he's willing to live with the drawbacks.

A character who has a lot of passion, that is at least somewhat separate

from the general concerns that every single character is coping with, is worth his
or her weight in gold. People who are trying to figure out their own identities are
often (maybe usually) more interesting than people who already know who they
are. People who have something personal at stake also generate more sparks than
people who are just concerned about the general welfare. Etc. etc. etc.

Also, your protagonist is usually the one who makes choices that drive the
story. If all the interesting or defining choices are being made by someone other
than your protagonist, who's just reacting to stuff... then you probably chose the
wrong protagonist.

2.2 Three Acts

ACT I: The first act of a screenplay is usually 25–35 pages long. The first
10 minutes should present the ―normal world‖ of your film—before everything
goes haywire. The end of Act I should be a ―point of no return.‖ Usually
something is taken away from your protagonist, and they can never go back to the
way things were. They have no choice but to continue into Act II.

ACT II: Act II as two parts – 2a and Act 2b. Act 2a is usually about 30
pages long. This is the part of the film where your protagonist is ‗reacting‘ to the
pressures of their changed world. Act 2b begins when your protagonist‘s worst
fears nearly come true and they must take control of the situation. Act 2b can be
short: Even 15 pages long. It ends when the plot ensnares your protagonist and
propels them toward a ―mini-climax.‖

28
 ACT III: Reality returns at the beginning of Act III when your
protagonist‘s false victory is immediately undone by a huge setback. This is their
―all is lost‖ moment. After ―all is lost,‖ your protagonist will usually receive some
new information. They see the light, and will now race toward the resolution of
the journey.

2.3 Five Key Points

1) Page 1. Give the reader no option but to flip the page.

2) Inciting Incident. The inciting incident is the event that sets everything in
motion. If E.T. hadn‘t been left on Earth, the movie would have stopped right
there. No Elliot, no phone home, no nothing. The inciting incident should usually
happen in the first five pages of your script, and should demand resolution. That‘s
what your script‘s about—resolving the inherent conflict of your inciting incident.

3) Page 17 Essential Character Conflict. Captain Renault asks Rick why he came
to Casablanca. On page 17, your audience should realize what the film is really
about. It‘s not about finding the Holy Grail, Indy—it‘s about learning to forgive
dad!

4) Climax. The !#% hits the fan! This usually happens two-thirds of the way into
Act III. Your protagonist has just experienced an epiphany, and is now ready to
confront your antagonist. It‘s the big showdown! Ghostbusters vs. Stay-Puff. This
is your protagonist‘s moment of truth, and when it‘s all over they will have either
lost or won.

5) THE END. Good endings provide definitive answers to the following three
questions: • Was the inherent conflict of the inciting incident resolved? • Was the
essential character conflict defined on page 17 resolved? • How is the protagonist
different now than from the beginning of the film?

2.4 Eight Beat Screenplay Swquence

 Inciting incident

29
  Dramatic Question

 Emotional Hook

 Public/Private Moment

 Reversal Recognition

 Crisis (protagonist is furthest away from their goal as they possibly can be)

 Climax

 Resolution

2.5 Screenplay Vocabulary

 INT./EXT. In the scene heading, this designates indoors or outdoors.

It gets a bit tricky, sometimes, when you're outside, say, underwater.
Are you INT. LAKE or EXT. LAKE? You decide. And check out the
screenplay for THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER for another
stylistic choice -- it dispenses with the convention altogether.

 BEGIN CREDITS/END CREDITS Not necessary, but you can do it

if you've consciously designed a credit sequence into your film.

 (V.O.) The abbreviation for 'voice over.' I prefer not to use it as a

parenthetical, but place it next to the character's name. It implies a
narrator, separate from the screen action.

 (O.S.) The abbreviation for 'off screen.' This is dialog coming from a
character who is in the scene, but out of camera view.

 (cont'd) A particular parenthetical, used if a speech has been

interrupted by description or a page break.

 CUT TO: Can be used between every scene, between major

sequences, sporadically whenever it's appropriate to the rhythm of
the script, or not at all. Particularly useful for manipulating the page
count
30
  DISSOLVE TO: Implies the passage of time. SLOW DISSOLVE
TO: implies the passage of lots of time.

 (filtered) A particular parenthetical, used when the dialog is coming

from a phone, over a radio, or any electronic device that will modify
the vocal.

 INTERCUT: Frees you from having to repeat scene headings for,

say, a telephone conversation.

 FADE IN/FADE OUT Used to start and end the script. They can also
be used at any point in the screenplay, to delineate major sections of
the film.

 CLOSE ON If you really want to emphasize a detail, a clue, then this

is the way to do it. No more than three of these in any one script, or
you're over-directing.

 PULL BACK to reveal One of the four camera directions we allow

ourselves to use in a screenplay. They must be used sparingly. The
third is...

 ANGLE ON/NEW ANGLE Sometimes it's truly important to shift

the point of view in a scene -- say, when someone is spying on
someone else. Then it's appropriate to write: 'NEW ANGLE - ON
JACK, looking down from the second story window.' And the last
camera direction –

 REVERSE ANGLE - On the giant bug, as it slurps down the secret

service agent.

2.6 Screenplay Outline

 Title:

 Logline: (one-sentence summary)

31
  Opening Scene: (Page 1)

 Story Set-up: (Pages 1-10)

 Protagonist(s):

a. Who are they?

b. What do they want?

c. Fatal Flaw?

 Antagonist(s):

a. Who are they?

b. What do they want?

c. Fatal Flaw?

 Supporting Characters:

 Inciting Incident (before page 10)

 Essential Character Conflict/Big Decision (pages 10-25, often page

17)

 Subplots (pages 30-50)

 Point of No Return (page 50)

 Complications (pages 50-75)

 All is Lost Moment/Major Set-back (page 75)

 The Ah Ha! Moment/Climax (page 85)

 The Final Push (pages 85-99)

 The Resolution (pages 99-100)

2.7 Let Us Sum Up

2.8 Unit End Exercises
2.9 Points for Discussion
32
2.10 Answers to Check your Progress
2.11 Suggested Readings

1. http://io9.gizmodo.com/how-to-turn-a-high-concept-idea-into-an-
actual-story-505705564

2. http://avajae.blogspot.in/2015/05/how-to-turn-idea-into-plot.html

3. http://io9.gizmodo.com/5443306/5-simple-rules-for-turning-your-
cool-idea-into-a-screenplay

4. http://teralynnchilds.com/idea-into-story/

5. http://files.meetup.com/1422813/Screenplay%20Structure.pdf

6. http://www.kkitts.net/downloads/files/ScriptFrenzyPacket2012.pdf

7. Trottier, David: "The Screenwriter's Bible", pp. 5–7. Silman James,

1998.

8. Hulk, Film Crit (2013). Screenwriting 101. Badass Digest.

UNIT II
Lesson 3

Screenplay Techniques
INTRODUCTION

It's easy to feel intimidated by the thought of writing a screenplay. The rules! The
formatting! The binding! Don't let the seemingly endless parade of screenwriting
elements scare you away from writing your first script. Since a familiarity with the
basics of the craft is half the battle, The Writers Store has created this handy

33
screenplay example and overview on how to write a screenplay to help you get up
to speed on screenwriting fundamentals. In the most basic terms, a screenplay is a
90-120 page document written in Courier 12pt font on 8 1/2" x 11" bright white
three-hole punched paper. Wondering why Courier font is used? It's a timing
issue. One formatted script page in Courier font equals roughly one minute of
screen time. That's why the average page count of a screenplay should come in
between 90 and 120 pages. Comedies tend to be on the shorter side (90 pages, or 1
½ hours) while Dramas run longer (120 pages, or 2 hours).

A screenplay can be an original piece, or based on a true story or previously

written piece, like a novel, stage play or newspaper article. At its heart, a
screenplay is a blueprint for the film it will one day become. Professionals on the
set including the producer, director, set designer and actors all translate the
screenwriter's vision using their individual talents. Since the creation of a film is
ultimately a collaborative art, the screenwriter must be aware of each person's role
and as such, the script should reflect the writer's knowledge.

For example, it's crucial to remember that film is primarily a visual medium. As a
screenwriter, you must show what's happening in a story, rather than tell. A 2-
page inner monologue may work well for a novel, but is the kiss of death in a
script. The very nature of screenwriting is based on how to show a story on a
screen, and pivotal moments can be conveyed through something as simple as a
look on an actor's face. Let's take a look at what a screenplay's structure looks like.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This unit helps the student to

 Get introduced to screenplay techniques and elements.

 Learn about the structure of screenplay formats.
 How to write a master scene script.

UNIT STRUCTURE

34
 3.1 First Page of a Screenplay

3.2 Screenplay Elements

3.3 Spec Script Vs. Shooting Script

3.4 Screenplay Structure

3.5 Scene in Screenplay

3.6 Sequence in Screenplay

3.7 Three Act Structure

3.8 Basic Script Formatting

3.9 Master Scene Script Format

3.10 Let us sum up

3.11 Unit end exercises

3.12 Points for discussion

3.13 Answers to check your progress

3.14 Suggested Readings

3.1 First Page of a Screenplay

While screenplay formatting software such as Final Draft, Movie Magic

Screenwriter, Movie Outline and Montage frees you from having to learn the
nitty-gritty of margins and indents, it's good to have a grasp of the general spacing
standards.

The top, bottom and right margins of a screenplay are 1". The left margin is 1.5".
The extra half-inch of white space to the left of a script page allows for binding
with brads, yet still imparts a feeling of vertical balance of the text on the page.
The entire document should be single-spaced.

35
The very first item on the first page should be the words FADE IN:. Note: the first
page is never numbered. Subsequent page numbers appear in the upper right hand
corner, 0.5" from the top of the page, flush right to the margin.

3.2 Screenplay Elements

Below is a list of items (with definitions) that make up the screenplay format,
along with indenting information. Again, screenplay software will automatically
format all these elements, but a screenwriter must have a working knowledge of
the definitions to know when to use each one.

Scene Heading

Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0"

A scene heading is a one-line description of the location and time of day of a

scene, also known as a "slugline." It should always be in CAPS.

Example: EXT. WRITERS STORE - DAY reveals that the action takes place
outside The Writers Store during the daytime.

Subheader
Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0"

When a new scene heading is not necessary, but some distinction needs to be
made in the action, you can use a subheader. But be sure to use these sparingly, as
a script full of subheaders is generally frowned upon. A good example is when
there are a series of quick cuts between two locations, you would use the term
INTERCUT and the scene locations.

Action
Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0"

The narrative description of the events of a scene, written in the present tense.
Also less commonly known as direction, visual exposition, blackstuff, description
or scene direction.

36
Character
Indent: Left: 2.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 4.0"

When a character is introduced, his name should be capitalized within the action.
For example: The door opens and in walks LIAM, a thirty-something hipster with
attitude to spare.

A character's name is CAPPED and always listed above his lines of dialogue.
Minor characters may be listed without names, for example "TAXI DRIVER" or
"CUSTOMER."

Dialogue
Indent: Left: 1.0" Right: 1.5" Width: 3.5"

Lines of speech for each character. Dialogue format is used anytime a character is
heard speaking, even for off-screen and voice-overs.

Parenthetical
Indent: Left: 1.5" Right: 2.0" Width: 2.5"

A parenthetical is direction for the character, that is either attitude or action-

oriented. With roots in the playwriting genre, today, parentheticals are used very
rarely, and only if absolutely necessary. Why? Two reasons. First, if you need to
use a parenthetical to convey what's going on with your dialogue, then it probably
just needs a good re-write. Second, it's the director's job to instruct an actor on
how to deliver a line, and everyone knows not to encroach on the director's turf!

Extension
Placed after the character's name, in parentheses

An abbreviated technical note placed after the character's name to indicate how
the voice will be heard onscreen, for example, if the character is speaking as a
voice-over, it would appear as LIAM (V.O.).

Transition
Indent: Left: 4.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 2.0"

37
Transitions are film editing instructions, and generally only appear in a shooting
script. Transition verbiage includes:

CUT TO:

DISSOLVE TO:

SMASH CUT:

QUICK CUT:

FADE TO:

As a spec script writer, you should avoid using a transition unless there is no other
way to indicate a story element. For example, you might need to use DISSOLVE
TO: to indicate that a large amount of time has passed.

Shot
Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0"

A shot tells the reader the focal point within a scene has changed. Like a
transition, there's rarely a time when a spec screenwriter should insert shot
directions. Once again, that's the director's job.

Examples of Shots:

ANGLE ON --

EXTREME CLOSE UP --

PAN TO –

LIAM'S POV --

3.3 Spec Script Vs. Shooting Script

A "spec script" literally means that you are writing a screenplay on speculation.
That is, no one is paying you to write the script. You are penning it in hopes of
selling the script to a buyer. Spec scripts should stick stringently to established
screenwriting rules.

38
Once a script is purchased, it becomes a shooting script, also called a production
script. This is a version of the screenplay created for film production. It will
include technical instructions, like film editing notes, shots, cuts and the like. All
the scenes are numbered, and revisions are marked with a color-coded system.
This is done so that the production assistants and director can then arrange the
order in which the scenes will be shot for the most efficient use of stage, cast, and
location resources.

A spec script should NEVER contain the elements of shooting script. The biggest
mistake any new screenwriter can make is to submit a script full of production
language, including camera angles and editing transitions. It can be very difficult
to resist putting this type of language in your script. After all, it's your story and
you see it in a very specific way. However, facts are facts. If you want to direct
your script, then try to go the independent filmmaker route. But if you want to sell
your script, then stick to the accepted spec screenplay format.

3.4 Screenplay Structure

Screenwriting can be divided into two basic parts: the actual writing and the
dramaturgy.

The writing itself is for the artist to do; there are no rules, no magic recipes to
apply, no golden ticket. The way one screenwriter might execute a particular piece
of action or dialogue subtext can be vastly different from another screenwriter.

But what is the second part of screenwriting: the dramaturgy? It‘s the theoretical,
cerebral, rational, and scientific part. The screenwriter uses practical strategies and
time-tested models to help develop and design a solid blueprint for the
composition of the screenplay.

―In the first act, it‘s who are the people and what is the situation of this whole
story. The second act is the progression of that situation to a high point of conflict
and great problems. And the third act is how the conflicts and problems are
resolved." - Ernest Lehman

39
Lehman is quite succinct in his broad stroke framework of the whole structured
screenplay. There is, of course, much more to the final structural design, and in
this section, you‘ll learn the necessary tools to flesh out your acts
and sequences and pin point your major plot points: the inciting incident, the lock-
in, the first culmination, the resolution, etc. Understanding these elements are a
great help in outlining a solid story foundation to build a great screenplay upon.

3.5 Scene in Screenplay

"The structural unity of the parts is such that, if any one of them is displaced or
removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed. For a thing whose presence
or absence makes no visible difference is not an organic part of the whole." -
Aristotle

A SCENE is a unit of action that takes place in one location at one time. And in
a screenplay, a scene must push thestory forward and/or reveal character. If it does
neither, kill it!

We can analyze a scene and make sure we are including essential elements by
asking a number of questions:

1. Is it clear whose scene it is, and what he or she wants?

2. What is the conflict of the scene? Is it with one or more of the characters,
with the circumstances or the surroundings of the scene, or is the conflict
within the character?

3. Where and when does the scene take place? Could another time or location
serve to heighten the impact?

4. What characters are present at the beginning, which ones enter during the
scene, and who is there at the end?

5. Is any new character introduced? If so, does the introduction give the
audience a glimpse into the nature of the character and make the character
memorable enough?

40
6. Where were the characters before the scene started, and where are they
going after it ends?

7. Has time been eclipsed since the last scene? If so, is it clear to the audience
that time has passed and how much time has passed?

8. Do the actions of the characters fit their ‗through lines‘?

9. Are the actions of the characters clear and motivated? Do they reveal
character and/or move the story forward?

10. Is there any use of dramatic irony?

11. Is there unity of action?

12. Is the scene thematically related to the rest of the story?

13. Are the obstacles difficult enough? Are they too difficult?

14. Are the events plausible? Must disbelief be suspended? Do these events
obey the ―rules‖ of previously suspended disbelief?

15. Does the audience know what might go right or wrong within the sene?

16. Does the dialogue reflect character? Is it natural? Forced?

17. Are the inner lives of the characters revealed through action, dialogue, and
reaction?

18. Are any elements of the future used? Should they be used? Does the scene
bring the action of the story too much to a standstill? Or does it propel the
story forward?

19. Are there visual and audio clues and suggestions?

20. Does the scene belong in the story being told?

41
The screenwriter uses lots of different kinds of scenes to accomplish very specific
parts of the overall story. Sometimes the main purpose of a particular scene is to
establish setting, or deliver exposition, or reveal important information.

The following list of scene types are not all, but the most common kinds of scenes
found in screenplays today. And often times, a scene may be a combination of two
or more scene types.

1. Setting - Where are we?

2. Atmosphere/Mood - What is it like there?

3. Introduction - Who is it we are dealing with here?

4. Exposition - Necessary information. Quick and Clever.

5. Transition - getting from one place to another. Fast.

6. Preparation - What will it take to prepare for the task at hand?

7. Aftermath - How does the character feel about what just happened?

8. Investigation - Gathering information.

9. Revelation - The reader/audience finds out something important.

10. Recognition - The character finds out something important.

11. The Gift - Using a prop with emotional investment and turning it into a
weapon, emotional or otherwise.

12. Escape - The character is trying to get away, avoid, or hide.

13. Pursuit - The character is trying to follow, capture, or secure.

14. Seduction - Someone must convince someone else.

15. Opposites - Two characters from seemingly opposite poles are forced
together.
42
 16. Reversal of Expectations - A character expects a certain, very clear
outcome, but another character surprises him, influencing him to reverse
his intention and do something else - practically the opposite of what he
planned to do.

17. Unexpected Visitor - Someone unexpected shows up. Problems arise.

3.6 Sequence in Screenplay

A sequence is a self-contained portion of the entire story, usually about 10 to 15

minutes (pages) in length. It has its own tension (not the main tension, but related
in some way) and it has its own beginning, middle, and end.

It usually also ―belongs‖ to one particular character - not necessarily always

the central protagonist - when its tension relates to that character‘s want/need/life
more centrally than to the other characters. Many parallel aspects of an
overall story are kept alive simultaneously and will appear in sequences where the
overall tension is about something else entirely.

For example, the tension of a sequence might be ―Will John be able to raise
enough money to get into a high stakes poker game tonight so that he can win
enough cash to pay back a previous debt to Frank, a hard ass loan shark, who is
known to break body parts - lots of them - when he doesn‘t get his money?‖

a) In the beginning of the sequence, we establish the desire, need, and

opportunity for the poker game, plus the lack of funds.

b) In the middle part we track John‘s attempts to beg, borrow, even steal
sufficient funds.

c) In the end of the sequence, his quest comes to a head when he‘s face to
face with Micah, a local drug dealer, who loans him the money specifically
to pay for a cocaine shipment he wants John to pick up.

This gives the overall shape to the sequence and we know where we are and how
things are going by where John‘s money quest is in relation to need. But at the
same time we are
43
 a) finding out about John‘s sister, who is dating and transporting drugs for
Micah,

b) his brother, who needs John to bail him out of jail after a rampage at a
local supermarket,

c) John‘s car that is on it‘s last leg, and

d) the gun John's best friend gave him for protection... that is actually a starter
pistol.

We get information, our story advances, and at the same time, we have a short-
term tension to worry about - an outcome to hope for, an opposite outcome to
fear.

That tension is what gives shape to the entire 10 - 15 minutes. But the third part
doesn‘t bring everything to an absolute resolution. Yes, John gets the
money. But that just leads him deeper into trouble. So we push forward into the
story, and a new tension is created.

3.7 Three Act Structure

The three-act structure is a model used in screenwriting that divides a fictional

narrative into three parts, often called the Setup, the Confrontation and the
Resolution.

The first act is usually used for exposition, to establish the main characters, their
relationships and the world they live in. Later in the first act, a dynamic, on-screen
incident occurs that confronts the main character (the protagonist), whose attempts
to deal with this incident lead to a second and more dramatic situation, known as
the first turning point, which

(a) signals the end of the first act,

(b) ensures life will never be the same again for the protagonist and

(c) raises a dramatic question that will be answered in the climax of the film.

44
The dramatic question should be framed in terms of the protagonist's call to
action, (Will X recover the diamond? Will Y get the girl? Will Z capture the
killer?). This is known as the inciting incident, or catalyst. As an example, the
inciting incident in the 1972 film The Godfather is when Vito Corleone is
attacked, which occurs approximately 40 minutes into the film.

The second act, also referred to as "rising action", typically depicts the
protagonist's attempt to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point,
only to find him- or herself in ever worsening situations. Part of the reason
protagonists seem unable to resolve their problems is because they do not yet have
the skills to deal with the forces of antagonism that confront them. They must not
only learn new skills but arrive at a higher sense of awareness of who they are and
what they are capable of, in order to deal with their predicament, which in turn
changes who they are. This is referred to as character development or a character
arc. This cannot be achieved alone and they are usually aided and abetted by
mentors and co-protagonists.

The third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots. The climax is the
scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their
most intense point and the dramatic question answered, leaving the protagonist
and other characters with a new sense of who they really are.

In Writing Drama, French writer and director Yves Lavandier shows a slightly
different approach. He maintains that every human action, whether fictitious or
real, contains three logical parts: before the action, during the action, and after the
action. Since the climax is part of the action, Yves Lavandier believes the second
act must include the climax, which makes for a much shorter third act than is
found in most screenwriting theories. A short third act (quick resolution) is also
fundamental to traditional Japanese dramatic structure, in the theory of jo-ha-kyū.

In Screenwriting 101, the author describes the 3 act model as "the most
abominable way to both explain and instruct storytelling. So false in what it
describes, so false in what it achieves, that even though the phrase is used to near

45
ubiquity... it is essentially a myth." They question what an "act" in this model
actually means, and say they usually don't get an answer, but the answers they do
get basically amounts to "chunks of story that usually separate 'beginning, middle,
and end.'" They go on to define the end of an act as "a point in the story where a
character(s) makes a choice and can no longer "go back."... The act break can be a
new and interesting plot development, a poignant character realization, a
personality reveal, a new friendship, or even, if handled correctly, something as
insipid as "No! The bad guys are here! Run!" ...an act break can be anything as
long as it has a significant changing effect on the narrative resulting in the
character choosing an action defined by that change... an act break
creates propulsion." More importantly, this dispenses with the "3-act" structure, as
a movie like Malcolm X can be defined as having 9 distinguishable acts. "A 3 act
structure leads writers to just try to make connecting points between the beginning
and ending of their story... which means your characters are not moving forward.
They're just waiting around for the 80 minute mark so that they can begin the
ending... As a result, we hear it all the time: "The problem's in the film's second
act."

As an example of one different, more successful model, the author presents a

Shakespearean 5-act structure, (noting that Quentin Tarantino, often praised as a
counter-example to linear storytelling, breaks up most of his movies into five acts
separated by title cards):

The first act, consisting of "introductions and the establishing of a preexisting

central main conflict."

The second act, consisting of "some kind of central event that challenges or deeply
worsens the main conflict... basically, this act features the main surface plot of the
story coming into effect."

The third act, containing a "spurring incident or action making the conflict
infinitely more complicated." Often surprising, the middle third act is "a way to hit
the audience with climax-like drama before they're ready for it." Examples of this

46
include the slayings of Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet, the Death
Star rescue sequence in Star Wars, or the suit-building montage and villain reveal
in Iron Man.

The fourth act, known as "the spiral" and full of character decisions that cause
characters to sink toward the real climax, that are rapid, poorly-conceived, and
hugely dramatic. This is the point closest to the three-act model's "second act,"
and it is often the shortest act, as it is, "in truth, the point where you are really
arranging and setting up the climax."

The fifth act, where the audience gets the climax of the story. "The most important
thing to remember is that this last act is not just wrapping things up, but is the
encapsulation of the story, and should exhibit all the points you are trying to make
in your movie." In Shakespeare's plays and modern movies as diverse as Iron
Man, The Wolf Of Wall Street, and No Country For Old Men, this often includes
a soliloquy directed to the audience.

The author summarizes by saying the amount of acts "should be dependent on the
story you want to tell... and the total number of acts you use is dependent on how
much you are trying to accomplish with the story."

3.8 Basic Script Formatting

Script format may seem strange to the novice screenwriter. Like any profession, it
is a convention that must be learned as part of the trade. After some practice, it
will become second nature.

When writing a feature script, you must use proper formatting if you hope to sell
it. This cannot be overemphasized. The industry is very picky about this, and it is
used as an acid test for a screenwriter's professionalism.

To understand proper screenplay format, you must first recognize the difference
between a spec script vs. a shooting script:

Spec Script

47
Spec scripts are scripts written on the speculation of a future sale. They are written
in the present tense using master scene format. This format uses:

a) scene headings

b) narrative description

c) dialogue blocks

These are discussed in detail below. There is absolutely no technical direction for
camera, sound, music, and editing. Technical and artistic direction are implied
through creative writing.

Master scene format makes the script as easy and inviting to read as possible. The
following link is a sample script page from The Godfather, which you can use as a
reference for this lesson:

SAMPLE SCRIPT PAGE

Shooting Script

Shooting scripts are scripts used during production to shoot the movie. They are
written with much more detailed than spec scripts and may include, among other
things, scene numbers, editing transitions, and camera angles. Shooting scripts
are a great source of confusion for novice writers because they seem to break all
the formatting rules discussed in this lesson.

Since shooting scripts are used in production, they are formatted to include any
helpful information that the director may request. They are not used for selling
purposes, so if you come across one, do not use its format.

Shooting scripts are difficult to read and will turn off prospective investors. Only
use this approach when the script is going directly into production. The remainder
of this lesson deals with formatting a spec script.

Scene Headings

A scene heading, also called a "slug line," is composed of three parts:

48
 a) interior vs. exterior

b) location

c) time of day

The three parts are written on one line and capitalized, as in the example below.
Interior and exterior are always abbreviated as INT. and EXT. Time of day is
limited to DAY and NIGHT, with the occasional use of DAWN and DUSK.

INT. DON'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

If any of the three elements change, it creates a new scene and a new heading is
required. For example, if the next scene takes place in the same location but
during the day, the heading would be changed to read:

INT. DON'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Special Scene Headings

There are several special scene headings to help clarify issues of time and space.
They include:

"Month Year"

Use this heading when the script alternates between several different time periods.
It can be written in a variety of ways, including "season year." This heading is
from the The Godfather:

SPRING 1946

"Back To"
Use this heading when returning to a previous location or time after a short scene
change:

BACK TO THE DON'S LIVING ROOM

or
49
 BACK TO SPRING 1946

or

BACK TO THE PRESENT

"Later"
Use this to indicate a minor shift in time at the same location:

LATER

or

LATER THAT DAY

"Flashback"
Use this to indicate an earlier time:

FLASHBACK:

"Montage"
This indicates that a series of short related scenes follows (note that a montage can
also be implied in the writing): MONTAGE

"Intercut"
This indicates that the scene takes place in more than one location. It is often used
with telephone calls: INTERCUT
Usage
Use of special scene headings is a matter of personal taste and will distinguish
your writing style.
They should make the script easier to read. If the script becomes more complex,
you are using them incorrectly. If in doubt about a heading, do not use it.
Special scene headings can be used alone or in conjunction with a normal scene
heading. When used in conjunction with a normal heading, it is placed first, as
such:

50
SPRING 1946
INT. DON'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
It is acceptable to use a special scene heading on the same line if it improves the
writing flow:
INT. DON'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT (SPRING 1946)
3.9 Master Scene Script Format

The classic pattern: Master shot, Long Shot, Singles or O/S, Closeups, Cutaways
and Inserts

Usefulness and impact of masters, Scenes often begin with a relatively random
long shot then the focus becomes tighter and mores specific.

Master scene technique is an approach in which the director stages the scene
essentially as it would be staged in a theater. All or part of the scene is shot in a
master shot. A shot in which all, or most, of the elements are presented together.
This is also known as an establishing shot.

Practical issues: Closeups, shooting out of sequence, whom to cover first. Off
camera dialogue.

Using The Master Scene Technique

No matter how much you plan the shots in your film (low budget or big budget
film), there is always something that goes wrong and in the stress of filming, you
miss it on the set. The master shot technique method comes to the rescue in such
cases.

The master scene method is one of the films directing fundamentals� techniques
that began during the silent movies in the 20‘s when video editing wasn‘t as easy
as it is now.

51
The Master shot method means to shoot the whole scene in a wide angle with all
its important elements in one long take. You shoot the long shot first and then you
can move on to shoot the coverage shots like the over the shoulder, medium shots,
close-ups etc. Now, In the editing room, if you find you missed a shot, you can go
to the cover shot to the rescue. You want to start the shooting with the master shot
before the coverage shots to prevent problems in the continuity of the scene.

A few tips about working with master scene method:

 Sometimes there are scenes that must be broken into two kinds of Master
shots because they are too long or that have a complex movement. Don‘t
be afraid to do that

 It is very important to watch for the 180-degree rule (see the article
about rules of the camera) while shooting the master and the coverage.

 When you plan the shooting breakdown, you also want to take into
consideration the time it will take to change the lightning from the master
shot to the coverage shots.

 Make sure you start the shot from the complete beginning of the scene
until the complete ending of it.

 Master shot can also be used to give information about the scene, tell the
storyof it and to add a certain atmosphere.

When this method is done properly, � the audience will barely feel it was made to
cover faults.
3.10 Unit end exercises

3.11 Points for discussion

3.12 Answers to check your progress

3.13 Suggested Readings

52
1. http://movieschoolfree.com/film-directing-the-master-scene-method/

2. Trottier, David: "The Screenwriter's Bible", pp. 5–7. Silman James, 1998.

3. https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/rtf318/Master+Scene+Technique

4. http://writerunboxed.com/2015/10/06/master-scene-types-for-page-
turning-plots/

5. https://www.writersstore.com/how-to-write-a-screenplay-a-guide-to-
scriptwriting/

6. http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/the-scene/18-essential-
scene-elements

7. http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure#

8. Excerpt on the three-act structure from Yves Lavandier's Writing Drama

9. http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/structure/the-scene/16-types-of-
scenes

10. Hulk, Film Crit (2013). Screenwriting 101. Badass Digest.

UNIT II
Lesson 4

Screenplay Structure in other Forms

53
INTRODUCTION

Plot or character? Which is more important? This debate is as old as the art.
Aristotle weighed each side and concluded that story is primary, character
secondary. His view held sway until, with the evolution of the novel, the
pendulum of opinion swung the other way. By the nineteenth century many held
that structure is merely an appliance designed to display personality, that what the
reader wants is fascinating, complex characters. Today both sides continue the
debate without a verdict. The reason for the hung jury is simple: The argument is
specious. We cannot ask which is more important, structure or character, because
structure is character; character is structure. They're the same thing, and therefore
one cannot be more important than the other. Yet the argument goes on because of
a widely held confusion over two crucial aspects of the fictional role-the
difference between Character and Characterization.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This unit helps the student to

 Processes involved in Screenplay writing

 Usage of split Screen format
 Learn about the fiction script writing and dramatic structures
 Basic difference between character and characterization.

UNIT STRUCTURE

4.1 Split Screen Format

4.2 Dramatic Structure

4.3 Fiction and Non Fiction Writing

4.4 Character Vs. Characterization

4.5 Character Development

54
 4.6 Let us sum up

4.7 Unit end exercises

4.8 Points for discussion

4.9 Answers to check your progress

4.10 Suggested Readings

4.1 Split Screen Format

How would you go about writing two scenes in a script that run at the same time
in split screen, but don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other?
Basically like a scene from the movie TIMECODE.

–John

That‘s a real challenge to do in standard screenplay format. While someone

watching a movie can follow the action happening in multiple sections of the
screen at once, the reader simply can‘t. Reading is a left-to-right, top-to-bottom
process. So you‘re going to have to figure out another way to communicate the
same idea.

Your approach depends on how crucial the split-screen timing becomes. For
instance, in an earlier draft of the first CHARLIE‘S ANGELS, there was a chase
sequence between Alex (Lucy Liu) and the Thin Man (Crispin Glover), in which
they were both trying to get to the roof of the building in order to reach the
satellite dish that Eric Knox was using. The chase started with the two characters
on opposite sides of an iron fence, which formed the dividing line down the
middle of the screen. We then followed each character on separate, sometimes
overlapping paths, as they fought their way to the roof. Finally, Alex kicked the
Thin Man "through" the center dividing line.

In this example, the exact timing of who-is-where-when was important, so I chose

to write the action as two parallel columns on a horizontal page. It was a pain in
the ass to format, because Final Draft couldn‘t handle it, so each time I printed out
55
the script I had to make sure to leave blank "filler" pages in which to insert the
properly-formatted side-by-side pages. Still, it was a fun challenge.

Ultimately, the split-screen stuff was dropped and the sequence became about
Alex and the Thin Man kicking the crap out of each other.
For TIMECODE, Mike Figg is apparently didn‘t work off a traditional screenplay
at all. The entire movie was rehearsed and reshot more than a dozen times. To
figure out who-is-where-when, Figg is used musical score sheets.

For your script, since the two sides don‘t necessarily have anything to do with
each other, I would recommend writing the scenes out straight. If it‘s important to
indicate to the reader that certain scenes are playing side-by-side, just put a note in
parentheses in the first line of a scene‘s description. It‘s not a perfect solution, but
in most cases that‘s as straight foward as you‘re going to get.

4.2 Dramatic Structure

Dramatic structure (also called Freytag's pyramid) is the structure of

a dramatic work such as a playor film. Many scholars have analyzed dramatic
structure, beginning with Aristotle in his Poetics (c. 335 BCE). This article
focuses primarily on Gustav Freytag's analysis of ancient
Greek and Shakespearean drama.

According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts, which some refer
to as a dramatic arc: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and
dénouement. Freytag Pyramids helps a writer organize their thoughts and ideas
which describe the main problem of the drama, the rising action, the climax and
the falling action.

Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is based on five-act plays, it can

be applied (sometimes in a modified manner) to short stories and novels as well,
making dramatic structure a literary element. Nonetheless, the pyramid is not
always easy to use, especially in modern plays such as Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss

56
Daisyand Arthur Miller's The Crucible, which is actually divided into 25 scenes
without concrete acts.

Exposition

The exposition is the portion of a story that introduces important background

information to the audience; for example, information about the setting, events
occurring before the main plot, characters' back stories, etc. Exposition can be
conveyed through dialogues, flashbacks, character's thoughts, background details,
in-universe media, or the narrator telling a back-story.

Rising action

In the rising action, a series of events build toward the point of greatest interest.
The rising action of a story is the series of events that begin immediately after the
exposition (introduction) of the story and builds up to the climax. These events are
generally the most important parts of the story since the entire plot depends on
them to set up the climax and ultimately the satisfactory resolution of the story
itself.

Climax

The climax is the turning point, which changes the protagonist‘s fate. if the story
is a comedy and thing were going bad for the protagonist, the plot will begin to
unfold in his or her favor, often requiring the protagonist to draw on hidden inner
strengths. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with
things going from good to bad for the protagonist, often revealing the protagonist's
hidden weaknesses.

Falling action

During the falling action, the conflict between the protagonist and
the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the
antagonist. The falling action may contain a moment of final suspense, in which
the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt.

Dénouement; resolution, revelation, or catastrophe

57
The dénouement comprises events from the end of the falling action to the actual
ending scene of the drama or narrative. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality
for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or release of tension and anxiety, for
the reader. Etymologically, the French word dénouement is derived from the Old
French word desnouer, "to untie", from nodus, Latin for "knot." It is the
unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot.

The comedy ends with a dénouement (a conclusion), in which the protagonist is

better off than at the story's outset. The tragedy ends with a catastrophe, in which
the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative. Exemplary of a
comic dénouement is the final scene of Shakespeare‘s comedy As You Like It, in
which couples marry, an evildoer repents, two disguised characters are revealed
for all to see, and a ruler is restored to power. In Shakespeare's tragedies,
the dénouement is usually the death of one or more characters.

4.3 Fiction and Non Fiction Writing

Fiction writing is the composition of non-factual prose texts. Fictional writing

often is produced as a story meant to entertain or convey an author's point of view.
The result of this may be a short story, novel, novella, screenplay, or drama,
which are all types (though not the only types) of fictional writing styles. Different
types of authors practice fictional writing, including novelists, playwrights, short
story writers, dramatists and screenwriters.

A screenplay or script is a written work by screenwriters for a film, video game,

or television program. These screenplays can be original works or adaptations
from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and
dialogues of the characters are also narrated. A play for television is also known
as a teleplay.

Script coverage, is a filmmaking term for the analysis and grading of screenplays,
often within the "script development" department of a production company. While
coverage may remain entirely verbal, it usually takes the form of a written report,
guided by a rubric that varies from company to company. The original idea behind
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coverage was that a producer's assistant could read a script and then give their
producer a breakdown of the project and suggest whether they should consider
producing the screenplay or not.

Nonfiction or non-fiction is content (often, in the form of a story) whose creator,

in good faith, assumes responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the events,
people, and/or information presented. In contrast, a story whose creator explicitly
leaves open if and how the work refers to reality is usually classified as
fiction. Nonfiction, which may be presented either objectively or subjectively, is
traditionally one of the two main divisions of narratives (and,
specifically, prose writing), the other traditional division being fiction, which
contrasts with nonfiction by dealing in information, events, and characters
expected to be partly or largely imaginary.

Nonfiction's specific factual assertions and descriptions may or may not be

accurate, and can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question.
However, authors of such accounts genuinely believe or claim them to be truthful
at the time of their composition or, at least, pose them to a convinced audience
as historically or empirically factual. Reporting the beliefs of others in a
nonfiction format is not necessarily an endorsement of the ultimate veracity of
those beliefs, it is simply saying it is true that people believe them (for such topics
as mythology). Nonfiction can also be written about fiction, typically known
as literary criticism, giving information and analysis on these other works.
Nonfiction need not necessarily be written text, since pictures and film can also
purport to present a factual account of a subject.

The numerous literary and creative devices used within fiction are generally
thought inappropriate for use in nonfiction. They are still present particularly in
older works but they are often muted so as not to overshadow the information
within the work. Simplicity, clarity and directness are some of the most important
considerations when producing nonfiction. Audience is important in any artistic or
descriptive endeavor, but it is perhaps most important in nonfiction. In fiction, the

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writer believes that readers will make an effort to follow and interpret an
indirectly or abstractly presented progression of theme, whereas the production of
nonfiction has more to do with the direct provision of information. Understanding
of the potential readers' use for the work and their existing knowledge of a subject
are both fundamental for effective nonfiction. Despite the truth of nonfiction, it is
often necessary to persuade the reader to agree with the ideas and so a balanced,
coherent and informed argument is vital. However, the boundaries between fiction
and nonfiction are continually blurred and argued upon, especially in the field of
biography; as Virginia Woolf said: "if we think of truth as something of granite-
like solidity and of personality as something of rainbow-like intangibility and
reflect that the aim of biography is to weld these two into one seamless whole, we
shall admit that the problem is a stiff one and that we need not wonder if
biographers, for the most part failed to solve it."

Semi-fiction is fiction implementing a great deal of nonfiction, e.g. a fictional

description based on a true story.

Common literary examples of nonfiction include expository, argumentative,

functional, and opinion pieces; essays on art or
literature; biographies; memoirs; journalism; and historical, scientific, technical,
or economic writings (including electronic ones).

Journals, photographs, textbooks, travel books, blueprints, and diagrams are also
often considered non-fictional. Including information that the author knows to be
untrue within any of these works is usually regarded as dishonest. Other works
can legitimately be either fiction or nonfiction, such as journals of self-
expression, letters, magazine articles, and other expressions of imagination.
Though they are mostly either one or the other, it is possible for there to be a
blend of both. Some fiction may include nonfictional elements. Some nonfiction
may include elements of unverified supposition, deduction, or imagination for the
purpose of smoothing out a narrative, but the inclusion of open falsehoods would
discredit it as a work of nonfiction. The publishing and bookselling business

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sometimes uses the phrase "literary nonfiction" to distinguish works with a more
literary or intellectual bent, as opposed to the greater collection of nonfiction
subjects.

Narrative Writing

This type of nonfiction tells a true story about a person, event or place. Sometimes
this kind of nonfiction can be written in the first person, but it always
involves some research on the writer‘s part.

Expository Writing

The purpose of this type of nonfiction writing is to explain or inform a reader

about a certain topic. With expository writing, the reader may or may not have
prior knowledge about the topic being discussed, so research is central to
successfully executing expository nonfiction.

Persuasive Writing

With persuasive writing, the writer takes a position on an issue and argues for his
or her side or against an opposing side. The writer will use facts and information
to support his or her own argument while trying to influence his readers‘ opinions.
Normally, this kind of writing takes the form of an op-ed piece or editorial in the
newspaper.

Descriptive Writing

Descriptive nonfiction employs all five senses to help the reader get a visual of
what the writer is trying to describe. Sensory language, rich details, and figurative
language are methods used to achieve good descriptive nonfiction.

4.4 Character Vs. Characterization

Characterization is the sum of all observable qualities of a human being,

everything knowable through careful scrutiny: age and IQ; sex and sexuality; style
of speech and gesture; choices of home, car, and dress; education and occupation;
personality and nervosity; values and attitudes-all aspects of humanity we could

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know by taking notes on someone day in and day out. The totality of these traits
makes each person unique because each of us is a one-of-a-kind combination of
genetic givens and accumulated experience. This singular assemblage of traits is
characterization ... but it is not character.

TRUE CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under

pressure-the greater the pressure. the deeper the revelation. the truer the choice to
the character's essential nature. Beneath the surface of characterization, regardless
of appearances, who is this person? At the heart of his humanity, what will we
find? Is he loving or cruel? Generous or selfish? Strong or weak? Truthful or a
liar? Courageous or cowardly? The only way to know the truth is to witness him
make choices under pressure to take one action or another in the pursuit of his
desire. As he chooses, he is. Pressure is essential. Choices made when nothing is
at risk mean little. If a character chooses to tell the truth in a situation where
telling a lie would gain him nothing, the choice is trivial, the moment expresses
nothing. But if the same character insists on telling the truth when a lie would save
his life, then we sense that honesty is at the core of his nature. Consider this scene:
Two cars motor down a highway. One is a rusted-out station wagon with buckets,
mops, and brooms in the back Driving it is an illegal alien -a quiet, shy woman
working as a domestic for under-the-table cash, sole support of her family.
Alongside her is a glistening new Porsche driven by a brilliant and wealthy
neurosurgeon.

Two people who have utterly different backgrounds, beliefs, personalities,

languages-in every way imaginable their characterizations are the opposite of each
other. Suddenly, in front of them, a school bus full of children flips out of control,
smashes against an underpass, bursting into flames, trapping the children inside.
Now, under this terrible pressure, we'll find out who these two people really are.
Who chooses to stop? Who chooses to drive by? Each has rationalizations for
driving by. The domestic worries that if she gets caught up in this, the police
might question her, find out she's an illegal, throw her back across the border, and
her family will starve. The surgeon fears that if he's injured and his hands burned,
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hands that perform miraculous microsurgeries, the lives of thousands of future
patients will be lost. But let's say they both hit the brakes and stop. This choice
gives us a clue to character, but who's stopping to help, and who's become too
hysterical to drive any farther? Let's say they both choose to help. This tells us
more. But who chooses to help by calling for an ambulance and waiting? Who
chooses to help by dashing into the burning bus? Let's say they both rush for the
bus-a choice that reveals character in even greater depth. Now doctor and
housekeeper smash windows, crawl inside the blazing bus, grab screaming
children, and push them to safety.

But their choices aren't over. Soon the flames surge into a blistering inferno, skin
peels from their faces. They can't take another breath without searing their lungs.
In the midst of this horror each realizes there's only a second left to rescue one of
the many children still inside. How does the doctor react? In a sudden reflex does
he reach for a white child or the black child closer to him? Which way do the
housekeeper's instincts take her? Does she save the little boy? Or the little girl
cowering at her feet? How does she make "Sophie's choice"? We may discover
that deep within these utterly different characterizations is an identical humanity-
both willing to give their lives in a heartbeat for strangers. Or it may tum out that
the person we thought would act heroically is a coward. Or the one we thought
would act cowardly is a hero.

Or at rock bottom, we may discover that selfless heroism is not the limit of true
character in either of them. For the unseen power of their acculturation may force
each to a spontaneous choice that exposes unconscious prejudices of gender or
ethnicity . . . even while they are performing acts of saintlike courage. Whichever
way the scene's written, choice under pressure will strip away the mask of
characterization, we'll peer into their inner natures and with a flash of insight
grasp their true characters.

4.5 Character Development

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Character development is essential to a good story. Characters should enter the
story as dimensional, non-stereotypical characters, and become more dimensional
as the story and other characters act upon them. They should be big as life;
capable of developing and being transformed. We should see different sides of
them, understand how they think and act, learn about their philosophies and
attitudes. We should be aware of their emotional make-up through their responses
to their surroundings, to others with whom they interact, and to events which
occur.

If your characters don't come alive in the script, they won't come alive on the
screen. Answer these questions, as you characterize the protagonist and other
characters within your storyline: what is this character's goal or motivation, why
does he or she want to achieve this goal, who or what is trying to stop this
character from reaching this goal and why, what strengths or weaknesses of this
character will help or hinder in the pursuit of this goal?

Characters have emotional lives which define the character just as their attitudes
define them. Their emotional responses expand this definition. It's the emotional
response to events and to other people in the story that makes the character
understandable and believable. How she/he feels creates sympathy in the
audience, and creates identification with the character, wherein we experience
vicariously the character's journey through the emotions and the story.

These dimensions create a dimensional sequence, which helps define the character
on each level, and through the transformational arc of that character. A character's
philosophy creates certain attitudes toward life. These attitudes create decisions
that create actions. These actions come out of the character's emotional life, which
predisposes the character to do certain things or to react in a certain way, and as a
result of the actions of other characters, who each have their own dimensions, the
character responds emotionally in a certain characteristic way.

Examples: A cynical attitude might result in despair, or depression, or in a

withdrawal from life, causing the character to be morose, bitter or angry. A

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positive attitude might result in a character who smiles or laughs a lot, or is always
optimistic, accessible, and reaches out. Or a character might be cool as a result of
inaccessible emotions, or hard-hearted, or hostile and vengeful.

Each character feels the influence of the other, and responds through new actions
and new emotions. The story influences the character and the character influences
the story. Creating dimensional characters demands close observance of real life:
noticing the small details and character traits and listening for character rhythms,
and utilizing a broad range of thoughts, actions and emotions. The character of the
individual should be expressed in a screenplay through actions rather than merely
through dialog/talk. Action details will help expand and reveal characters, while
still focusing on the necessary actions to advance the story; the film becomes
more dimensional because of the dimensional character(s).

In order to create a character, the writer must have a character to express. The
process of identifying the character inevitably requires an identification with and
an awareness of that character. You must discover the personal boundaries and
singular identity which separate the character from his or her fellow man. Clarify
your perceptions, eliminate the ambiguity, vagueness, misconceptions and
illusions.

Do not construct a mannequin or dummy with an assortment of attributes attached

to him or her like stick-on labels. In characterization, present not a puppet, an
automaton, a generalized abstraction, a flat, one-dimensional figure, a cardboard
cut-out, but a rounded, individualized, three-dimensional figure. The character
must come alive for you as well as for the audience.

Realize your character with all six of your senses, react to him or her with your
emotions, be able to follow the character with your mind. Fully breathe life into
characters by covering their ancestry, past life, environmental influences,
occupations, future aims, physical appearance, emotional drives, and basic unique
traits. Get inside his or her skin; become the character.

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Know what the person's face is really like, as well as hair, eyes, facial expressions,
how hands and feet are used, gestures, how does the person walk and talk, what
are the mannerisms, urges, aversions, body language. Realize the character's inner
feelings. Observe physical details, inclinations, tastes, interests, habits, ambitions.
How does your character treat and react to others?

Create an empathy within the audience for your character -- that special kind of
imagination which allows the audience to put themselves in another person's
shoes, a suspension of reality in which the audience identifies with the character.
The memorable character who truly lives for the audience is one who walks off
the screen and into their minds and their hearts.

Good screenwriting is really about character, as well as story and structure. Show
the characters, don't tell about them. Create memorable characters, such as Scarlett
O'Hara, Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca, the James Dean character in Rebel Without a
Cause, the characters played by Hepburn and Bogart in African Queen, Zorba
in Zorba the Greek,and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The writers and the
screenwriters who created these characters, as well as the film directors and the
actors' interpretations of them gave birth to and fleshed out these memorable
figures, magically bringing them to life in the mind of the audience.

Often, characterization can be further enhanced by the use of a metaphor which

can give visible shape to a character. A woman feels unloved, ugly and unhappy,
she goes to a mirror, looks at herself, bangs her head on the glass, shattering it.
We see her distorted image as the camera lingers on the mirror, and we, and she,
realize that it is she herself who has made herself ugly, outside and in. Another,
perhaps more subtle method of defining character to the audience, is by the use of
symbolic objects in proximity to the character, or by the manner in which the
character is placed in the frame. The figure may be placed alone in the frame, or at
a distance, to convey his or her feelings of abandonment or loneliness. A character
may be ascending a staircase, passing dark portraits of his or her ancestors,

66
glowering down in a seemingly judgmental manner; he or she pauses at a brightly-
sunlit window and looks out at a winding road, perhaps to freedom.

Film is a visual medium which is particularly capable of revealing insights that

cannot be verbally expressed, and can be especially meaningful when associative,
unconscious innuendoes are utilized. Words and incessant verbal dialog, by its
very nature, often arrest and paralyze thought instead of permitting it and fostering
its development. The frequent absence of dialog heightens the hypnotic power of
the visuals.

You should not write the dialog; let the characters write it for you. Don't block
them. Look for your characters to lead the way. Allow each character to speak in
his or her characteristic, individual manner. Consciously focus on character, while
making sure that character and story/plot intertwine. In the more vertical character
stories, the protagonists affect the events of the story; humans control their own
destiny. In the more horizontal plot stories, destiny more significantly controls the
characters.

Story structure and character are interlocked. The event structure of a screenplay
is created out of the choices that characters make, and the actions and reactions
they manifest on the screen. Deep character and the relative complexity of
character must often be adjusted to genre. Action/Adventure and farce usually
demand simplicity of character because complexity would distract from the
actions of the character. Dramatic stories of personal and inner conflict require
complexity of character because simplicity would rob the audience of the insight
into human nature requisite to that genre.

Characterization is the sum of all observable qualities of a human being,

everything that is knowable through careful scrutiny. The totality of these traits
makes each person unique. This singular assemblage of traits is characterization,
but it is not character. True character is revealed in the choices that a human being
makes. The screenwriter must strip away the mask of characterization, and peer
into the true, inner natures of their characters.

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The revelation of true character, in contrast to characterization, is fundamental to
creating real and memorable characters who not only are driven by the story, but
who themselves drive the story.

4.6 Let us sum up

4.7 Unit end exercises

4.8 Points for discussion

4.9 Answers to check your progress

4.10 Suggested Readings

1. http://www.writing-world.com/screen/film3.shtml

2. http://www.kimhartman.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Summary-of-
screenplay-by-syd-field.pdf

3. https://www.eliteediting.com/blog/post.aspx?id=38

4. Farner, Geir (2014). "Chapter 2: What is Literary Fiction?".Literary

Fiction: The Ways We Read Narrative Literature. Bloomsbury Publishing
USA.

5. Susan B. Neuman and Linda B. Gambrell, eds. (2013). Quality Reading

Instruction in the Age of Common Core Standards. International Reading
Association. p. 46.

6. The Role of Narrative Fiction and Semi-Fiction in Organizational

Studies G. Whiteman. N. Phillips. 13 2006, 12

7. The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats (2002) Cole and Haag,
SCB Distributors, ISBN 0-929583-00-0.

8. Jami Bernard (1995). Quentin Tarantino: The Man and His Movies.
HarperCollins publishers. ISBN 0-00-255644-8. - Paperback

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9. David Trottier (1998). The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to
Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script. Silman-James
Press. ISBN 1-879505-44-4. – Paperback

10. Teruaki Georges Sumioka: The Grammar of Entertainment Film

2005, ISBN 978-4-8459-0574-4; lectures at Johannes-Gutenberg-
University in German

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 UNIT - 3

Lesson 5
Techniques of Screenplay
INTRODUCTION

Once you have composed your treatment, begin writing your screenplay. This is
your chance to flesh out and bring to life the ideas you brainstormed in your initial
narrative planning material and described in your treatment. Visualise how your
written ideas can be communicated through moving images and sounds during the
production stage. Remember, film is a visual and aural medium: ensure that your
screenplay captures what you want your audience to see and hear. Screenwriters
use a series of screenplay conventions to effectively communicate their ideas to
the cast and crew of a production in an established and universally understood
format. There are many screenplays available online that can help you to
familiarise yourself with scriptwriting terminology, formats and guidelines prior
to writing your film or television script.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understanding the techniques of screenplay writing

 What are the different elements comprised in screenplay
UNIT STRUCTURE

5.1 Narrative
5.2 Tone
5.3 Coincidence
5.4 Surprise
5.5 Suspense
5.6 Tension
5.7 Let us sum up
5.8 Unit End Exercises
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 5.9 Points for Discussion
5.10 Answers to Check your Progress
5.11 Suggested Readings

5.1 Narrative
Why is it voice-over narration is considered by many so-called experts to be
incongruous with the true nature of cinematic storytelling; hence screenwriting?
Script doctors and other gurus continue to castigate the technique and have for
decades.

When well written and properly used, the voice-over has enhanced the dramatic
impact of so many wonderful movies from DOUBLE INDEMNITY to TAXI
DRIVER to THE SHAWSHANK REDMEPTION to FORREST GUMP to
FIGHT CLUB to AMERICAN BEAUTY to MOMENTO and on and on. I can‘t
imagine any of these movies without their voice-over narrative.

I‘ve read that the problem is there are so many screenplays where the voice-over
is improperly used that script readers and script doctors cringe whenever they
open a script and see it right there on page one.

Typically VO is used when the screenwriter is adapting source material like a

novel and in particular material written in a first-person narration. It‘s incredibly
hard to be loyal to such material without voice-over. Think about Chuck
Palahniuk‘s novel Fight Club or Stephen King‘s novella Rita Hayworth and the
Shawshank Redemption, both source materials pretty much required voice-over to
tell the story properly.

Therefore I don‘t necessarily agree with the rule that you should be able to remove
VO and the story isn‘t impacted. I don‘t think FIGHT CLUB or THE
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION would resonate and have the same dramatic
impact without the voice-over. Red‘s ―I Hope‖ monologue at the end of
SHAWSHANK is one of the best examples of a well-written and emotionally
impacting VO. Same thing with Forrest Gump‘s ―Destiny‖ monologue and so
many other movies where the voice-over is used with such dramatic force.
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The only thing I will say about voiceover is this: If you can show it without telling
us about it, then don‘t use voice-over. Additionally, voice-over should be used
while we are visually experiencing something related to the narrative. But that‘s
all I have to say about that, to quote Forrest Gump.

So instead of me giving you some lame list of ―rules‖ about how to use voice-over
or what good VO sounds or looks like, I'm going to spend a couple days showing
you some examples of well-played voice-over:

First up is MOMENTO. I don't think you can remove the voiceover without its
absence impacting the narrative and the dramatic effect of the story. In this clip at
the 3:50 mark is the "I'm Chasing this guy. NO he's chasing me" scene. I selected
this scene because its funny. If you watch the movie and read the script you get a
great feel for how powerful VO narration can be.

5.2 Tone
David Landau, award winning playwright, explains how to set a tone with a style
in screenplay.

I seem to write a lot about screenplays that break from the norm, or at least defy
the standard Fields and McKee status quo. I don't remember how many
screenplays have Syd Fields and Robert McKee sold. I'm not saying what they say
doesn't hold valuable lessons within. I just wonder why so many of the most
respected and acclaimed movies have screenplays that don't fit their molds. Most
recently Big Fish, screenplay by John August based on the novel by Daniel
Wallace, is a case in point.

August took great liberties with the book (and with Wallace's blessings).Big
Fish is exactly what it's title says it is - a Big Fish story. It is a story of modern
myths told in a mythical style. August isn't shy about writing in his descriptions
little asides to the reader, such as "Is this guy crazy?" and wonderful metaphoric
phrases such as "He's the legless cricket left on the anthill." As a matter of fact,
barely a page goes by without them.

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All of these could easily be cut. It would no doubt lower the page count
significantly under the 122 pages it is now. And that is the standard advice from
most screenwriting books and seminars who preach, "save it for your novel." They
want a lean, clean and concise screenplay. No extra words, no flowery writing.
That certainly is a good advice for the beginning writer, who has a tendency to
write a screenplay like a short story or a book wit too much description and prose
that can't be shown on the screen.

But August is writing a story which virtually requires the flippant style he uses in
his screenplay. Big Fish is a simple story about a father and son who don't really
connect. But that's positioned almost as the subplot. The main plot is the
collection of Big Fish tales the father recites year after year, and the underlying
question, how much of myth is based on truth?

Flashback within flashback, tons of voice over narration and a conversational

writing style makes the screenplay Big Fish a captivating read. My twelve year
old daughter who never saw the film read it from cover to cover and loved it.
Now, I'm not trying to imply that studio executives have the mentality of a twelve
year old (after all, my daughter is witty and creative). But if August's writing can
connect with her than it certainly can connect with a script reader, a development
exec, a film producer, a screenplay contest judge, an agent, a director, an actor or
any other sort of person who reads scripts. Each of August's little asides and
turned phrases speaks volumes. They set the tone, not only in the readers mind,
but for the director, for the cast and for the crew.

"She looks like she's been dead for years, but too stubborn to lie down."

"And in the silence that follows, a lot is said. It wasn't the upbeat reply Sandra was
hoping for."

"And that's the sad truth. Karl is less a monster that a freak B a giant man, but in
the end, just a man"

"ON EDWARD as his heart falls 20 floors."

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Each of these could be cut or simplified into clean clear stage directions and
descriptions. But that wouldn't be right for this screenplay. This is a film of epic
lies which are told with a nod and wink. The screenplay must be written with the
same nods and winks that the main character uses to spins his tales. It is a matter
of tone, not just setting it but keeping it throughout. It is also a matter of good
writing. Good writing makes good reading, and good reading makes good films.
Because a lot of people will be working to make that script into a finished film,
they all must have the same image in their minds - they all must get a good handle
on the tone - the style.

Would this style of writing work for a suspense-thriller? Probably not. It would be
the wrong style for the tone. A dark tense story would seem to cry out for short,
precise description - almost a staccato style that would better match the feeling of
the movie. Big Fish is a lyrical film and thus a lyrical telling style is not just
justified, but demanded.

When writing, we have to do more than stay aware of the tone of our story. The
style in which we chose to write it can be a great device in communicating and
maintaining that tone to any and all who pick up the pages. So we as writers
should chose the style in which we tell our tales on paper. The style of the
screenplay can imply the style of the finished film. Making a conscious chose and
making it work is one of the differences between being an artist and being a
craftsmen.

Big Fish " is published by NewMarket Press / Shooting Script series.

5.3 Coincidence
―Coincidence. It‘s a screenwriter‘s stock in trade. It lies at the very heart of
storytelling; it‘s been around even before Oedipus slept with his mother. It‘s the
essence of the ‗what if.‘ Coincidence comes into play for inciting incidents,
chance meetings, clever plot twists, surprising revelations. It‘s a very necessary
dramatic tool.‖

Terry Rossio Pirates of the Caribbean

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―There‘s nothing wrong with coincidence, per se. Almost every movie is going to
have some incidents where one character just happens to be in the right place at
the right time.‖

Screenwrtier John August Big Fish

Last week I spent two days in a town I had never been before and both mornings
went to the same Starbucks at different times in the morning. And both times the
same person was standing behind me in line. What are the odds? It‘s hard to miss
that kind of coincidence. It made me think about how coincidence is used in
screenwriting,

All of us have real stories of coincidence ranging from simple to complex. Things
like hearing a song you haven‘t heard in years playing on the radio at the same
time on two different stations. Or like the time I got on a connecting standby flight
in Dallas and ended up on the same flight as a guy I went to high school with who
I hadn‘t seen in years.

Coincidence is a part of life so we shouldn‘t be surprised when coincidence is

used in the movies. But if it‘s not a law it should at least be a rule that coincidence
not be used throughout your story unless you are writing a farce (Groundhog Day)
or a story where coincidence is built into the story. For instance we expect Forrest
Gump to bump shoulders with Elvis, John F. Kennedy and John Lennon. It‘s part
of the fun.

But since coincidence must be used to one degree or another it‘s best if you don‘t
use them at important moments of your script.

Coincidence is best used in the first act and as early as possible. Sure it‘s a
coincidence that the swimmer in Jaws just happens to take a swim at feeding time.
But something has to start the story. Inciting incidents are often a fitting place for
coincidence.

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The worst time to use coincidence is at the end of the film. You will find
coincidence abuse across every genre. Perhaps the biggest offender is romantic
comedies as writers work to get two people together. Could there be a bigger
coincidence (or heavy handed metaphor) than after a man‘s wife dies to have him
and fall in love with the recipient (via heart-transplant) of his dead wife‘s heart?
Critics used words like gimmick, contrived, and creepy to refer to the plot
of Return to Me. Yet the quirky comedy did find a satisfied audience.

So you can overcome heavy-handed coincidence but it takes work to avoid. The
real secret of using coincidence is to sneak it in where needed. Avoid using
coincidence at key moments of the story.

Terry Rossio writes in his Wordplay Columns:

One of the classic rules of coincidence is that fate — if it must be present —

should always favor the antagonist. If our hero has a gun on the villain and the
hero‘s gun jams, it‘s called drama. If the villain has our hero dead in his sights,
and the villain‘s gun jams, it‘s called a lousy cheat, a not-very-inventive way to
sneak the hero out of his predicament.

When the audience rolls back their eyes and has one of those ―you‘ve-got-to be-
kidding‖ moments you know that coincidence has been misused.

It‘s best when the audience doesn‘t even realize the coincidence. For instance
inMystic River the novelist and/or screenwriters start and end the movie with
coincidence, but the story is so compelling it‘s not a stumbling block. (Spoiler
alert) Sean Penn‘s daughter is killed the same night that his friend Tim Robbins
kills a man — big coincidence. And Sean Penn kills Robbins thinking he killed
his daughter the same night that detectives arrest the real killers of Penn‘s
daughter–another big coincidence.

Perhaps coincidence is like subtext, exposition and other tricks of the trade in that
it can be handled well or poorly. The best way to handle coincidence in your
scripts is to do so organically. For instance it is not just a coincidence that at the

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end of JawsRoy Scheider has a gun and knows how to use it (he is the police
chief) or that there is an oxygen tank on the boat. Those were built into the story.

Scheider is simply forced to go to the end of the line because he has run out of
options. May you strive with the same diligence to fight off heavy-handed
coincidence in your scripts.

5.4 Surprise
Plot twists, plot surprises and/or The Big Reveal present writers with a particular
set of challenges that often vary depending on your genre of choice. Strictly
speaking, a plot surprise is really nothing more than a well-timed, well-
constructed story beat, the sort of thing that the late Blake Snyder described so
concisely in Save the Cat. Thrillers and horror films with a mystery component
(Note: Not all horror films have a mystery component; many just offer a slasher
component and a body count) may insert a surprise at the point Snyder called his
Midpoint Complication. Or they may arise later, during the All Is Lost moment or
in the Dark Night of the Soul.

Wherever they come, plot surprises don‘t come easily because audiences are
savvy, they are film-literate and are often attuned to story rhythms. Editing,
framing, and - always - a screechy-cresendo music track can accentuate The Big
Reveal, but it still falls to the writer to invent it. As I said, plot surprises and Big
Reveals will vary according to genre. But within the pantheon of film genres there
are what I consider four general categories of plot surprises. Firstly, the…

‘I Have Terrible Taste in Men/Women’ Reveal

The ―covert psychopath‖ scenario has been repurposed for all types of films, but
remains a chestnut of both the thriller and the horror genres. Hapless ingenues are
constantly Sleeping with the Enemy; marrying, conceiving with, and ultimately
fleeing spouses who devolve into..Jack Torrance in The Shining. The Big Reveal
in The Shining also serves as the second act break; it comes in the wake of a series
of depressive episodes that sets Wendy (Shelley Duvall) snooping. What she
discovers (cue screechy-cresendo music track) is that the novel Jack has labored
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over all winter is in reality a repetitive typing exercise that extends for hundred of
pages - a Big Reveal that spins the story into a rivetting finale.

To Die For (screenplay by Buck Henry from the novel by Joyce Maynard) flips
genders on this formula to present the ever-resourceful Suzanne Stone (Nicole
Kidman), a would-be broadcaster whose craven ambition knows no bounds.
Suzanne‘s duplicity and callowness seems gender-cloaked; that is, women can
spot it a mile away but all of the men in Suzanne‘s orbit are duped and captivated.
For Suzanne‘s clueless husband Larry (Matt Dillon) The Big Reveal only comes
when Suzanne murders him. Better late than never.

The Stepford Wives, Roesmary’s Baby, Fatal Attraction and Body Heat are all
classic horror/thrillers predicated on the poor-choices-in-lover/spouse motif. The
Big Reveal for these stories comes at varying points; but I would say the later the
better. Of this bunch, I particularly like Racine‘s ephiphany inBody
Heat (screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan), which comes long after his conviction
and incarceration for murder, as he reads Maddy‘s high school yearbook
inscription about her yearning to ―see the world.‖

Screenwriters often dial back the ―covert psychopath‖ model and convert it into
something more poignant or romantic…

The ‘Not Who He/She Seems’ Reveal

In a rom-com plot, the notion that your beloved is not who he or she seems can be
a positive, it can drive a rollicking story like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which does not
contain a Big Reveal so much as a Big Shootout that ends with both spouses
reconciled and the family home in ruins. In a romantic drama like Neil Jordan‘s
Oscar-winning script for The Crying Game, we are presented with what appears to
be a tender love story cast against a man-on-the-lam scenario. Somewhere near
the midpoint of this gritty, evocative tale we get one of the great Big Reveals in
the history of modern film. Dil, the hairdresser and sometime cabaret singer opens
her kimono and gives Fergus (and the audience) a new perspective on…love.

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It is also interesting to note that the Big Reveal of Dil‘s secret gender has only a
single line of foreshadowing. It comes during his/her boyfriend‘s captivity at the
hands of the IRA. Jody (Forest Whitaker) was lured away from a carnival and into
the gang‘s clutches by a classic honey trap - IRA operative Jude (Miranda
Richardson). Lamenting his fate, Jody says, ―She wasn‘t really my type.‖ An
incidental observation, until it turns out that transvestites are Jody‘s preferred
―type."

These types of stories are typically ―closed‖ mysteries - that is, the audience only
knows what the protagonist knows. In an unreliable narroator scenario, the
audience thinks the individual - his or her values, motivations, etc. The Big Reveal
is that we don’t know, that we‘ve been duped as well. A nice twist on the
unreliable narrator scenario is…

The 'Self-Delusional' Reveal

That is, stories in which the protagonist is not self-aware (e.g., Tom, in 500 Days
of Summer); stories in which the protag has a psychotic break with reality (Teddy
Daniels in Shutter Island); and stories in which the protagonist is in fact dead and
can‘t - or won‘t - acknowledge it (Dr. Crowe in The Sixth Sense, Grace Stewart
in The Others). Once again, the Big Reveal in these plots comes very late - well
after the Dark Night of the Soul story beat. In Shutter Island, the elaborate ruse
constructed for Teddy‘s benefit is relatively easy to track. In 500 Days of
Summer, the tone is very different but we still experience shock at Tom‘s self-
delusion. The Sixth Sense has a more intricate structure. M. Night Shyamalan‘s
great script features multiple clues, teases, and McGuffins that build to the plot
surprise. This brings us to my final category of plot surprises…

The ‘Nesting ‘Doll’ Reveal

Like the peeled onion or those Ukrainian nesting dolls, you get a layered series of
revelations in stories likeChinatown,Citizen Kane, The Manchurian Candidate, 12
Monkeys, and Momento. These are very different movies with different
sensibilities, but their common denominator is a main story, a major parallel story
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plus a few false leads, some misdirection, and multiple themes in play. Escalating
revelations-style mysteries truly test the audience‘s concentration and it‘s ability
to follow the main plot thread. For the writer, meeting that challenge is daunting,
but not impossible.

5.5 Suspense
During Alfred Hitchcock legendary conversation with François Truffaut, Alfred
broke down the difference between Surprise and Suspense:

―We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let‘s suppose that there is a bomb
underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden,
‗Boom!‘ There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it
has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence.

Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the
public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The
public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o‘clock and there is a clock in
the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the
same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is
participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the
screen: ‗You shouldn‘t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb
beneath you and it is about to explode!‘

In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the
moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen
minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be
informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending
is, in itself, the highlight of the story.‖

This idea of the audience knowing more than the characters in the narrative is
referred to as Dramatic Irony, and it is one of the major building blocks for
suspenseful writing.

5.6 Tension

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The actual craft of writing tension can be difficult. To successfully create tension,
you must create conflict. This conflict can either be physical (between groups of
people) or emotional (conflict between a person and his/her thoughts and
emotions).

In the film Munich, the protagonist begins to wonder if their revenge is only going
to be responsible for more violence. Violence after all, begets more violence, as
history shows. The film‘s protagonist is not your average 2 dimensional ―gun for
hire‖ who is unaware of the consequences of his job. Much of the film‘s tension
lays within Avner, who seems to increasingly know he‘s a walking contradiction.

We opened our discussion by deconstructing particular tension building tactics

used in the film. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, but only as much
as we could explore in our 2 hour online class.

1. Personal Doubts & Insecurities

The protagonist is a reluctant leader of a group of men. He is also living under his
father‘s hero shadow. This causes tension due to the fact that Avner is not
presented as your typical ―I have it all under control‖ leader. Tension is created
because not only do others not believe in him, but he seems not to fully believe in
himself.

2. Personal Identity vs. Professional Identity

The protagonist of the film (Avner), has two lives that constantly grate against
each other. On the one hand he‘s a family man with a pregnant wife at home.
However, he‘s also an assassin working for the Israeli government. This tension
building technique is used in many films. Spend some time thinking of other
examples of movies where the protagonist is developed as having two very
conflicting lives that constantly work against one another.

In this identity clash arises the contradictions of Avner‘s life. In fact, during the
lab chat the instructor argued that Avner‘s emotional conflict is the key to film‘s
tension. Over the course of the film, he begins to realize that killing for revenge is

81
doing nothing but propagating more violence. The tension in Avner‘s mind begins
to overshadow the physical tension of their mission. This becomes further
complicated when it is slowly revealed that the assassins aren‘t working purely to
avenge the Black September killings, but they‘re also doing some other political
dirty work as well.

3. Likability of the Antagonists / Targets:

The likeability of the antagonists and victims is usuallyplayed up in the film

Munich. For example, during the scene of Anver in the adjoining hotel room from
one of his ―assignments‖ he sees the man as a realy likable person. He engages in
a funny conversation with the man and then once they part Avner watches the
final ordinary, but seemingly tender moments of the man‘s life before he blows
him up.

These scenes are always fantastic where an assassin comes face to face with his
target or a criminal comes face to face with his pursuer (catch me if you can), the
tension writes itself. He must push past his personal feelings…feelings that have
suddenly become very real and intimate…and still complete the task. The tension
writes itself.

4. Flashbacks

The filmmaker‘s are able to juggle both the physical and emotional tension by
implementing a specific film technique known as ―flashbacks‖. Through
flashback, the audience is always reminded of what Avner‘s team is fighting for.

Whenever we, the audience, – along with the characters in the film – start to
forget the impetus for the mission, we are reminded through a series of brutal
flashbacks.

Flashbacks, when used properly, can add context to tension without disrupting the
flow of the narrative.

Many films use this technique. For instance, any war film of recent where the
soldier has come home and flashes back to his memories overseas while
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struggling to cope with his return home (i.e. Jacobs Ladder). Another example
(which is a little ―on the nose‖) is Memento.

At the same time, flashbacks should be used cautiously. They run the risk of
cutting a lot of the inborn tension of the storyline.

5. Play on Innocence

Playing on vulnerability and innocence is a great way to build tension. Audience

attach strongly to children because of our seemingly innate desire to protect them.
Therefore the scene when the little girl picks up the phone with a built in
explosive device the audience is forced to slide towards the edge of their seats.

And although the same level of vulnerability isn‘t attached to adults, a similar
emotional attachment is built in when innocent people stand to loose their lives.
For instance, when the athletes in the Olympic village are taken hostage the
audience can‘t help but hope for their safety. There is a lot of ―squirm factor‖ in
these scenes.

Which leads me to the last point we discussed.

6. Ticking Time Bomb Strategy

Using the ―ticking time bomb‖ technique to build tension always works well.
There are many times this technique is used in the film but one of the most
memorable occasions was the initial hostage taking scene. During this scene the
hostage takers make demands that have an expiry date. Again, the tension writes
itself.

5.7 Let us sum up

5.8 Unit End Exercises
5.9 Points for Discussion
5.10 Answers to Check your Progress
5.11 Suggested Readings

1. https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/tension-building-techniques/635/

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2. http://thescriptlab.com/feature/category/screenwriting-101/3283-plot-
surprises-and-the-big-reveal

3. Orehovec, Barbara (2003). Revisiting the Reading Workshop: A Complete

Guide to Organizing and Managing an Effective Reading Workshop That
Builds Independent, Strategic Readers (illustrated ed.). Scholastic Inc.
p. 89. ISBN 0439444047.

4. http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/blog/elements-of-suspense/

5. http://johnaugust.com/2007/perils-of-coincidence

6. https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/screenwriting-
coincidence-tip-11/

7. Heath, Peter (May 1994), "Reviewed work(s): Story-Telling Techniques in the

Arabian Nights by David Pinault", International Journal of Middle East
Studies, Cambridge University Press, 26 (2): 358–
360,doi:10.1017/s0020743800060633

8. http://www.storypros.com/Article_0711.html

9. Fiske, Robert Hartwell (1 November 2011). Robert Hartwell Fiske's

Dictionary of Unendurable English: A Compendium of Mistakes in Grammar,
Usage, and Spelling with commentary on lexicographers and linguists.
Scribner. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4516-5134-8.

10. http://www.movieoutline.com/screenwriting-
blog/index.php/2011/12/avoid-coincidence-in-storytelling/

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 UNIT – 3

Lesson 6

Principles of Characters and Characterisation

INTRODUCTION

Characterization is the sum of all observable qualities of a human being,

everything knowable through careful scrutiny: age and IQ; sex and sexuality; style
of speech and gesture; choices of home, car, and dress; education and occupation;
personality and nervosity; values and attitudes - all aspects of humanity we could
know by taking notes on someone day in and day out. The totality of these traits
makes each person unique because each of us is a one-of-a-kind combination of
genetic givens and accumulated experience. This singular assemblage of traits is
Characterization... but it is not Character.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understanding the nature of Protagonists and antoganists.

 What are the different genres of Screenplays
 What are the principles of characterization.
UNIT STRUCTURE

6.1 Character Revelation

6.2 Character Research
6.3 Character Background
6.4 An Overview of Dialogue
6.5 Building up a Great Character
6.6 Avoiding Stereotypes in Minor Characters
6.7 Character Psychology
6.8 Character Relationships
6.9 Naming the Characters
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 6.10 Advanced Characterization
6.11 Genres
6.12 Let us sum up
6.13 Unit End Exercises
6.14 Points for Discussion
6.15 Answers to Check your Progress
6.16 Suggested Readings

6.1 Character Revelation

Beneath the surface of characterization, regardless of appearances, who is this
person? At the heart of his humanity, what will we find? Is he loving or cruel?
Generous or selfish? Strong or weak? Truthful or a liar? Courageous or cowardly?
The only way to know the truth is to witness him make choices under pressure to
take one action or another in the pursuit of his desire. As he chooses, he is.

Pressure is essential. Choices made when nothing is at risk mean little. If a

character chooses to tell the truth in a situation where telling a lie would gain him
nothing, the choice is trivial, the moment expresses nothing. But if the same
character insists on telling the truth when a lie would save his life, then we sense
that honesty is at the core of his nature.

Consider this scene: Two cars motor down a highway. One is a rusted-out station
wagon with buckets, mops, and brooms in the back. Driving it is an illegal alien -
a quiet, shy woman working as a domestic for under-the-table cash, sole support
of her family. Alongside her is a glistening new Porsche driven by a brilliant and
wealthy neurosurgeon. Two people who have utterly different backgrounds,
beliefs, personalities, languages - in every way imaginable their
CHARACTERIZATIONS are the opposite of each other.

Suddenly, in front of them, a school bus full of children flips out of control,
smashes against an underpass, bursting into flames, trapping the children inside.
Now, under this terrible pressure, we'll find out who these two people really are.
Continue to read Part One of this riveting book excerpt here:
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Who chooses to stop? Who chooses to drive by? Each has rationalizations for
driving by. The domestic worries that if she gets caught up in this, the police
might question her, find out she's an illegal, throw her back across the border, and
her family will starve. The surgeon fears that if he's injured and his hands burned,
hands that perform miraculous microsurgeries, the lives of thousands of future
patients will be lost. But let's say they both hit the brakes and stop.

This choice gives us a clue to character, but who's stopping to help, and who's
become too hysterical to drive any farther? Let's say they both choose to help.
This tells us more. But who chooses to help by calling for an ambulance and
waiting? Who chooses to help by dashing into the burning bus? Let's say they both
rush for the bus - a choice that reveals character in even greater depth.

Now doctor and housekeeper smash windows, crawl inside the blazing bus, grab
screaming children, and push them to safety. But their choices aren't over. Soon
the flames surge into a blistering inferno, skin peels from their faces. They can't
take another breath without searing their lungs. In the midst of this horror each
realizes there's only a second left to rescue one of the many children still inside.
How does the doctor react? In a sudden reflex does he reach for a white child or
the black child closer to him? Which way do the housekeeper's instincts take her?
Does she save the little boy? Or the little girl cowering at her feet? How does she
make "Sophie's choice"?

We may discover that deep within these utterly different characterizations is an

identical humanity - both willing to give their lives in a heartbeat for strangers. Or
it may turn out that the person we thought would act heroically is a coward. Or the
one we thought would act cowardly is a hero. Or at rock bottom, we may discover
that selfless heroism is not the limit of true character in either of them. For the
unseen power of their acculturation may force each to a spontaneous choice that
exposes unconscious prejudices of gender or ethnicity ... even while they are
performing acts of saint-like courage. Whichever way the scene's written, choice

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under pressure will strip away the mask of characterization, we'll peer into their
inner natures and with a flash of insight grasp their true characters.

The revelation of true character in contrast or contradiction to characterization is

fundamental to all fine storytelling. Life teaches this grand principle: whatseems is
not what is. People are not what they appear to be. A hidden nature waits
concealed behind a façade of traits. No matter what they say, no matter how they
comport themselves, the only way we ever come to know characters in depth is
through their choices under pressure.

If we're introduced to a character whose demeanor is "loving husband," and by the

end of the tale he's still what he first appeared to be - a loving husband with no
secrets, no unfulfilled dreams, no hidden passions - we'll be very disappointed.
When characterization and true character match, when inner life and outer
appearance are, like a block of cement, of one substance, the role becomes a list of
repetitious, predictable behaviors. It's not as if such a character isn't credible.
Shallow, non-dimensional people exist... but they are boring.

For example: What went wrong with Rambo? In First Blood, he was a compelling
character - a Vietnam burnout, a loner hiking through the mountains, seeking
solitude (characterization). Then a sheriff, for no reason other than wickedly high
levels of testosterone, provoked him, and out came "Rambo," a ruthless and
unstoppable killer (true character). But once Rambo came out, he wouldn't go
back in. For the sequels, he strapped bandoleers of bullets across his oiled,
pumped muscles, coiffed his locks with a red bandanna until super-hero
characterization and true character merged into a figure with less dimension than a
Saturday morning cartoon.

Compare that flat pattern to James Bond. Three seems to be the limit on Rambos,
but there have been nearly 20 Bond films. Bond goes on and on because the world
delights in the repeated revelation of a deep character that contradicts
characterization. Bond enjoys playing the lounge lizard: dressed in a tuxedo, he
graces posh parties, a cocktail glass dangling from his fingertips as he chats up

88
beautiful women. But then story pressure builds and Bond's choices reveal that
underneath his lounge lizard exterior is a thinking man's Rambo. This expose of
witty super-hero in contradiction to playboy characterization has become a
seemingly endless pleasure.

Taking the principle further: The revelation of deep character in contrast or

contradiction to characterization is fundamental in major characters. Minor roles
may or may not need hidden dimensions, but principals must be written in depth -
they cannot be at heart what they seem to be at face.

6.2 Character Research

The one great thing about general character research is that you‘ve always got
something to fall back on. Remember how your grandma would always say
goodbye to her cat before leaving her house? Or how your friend would always sit
on certain seat on the bus if it was available? These are all general character traits
which can be noticed while people watching.

Most writers are people watchers. Every little quirk you see in people you know,
or people you don‘t, can‘t be used to flesh out the characters in your script. I
assume that more or less everyone who‘s reading this went to a school of some
sort. If you‘re writing a script with a couple of schoolchildren in then you can
draw on your personal experience and memories and create a couple of solid
characters with fun tails of pranks and mischief.

Everything you experience in life can be taken as general character research for
scriptwriting. Every emotion you‘ve felt, every relationship, every job provides
with a broad background of character knowledge you can draw upon.

I‘ve heard a few times that you should ―write what you know‖ and while there is
merit in that, part of the fun for many scriptwriters is immersing themselves in a
new environment. Using my opening idea of a hotel manager I‘ll highlight what
specific character research is. I don‘t personally know any hotel managers but that
does not need be a stumbling block.

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Information is easier than ever to access. I‘m sure if you were to search the
internet they‘d be a blog of a hotel manager, a myspace or facebook page or
maybe even a forum full of hotel managers…which is a scary thought. You could
strike up an online rapport with one of these hotel managers and have a wealth of
information at your fingertips.

Go down to you local library (if you want to be a scriptwriter, try to avoid ever
paying for anything!) and read a book on business management. Depending on
how good the library is they may even have one specifically on hotel
management.

My favorite approach though is the personal one. Treat yourself to a short break
and stop in a small hotel. Get talking to the manager and let him know you‘re a
writer, you‘d be surprised how open people will be with you especially if you
offer to take them for a meal or a coffee. When people hear you‘re a writing a
script and they can help you the lure of their having some portion of their life on
the big screen is just too much for most people to resist.

6.3 Character Background

When you are developing a character for your script you need to be aware that
they do not live in a vacuum. Their environment and upbringing will shape them
greatly. A 40 year old man from 18th century England will be vastly different
from a 40 year old man from present day England. If you want to understand a
character you need to understand the context of the character. Think of context as
the jug and the character as water. As the water is poured into the jug the shape it
takes depends on the shape of the jug.

Cultural Background

There are many cultural influences you have to consider when planning out your
character.

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Ethnic – How would Irish American differ from an Italian American? Think about
their speech, how they express themselves, mannerisms, attitudes and life
philosophy.

Social – Is your character from an well-to-do Washington family or a dirt poor

Detroit family? How would this affect them?

Religious – Your character will have a religious philosophy. They could be

Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Agnostic or Atheist? How would this change
their attitudes to people of other religions? Or how they deal with moral
situations?

Education – How long did your character go to school? Did they enjoy it? Were
they popular? What did they study?

The Time Period

Most scriptwriters choose to write in the current period. This is because the
audience of the time can relate to cultural references and a lot less research is
required.

Setting a script in the future is no problem as you can choose to take the world in
any direction you wish but the past is a lot more tricky. You need to take into
account that the way characters talk will be quite different. The vocabulary,
rhythm, obscenities and meanings of words will not be the same as today‘s speech
pattern. Similarly the clothes, amenities and buildings were vastly different. This
all needs to be researched thoroughly if you want the world your script is in to be
realistic.

Location

A script set in New York will undoubtedly have a much different flavor to one set
in Rhode Island. It is a lot easier to write about the place you live than somewhere
you have never even seen before. This cuts down on the amount of research
needed as you know a lot more about the area you‘ve lived in for the last 20 years
than somewhere you‘ve always wanted to visit but never got round to.
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It is unwise to write about a location that you‘ve never been to before but it can be
done. It just requires a lot of specific research. The location affects clothing,
attitudes, pace of life, accents, etc.

Occupation

The occupation of a character and how it affects them is often overlooked in film
and can be downright ignored in a TV series. A farmer is going to have a much
different pace of life than a stockbroker. A model is going to dress more stylishly
than a postal worker. Depending on the occupation the character may have a
unique set of skills. A negotiator is going to be very good at working people
around to his way of thinking. Also the occupation and cultural background can
prove to be closely related. That well-to-do Washington man is a much more
likely to be the CEO of a company than the dirt-poor Detroit man.

Interview Your Character

You might find it helpful to write out an interview with your character to find out
their background. Imagine they are someone you‘ve just met for the first time and
you want to find out more about them.

Perhaps the best question you can ever ask a character is ―what would you do
if…?‖

6.4 An Overview of Dialogue

Dialogue is an excellent tool in developing a character. It should be used to
gradually grow and evolve your characters and expound on the character arc. A lot
of would-be scriptwriters worry about their ability to write dialogue but a great
screenplay needs strong characters and a captivating story first and foremost. A
great example of this would be the early episodes of Star Wars.

Effective dialogue should achieve five things:

Move The Story Forward

When you write dialogue you want to make sure that it keeps the story flowing. If
your script comes skidding to a halt during a conversation between two characters
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then you need to edit how the information is given out. Break it up, show it
through action or whatever else you can think of to keep your story moving along
at a good pace.

Reveal The Emotional Stakes

During every conversation your characters should go through a range of emotions

and display them accordingly. Remember that different characters will display the
same emotion differently. While one character may go into a destructive rage
when they are angry, another might try to mask their anger behind a fake smile.

Reveal Your Character’s Background

Every character has a different background which affects how they speak. An
intelligent character might use a myriad of colourful phrases to describe things
while a street punk will use a few monosyllabic words to explain things.

Reveal Conflict

There are many types of conflict which will effectively show they type of
relationship between two characters. A light hearted couple of jibes about a
character‘s choice of pants shows that both characters are close and friendly. An
all out fist fight indicates a poor relationship with a certain amount of backstory to
it. In movies dialogue tends to replace the inner thought you‘d find in a novel.
Any conflict must be verbalized and explored. If there are two characters in a
scene and they both want the same thing then the scene feels flat, everything
moves along too smoothly. Nothing goes smoothly in real life and your script
should be much the same.

Create Tension

Every character has an agenda, some are out in the open and some are hidden.
Clashing agendas result in tension either on the surface or in the subtext. When
you‘re in a scene remember that each character wants something to happen, often
in opposition of the character they are playing off. How does your character react
to these situations? Be aware that each different situation will result in your
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character reacting in a different way. As the script progresses and your characters
grow the reaction becomes more focused and explosive.

Realistic Dialogue

Critics often focus on the realism of dialogue. The truth is though that good
dialogue is not at all like a real life conversation. Dialogue is much more sharp
and to the point. Movies are action orientated, if you want to write a dialogue
loaded piece then a play is the medium for that.

You want to think of dialogue as edited speech, like two friends talking with all
the extraneous and unnecessary parts taken out. No umm-ing and ahh-ing, and no
rambling. Dialogue should be like a good conversation, everyone makes their
point quickly and succinctly and then allows others to put in their two cents.
Avoid having characters going off on long rants or monologues, instead try and
keep any dialogue to a couple of lines. Occasionally a long speech is needed but
you need a really good reason and message behind the monologue otherwise the
audience will get bored quickly.

There are ways you can keep dialogue ―realistic‖ without it being dull and long
winded. Allow your characters to interrupt each other from time to time, have
them overlap. They can lie and exaggerate to each other. Also you want to avoid
having characters referring to the name of the person they are talking to.

When you are writing the first draft of your script you shouldn‘t worry too much
about writing dialogue. Don‘t over think it. Just let it flow and come from the
heart and it will seem a lot more natural. You can always go over it in the rewrite
to tweak and improve it. Some writers put barely any effort into the dialogue in
the first draft, leaving basic phrases they can change later.

As you write down the dialogue be thinking to yourself, ―is there a shorter,
snappier way of saying this?‖. You‘ll eventually get the hang of saying the most
in as few words as possible. Once you get inside the head of the character you‘re
writing for it makes it much easier. This is why some scriptwriters like to write

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out a character biography and backstory for their main characters before they
begin writing the dialogue.

A character voice consists of eight things:

1. The text/words

2. The subtext/meaning behind the words

3. Grammar

4. Vocabulary

5. Accent and/or cultural influences

6. Slang

7. Professional jargon

8. Style, rhythm and structure

A Simple Exercise To Improve Your Understanding Of Dialogue

If you‘re serious about being a scriptwriter then you should invest in a digital
Dictaphone. You might want to ask permission first but use the Dictaphone
whenever you can and record conversations with as wide a variety of people as
you can. Listen back to it and note the details. You‘ll begin to develop a feeling of
when people interrupt each other, when the topic gets changed, when there are
lulls or uncomfortable moments.

6.5 Building up a great character

A good story needs a great cast of characters to be memorable. When you start
your screenplay you need to think about the characters you are going to write
about. There are ten things a character needs to be great. These all apply to main
characters, villains, supporting characters and even minor characters. The ten keys
to building a great character are:

 A Goal And An Opposition

 Motivation
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  A Backstory

 A Point Of View And Attitude

 Revealing Action

 Growing Room

 Plausibility

 Details

 Research

 A Strong Supporting Cast

Lets look at each of these in detail.

A Goal And An Opposition

There is something that your character wants. The character‘s goal should be
specific and measurable. Seeking inner peace is not a measurable goal. Seeking
the Presidency is a goal, you know when it has or has not been accomplished.

. A good goal should be hard to achieve and worth fighting for. Nobody wants to
watch a movie about a woman trying to find her spare set of keys. Whatever goal
you choose for your character there also needs to be an opposition, an individual
force trying to stop the character achieving the goal. That individual force should
make the character sweat and work to achieve the goal, and face an inner fear.

Motivation

Now your character has a goal you need to ask yourself a question, why does the
character want to achieve this goal? What is his motivation? The more personal
the motivation the better. This is why there are so many movies where a character
has their family kidnapped. There‘s nothing more personal and motivating than
that. A deeply personal motivation will allow the audience to relate to the
character in your screenplay. This is how you create a relationship between the
character and he audience.

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A Backstory

The backstory is what happened to the characters before the movie began. Having
a detailed backstory helps bring the characters to life rather than being instruments
of telling the story. A character‘s past should influence how they act and react to
things. If their parents were involved in a messy divorce when they were young
then they may be very wary of getting married themselves.

Backstory is a great example of the ―show don‘t tell‖ adage. Rather than have a
dozen flashbacks try to bring out the backstory through the way the character acts,
what they say and how they say it.

A Point Of View And An Attitude

Everyone has their own world view, attitude and thoughts and feelings. So should
your character. These things are normally closely related to the character‘s
backstory. The backstory is the reason for the particular point of view and attitude
the character has. A woman who has been cheated on by her last few boyfriends is
likely, and acceptably, going to have a dim point of view towards men. Use the
character‘s backstory to create their point of view and attitudes.

Revealing Actions

Actions speak louder than words. You judge a character on the way they act, not
on what they say or think. Imagine a character who dreams of committing murder
every night, and is constantly thinking of ways to kill people…yet never does so
because he realises it is wrong. Now imagine the opposite, a character who thinks
and dreams of ―normal things‖ yet one day, for no reason, goes out and knifes an
innocent person to death. Who is the evil character?

Your characters (especially your main one) should always be willing to act, even
if they don‘t act in the way they directly think.

Growing Room

A ―perfect‖ character is a boring character. They have everything they want and
need so there‘s no story to tell. Everyone knows someone whose life seems to go
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great beat for beat, you find yourself envious of them and willing them to fail.
Instantly you should see from this that a good character should be imperfect. They
have to be willing to try and change themselves for the better. Often they will try
too hard and end up realising they were fine as they were, even if still aren‘t
perfect.

Plausibility

There‘s a major difference between a character in a screenplay and a real life

person. A character is single focused solely on attaining their goal while a real life
person often have a lot of balls to juggle at once, causing a lack of focus. However
you can make your character more plausible in a number of ways.

A character should have human emotions. If they stand there stone faced as the
world is destroyed then they aren‘t human, they‘re a robotic character. Let them
recoil in terror, or scream in anger. Let them react to situations the way a real
human would. Remember though that humans often fight their emotions or try to
hide them, but they still seep through.

They also need to have human traits and values. Your character could be a mean
old grouch amongst those he works with yet have a heart of gold when with his
family. This doesn‘t mean the character is schizophrenic, just that he hates work
and loves spending time with his family. Every character has a dark side and a
good side. Even the ―bad guy‖ has a glimmer of hope inside, even if its just the
way he treats his plants. Plausibility means shades of grey, not blank and white.

Details

Details are the little things that make up life. They are the mannerisms, quirks,
habits, idiosyncrasies and imperfections that make a character human. Along your
way through life you pick up some very unusual traits. If you‘ve seen Stranger
Than Fiction you might remember that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) brushed each
of his thirty-two teeth seventy-six times. Everyone has something peculiar about
them, you need to bring out those small details in your character.

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Research

To create a great character for your screenplay you need to put time and care into
them. This means a lot of research. There are two types of research. One is general
research, the other is specific research.

A Strong Supporting Cast

One great character does not make a strong cast. You can have the most
interesting character in the ever thought up but if they have no-one else with any
depth to play off then they‘re dead in the water. You need to put just as much care
into every character you create as your main one. Whenever you start a screenplay
you want to create at least four rich characters so you have plenty of room for
interplay. This makes writing dialogue so much easier.

Your characters should share similarities as well as contrasts that bind them
together. Remember that every major character must have their own unique
function that moves the story forward.

Build that character up, one brick at a time.

6.6 Avoiding stereotypes in Minor Characters

In an effort to make minor and bit-piece characters stand out it can be all too easy
to fall back on stereotypes. While trying to make every character somewhat
unique is commendable the use of stereotypes is not. There are a few problems
with using stereotypes for minor characters and they are as follows.

1: They’re not unique. You might think you‘re fleshing out the world of your
screenplay by having a grumpy old man or an Italian pizza boy but you‘re doing
the exact opposite. Everyone‘s seen these stereotypes before so they completely
fail in being unique.

2: They can be offensive. Lets say you have a couple of Jewish characters in your
script, they are not friends or relatives and appear in separate parts of your
screenplay. Imagine they both have the same stereotypical male Jewish traits of
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being obsessed with saving money and being good businessmen. In this politically
correct age you can bet that anyone who reads your script will notice that and
probably discard your work as a result.

3: They’re distracting. You can do all the work you like in building up the drama
of your story but it‘s no good if audiences get distracted by ―the funny little Indian
man running the 7/11‖.

4: They’re restrictive. Stereotypical characters are only of any use as comedy

fodder, and even then it‘s not good comedy.

The above reasons are why it‘s so important to understand the different between
the stereotype and the character type. A stereotype is a (usually) negative
portrayal of a particular race, sex, class, etc. A character type could be a nervous
first-time parent or an overly confident intern. The difference being that the
character type doesn‘t try to suggest that groups of people all have the same
characteristics while the stereotype does.

Keeping It Real

While it‘s a bad idea to include stereotypical characters in your screenplay it is

fantastic if you can make the world of your screenplay a diverse one without
them. Obviously you may not want your characters to be very different if you‘re
writing a story set in Lancashire in the early 1800s but otherwise diversity is a
great thing.

There‘s a tendency in TV and film for having a predominantly white world which
is totally unrealistic. Actually towns and cities are usually culturally mixed and
you can use your minor characters to reflect this if you find that your main
characters are all white males. If that is the case then it might also be wise to turn
one of these ―white males‖ into something different so the main faces of your cast
are more unique, and more memorable.

Diversifying the world in which your screenplay takes places can be very easy.
Give your main character a friendly neighbour who happens to be Asian, have his

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social circle be full of different types of people. This is a great way of adding
realism and color to your story world.

In parting I would like to note that writing a minor character is not much different
to writing a major one. You might not have to come up with as much detail but it
is important that you don‘t make minor characters one dimensional. If you do
you‘ll have a bland cast of characters that also drag down your main characters in
any interactions they have.

6.7 Character Psychology

The psychology of a character is the inner workings of their mind which define
them and the way they think and act. Once you understand the psychology of your
characters you should know exactly what they‘d do in any situation you choose to
put them in. Your job as a scriptwriter becomes so much easier because the
character begins to write itself. To get to this stage though you need to put a lot of
work into finding out what makes the character tick.

The Past Dictates The Future

Your character had a life before your story began. They had parental figures, they
went to school and they interacted with the world around them. Along the way
they will have gone through a series of events that shaped their character and
attitudes. This is the backstory of the character.

If a character felt unloved as a child they may be driven by a desire to prove their
worth and also find it hard to trust or love others. Sometimes an event in the past
can lead to a serious phobia. In The Truman Show the creators of the show
manufactured a phobia of water in Truman by having his father die at sea, this
kept Truman in the pre-planned environment.

A lot of films have an underlying story of a character having to put their past
demons to rest to overcome an external conflict.

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You do not need to shoehorn in a great deal of information about your character‘s
past within your screenplay but it may be helpful to write a character biography to
reference as you write.

The Unconscious (The Dark Side)

The vast majority of what drives and motivates us is not in the conscious, but the
unconscious. We tend to repress a lot of our past events, experiences, thoughts and
feelings that we consider unpleasant. This ball of negativity is carried around by
our unconscious which drives us a lot more than our conscious.

It is no coincidence that the word conscious and conscience are so similar, they
are both connected to one another. They are the moral side to our personality (the
light) to the more cruel unconscious (the dark).

Applied to a character the unconscious manifests itself through their reactions,

mannerisms and dialogue. There is a constant fight within a character between the
conscious and unconscious. Upon hearing some bad news a character might react
by wrecking an object, that is an impulsive unconscious reaction.

The unconscious has a long-term effect too, it may push a character into the same
professional as their father in the hope of receiving more affection or to prove to
themselves that they are better than their father.

Personality

There are basically two different kinds of personality when you cut it down to it‘s
bare bones – introverts and extroverts. Introverts prefer to be alone, spending their
time focusing on self-improvement and finding their calling. They look within for
the center of their life. Extroverts are the opposite, loving the company of others
they are often very relationship driven.

The majority of movies focus on extroverts as they move the story along and tend
to be more dynamic. However an intriguing play on this concept is to have a
character outwardly appear to be either an extrovert or introvert but actually be the

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other. This can lead to complex characters, such as one who outwardly shuns
companionship but internally craves it, possibly due to trust issue.

To expand on the introvert/extrovert personality types there are also four types –
sensation, thinking, feeling and intuitive.

Sensation: Sensation types live through their senses and they live in the now.
They are tuned into the colors, smells, shapes, and tastes around them. Occupation
wise they tend to be good at any job that is physical or sensory. This could be
gardening, cooking, painting, etc. They are driven most of all by visual appeal.

Intuitive: The intuitive type is a dreamer, and very creative. They have a strong
idea of what the future holds for them. Intuitive characters will act with future
consequences in mind. They are well suited for jobs as artists, writers and
entrepreneurs. Intuitive types are never found without a plan.

Thinking: As the name suggests thinking types like to use logic and deduction to
solve problems. They base their thoughts on facts rather than faith or instincts.
Thinking types make good businessmen/women, mechanics, detectives, etc.
Inquisitiveness is a common trait amongst thinking types.

Feeling: Feeling types are emotional, empathetic and get on well with others.
They don‘t hide their emotions and are very upfront with others. Suited
occupations include teachers, social workers, carers, etc. Feeling types often have
many strong relationships.

Characters tend to have two of the above types which dominate their personality
while the other two may still be apparent but take a backseat. Characters gain
information through their sensations or intuition and then it is processed by their
thoughts or feelings.

Strange Behaviour Makes For Interesting Characters

The line between sanity and insanity is not as clear cut as most people would like.
While society would prefer that it was black and white, with the insane clearly
marked by a rubber stamp, that isn‘t the case. Like most things there are subtle
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shades of grey. While a phobia of snakes in an Englishman who‘s never been in
contact with them is nonsensical it is also quite common. The key difference
between this and a man who believes that God is talking to them is that the second
case can be a danger to others.

There are six basic types of abnormal behavioural patterns. Each pattern has a
partner. There are manics, depressives, paranoids, schizophrenics,
psycho/sociopaths and neurotics.

Just like the personality types (sensation, intuitive, thinking and feeling) a
character won‘t fall completely into one abnormal type. Manic-depressives vary
between the two, as do paranoid-schizophrenics and psycho/socio-neurotics.

Manics: Manics have total self-belief, they believe they can achieve absolutely
anything they set their mind to. The majority of comic book style villains are
manics. Manics are very excitable and sociable, and like to be active. They aren‘t
happy with sitting back and letting things happen.
Depressives: Depressives are the opposite, they feel like their life is worthless and
they can‘t achieve anything. They withdraw themselves from social situations and
appear emotionally flat.

Schizophrenics: Schizophrenics are very self aware. They are highly sensitive,
easily embarrassed and shy around others. Because of this they try and avoid
conflict, instead they retreat to a safe place and brood. In extreme cases
schizophrenics can hear voices instructing them on what they should do or
develop multiple personalities to defend the character‘s ego.

Paranoids: Paranoids are very self-centred, thinking that everyone is out to

destroy them. Because of this paranoids types tend to be aggressive and defensive.
Their beliefs drive them to become leaders and gain power, thus putting
themselves in a safer position. They are bull-headed individuals who don‘t take
well to criticism and hold long-standing grudges for the smallest of reasons.

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Anxiety neurotics: See Allen, Woody. Anxiety neurotics fear everything and put
a great deal of thought and grief into the smallest of things. They spend their lives
trying to avoid anxiety yet actually cause the majority of anxiety for themselves.
Anxiety neurotics can also harbor obsessive/compulsive characteristics. This leads
to ridiculous seeming habits like only getting out of bed at an exact time or
brushing their hair an exact amount of strokes.

Psycho/Sociopaths: While I have grouped this pair together there is a difference

between the two. Sociopaths are antisocial characters, often holding a disdain for
humanity. Psychopaths are similar but with a mental unbalance, this leads them to
become cold blooded killers. Each have little to no empathy for people or
creatures. They make excellent villains. Psychopaths and sociopaths are
particularly interesting because they do no transform. They will never become
well-rounded, normal characters.

Hopefully this article has given you a deeper understanding of character

psychology. It is important to realise that the above points should not be the focus
of your character, treat them as the underlying features of a character.

Thinking of characters in this way is particularly useful when creating character

relationships. You can pick and choose traits in a character which will make them
contrast from others, creating more complex relationships. The characters
themselves will also be richer for taking their psychology into account while
creating them.

6.8 Character Relationships

Rarely does a character exist in their world alone. Even films with the central
premise of lonliness have some form of relationships, such as ―I, Legend‖ where
Will Smith has his canine companion by his side. This is because it‘s an awful lot
easier to write a script containing lots of character interaction, it helps progress the
story, develop characters and create conflict.

As the years have gone one relationships have become increasingly important in
films. It seems like every other movie produced is heavily entrenched in the story
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of a friendship, sexual relationship or family dynamics. The reason for this is
simple, we all know how relationships work, or perhaps more accurately, how
they don‘t work. The majority of the research is already done.

One of the most interesting insights character relationships offer is how character
act differently around different characters. A character who appears to be highly
successful and confident may turn into a tongue-tied, blithering idiot around the
partner of their dreams. Sometimes the chemistry between two characters can
strengthen one while weakening the other, sometimes it weakens both character
while others both characters will be stronger for the relationship.

There are four basic elements that any relationship can have. If you are writing a
script based on a relationship story you might want to create the foundation for the
relationship first and then fit the individual character qualities around the
relationship. Keep the following character relationship elements in mind:

 The characters have a common bond that both brings and keeps them
together. This is most commonly seen in ―cop movies‖ such as Lethal
Weapon. While the characters may not like each other to begin with their
occupation bond keeps them together until they grow to be friends. This is
an example of character attraction, there has to be some reason the
characters are together and stay together, especially if they don‘t like each
other to begin with.

 There is conflict between the characters. Perfect relationships don‘t exist,

at least not as featured in movies. While sweet it means there is no room
in the story for progression in the relationship. Just as there is a bond that
keeps characters together there should be some sort of conflict which
threatens to pull the characters apart. This could be anything from a minor
difference of opinion to an extra-marital affair. The conflict in
relationships provides the drama, and possibly the comedy, of a
screenplay.

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  The characters have contrasting qualities. They can be total opposites
which creates conflict yet strengthens the individual characters through
challenges since they have a partner with different qualities to fall back
on. Going back to ―cop movies‖ how many times have we seen the
uptight policeman who does things by the book with a renegade partner
who goes by gut instincts? A lot. That‘s because the two characters
compliment each other well, they become a complete crime fighting
machine while being seeped in conflict.

 The relationship could transform both characters – for better or worse.

Towards the end of a movie you‘ll find both characters in the relationship
tend to morph, and become more like each other. Soon the renegade cop
becomes a little more focus and less wild while the uptight cop loosens up
and is willing to break a few rules.

Those four elements have to be there in a relationship to make it work and keep it
interesting for story purposes. The attraction and conflict has to be balanced
otherwise the relationship would become dull and stale or the conflict would push
the characters completely apart.

One of the best ways to start writing strong relationships is to think of your own
relationships. Pick one to start off with, maybe the relationship between you and
your closest friend. Look at the four elements above and see what it is that keeps
you close and what stops you being even closer. What qualities do you share and
what qualities are contrasting? How have you both changed since you‘ve become
friends?

Do this for a few different relationships and you‘ll soon see a pattern emerging.
That‘s when you start to get an ―inside eye‖ for relationships which will help your
scriptwriting greatly.

Now you know how relationships work try creating a new relationship with two
fresh characters. This could be the basis for a million dollar script!

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6.9 Naming the Characters
Giving your character the ―right‖ name can often be a big piece in the puzzle of
making your character feel like a real person. For example, if you have a one man
war machine who is killing people left and right don‘t call him Bob Smith. No
offence to anyone called Bob Smith but it‘s not a name with brings to mind an
unstoppable force.

Whenever you create a character you should have a strong feeling on what he/she
is all about. What qualities and characteristics do they possess. I‘d like to step
outside the media of film and look at the world of video games. The naming of
characters is often given a lot more thought in video games (especially RPGs)
than movies or TV due to their OTT nature. In particular I‘d like to look at a series
of games called Final Fantasy.

Not only are the stories rich and focused but the weak with a brooding nature. He
had a whole cast of allies who fought against the main antagonist Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was a genetically enhanced soldier who believed himself to be the son
of an alien God, and therefore in line to take over the world. The name Sephiroth
is based on the teachings of Kabbalah. In Kabbalah there are ten Sephiroth, which
are ideas, attributes and concepts one must realise to reach their inner Christ. This
of course relates to how Sephiroth wants to become the next God.

Of course all these names are all well and good but rather outlandish. While that
may be fine for the fantasy/sci-fi genre the names would seem overly odd in a
more realistic setting. The idea is good but needs toning down.

If you have a female character who is quiet and full of dignity the name Emily
Lincoln immediately pops into me head. This is down to personal experience
(general character research), every woman called Emily I know has these
personality traits. Lincoln of course comes from Abraham Lincoln, the very
picture of dignity.

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One thing to consider in naming a character is their ethnic background. If you
have a character that is Irish-American then surnames like Mahon, McMahon,
Flaherty and O‘Neill spring forward.

Also you want to be careful is having too many characters with the same first
letter of their first name. You don‘t want a cast of characters called Adam, Alice,
Anita, Allan and Aretha. Try and mix it up instead. Unless both names seem
perfect for the character don‘t have any character sharing the same first letter in
their name. This sets them all apart and make them seem more individual.

Finally the internet is a great tool in naming characters. There are plenty of baby
naming sites out there where you can put in character keywords such as ―fighter‖
and ―strong‖ and come out with a list of appropriate names and their meanings.

6.10 Advanced Characterization

The protagonist is their own antagonist. The character who is their own worst
enemy is always a treat to see, but inevitably an extremely hard sell. Miles in
SIDEWAYS sabotages himself constantly, whether it‘s (not) kissing Maya or
ringing up his ex drunk; he‘s a liar too — lying even to himself: he tells his friend
on the phone he‘s stuck in traffic, when the reality is he‘s HUNGOVER, he
wasn‘t just ―wine tasting‖, he was getting PISSED the night before. However, it‘s
important to remember Miles can‘t *just* be on his own… He will feel self-
indulgent and annoying. Contrasted against the carefree, irresponsible and
downright cad Jack however, Miles suddenly seems a lot more reasonable. Also,
having to ―sort Jack out‖ (or at least get him back to his fiancee) gives Miles a
sense of purpose – so whilst Jack is not the antagonist per se, he offers a force
Miles must go up against, making Miles a more active character himself, whom
we can empathise with more instead of reckoning he‘s a plain sad loser.

The protagonist is their own antagonist # 2. This bubble seems to have burst a
little in recent years, but the idea of the protagonist BEING the antagonist,
especially a murderer (what I call, ―The Killer Is Me‖ stories — if any of you are
Alice in Chains fans?) is really a bit of a ruse. After all, in order to present the
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protagonist AS the antagonist, the scribe must create an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT
character, otherwise we will SEE the protagonist performing both roles in the
produced movie and thus the intrigue is lost — what would the point have been in
seeing Ed Norton as his character in FIGHT CLUB and Tyler Durden?? No point,
really – which is why Brad Pitt was cast. So really, we‘re back in almost ―goodie
vs. baddie‖ territory and away from the slick characterisation of Miles IMHO.

Theme as antagonist. Sometimes there is no ―actual‖ physcial antagonist in a

piece – instead, its theme is the antagonistic force the protagonist must reckon
with. An excellent example of this is Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (old
version starring Gene Wilder), where the children must overcome GREED in
order to get Willy Wonka‘s Factory. The children are constantly invited to BE
greedy throughout and those that fall, are despatched. Even Charlie *almost*
succumbs when faced with the uber-cool fizzy pop and Wonka‘s disappointment
and hurt is obvious, so Charlie must redeem himself. In the John August version, I
found Wonka much more creepy and less child-like; as a result I found him more
of a traditional antagonist that Charlie is *made* to impress in order to ―get‖ the
factory.

Dual protagonists. A character device that seems to turn up once in a blue moon in
movies – and when it does, it‘s inevitably done well, making us perhaps believe
it‘s easier than it really is. When I first watched INDEPENDENCE DAY I was
approximately fifteen years old and immediately struck by the fact Jeff Goldblum
and Will Smith share almost the same amount of screen-time. In the 90s the ―lone
hero‖ in the likes of Keanu and Arnie was big news and I felt very confused, until
I realised something: whilst the two characters had different journeys to get to the
underground government safe place, they had the same GOAL: getting to to their
loved ones. Once they had found their loved ones, their goal switched: DEFEAT
THE ALIENS (and arguably, save their loved ones from them) — and they did
this together, too. Whilst Independence Day might be full of uber-American
norms and values with some horrendous stereotypes (The British troops – ―I say,
the Americans have only gone and bloody done it!‖), the dual protagonists were
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written well for the most part – and certainly provided the plot with some
interesting manoevres that kept the masses happy, without a musclebound ―lone
hero‖. Quite a feat in retrospect. Dual protagonists should not be confused
with Partners, seen mostly in crime drama on TV – Dempsey and Makepeace;
Rosemary & Thyme; Miami Vice; Starsky & Hutch; Dalziell & Pacoe etc etc,
where I would argue one character always eclipses the other, even when they
appear on screen together, even if only slightly. If we consider a drama series like
ASHES TO ASHES for example here, though Alex Drake was supposed to be our
protagonist, it was always *really* the Gene Hunt show, even to the point the
resolution was HIS, not Alex‘s at the end of the series. When it comes to
television, I think the viewing public always vote their preferences early on and
this ends up getting written in, if only subconsciously by the showrunners –
television seems more participatory like that.

The Late Protagonist (in film). Generally speaking, these days we START with
the protagonist, literally on page 1, usually even the first LINE of scene
description. After all, WITNESS was donkey‘s years‘ ago now. If you watched
PREDATORS, you‘ll know we literally start, falling through the sky with our
protagonist. It‘s what modern audiences want: we have decided in recent years,
like crocodiles and ducklings, to imprint on the first character we see as our
protagonist – and can get very narked if it isn‘t that person, ie. ―Why start with
him, if we‘re supposed to be following this other guy???‖ I‘d venture that most of
the time, it is a good idea to start with the protagonist, especially in spec writing –
it‘s the ―norm‖ at the moment and writing follows fashion like anything else.
However, if you have a good reason NOT to start with the protagonist, then make
it a really COMPELLING reason, make us not care it‘s not the protagonist, divert
our attentions well.

The Late Protagonist (in TV). There‘s a certain amount of leverage when it comes
to television, usually in the form of the prologue. Cops n‘ Docs do it best: we
START with a victim or patient dying/collapsing… Then the team come and
investigate. The protagonist – or more crucially, the LEADER – doesn‘t always
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have to come out right away and TV audiences seem able to accept this pretty
well. Having said that, I would always counsel caution to those spec writers who
DON‘T have their protagonist/leader of the team arrive within the first 5 pages at
least. Rarely have I seen a REALLY late protagonist/leader arrive (eg. after page
6), as it feels as if we‘re ―waiting‖ for the story to kick off.

The Ensemble Cast. When it comes to television OR film, the ensemble cast is
never as big as the average spec writer seems to think. I‘m often treated to what I
call a Mer De Noms or ―sea of names‖ – characters are introduced… and
introduced… and introduced! I usually end up looking at approximately 13-15
names, though I have read scripts with even more. End of the day, the average
story in a spec, whether 60 OR 90 pages, simply can‘t support this many
*important* characters. Don‘t believe me? Let‘s look at the evidence:

A) Films Ensemble Casts. The usual fare has a protagonist and antagonist with up
to three *important* secondaries each that HELP or HINDER their respective
causes, right? Well it‘s pretty much the same in ensemble cast films – there is still
a protagonist and antagonist, it‘s just the ―gap‖ between the secondaries and those
―first‖ two is much smaller or tighter than in a more ―traditional‖ film. This might
be because of the mission itself or because there is a designated leader, it doesn‘t
really matter: *someone* is always in charge. Consider SLUMDOG
MILLIONAIRE, which won The Screen Actors‘ Guild award for ―best ensemble
cast―. Surprised? After all, it‘s really Jamal‘s story, right? Except loads of other
characters – and versions of Jamal at various ages – lead the action too, especially
the brother Said. But that‘s just it: there‘s always one character who is *top*.

B) Television ensemble casts. Consider TV favourites TORCHWOOD and

HUSTLE (when they first came out):

Torchwood: Captain Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Owen, Tosh. Not part of the direct team,
but often part of episodes – Rhys (Gwen‘s boyfriend) and Martha Jones (―visiting
ally‖)

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Hustle: Mickey Briggs, Danny Blue, Albert, Stacey, Ash. Not part of team
directly, but often part of episodes – Eddie The Bartender (―friend‖)

These are the CORE ELEMENTS of the episodes if you like – though not all
characters will appear in every episode, there is a good chance most of them will.

On top of these core elements is the ANTAGONIST OF THE WEEK – which

more often than not refers to the ―story of the week‖, the part of the show that
needs to be resolved within the hour. In Torchwood that antagonist will be an
alien, ghost or supernatural force of some kind – once it was even one of its own
old team members back from the dead, Susie. In Hustle it will more often than not
be the ―mark‖ – whoever it is they are grifting that week, though occasionally
there are ructions within the team itself, like the constant challenging for the top
spot by Danny Blue against Mickey Briggs.

The Large Cast. OF COURSE it‘s possible to have a large cast; not all films
feature ONLY 6-8 important characters. But 9/10 I think the idea of LOADS OF
CHARACTERS is essentially an illusion. One example I hear again and again is
the idea ALIENS has ―loads and loads of characters‖. to some degree, scribes are
right; before the characters go into the alien nest, there are indeed lots of marines.
But nearly all of them die/get cocooned by the end of that sequence, leaving –
guess what: a protagonist (Ripley); an antagonist (Burke); plus the important
secondaries Gorman, Hudson, Hicks, Vasquez, Newt. Then there‘s the android
Bishop and the pilot and her crewman still alive (though those latter two are
despatched almost immediately). So in real terms, there are just EIGHT characters
once the conflict really kicks in. It seems eight is the magic number in film.

The main issues then with both the TV specs and feature scripts I see? They not
only have TOO MANY characters, the scribes in question spend so long
introducing them, the reader ends up ―waiting‖ for the story to BEGIN. Character
and story – the situation they find themselves in – should be introduced hand-in-
hand.

6.11 Genres
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The action world is full of memorable one-liners. Gangster films have sinister
mobsters and ruthless hoodlums. Dramas are all about serious realism while
screwball comedies can get away with fart jokes. Adventure films have exotic
locales, but if you‘re writing a western, you better have dusty towns and six-
shooters. Science fiction scores with aliens and futuristic technology. And when it
comes to slasher films, don‘t hold back – the audience is actually rooting for the
killer.

Understanding film genres (and sub-genres) is important, because let‘s be honest:

people rarely go to the movies to be surprised. They know the action hero will
survive, that the girl will get the guy, and the villains their just deserts. Nobody
goes to a rom-com to face reality.

The truth is that love is hell and sometimes the bad guys win, but in the movies,
love is a holy elixir and the hero always saves the day. Screenwriting is not about
reinventing the wheel. The key to writing a sellable script is to understand the
genre and meet the expectations of its audience.

Action: Action-Comedy, Disaster Film, Girls with Guns, War

Adventure: Swashbuckler

Animated: Anime, Adult, Children, Family, Musical

Children: Animal, Animated, Musical

Comedy: Anarchic, Action, Black (Dark), Horror, Dramedy, Pardody/Spoof,

Rom-Com, Slapstick

Crime: Mob/Gangsters, Film Noir, Neo-Noir, Crime-Thriller

Drama: Biography, Courtroom, Dramady, Historical, Melodrama, Period Piece,

Political, Romance, Tragedy

Epic: Bio-Pic, Historical, War, Religious

Family: Animated, Comedy, Musical

Fantasy:Bangsian, High-Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

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Horror: Comedy, Teen, Monster, Slasher, Supernatural, Zombie

Musical: Animated, Broadway, Family

Mystery/Suspense: Closed-Mystery, Film-Noir, Open-Mystery

Romance: Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama

Science Fiction: Alien, Apocalyptic, Dystopian, Monsters and Mutants, Time

Travel

Sports: Bio-Pic, Comedy, Drama, Family

Supernatural: Comedy, Horror, Religious, Thriller

Thriller: Action, Crime, Film-Noir, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Religious

Western: Contemporary, Revisionist, Spaghetti

6.12 Let us sum up

6.13 Unit End Exercises
6.14 Points for Discussion
6.15 Answers to Check your Progress
6.16 Suggested Readings

1. http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre

2. http://www.bang2write.com/2010/07/screenplay-tips-9-advanced.html

3. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/naming-your-characters/

4. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/character-relationships/

5. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/character-psychology/

6. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/avoiding-stereotypes-in-minor-
characters/

7. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/building-up-a-great-character/

8. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/an-overview-of-dialogue/

9. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/character-background/
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10. http://www.filmscriptwriting.com/character-research/

11. https://www.writersstore.com/structure-and-character-excerpted-with-
permission-from-the-book-story-part-1/

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 UNIT 4
LESSON 7

Director and his Role in Preproduction

INTRODUCTION

A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a

film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualizes the
script while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision.
The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and
the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is
viewed as the author of the film.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understand the responsibility of a film director.

 What are the preparation‘s should be done by a director

 How will a director will study a scene and stage it?

UNIT STRUCTURE

8.1 Responsibility of a Film Director

8.2 Director‘s Job during Preproduction
8.3 Reading the Script
8.4 Indepth Analysis and Breaking down of the Screenplay
8.5 Working with the Writer
8.6 Screenplay Readings and Breakdown
8.7 Gathering the Creative Team
8.8 Casting Actors
8.9 Leading Rehearsals
8.10 Let Us Sum Up
8.11 Unit end Exercises
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 8.12 Points for Discussion
8.13 Answers to check your progress
8.14 Suggested readings.

7.1 Responsibility of a Film Director

The film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an
overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed.
Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions and stay in the
boundaries of the film's budget. There are many pathways to becoming a film
director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film
editors or actors. Other film directors have attended a film school. Directors use
different approaches. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise
dialogue, while others control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew
follow instructions precisely. Some directors also write their own screenplays or
collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Some directors
edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films.

Film directors create an overall vision through which a film eventually

becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic
and technical elements of film production, as well as directing the shooting
timetable and meeting deadlines. This entails organizing the film crew in such a
way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of group leadership,
as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful, fast-paced
environment of a film set. Moreover, it is necessary to have an artistic eye to
frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus, excellent
communication skills are a must.

Since the film director depends on the successful cooperation of many

different creative individuals with possibly strongly contradicting artistic ideals
and visions, he or she or it or they also needs/need to possess conflict resolution
skills in order to mediate whenever necessary. Thus the director ensures that all
individuals involved in the film production are working towards an identical
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vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle
has been described as "a multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with egos and weather
thrown in for good measure". It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can
influence when and how they will work again. Omnipresent are the boundaries of
the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an
intended age rating. Theoretically the sole superior of a director is the studio that
is financing the film, however a poor working relationship between a film director
and an actor could possibly result in the director being replaced if the actor is a
major film star. Even so, it is arguable that the director spends more time on a
project than anyone else, considering that the director is one of the few positions
that requires intimate involvement during every stage of film production. Thus,
the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and
demanding one. It has been said that "20-hour days are not unusual".

Under European Union law, the film director is considered the "author" or
one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur
theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a film
director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the
primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even
because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's
creative voice is distinct enough to shine through studio interference and the
collective process.

7.2 Director’s Job during Preproduction

The film director is much like the conductor of an orchestra. First, like a
conductor has to create a mental ideal of how the music should sound, the director
must create an ideal vision for how the film will look. Secondly, like a conductor,
the film director must communicate that vision to the various players so everyone
is working together toward the single vision.

The director's job is sometimes compared to a military general barking

orders to the troops. Although some directors do work like that they are generally

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not well liked or long-term very successful. The most effective directors work by
sharing their vision and encouraging the crew and actors to participate in the
process by each contributing their best effort and creativity.

In actuality the two processes of creating and sharing the vision are
actually a single ongoing process, begun by the director but continuously evolving
as all the individuals of the filmmaking team contribute their input and the
director realizes ways to improve and enhance the overall vision.

The director's job is really about communication. Although some directors

may also be filmmakers wearing many hats during the filmmaking processes, the
only activity involved in the director's job is talking, listening and pursuading.

The director needs to understand writing and storytelling, and all the tricks
and craft available to do the best job of telling the story. Good directors create a
notebook or journal of their thoughts, ideas and plans for the film to keep them on
track and to be sure that nothing gets forgotten in the chaos of production.

7.3 Reading the Script

The director's first job in preproduction is to read the script. For many
independent filmmakers the director is also the writer so you might assume that
s/he would already be totally familiar with the script and could skip this step. That
would be a mistake for this step is where the vision for the movie is formed.

This is where the director can go beyond the script as a blueprint for a
movie and dig deep to clarify the premise, find all the hidden meanings, the
psychological drives, the common themes, the passion, the sights, sounds and
smells and formulate a powerful and memorable vision.

The writer/director is often at a disadvantage in this step because s/he will

have a harder time reading the script from a fresh perspective.

 Read the script as though you were watching the finished movie
and had no idea what the story was about. Just let the story play out
in your mind's eye.

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  After you have read the script write down in your notebook what
your thoughts were. Especially recognize what emotions you felt
during the reading. Your job as a director is to create a movie that
will bring these emotions to your audience with maximum effect. If
the action goes dead at certain points note this also. Resist the
temptation to try to come up with fixes at this point. For now you
are trying to note how the story works.

 Finally determine what is the emotional core of the film. What is it

really about. What is the goal and obstacles of the individual
characters, what emotions are involved and how will your audience
relate to, and learn from the character's plight.

A good thing to do at this step is to try pitching the story to a friend and
see if s/he has a similar reaction to yours and if the story works well for them.

7.4 Indepth Analysis and Breaking Down of the Screenplay

This step of the director's preproduction job involves breaking down the
script to learn exactly what makes the story work.

Determine exactly what are each major character's spine, or life goals
and objectives, over the course of the story. Every character has a desire to
empower, destroy, ridicule, teach, blame, heal, learn, find, change or seduce. Most
characters will have external and internal goals. For example a character's external
goal is to build a house but his his internal goal is to find fulfillment and prove his
worth to his friends.

These objectives may have already been in place before the story starts or
may get formed by happening in the first act. Determine what these objectives are
for each character.

What are each major character's obstacles to reaching their objectives?

In an interesting story the real obstacles are internal, psychological blocks, but are

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represented by more obvious external obstacles such as other characters in the
story or natural elements such as a raging blizzard.

What are the actions the characters will use to try to overcome the
obstacles and reach their objectives? These are the actual steps the characters
perform to get their way.

What are the ways and means the characters will use? These are
refinements on the actions and can be expressed as adverbs such as calmly,
boastfully, forcefully, quickly or seductively.

What adjustments do the characters make when their actions and means
don't succeed?

Repeat the analysis of each major character's objectives, obstacles, means,

actions and adjustments for every scene that they participate in. Take good notes
in your notebook. This will be very important to be able to retrieve during the
production process to help the actors give the strongest and most accurate
performance.

Also determine in each scene what realistic doings the actors can be
engaged in so that they aren't just standing around and reciting lines. Real people
are always engaged in some kind of doing, preparing a meal, reading a book,
surfing the web, while they are engaged in the various dialogs and actions that
happen as they try to achieve their objectives.

7.5 Working with the Writer

If the director is not also the writer then it is very wise that the director and
writer try to achieve a good working relationship during preproduction and carry it
through production.

Writers see a story in their mind's eye whereas the director must translate
the story into moving images of real locations and actors speaking and performing
and do it all within a certain budget. This often leads to disagreements over vision.
Additionally writers are often too close to their story to see or appreciate possible

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improvements that may come from the director with his/her fresh view of the
story.

The director should always maintain a positive and enthusiastic attitude

toward the script. Recognize that the writer has been working in relative isolation
on this screenplay for many months or years. They understandably may have a
fragile ego and be reluctant to consider changes.

On large studio productions it is often standard procedure, after buying all

rights to the screenplay from the original writer, to immediately hire another
writer to handle any rewrites. This prevents possible time wasted in confrontations
between the two highly creative egos of the writer and director. It also allows the
director and new writer to try a totally fresh approach to the story.

If a new writer is not going to be hired then the director should determine
as much as s/he can about the writer's original vision including the following.

 What was the writer's original inspiration for the story?

 What was the writer's original reason for the writing the story?

 What life lessons are taught by the story?

 What does the writer feel the story is really all about?

 How does the writer feel about the key relationships in the story?

 What is the writer's backstory and biographies for the main

characters?

 Are any of the characters based on real people and what is the
significance of that?

The writer and director will no doubt find areas of disagreement and need
to work from the most general areas of agreement down to all the most specific
areas of disagreement trying to resolve them. The goal is to eventually get to a
shared vision between the writer and director.

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 In nearly every case some weak areas in the screenplay will be discovered.
The director should make it his/her job to ask tough questions about the logic and
honestly of the emotions of the story. Also the director should pose "what if"
questions where any number of changes are proposed to the story such as making
the villain the hero, or changing the character's actions at key points.

These exercises will almost certainly result in the necessity for rewrites as
they will lead to a stronger story. Some writers are better than others at rewrites
and some will need to excuse themselves from the process altogether if they find
themselves mentally unable or unwilling to make changes the director finds
necessary.

For the independent filmmaker this is when it will be obvious why it is

always important to buy complete rights in a screenplay, other wise the entire
production can be shutdown by an angry writer.

A very important consideration involving rewrites is the ripple effect that

occurs when one scene is rewritten which changes the logic of another scene
causing a ripple of rewrites. This can stretch the preproduction process out for a
very long time. The goal is to find the balance of getting to a screenplay that is
strong and effective without requiring absolute perfection.

7.6 Screenplay Readings and Breakdown

A valuable technique at this point in preproduction is to have actors do
readings of the rewritten screenplay. These can be done cold where the actors
have never seen the script or after the actors have been rehearsed depending on the
opinion of the director. The writer should be present at the readings so s/he can
understand the impact of the story when performed in something other than the
writer's head.

Now that the screenplay has been refined the director should do another
screenplay breakdown to update and expand his/her notes to completely explain
the character's objectives, obstacles, actions, means and adjustments on an act by

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act, scene by scene, beat by beat basis. These note will be invaluable during
production.

The assistant director usually gets involved at this point performing a

logistical breakdown of the script to determine the following.

 The number and types of actors required

 How many scenes each actor will be in and the total length of their
performances

 The requirements, number and types of locations

 The number and types of stunts and special effects

 What special costumes and makeup will be required

 What props are required

Screenplay breakdowns are often done by professional services on larger

films. A good script breakdown is an invaluable production tool on films of all
sizes.

A valuable part of breaking down a screenplay is to measure the actual

length of each scene in the screenplay with a ruler. This is referred to as marking
1/8ths. Since a page of a screenplay has about eight vertical inches of text you can
measure the total number of inches for a scene and that number is the number of
1/8ths of a page the scene is long.

The number of 1/8ths is usually marked in the top left corner of the scene,
and circled. If a scene lasts longer than eight 1/8ths, it is converted to "1". So, a
scene lasting twelve 1/8ths is marked "1 4/8".

Because a production crew can typically film from 2 to 5 pages of

screenplay a day, depending on many factors, knowing the total length of the
scenes to be filmed in a day helps in establishing the practicality of the schedule.

7.7 Gathering the Creative Team

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 The director's next preproduction job is to gather the creative team.
Usually this has been underway during the entire preproduction phase.

The creative team are the members of the crew who will be contributing to
the creative effort of fulfilling the director's vision for the film. The other crew
members will be more like soldiers doing specific tasks as they are asked and
giving little if any creative feedback.

The creative team typically consists of at least the following individuals.

 The Cinematographer or DP (Director of Photography) who is

responsible for creative operation of the camera and the lighting.

 The Production Designer who is responsible for creating the look

of the film in terms of the sets, costumes and makeup.

 The Casting Director who will work with the director to find the
best possible actors for the film.

 The Actors.

 The film Editor who will work with the director to assemble the
scene "takes" into a finished movie.

 The Music Director or Composer who is responsible for getting the

right music to match the emotions of the story.

The director will interview and select these storytelling collaborators,

share with them his vision, then communicate with and encourage them to help
bring the vision to reality.

This process will often result in some amount of creative conflict. The
director must use his/her communication skills to recognize and validate
conflicting opinions but, unless they are an improvement, to insist on the one best
solution for making the best possible film.

7.8 Casting Actors

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 On large studio productions the casting process is heavily influenced by
the producers since issues of using big stars and fulfilling contracts often take
precedent over artistic considerations. For the independent filmmaker the process
of finding actors can be exhilarating and frustrating.

7.9 Leading Rehearsals

In the expensive, high-pressure world of filmmaking it frequently happens
that rehearsal time is the last thing to get scheduled and often doesn't happen.
Actors are booked, directors are going crazy with preproduction and the trend has
been to spend less and less time on rehearsals, trusting that the actors will have
learned their lines and there will be time while lights are being set to run through
the scene.

The previous generations of film directors were mostly from the stage
world where two months or more of rehearsals is the norm. More and more of the
newest generation of directors in Hollywood come from doing music videos and
commercials where rehearsing actors is not an issue. Frankly, they probably don't
even know how to rehearse actors.

So everyone goes onto the set the first day with no shared understanding of
the director's vision and every setup becomes a 15+ take marathon with an
exhausted director trying to explain the objectives of the characters to increasingly
frustrated actors.

Eventually they give up and just do their 15 takes with the actors doing a
slightly different slant on how they play the scene each take, and everyone hopes
the editor can piece something that makes sense when they are done.

Many of the youngest actors are buying into the belief that rehearsing
destroys spontaneity. Indeed, some of the finest actors, such as Sir Ben Kingsley,
have added to the idea by avoiding rehearsals. The fact is that actors of this caliber
have already done such extensive preparation for understanding the story and their
character that they find the typical film rehearsal period to be to little, to late and
to amateur for their tastes.
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 The fact is that rehearsals do not prevent getting a fresh performance and
spontaneity from actors. Frustration and exhaustion are the cause of lackluster
acting in otherwise good actors. Some of the finest and most spontaneous acting
performances have come in films where the actors had already put in hundreds of
performances of the work as a stage play. Streetcar Named Desire comes to mind.

Turns out that when an actor has spend a lot of time "living in the shoes"
of their character they are much more able to be spontaneous and still stay in
character than when they are still trying to fit into the shoes.

And who says you always want a fresh and spontaneous performance from
your actors. If the scene calls for the character to be exhausted then why not shoot
the scene at the end of a long, hard day? If they should be angry then help them by
getting them pissed off. The best directors frequently manipulate and take
advantage of the actor's moods and emotions to get the best performances. Good
actors expect and appreciate it.

Additionally, as a low-budget independent filmmaker, you can't afford to

do 15 takes of every setup. Your time is much too precious. Your actors have to
be able to "hit it" on the first or second try, every setup.

If the actors have properly prepared by learning their lines and doing
necessary research then two to four days of rehearsal for a short film and two
weeks of rehearsal for a feature film should be sufficient. You will still have time
to refine the performances during production.

The rehearsal schedule

If you allow for a two week rehearsal then schedule two weeks of Monday
through Friday for about four hours a day. More than four hours of intense
rehearsals (and all rehearsals should be intense) is just too exhausting and the
actors need time to absorb what they have learned.

Before the first rehearsal go back to your screenplay notes (you did create
a set of notes, didn't you?) and review the following:

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  What is the story about?

 For each scene ask yourself: what is this scene about, why is it in
the screenplay and what do I need to achieve to maximize the
emotional impact of the scene.

 What are the objectives of each character, the obstacles, actions,

means, etc?

 What do I need to be sure the actors do to clarify and maximize the

impact of each scene?

 What is the best, most effective and appropriate way to visually

present the scene?

Your goals during the rehearsals are:

 Bring the cast and crew into a collaborative unity.

 Give everyone your vision for the telling of this story including the
style, rhythm and pacing.

 Develop the relationship between you and the actors, between the
actors and their characters, and between each of the actors for each
other.

 Fix any problem scenes by working with the actors or perhaps even
rewriting the scene.

 Make sure the most important scenes, the turning points of the
story, work extremely well.

Monday - Day 1 - First rehearsal

Bring the entire cast and crew together. I like to rehearse in my home so
everyone feels they are part of a family. Provide bottled water, snacks and soft
drinks. Also provide pencils and yellow felt-tipped markers along with copies of
the screenplay so the actors can take notes and highlight their lines.

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 Allow a little time for everyone to socialize and start to get to know each
other. You want a feeling of friends working together. When everyone is there, get
them together in one large circle, preferably standing, and do introductions.

A good way to do this is by playing a game of tossing a toy ball from

person to person where the thrower has to give the first name of the person they
are throwing to as well as the character they are playing or the crew position they
are working. At first few people will know anyone else so the receiver has to
introduce them self and give their character or job.

After 20 minutes everyone will be on a first name basis and feeling a sense
of excitement, commitment and belonging to the group. The filmmaker's job is to
keep the excitement and commitment going.

Everyone can sit down now but try to have the actors mix with the rest of
the crew and not sit in a group to encourage the sense of family.

The filmmaker should now talk for 20 minutes or so about his/her vision
for the story, what excites him/her about it, why s/he believes this will be an
important artistic effort, then ask everyone for their commitment to the project.
Look everyone in the eyes as you make this request.

Take a short break so people can get something to eat/drink and go to the
bathroom When everyone is comfortably seated again do a first cold reading.
Assure the actors that this is just a reading and you are not expecting polished
performances. Pick an actor who doesn't have many lines to read the action
paragraphs.

Watch everyone's reactions to see if the story is working. Take notes of

any dead spots where people start to fidget or get distracted. They will need work.

After the reading tell the actors what a great job they did and how excited
you are. Tell everyone about how you emotionally connect to the story and this
reading in particular. Get responses from the actors as to how they feel about their
characters.

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 Everyone is probably pretty tired by now, you especially, so let everyone
go home after establishing the time for the actors to assemble the next day. The
crew is no longer invited to the rehearsals unless you personally ask them. You
want to be building your own special relationship with the actors from now on.

Second rehearsal

Today you are going to work on scenes in depth. Go through each scene,
one at a time, with the actors reading the lines then stop to explain and discuss
what is going on. The meaning behind the words, the backstory and subtext,
whatever is important about the story needs to be discussed and understood.

Additional rehearsals

After one or two rehearsals the actors responsible for the minor roles
should be ready to perform. It is now up to the director to establish what
additional rehearsals are required for the principle actors on a case by case and
actor by actor basis.

The best plan is usually to work with the actors in small groups and
working on individual difficult scenes. Two to four hours is generally the longest
you should ever rehearse any individual actor or small group of actors. The
intensity of emotion and mental effort become so taxing on the actors (and the
director) after a couple or hours that very little will be accomplished by continuing
without a good night's rest.

Continue examining the scenes until you are confident the actors
understand your intent and have worked to come up with motivations and
objectives that work. Unless you have a need for your actors being able to give
perfect performances on the first take don't over rehearse your actors. You want to
leave some time for experimentation and improvisation on the set. Actors get
bored and their performance can get flat after too many rehearsals. It has to be fun
for the actors, too.

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 How much time you spend in rehearsals is entirely up to you. You are the
filmmaker.

7.10 Let Us Sum Up

7.11 Unit end Exercises
7.12 Points for Discussion
7.13 Answers to check your progress
7.14 Suggested readings.
1. http://preproduction.4filmmaking.com/rehearsing-actors.html

2. Spencer Moon: Reel Black Talk: A Sourcebook of 50 American

Filmmakers, Greenwoood Press 1997

3. Rebecca Hillauer: Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers,

American University in Cairo Press, 2005, ISBN 977-424-943-7

4. Alexander Jacoby, Donald Richie: A Critical Handbook of

Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day,
Stone Bridge Press, 2008, ISBN 1-933330-53-8

5. Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower

Critical Guide (Wallflower Critical Guides to Contemporary
Directors), ed. by Yoram Allon Del Cullen and Hannah Patterson,
Second Edition, Columbia Univ Press 2002

6. International dictionary of films and filmmakers, ed. by Tom

Pendergast, 4 volumes, Detroit [etc.]: St. James Press, 4th edition
2000, vol. 2: Directors

7. The St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia: Women on the

Other Side of the Camera, Visible Ink Press, 1999

8. http://preproduction.4filmmaking.com/directors-job.html

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 UNIT 4
LESSON 8

Film Crew
INTRODUCTION

A movie crew is a group of people hired by a production company for the

purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from
the cast as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of
the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate
from the producers as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the
film company or the film's intellectual property rights. A film crew is divided into
different departments, each of which specializes in a specific aspect of the
production. Film crew positions have evolved over the years, spurred by
technological change, but many traditional jobs date from the early 20th century
and are common across jurisdictions and film-making cultures.

Motion picture projects have three discrete stages: development,

production and distribution. Within the production stage there are also three
clearly defined sequential phases — pre-production, principal photography and
post-production — and many film crew positions are associated with only one or
two of the phases. Distinctions are also made between above-the-line personnel
(such as the director, the screenwriter and the producers) who begin their
involvement during the project's development stage, and the below-the-
line "technical" crew involved only with the production stage.

Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understanding the importance of a film crew

 What are the different designations allotted in a crew

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  What is the responsibility of Art director, floor manager, Production
Managers?

UNIT STRUCTURE

8.1 Art Direction

8.2 Location
8.3 Floor Management
8.4 Outdoor and Indoors
8.5 Let Us Sum Up
8.6 Unit end Exercises
8.7 Points for Discussion
8.8 Answers to check your progress
8.9 Suggested readings.

8.1 Art Direction

Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions
in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television,
the Internet, and video games.

It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision. In
particular, the art director is in charge of the overall visual appearance and how
it communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and
psychologically appeals to a target audience. The art director makes decisions
about visual elements used, what artistic style to use, and when to use motion.

One of the most difficult problems that art directors face is to translate
desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into imagery.
During the brainstorming process, art directors, co-workers, and clients are
engaged in imagining what the finished piece or scene might look like. At times,
an art director is ultimately responsible for solidifying the vision of the collective
imagination while resolving conflicting agenda and inconsistencies between the
various individual inputs.

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 An art director, in the hierarchical structure of a film art department, works
directly below the production designer, in collaboration with the set decorator and
the set designers. A large part of their duties include the administrative aspects of
the art department. They are responsible for assigning tasks topersonnel such as
the art department coordinator, and the construction coordinator, keeping track of
the art department budget and scheduling (i.e. prep/wrap schedule) as well as
overall quality control. They are often also a liaison to other departments;
especially construction, special FX, property, transportation (graphics), and
locations departments. The art director also attends all production meetings and
tech scouts in order to provide information to the set designers in preparation for
all departments to have a visual floor plan of each location visited.

In the past, the title of art director was used to denote the head of the art
department which also included the set decorator. Now the award includes the
production designer and set decorator. On the movie Gone with the Wind, David
O. Selznick felt that William Cameron Menzies had such a significant role in the
look of the film, that the title art director was not sufficient and so he gave
Menzies the title of production designer. The title has become more common, and
now production designer is commonly used as the title for the head of the art
department, although the title actually implies control over every visual aspect of
a film, including costumes.

8.2 Location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television
series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie
studio back lot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film
crew will be filming actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is
not recorded may be considered as a second unit photography site. Filmmakers
often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be
achieved in a "real" place; however, location shooting is often motivated by the
film's budget. Many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and exterior
scenes on location.
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 It is often mistakenly believed that filming "on location" takes place in the
actual location in which its story is set, but this is not necessarily the case.

There are two main types of locations.

 Location shooting is the practice of filming in an actual setting

 Studio shoots in either a sound stage or back lot

Location scouting is a vital process in the pre-production stage

of filmmaking and commercial Photography.

Once scriptwriters, producers or directors have decided what general kind

of scenery they require for the various parts of their work that is shot outside of
the studio, the search for a suitable place or "location" outside the studio
begins. Location scouts also look for generally spectacular or interesting locations
beforehand, to have a database of locations in case of requests.

 Location scouts often negotiate legal access to filming locations.

 Location Requirements

 Suitability of a location to the task at hand takes into consideration

many factors, including:

 overall aesthetic

 financial cost to production

 logistic feasibility including but not limited to distance from base

of operations or other locations scheduled

 availability of parking and facilities to keep crew and talent

(principal actors or models and extras) safe and dry at all times

 availability of electrical power or feasibility of bringing in

generators for lights and electrical equipment.

 available light (indoors or outdoors) and weather conditions

(outdoors)
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  permission from and cooperation of location owner and neighbors,
local government and law enforcement

Typically ideas for what a filming location should or could be are

discussed between production department and locations department (it could be at
this point that the locations department is actually created), then research is begun
to actually find and document that location using location scout(s).

The location scouts and other Locations Department staff (see below),
working under the supervision of the Location Manager, generally strive to
provide as many potentially useful/viable ideas and/or options as possible for
review by production; often the Assistant Director, Production Manager and
subsequently, the Director or even the Executive Producer in the case of narrative
filmmaking..

Once a "short list", or consensus indicating the locations with most

potential is reached, arrangements are normally made for some of the heads of the
other Production Departments to tour those location(s) in person as needed to
further confirm suitability of the location(s) in question. This tour is commonly
referred to as a "tech scout", "recce" or "go-see".

During this time the Locations Department (specifically, most likely the
Location Manager himself in situations requiring the most responsibility) will
have already established contact with and begun negotiation with any number of
internal and external parties as may have bearing on production's ability to film at
the location, otherwise known as "clearing the location", i.e., investigating and
confirming availability and agreed upon fees to be paid to a location property
owner or agent, obtaining a certificate of insurance, obtaining any needed film
permits (may involve fees as per local requirements), distributing "resident letters"
or "filming notifications"- written advice to neighbors in the area, advising same
of intent to film in the immediate area (often necessary per local requirements as
well as morally advisable if production's presence will impact local normal day-
to-day activities in any appreciable way) -in general "locking down" or making
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sure that all details and existing or potential issues are addressed. While it is the
Locations Department's job to anticipate and minimize any potential problems
associated with a location, it is also the Locations Department's duty to advise
other Production Department heads of any unresolvable problems or inherent
issues that need consideration so contingencies can be planned or a decision can
be made as to whether an alternate location might actually be better suited. In such
case plans might be made and budget allocated for further research and location
scouting.

Booking a Site:

Only after all the steps above, if a location is still viable and available, it is
"confirmed" or "booked". Usually a legally binding location contract is drawn up
and signed by all parties involved and a property release is obtained, which is
written, signed permission from the property owner or agent allowing
photography of and public depiction via media (i.e., broadcast, video, film, print
publication).

Once a location reaches the "booked" stage, there are very few acceptable
reasons for filming to not commence as planned. At this point many man-hours of
paid production work and considerable amounts of money for location fees and/or
permits have typically been invested with the chosen location in mind. A change
of creative concept at this stage or glitch of any kind (i.e., property owner
cancellation) is potentially very costly to production and legal action is an
unfortunate possible consequence if no other acceptable remedy can be made. On
the flip side of the coin, if production somehow misrepresents itself with regard to
its activities, stated intended use of the location, damages property (insurance
protecting the property owner should be required for any shoot) or negligently
causes other problems for the property owner, property owner is likely to seek
remedy in any of many forms available, including the legal system.

Consideration of Weather:

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 Local weather conditions can figure heavily into a location's viability and
affect many areas of production scheduling, so contingencies and alternate,
budgetary-efficient plans should be made well in advance of any shoot day with a
possibility to be affected by weather. A location with potential to be affected by
weather should always be cleared and placed, in advance, with the property
owner's understanding and consent "on weather hold" or under the condition that
production will only confirm use of the location and commence photography
pending viable weather conditions. The aim, in addition to the obvious goal of
attaining the correct aesthetic for the shot in acceptable and safe working
conditions is also geared toward providing greater flexibility of crew scheduling,
equipment, vehicle, etc. rentals and other production aspects and minimize
inconvenience to the owner and in the event of cancellation or postponement by
production due to weather, eliminate or minimize cancellation fees as may be part
of an agreement between production and the location.

Location manager:

Oversees the locations department and its staff, typically reporting directly
to the production manager and/or assistant director (or even director and/or
executive producer). Location manager is responsible for final clearing (or
guaranteeing permission to use) a location for filming and must often assist
production and finance departments in maintaining budget management regarding
actual location/permit fees as well as labor costs to production for himself and the
locations department at large.

Assistant location manager:

Works with the location manager and the various departments in arranging
technical scouts for the essential staff (grips, electric, camera, etc.) to see options
which the location manager has selected for filming. The assistant location
manager will be onset during the filming process to oversee the operation,
whereas the location manager continues pre-production from elsewhere (generally
an office) on the upcoming locations. (Note: On most location-based television

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shows, there will be two assistant location managers that alternate episodes,
allowing one to prep an upcoming episode while the other is on-set with the
current one.)

Location scout:

Does much of the actual research, footwork and photography to document

location possibilities. Often the location manager will do some scouting himself,
as well as the assistant location manager.

Location assistant:

Hired by the location manager to be on-set before, during, and after the
filming process. General responsibilities include arriving first at the location to
allow the set dressers into the set for preparation; maintaining the cleanliness of
the location areas during filming; fielding complaints from neighbours; and
ultimately, at the end of the filming, making sure it seems as though the film crew
was never there. There is generally one to three assistants on a shoot at any given
time.

Location production assistant:

This position exists generally on larger budget productions. The locations

PA is the assistant who is almost never on-set, but instead is always prepping a
location or wrapping a location. That is, when a location requires several days of
set up and breakdown prior and following the day(s) of filming. A location
production assistant is what a set production assistant is in Canada.

8.3 Floor Management

A floor manager is a member of the crew of a television show. The floor
manager is responsible for giving information from the director in the control
room, to the crew on the studio floor, and then back to the director.

Duties:

 Ensure all equipment is working on the set, before and during

show
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  Inform director and producer of off-camera action

 Give the talent/floor staff/guests time counts and cues

 Understand entire show in order to make changes when needed to

set, props, etc.

 Brief talent/guests on what to expect during show

 Help plan the show

 Deal with technical issues during show

 If there is an audience, seat them, manage them during show, cue

them

Floor managers work for news productions must have flexible working
hours. They may need to work on weekends, extended hours, or even travel to
different locations depending on the show‘s needs. They can typically dress in
casual but appropriate attire, depending on the setting.

Skills/qualities:

Floor managers traditionally have other experience working in television,

and work up to the position of floor manager. They should know the other
technical positions in a studio, in order to have the maturity and experience to do
their job effectively. Media, film, television, or even theater studies are helpful
but not required. Floor managers must be able to work under pressure with
composure, anticipate potential problems and know how to address them,
communicate effectively and quickly, be able to work with different personalities,
and know how to multitask. Floor managers require a good sense of timing and
space.

Production Managers organize the business, finance and employment

issues in film and television productions. As a Production Manager, you would
be in charge of how the production budget is spent and making sure that
everything runs smoothly during filming.
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Before production begins, your work would involve:

 meeting the producer and other senior production staff to

examine scripts or program ideas drawing up a shooting schedule
and estimating cost hiring crews and contractors, and
negotiating rates of pay negotiating costs and approving the
booking of resources, equipment and suppliers overseeing location
bookings and arranging any necessary permissions and risk
assessments

During filming, duties include:

 making sure that the production runs to schedule, and reporting to

the producer on progress
managing the production schedule and budget
managing the production team
dealing with any problems
making sure that insurance, health and safety rules, copyright laws
and union agreements are followed

 To become a Production Manager you will

need substantial experience in TV or film, in-depth understanding
of the production process, and a network of contacts in the
industry. Experience and track record is more important than
formal qualifications, however, you may find it helpful to take a
course that includes practical skills, work placements and the
chance to make contacts. You will need a good understanding of
budget management, so skills and qualifications in accountancy are
useful.

 You could work your way up through the industry to become a

Production Manager in various ways. For example you could start
as a runner or an assistant or secretary in the production office, and
progress to production coordinator then assistant production
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 manager. You might also start as a trainee production accountant.
Alternatively, you could progress from runner to 3rd assistant
director then 2nd and 1st assistant director, or to assistant TV floor
manager then floor manager or location manager.

8.4 Outdoor and Indoors

Location shooting is the practice of filming in the actual setting in which a
story takes place rather than on a sound stage orback lot.

In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew will be filming

actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is not recorded may be
considered as a second unitphotography site. Filmmakers often choose to shoot on
location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real"
place, however location shooting is also often motivated by the film's budget.
However, many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and exterior scenes
on location.

It is often mistakenly believed that filming "on location" takes place in a

location where the story is set, but this is not necessarily the case.

Most films do a bit of both location shooting and studio shoots, although
low-budget films usually do more location shooting than bigger budget films
because the cost of shooting at someplace that already exists is much cheaper than
creating that place from scratch. In certain situations it my be cheaper to shoot in a
studio. In these situations lower budget films often shoot more in a studio.

Before filming on location its generally wise to conduct a recce.

Location shooting has several advantages over filming on a studio set:

 It can be cheaper than constructing large sets

 The illusion of reality can be stronger - on a set, it is hard to

replicate real-world wear-and-tear, as well as architectural details

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  It sometimes allows the use of cheaper non-union labor or to
bypass work stoppages in the US. Canadian locations such
as Vancouver and Toronto are known for this.

 It sometimes allows "frozen" currency to be used. The 1968

movie Kelly's Heroes was filmed in Yugoslavia using profits that
had been made on movie exhibitions in that country but could not
be exported.[citation needed]

 Its disadvantages include:

 Lack of control over the environment — lighting, passing aircraft,

traffic, pedestrians, bad weather, city regulations, etc.

 The difficulty of finding a real-world location which conforms with

the requirements of the script

 Members of the audience may be familiar with a real-world

location used to double as a fictional location (such as Rumble in
the Bronx inexplicably showing the mountains outside Vancouver
in the background of an urban Bronx-set scene)

 If a particular location completely lacks production companies (to

supply sets and gear) and local film crew, or if what is available
locally is not of the desired caliber, then transporting an entire film
crew and all their gear just to film on location can be extremely
expensive

Location shooting can provide significant economic development benefits

to an area selected for shooting. Cast and crew heavily rely upon local facilities
such as catering, transportation, and accommodations. A film that becomes a
blockbuster hit can introduce movie audiences around the world to a visually
breathtaking location that they were previously unaware of. This can boost
tourism for years or even decades.

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 Location shooting usually requires a location manager, and locations are
usually chosen by a location scout. Many popular locations, such as New York
City in the United States, Toronto in Canada, and the Isle of Man in the United
Kingdom, have dedicated film offices to encourage location shooting, and to
suggest appropriate locations to film-makers.

In many cases a second unit is dispatched to film on location, with

a second unit director and sometimes with stand-in actors. These locations shots
can then be edited into the final film or TV program alongside studio-shot
sequences, to give an authentic flavour, without the expense or trouble of a full-
scale location shoot. NYPD Blue, for example, was filmed primarily in Los
Angeles, but used second unit footage of New York City for colour, as well as
featuring a small number of episodes filmed on location with the cast.

8.5 Let Us Sum Up

8.6 Unit end Exercises
8.7 Points for Discussion
8.8 Answers to check your progress
8.9 Suggested readings.

1. Levy, Frederick (2000). Hollywood 101: The Film Industry.

Renaissance Books. ISBN 1-58063-123-1.
2. http://www.media-match.com/usa/media/jobtypes/production-
manager-jobs-402759.php

3. Knox, Dave (2005). Strike the Baby and Kill the Blonde: An Insider's
Guide to Film Slang. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 1-4000-9759-2.
4. Preston, Ward (1994). What an Art Director Does. Silman-James Press.
p. 150. ISBN 1-879505-18-5.

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 UNIT 5
LESSON 9

Pre-Production in Filmmaking

INTRODUCTION

In filmmaking and video production, pre-production formally begins once

a project has been greenlit. At this stage, finalizing preparations for production go
into effect. Financing will generally be confirmed and many of the key elements
such as principal cast members, director and cinematographer are set. By the end
of pre-production, the screenplay is usually finalized and satisfactory to all the
financiers and other stakeholders.

During pre-production, the script is broken down into individual

scenes storyboards and all the locations, props, cast members, costumes, special
effects and visual effects are identified. An extremely detailed schedule is
produced and arrangements are made for the necessary elements to be available to
the film-makers at the appropriate times. Sets are constructed, the crew is hired,
financial arrangements are put in place and a start date for the beginning
of principal photography is set. At some point in pre-production there will be
a read-through of the script which is usually attended by all cast members with
speaking parts, the director, all heads of departments, financiers, producers, and
publicists.

Even though the writer may still be working on it, the screenplay is
generally page-locked and scene-numbered at the beginning of pre-production to
avoid confusion. This means that even though additions and deletions may still be
made, any particular scene will always fall on the same page and have the same
scene number.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

From this section you can learn

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  The importance of Planning before preproduction in filmmaking.

 Conceptualization and story development

 Finalizing Cast, location, finance and shooting.

 How the industries are using multimedia designs?

UNIT STRUCTURE

10.1 Planning and Pre-Production

10.2 Conceptualization of a story and its development

10.3 Casting, Locations, Financing and Shooting

10.4 Let Us Sum Up

10.5 Unit End Exercises

10.6 Points for Discussion

10.7 Answers to check your progress

10.8 Suggested Readings

9.1 Planning and Pre-Production

Once you‘ve got your idea, you can think about how to turn it into a film. There
are lots of different ways of doing this. A mindmap, where you write down all the
ideas that might help, can be a good place to start.

Mindmap:

Buzan suggests the following guidelines for creating mind maps:

 Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors.

 Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your mind map.

 Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.

 Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.

147
  The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The lines
become thinner as they radiate out from the center.

 Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.

 Use multiple colors throughout the mind map, for visual stimulation and
also for encoding or grouping.

 Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.

 Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map.

 Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy or outlines to embrace
your branches.

You could write a treatment. This is a detailed description of the story and how it
will look and sound on film. Here‘s an example: James
Cameron‘s original treatment for Terminator.

If your film has actors and dialogue, you should write a script. There‘s a standard
script format.

If your scenes are complex, you can make storyboards to help work out how
you‘re going to film them. Working out the shots in advance will help you make
sure you get everything you need on the day. These are a good way to make sure
that the shots make sense together.

StoryBoard:

A storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images

displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture,
animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding
process, in the form it is known today, was developed at Walt Disney
Productions during the early 1930s, after several years of similar processes being
in use at Walt Disney and other animation studios.

The storyboarding process can be very time-consuming and intricate. Many large
budget silent films were storyboarded but most of this material has been lost
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during the reduction of the studio archives during the 1970s. The creation of the
storyboard is attributed to Georges Méliès. The form widely known today was
developed at the Walt Disney studio during the early 1930s. In the biography of
her father, The Story of Walt Disney (Henry Holt, 1956), Diane Disney
Miller explains that the first complete storyboards were created for the 1933
Disney short Three Little Pigs. According to John Canemaker, in Paper Dreams:
The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999, Hyperion Press), the first
storyboards at Disney evolved from comic-book like "story sketches" created in
the 1920s to illustrate concepts for animated cartoon short subjects such as Plane
Crazy and Steamboat Willie, and within a few years the idea spread to other
studios.

According to Christopher Finch in The Art of Walt Disney (Abrams, 1974),

Disney credited animator Webb Smith with creating the idea of drawing scenes on
separate sheets of paper and pinning them up on a bulletin board to tell a story in
sequence, thus creating the first storyboard. Furthermore, it was Disney who first
recognized the necessity for studios to maintain a separate "story department" with
specialized storyboard artists (that is, a new occupation distinct from animators),
as he had realized that audiences would not watch a film unless its story gave
them a reason to care about the characters. The second studio to switch from
"story sketches" to storyboards was Walter Lantz Productions in early 1935, by
1936 Harman-Ising and Leon Schlesinger Productions also followed suit. By 1937
or 1938, all American animation studios were using storyboards.

Gone with the Wind (1939) was one of the first live action films to be completely
storyboarded. William Cameron Menzies, the film's production designer, was
hired by producer David O. Selznick to design every shot of the film.

Storyboarding became popular in live-action film production during the early

1940s, and grew into a standard medium for previsualization of films. Pace
Gallery curator Annette Micheloson, writing of the exhibition Drawing into Film:
Director's Drawings, considered the 1940s to 1990s to be the period in which

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"production design was largely characterized by adoption of the storyboard".
Storyboards are now an essential part of the creative process.

A film storyboard is essentially a series of frames, with drawings of the sequence

of events in a film, like a comic book of the film or some section of the film
produced beforehand. It helps film directors,cinematographers and television
commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems
before they occur. Besides this, storyboards also help estimate the cost of the
overall production and saves time. Often storyboards include arrows or
instructions that indicate movement.

In creating a motion picture with any degree of fidelity to a script, a storyboard

provides a visual layout of events as they are to be seen through the camera lens.
And in the case of interactive media, it is the layout and sequence in which the
user or viewer sees the content or information. In the storyboarding process, most
technical details involved in crafting a film or interactive media project can be
efficiently described either in picture, or in additional text.

If you can‘t draw, use a digital still camera or just make a list of shots and check
them off as you shoot.

There are free downloadable storyboards and shot lists on the Film planning
templates page.

Do a recce: visit the settings where you‘re going to film. Check that you can get
permission to film there, if you need it. Check the light. Check that there won‘t be
any interruptions or distracting sounds. Check there‘s space to get all the camera
positions you need.

You could draw plans of the location to help you work out where to put the actors
and cameras. Remember to follow the 180 degree rule.

Make sure you have all the people and all the gear you need before you start
shooting. You can use call sheets to organise this.

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Make sure you get any legal agreements – e.g. actor release forms – signed before
you start shooting: you don‘t want to be arguing about these after you‘ve
completed your film.

Planning factual films

If it‘s a news or documentary item – where you don‘t know exactly what‘s going
to be there – you still need to plan. Find out as much as possible about the place or
story and make a list of the kinds of shots you‘re going to film.

If you‘re going to interview people, make sure they‘re available and draft some
questions to ask them.

In some situations, you can‘t visit the location in advance. You might be covering
a news story in a different part of the country or abroad. But you can still plan.
Find out as much as possible about what the place looks like; get in touch with
someone local if you can. You can even storyboard the whole thing before you get
there. That will give you a basic list of shots to work with; you can then shoot
extra shots and things that you see when you get there.

9.2 Conceptualization of a story and its development

Writing a screenplay isnt' a single step, but a process that goes through several
stages. One of the most important steps is developing the movie's concept before
you actually begin writing the actual script. This essential first step lays out how
the film's story should go, permits easy revisions and guide you in the same way
as an outline guides the writing of an essay.

Brainstorming and Conceptualization:

A concept is a simple one-liner summing up the very essence of the story. It

should clearly answer the basic question, "What is the story all about?" Follow-
ups can include questions like, "Is it a love story, boy-meets-girl/girl-meets-boy
story, treasure-hunting story, or ghost story?" "Is it about conquering ones fear?"
"Is it about vengeance?"

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You must be able to provide straightforward answers to these questions -- all
without beating around the bush. When you're pitching your screenplay to a
producer or a studio executive, failing to answer these questions in a sentence or
two will most likely result in a quick end to that pitching session!

Expanding the Concept

With the initial concept under your belt, you next expand your idea by answering
more questions. "What is the theme and the type of story to be produced?" "Is it a
period, children's, animated, or teen film?" "Is it an adaptation from a literary
piece, a biopic, or is it inspired by a true story?"

Deciding upon the film's genre is a next critical step. Is it drama, comedy, horror,
action, romance, sci-fi, epic, or fantasy? With that decided, you may find it falls
into a sub-genre like a police procedural, superhero, or swashbuckler.

Another important step is deciding upon whose point of view will be used in the
film. Will the story be told from the perspective of the main character -- as is
usually the case -- or someone (or something) else? Defining this before writing
the scrip is crucial to the story's flow and helps to ensure that the story doesn't
branch out to unnecessary subplots.

Writing off the top of our head sometimes is great to capture a fleeting idea. But
real planning and preparation work can save the writer a lot of frustration and
backpedaling at a later date. Outlining and breaking down the dramatic elements
of a story are well worth the effort. By playing contrasts and conflict to maximum
effect the playwright can stir the primal in us.

There are so many ways to approach an idea. And the actual activity of logging in
the possibilities is not a pleasant task. But having an easy and systematic method
to catalog ideas, dialogue, and other snippets is like having an assistant available
at all time to do your bidding. In recent years software developers have created
products to simplify this process; some are for outlining/brainstorming and others

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specifically organize dramatic elements under a theoretical umbrella. Whatever
method you choose here is a "Top Ten Tip' List for you:

 Create a world that's true to real life or fantastical or that mixes the
mundane with the magical. But whatever set of rules you create for that
world, make sure you follow them.

 Write a conflict that builds as the play progresses. As you structure the
conflict, think in terms of your play having a beginning, a middle and an
end.

 Write characters that want something (which puts them in conflict with
other characters) and try to get what they want at every moment.

 Make sure that each character has something at stake, a consequence if he

doesn't get what he wants.

 Create a "ticking clock" that puts the characters under pressure to get what
they want right away.

 Make sure there is a good reason, an "event," for your play. It's not enough
for two characters to sit around and talk for a while and then leave. There
needs to be some important reason why we're watching them now, at this
particular moment.

 Write dialogue that illuminates your characters and advances the plot at
the same time.

 Make each character speak in a distinctive voice. If you have trouble with
that, try imagining a specific actor you know - even if it's someone who
will never play the part - in the role.

 Do not have a character tell us something she can show us instead. For
example, it's much more effective to hide under the bed than to say "I'm
afraid."

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  Give each character a "moment," something that justifies the character's
existence in your play and that makes him attractive for an actor to play.

9.3 Casting, Locations, Financing and Shooting

Casting:

The casting process involves a series of auditions before a casting panel,

composed of individuals such as the producer, director and/or choreographer. In
the early stages of the process, performers often may present prepared audition
pieces such asmonologues or songs. These audition pieces are usually video taped,
attached with resumes, and head shots and then shared with producers, directors
and studio representatives. Later stages may involve groups of actors attempting
material from the work under consideration in various combinations; the casting
director considers both the talent of the individual actors and the chemistry of
their combination.

Depending on the prestige of the role, casting calls may go out to the public at
large (typical forcommunity theater), to professional and semi-professional local
actors (for supporting roles in theaterand film) or to specifically selected actors
(for leading roles, especially in films). In the production of film and television, a
similar process is followed.

Character breakdowns, part of the script breakdown, are often provided to

auditioners, and provide a brief summary of a character (age, gender, race or
ethnicity, personality, situations they may be involved in).

An actor may go through several casting calls before receiving a part.

Independent Casting Studios are often used for casting calls so that the castings
can take place in various locations. Dewar Studios in Great Titchfield Street in
central London is a good example of the independent casting studios that provide
facilities to casting directors.

Location:

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A filming location is a place where some or all of a film ortelevision series is
produced, in addition to or instead of usingsets constructed on a movie
studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film
crew will be filming actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is
not recorded may be considered as a second unitphotography site. Filmmakers
often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be
achieved in a "real" place; however, location shooting is often motivated by the
film's budget. Many films shoot interior scenes on a sound stage and exterior
scenes on location.

It is often mistakenly believed that filming "on location" takes place in the actual
location in which its story is set, but this is not necessarily the case.

It is common for films or television series to be set in one place, but filmed in
another, usually for reasons of economy or convenience, but sometimes because
the substitute location looks more historically appropriate.

Some substitute filming locations, and the corresponding film setting, include:

 Almería, Spain - Southwest USA (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as
well as numerous otherSpaghetti Westerns)

 Cadiz, Spain - Havana, Cuba (Die Another Day)

 Hawaii - West Africa (Tears of the Sun), Brazilian Amazon (The

Rundown)

 Madrid, Spain - Moscow, Russia (Doctor Zhivago)

 Malta - Ancient Sparta (Troy);

Ancient Rome (Gladiator); Rome, Beirut, Cyprus, Tel
Aviv, Athens(Munich); Sweethaven (Popeye)

 Matera, Italy - Jerusalem (The Passion of the Christ)

 St Pancras Hotel, London - Arkham Asylum, Gotham City (Batman

Begins)
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  Thailand - Various locations around Thailand have been used for many
films depicting the Vietnam War era, including The Deer Hunter, The
Killing Fields, Casualties of War, Air America and Operation Dumbo
Drop.

Film Finance:

Film finance is an aspect of film production that occurs during

the development stage prior to pre-production, and is concerned with determining
the potential value of a proposed film. In the United States, the value is typically
based on a forecast of revenues (generally 10 years for films and 20 years for
television shows), beginning with theatrical release, and including DVD sales, and
release to cablebroadcast television networks both domestic and international and
inflight airline licensing.

Film finance is a subset of project finance, meaning the film project's

generated cash flows rather than external sources are used to repay investors. The
main factors determining the commercial success of a film include public taste,
artistic merit, competition from other films released at the same time, the quality
of the script, the quality of the cast, the quality of the director and other parties,
etc. Even if a film looks like it will be a commercial success "on paper", there is
still no accurate method of determining the levels of revenue the film will
generate. In the past, risk mitigation was based on pre-sales, box office projections
and ownership of negative rights. Along with strong ancillary markets in DVD,
CATV, and other electronic media (like streaming video on demand -SVOD),
investors were shown that picture subsidies (tax incentives and credits), and pre-
sales (discountable-contract finance) from foreign distributors, could help to
mitigate potential losses. As production costs have risen, however, potential
financiers have become increasingly insistent upon higher degrees of certainty as
to whether they will actually have their investment repaid, and assurances
regarding what return they will earn.

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Past film slate's poor performance records are showing up in public court
documents. Property and casualty companies (P&C) like AIG had offered
insurance against film slates and the bonds issued to fund them, but now fully
refuse to cover film slates. This ended in many lawsuits, starting in early 1999
(with Steve Stabler's Destination Films $100M bond fund failure and subsequent
lawsuit), and continue to this day with Aramid's lawsuit on Relativity's Beverly-1-
Sony film slate and the Melrose-2-Paramount slate. Citigroup attempted to wrap
the Beverly-1-Sony slate with a property and casualty insurance wrapper (from
the formerly bankrupt Ambac Assurance, Corp.). After these "uninsured" slate
financing arrangements (SFA) failed to return even the original principal to
investors, the market has sought solutions. Traditionally, banks like JP Morgan
have an entertainment division that uses proprietary risk mitigation regression
analysis to see if future film revenues can meet an exceedance probability (where
in the ultimate revenues allow the loan to break even), but this is calculated
guesswork, and has caused all of the major national banks to lose millions in bad
loans. An alternative to such loss protection was developed by Geneva Media
Holdings, LLC (originally as risk mitigation for affluent individuals and "direct
investors" under US tax incentive IRC 181). Fully insured media funds are now
being carefully reviewed by risk analysts at major hedge funds, banks and
institutional pension plans specializing in investor risk mitigation.

Many outside of Hollywood fail to realize the longevity of film and television
after-market income streams. Many commercial films and network television
shows will make money for decades. For the investor who pays for part of the
negative costs, the time value of money is important. For many movie investors
the required rate of return for this "risky" investment may be 25% or more. This
means that while there may be TV revenues for an additional 10 years after the
movie is released, the PV (present value) of those revenues is diminished by the
required rate of return and the time it takes for these revenues to accrue. Ancillary
revenues (VOD, DVD, Blu-ray, PPV, CATV, etc.), tend to accrue to the studio
that purchased these residuals as part of their overall distribution deal. For many
157
movie investors in the past, the theatrical box office was the primary place to gain
a PV return on their investment.

VaultML has developed technologies usually seen in high frequency trading to

predict box office success and investor risk using artificial intelligence. They
claim to analyze over 300,000 elements from screenplay to form a basis for
prediction. Based on their published future predictions for 2015 they out yielded
the market on a return on investment basis.

Ryan Kavanaugh of the recently bankrupted Relativity Media offered

participation in profits to actors, rather than up-front fees, to lower production
costs and keep profits protected. Kavanaugh has attempted to use data from major
studios like Sony and NBC/Universal to build a complex Monte Carlo system to
determine movie failure rates prior to production. His projects and business
models have failed miserably, causing a half-a-billion dollars in losses. The box
office results of his movies have been mixed, as there is no set ratios, blends,
mixtures, method or secret crystal ball that can project movie revenues, investor
risk or rejection parameters.

Slated is the first dedicated online film finance marketplace for professional
equity investing. Combined with Slated's team, script and financial analysis,
investors can have ownership in films with real profit potential.

Epagogix has developed a system using neural networks to assess factors that
contribute to box office success. They assess a wide variety of movies of different
box office returns. Another film finance analyst, Steve Jasmine, claims to have
developed a system for predicting a film's box office success. This system claims
to quantify 800 creative elements of billion dollar grossing movies to determine
what audiences are most interested in. Worldwide Motion Picture Group offers a
service termed "script evaluation" where a team of analysts compare draft scripts
to those of previously released movies in an effort to estimate the box office
potential of the proposed script. They also conduct surveys and use results of
previous focus groups to assist this analysis.

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A final consideration is securing title. Since the collateral for film financing
arrangements can be based on the ownership of intellectual property rights, film
finance transactions generally commence with a title analysis.

There are five main methods of financing the production of a film:

 government grants;

 tax incentives and shelters;

 private equity and hedge funds

 debt finance; and

 equity finance.

Crowdfunding:

With a rising popularity of online crowdfunding more and more films are getting
financed directly by their consumers this way. The crowdfunding
platforms Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have their own categories dedicated to
films.

Crowdfunding films gives the consumer a voice in what films are being produced,
allow for riskier, more socially relevant, more innovative, less profit-oriented
independent films with smaller and marginal target audiences that can't be found
in mainstream cinema and lower the entry-barrier to new
filmmakers. Crowdfunded films include Iron Sky, Kung Fury, Veronica
Mars, Code 8, Star Trek: Renegades, Manthan and Anomalisa.

Shooting:

 Block – determining where the actors will be on the set and the first
camera position

 Light – time for the DOP to light the set and position the camera for the
first shot

 Rehearse – camera rehearsal of the first set-up with the actors and crew

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  Tweak – make lighting and other adjustments

 Shoot – shooting the first scene (then repeat the process)

9.4 Let Us Sum Up

9.5 Unit End Exercises

9.6 Points for Discussion

9.7 Answers to check your progress

9.8 Suggested Readings

1. http://actioncutprint.com/filmmaking-articles/filmmakingarticle-05/

2. Waider, Christina. Crowdfunding als alternatives Filminvestitionsmodell: Ist

Crowdfunding und Crowdinvesting ein zukunftsfähiges Filmfinanzierungsmittel?.
Retrieved 1 July 2016.

3. http://learnaboutfilm.com/making-a-film/film-planning-pdfs/

4. http://www.makingmoviesmakesense.org/content/pre-production

5. Jon Gress (2014). [digital] Visual Effects and Compositing New Riders p. 23. ISBN
9780133807240

6. Gabler, Neal (2007). Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination.
New York: Vintage Books. pp. 181–189. ISBN 9780679757474.

7. Mind maps as active learning tools', by Willis, CL. Journal of computing sciences
in colleges. ISSN 1937-4771. 2006. Volume: 21 Issue: 4

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 UNIT 5
LESSON 10

Direction, Cinematography, Distribution and Exhibition

INTRODUCTION

In film editing, video editing and post production, screen direction is the
direction that actors or objects appear to be moving on the screen from the point
of view of the camera or audience. A rule of film editing and film grammar is that
movement from one edited shot to another must maintain the consistency of
screen direction in order to avoid audience confusion.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

From this section you can learn

 Understand the role of director and cinematographer

 How the films are distributed and exhibited?

UNIT STRUCTURE

10.1 Screen Direction

10.2 Cinematography

10.3 Film Distributor

10.4 Movie Theater

10.5 Let Us Sum Up

10.6 Unit End Exercises

10.7 Points for Discussion

10.8 Answers to check your progress

10.9 Suggested Readings

10.1 Screen Direction

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 "Camera left" or "frame left" indicates movement towards the left side of
the screen, while "camera right" or "frame right" refers to movement towards
the right side of the screen. "Foreground" refers to the apparent space close to the
camera (and thus to the audience), and "background" refers to the apparent space
in the distance away from the camera and the audience.

As an example of screen direction in use, if an actor is shown in one shot

walking from screen left to screen right and then is shown in the next shot to be
moving in the opposite direction (screen right to screen left), the audience will
assume that the actor has changed direction and is walking back to where he
started (in the absence of obvious contextual or environmental cues).

If the shot shows him again moving from screen left to screen right (as in
the first shot), the audience will assume that the actor is continuing his previous
movement and extending it to apparently cover a greater distance even if that is
purely a fabrication of editing.

Another example would be if two characters are shown in a medium shot,

say from the waist up, looking at each other, it is generally established that one is
on the left of screen and the other on the right. The one on the left looks right to
the other character and vice versa. When the editor cuts to a close shot of a person,
it would be disorienting if the character looked the other way. The audience would
assume that the character is looking at something else.

In the coverage of the scene, it is customary in film technique to be sure

that screen direction is maintained. In a close up, the environmental cues are at a
minimum.

It is the responsibility of the director, cameraman, and script supervisor on

the set to maintain consistency of screen direction so that later during editing, the
myriad short pieces of film can be properly assembled by the editor into a
coherent film that tells the story intended.

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 Avant-garde, experimental, and some independent film and video
productions often deliberately violate screen direction rules in order to create
audience disorientation or ambiguity. However, unless it is done very skillfully,
violation of screen direction can appear to the audience to be the result of
filmmaker ineptitude rather than experimentation.

10.2 Cinematography

Cinematography is the science or art of motion-picturephotography by

recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means
of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such
as film stock.

Typically, a lens is used to repeatedly focus the light reflected or emitted

from objects into real images on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during
a questioned exposure, creating multiple images. With an electronic image sensor,
this produces an electrical charge at each pixel, which is electronically
processed and stored in a video file for subsequent display or processing. The
result with photographic emulsion is a series of invisible latent images on the film
stock, which are later chemically "developed"into a visible image. The images on
the film stock are played back at a rapid speed and projected onto a screen,
creating the illusion of motion.

Cinematography finds uses in many fields of science and business as well

as for entertainment purposes and mass communication.

The experimental film Roundhay Garden Scene, filmed by Louis Le

Prince on October 14, 1888 in Roundhay, Leeds, England, is the earliest surviving
motion picture. This movie was shot on paper film.

W K. L. Dickson, working under the direction of Thomas Alva Edison,

was the first to design a successful apparatus, theKinetograph, patented in 1891.
This camera took a series of instantaneous photographs on standard Eastman
Kodak photographic emulsion coated onto a transparent celluloid strip35 mm

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wide. The results of this work were first shown in public in 1893, using the
viewing apparatus also designed by Dickson, the Kinetoscope. Contained within a
large box, only one person at a time looking into it through a peephole could view
the movie.

In the following year, Charles Francis Jenkins and his projector,

the Phantoscope, made a successful audience viewing while Louis and Auguste
Lumière perfected the Cinématographe, an apparatus that took, printed, and
projected film, in Paris in December 1895. The Lumière brothers were the first to
present projected, moving, photographic, pictures to a paying audience of more
than one person.

In 1896, movie theaters were open in:

France (Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nice, Marseille); Italy (Rome,Milan, Napl

es, Genoa, Venice, Bologna, Forlì); Belgium (Brussels); and Great
Britain (London).

In 1896, Edison showed his improved Vitascope projector, the first

commercially successful projector in the U.S.

Cooper Hewitt invented mercury lamps which made it practical to shoot

films indoors without sunlight in 1905.

The first animated cartoon was produced in 1906.

Credits began to appear at the beginning of motion pictures in 1911.

The Bell and Howell 2709 movie camera invented in 1915 allowed
directors to make close-ups without physically moving the camera.

By the late 1920s most of the movies produced were sound films.

Wide screen formats were first experimented with in the 1950s.

By the 1970s, most movies were color films. IMAX and other 70mm
formats gained popularity. Wide distribution of films became commonplace,
setting the ground for "blockbusters."
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 Film cinematography dominated the motion picture industry from its
inception until the 2010s, when digital cinematography became dominant. Film
cinematography is still used by some directors, especially in specific applications
or out of fondness of the format.

In digital cinematography, the movie is shot on digital medium such as

flash storage, as well as distributed through a digital medium such as a hard drive.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Sony began marketing the concept of

"electronic cinematography," utilizing its analog Sony HDVS professional video
cameras. The effort met with very little success. However, this led to one of the
earliest digitally shot feature movies, Julia and Julia, being produced in 1987. In
1998, with the introduction of HDCAM recorders and 1920 × 1080 pixel digital
professional video cameras based on CCD technology, the idea, now re-branded
as "digital cinematography," began to gain traction in the market.[citation needed]

Shot and released in 1998, The Last Broadcast is believed by some to be

the first feature-length video shot and edited entirely on consumer-level digital
equipment. In May 1999 George Lucas challenged the supremacy of the movie-
making medium of film for the first time by including footage filmed with high-
definition digital cameras in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In late
2013, Paramount became the first major studio to distribute movies to theaters in
digital format, eliminating 35mm film entirely.

As digital technology improved, movie studios began increasingly shifting

towards digital cinematography. Since the 2010s, digital cinematography has
become the dominant form of cinematography after largely superseding film
cinematography.

The first film cameras were fastened directly to the head of a tripod or
other support, with only the crudest kind of leveling devices provided, in the
manner of the still-camera tripod heads of the period. The earliest film cameras
were thus effectively fixed during the shot, and hence the first camera movements
were the result of mounting a camera on a moving vehicle. The first known of
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these was a film shot by a Lumière cameraman from the back platform of a train
leaving Jerusalem in 1896, and by 1898 there were a number of films shot from
moving trains. Although listed under the general heading of "panoramas" in the
sales catalogues of the time, those films shot straight forward from in front of a
railway engine were usually specifically referred to as "phantom rides".

In 1897, Robert W. Paul had the first real rotating camera head made to
put on a tripod, so that he could follow the passing processions of Queen
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in one uninterrupted shot. This device had the camera
mounted on a vertical axis that could be rotated by a worm gear driven by turning
a crank handle, and Paul put it on general sale the next year. Shots taken using
such a"panning" head were also referred to as "panoramas" in the film catalogues
of the first decade of the cinema.

The standard pattern for early film studios was provided by the studio
which Georges Méliès had built in 1897. This had a glass roof and three glass
walls constructed after the model of large studios for still photography, and it was
fitted with thin cotton cloths that could be stretched below the roof to diffuse the
direct ray of the sun on sunny days. The soft overall light without real shadows
that this arrangement produced, and which also exists naturally on lightly overcast
days, was to become the basis for film lighting in film studios for the next decade.

Cinematography can not only depict a moving subject but can use a
camera, which represents the audience's viewpoint or perspective, that moves
during the course of filming. This movement plays a considerable role in the
emotional language of film images and the audience's emotional reaction to the
action. Techniques range from the most basic movements of panning (horizontal
shift in viewpoint from a fixed position; like turning your head side-to-side) and
tilting (vertical shift in viewpoint from a fixed position; like tipping your head
back to look at the sky or down to look at the ground) to dollying (placing the
camera on a moving platform to move it closer or farther from the
subject), tracking (placing the camera on a moving platform to move it to the left

166
or right),craning (moving the camera in a vertical position; being able to lift it off
the ground as well as swing it side-to-side from a fixed base position), and
combinations of the above. Early cinematographers often faced problems that
were not common to other graphic artists because of the element of motion.[11]

Cameras have been mounted to nearly every imaginable form of

transportation.

Most cameras can also be handheld, that is held in the hands of the camera
operator who moves from one position to another while filming the action.
Personal stabilizing platforms came into being in the late 1970s through the
invention of Garrett Brown, which became known as the Steadicam. The
Steadicam is a body harness and stabilization arm that connects to the camera,
supporting the camera while isolating it from the operator's body movements.
After the Steadicam patent expired in the early 1990s, many other companies
began manufacturing their concept of the personal camera stabilizer.

The first special effects in the cinema were created while the film was
being shot. These came to be known as "in-camera" effects.
Later, optical and digital effects were developed so that editors and visual effects
artists could more tightly control the process by manipulating the film in post-
production.

The 1896 movie The Execution of Mary Stuart shows an actor dressed as
the queen placing her head on the execution block in front of a small group of
bystanders in Elizabethan dress. The executioner brings his axe down, and the
queen's severed head drops onto the ground. This trick was worked by stopping
the camera and replacing the actor with a dummy, then restarting the camera
before the axe falls. The two pieces of film were then trimmed and cemented
together so that the action appeared continuous when the film was shown.

This film was among those exported to Europe with the first Kinetoscope
machines in 1895, and was seen by Georges Méliès, who was putting on magic
shows in his Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris at the time. He took
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up filmmaking in 1896, and after making imitations of other films from Edison,
Lumière, and Robert Paul, he made Escamotage d'un dame chez Robert-Houdin
(The Vanishing Lady). This film shows a woman being made to vanish by using
the same stop motion technique as the earlier Edison film. After this, Georges
Méliès made many single shot films using this trick over the next couple of years.

In descending order of seniority, the following staff are involved:

 Director of Photography also called cinematographer

 Camera Operator also called cameraman

 First Assistant camera also called focus puller

 Second Assistant camera also called clapper loader

10.3 Film Distributor

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The

distribution company is usually different from the production company.
Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film.

The distributor may set the release date of a film and the method by which
a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing: for example, directly to the
public either theatrically or for home viewing (DVD, video-on-
demand, download, television programs through broadcast syndication etc.). A
distributor may do this directly, if the distributor owns the theaters or film
distribution networks, or through theatrical exhibitors and other sub-distributors.
A limited distributor may deal only with particular products, such as DVDs or
Blu-ray, or may act in a particular country or market. The primary distributor will
often receive credit in the film's credits, one sheet or other marketing material

Theatrical distribution:

If a distributor is working with a theatrical exhibitor, the distributor

secures a written contract stipulating the amount of the gross ticket sales the
exhibitor will be allowed to retain (usually a percentage of the gross). The

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distributor collects the amount due, audits the exhibitor's ticket sales as necessary
to ensure the gross reported by the exhibitor is accurate, secures the distributor's
share of these proceeds, surrenders the exhibitor's portion to it, and transmits the
remainder to the production company (or to any other [intermediary], such as a
film release agent).

The distributor must also ensure that enough film prints are struck to
service all contracted exhibitors on the contract-based opening day, ensure their
physical delivery to the theater by the opening day, monitor exhibitors to make
sure the film is in fact shown in the particular theatre with the minimum number
of seats and show times, and ensure the prints' return to the distributor's office or
other storage resource also on the contract-based return date. In practical terms,
this includes the physical production of release prints and their shipping around
the world (a process that is being replaced by digital distribution in most
developed markets) as well as the creation of posters, newspaper and magazine
advertisements, television commercials, trailers, and other types of ads.

The distributor is also responsible for ensuring a full line of advertising

material is available for each film which it believes will help the exhibitor attract
the largest possible audience, create such advertising if it is not provided by the
production company, and arrange for the physical delivery of the advertising items
selected by the exhibitor at intervals prior to the opening day. Film distributors
spend between $3.5 billion and $4.0 billion a year in the United States alone on
direct buys of advertising such as TV commercials, billboards, online banner ads,
radio commercials and the like. That distributor-spending figure doesn't include
additional costs for publicity, film trailers and promotions, which aren‘t classified
as advertising but also market films to audiences.

Distributors typically enter into one of the two types of film booking
contracts. The most common is the aggregate deal where total box office revenue
that a given film generates is split by a pre-determined mutually-agreed
percentage between distributor and movie theater. The other method is the sliding

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scale deal, where the percentage of box office revenue taken by theaters declines
each week of a given film's run. The sliding scale actually has two pieces that
starts with a minimum amount of money that theater is to keep—often called ―the
house nut‖—after which the sliding scale kicks in for revenue generated above the
house nut. However, this sliding scale method is falling out of use. Whatever the
method, box office revenue is usually shared roughly 50/50 between film
distributors and theaters.

International Distribution

If the distributor is handling an imported or foreign film, it may also be

responsible for securing dubbing or subtitling for the film, and
securing censorship or other legal or organizational "approval" for the exhibition
of the film in the country/territory in which it does business, prior to approaching
the exhibitors for booking. Depending on which studio that is distributing the film,
the studio will either have offices around the world, by themselves or partnered
with another studio, to distribute films in other countries. If a studio decides to
partner with a native distributor, upon release both names will appear. The foreign
distributor may license the film for a certain amount of time, but the studio will
retain the copyright of the film.

Early distribution windows

Although there are now numerous distribution techniques, in the past the
studios and networks were slow to change and did not experiment with different
distribution processes. Studios believed that new distribution methods would
cause their old methods of revenue to be destroyed. With time, the development of
new distribution did prove to be beneficial. The studios revenue was gained from
myriad distribution windows. These windows created many opportunities in the
industry and allowed networks to make a profit and eliminate failure. These new
distribution methods benefited audiences that were normally too small to reach
and expanded the content of television. With the new age of technology, networks

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accepted the fact that it was a consumer demand industry and accepted the new
models of distribution.

Non-theatrical distribution:

This term, used mainly in the British film industry, describes the
distribution of feature films for screening to a gathered audience, but not in
theatres at which individual tickets are sold to members of the public. The
defining distinctions between a theatrical and a non-theatrical screening are that
the latter has to be to a closed audience in some way, e.g. pupils of a school,
members of a social club or passengers on an airline, and that there can be no
individual admission charge. Most non-theatrical screening contracts also specify
that the screening must not be advertised, except within the group that is eligible
to attend (e.g. in a membership organisation's newsletter or an in-flight magazine).

Non-theatrical distribution includes the airlines and film societies. Non-

theatrical distribution is generally handled by companies that specialise in this
market, of which Filmbank is Britain's largest, representing the major Hollywood
studios. Home video media is sold with a licence that permits viewing in the home
only. Until these technologies were widespread, most non-theatrical screenings
were on 16mm filmprints supplied by the distributor. Today, the most
common business model is for a distributor to sell the exhibitor a licence that
permits the legal projection of a copy of the film, which the exhibitor buys
separately on a home video format. These licences can either be for individual,
one-off screenings, or cover an unlimited number of screenings of titles
represented by that distributor for a specified time period. The latter are often
purchased by pubs and students' unions, to enable them to show occasional feature
films on a TV in their bars.

Home video distribution:

Some distributors only handle home video distribution or some sub-set of

home video distribution such as DVD or Blu-ray distribution. The remaining

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home video rights may be licensed by the producer to other distributors or the
distributor may sub-license them to other distributors.

If a distributor is going to distribute a movie on a physical format such as

DVD, they must arrange for the creation of the artwork for the case and the face
of the DVD and arrange with a DVD replicator to create a glass master to press
quantities of the DVD.

Some movie producers use a process called "DVD-on-demand." In DVD-

on-demand, a company will burn a DVD-R (a process called "duplication") when
a copy of the DVD is ordered, and then ship it to the customer.

A distributor may also maintain contact with wholesalers who sell and ship
DVDs to retail outlets as well as online stores, and arrange for them to carry the
DVD. The distributor may also place ads in magazines and online and send copies
of the DVD to reviewers.

Distribution credits:

The primary distribution companies will usually receive some billing for
the film. For example, Gone With the Wind was shown on the one sheet as
"A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Release". A modern example,Jurassic Park, would be
the credit "Universal Pictures presents …". The Universal production logo also
opened the film's trailer. In some cases, there is split distribution as in the case
of Titanic (1997): "Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures present …".
Both companies helped finance the film.

10.4 Movie Theater

A movie theater (also called a cinema) is a venue, usually a building, that

contains an auditorium for viewing films, for entertainment. Most, but not all,
movie theaters are commercial operations catering to the general public, who
attend by purchasing a ticket. Some movie theaters, however, are operated by non-
profit organizations or societies which charge members a membership fee to view
films.

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 The film is projected with a movie projector onto a large projection
screen at the front of the auditorium while the dialogue, sounds and music are
played through a number of wall-mounted speakers. Since the
1970s, subwoofers have been used for low-pitched sounds. In the 2010s, most
movie theaters are equipped for digital cinema projection, removing the need to
create and transport a physical film print on a heavy reel.

A great variety of films are shown at cinemas, ranging from animated

films for children, blockbusters for general audiences and documentaries for
patrons who are interested in non-fiction topics. The smallest movie theaters have
a single viewing room with a single screen. In the 2010s, most movie theaters
have multiple screens. The largest theater complexes, which are
called multiplexes–a design developed in the U.S. in the 1960s–have up to 25
screens. The audience members typically sit on padded seats which in most
theaters are set up on a sloped floor, with the highest part at the rear of the theater.
Movie theaters typically sell soft drinks, popcorn and candy and some theaters
also sell hot fast food. In some jurisdictions, movie theaters are licensed to sell
alcoholic drinks.

Luxury screens:

Some cinemas in city centers offer luxury seating with services like
complimentary refills of soft drinks and popcorn,
a bar serving beer, wine and liquor, reclining leather seats and service bells.

Cinemas must have a liquor license to serve alcohol. The Vue

Cinema chain is a good example of a large-scale offering of such a service, called
"Gold Class" and similarly, ODEON, Britain's largest cinema chain, have gallery
areas in some of their bigger cinemas where there is a separate foyer area with a
bar and unlimited snacks.

Age restrictions:

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 These ratings are from the revised Taiwan motion picture rating system
which took effect in October 2015.

Admission to a movie may also be restricted by a motion picture rating

system, typically due to depictions of sex, nudity or graphic violence. According
to such systems, children or teenagers below a certain age may be forbidden
access to theaters showing certain movies, or only admitted when accompanied by
a parent or other adult. In some jurisdictions, a rating may legally impose these
age restrictions on movie theaters. Furthermore, where movie theaters do not have
this legal obligation, they may enforce restrictions on their own. Accordingly, a
movie theater may either not be allowed to program an unrated film, or voluntarily
refrain from that.

Revenue:

Movie studios/film distributors in the U.S. traditionally drive hard bargains

entitling them to as much as 100% of the gross ticket revenue during the first
weeks (and then the balance changes in 10% increments in favor of exhibitors at
intervals that vary from film to film). Film exhibition has seen a rise in its
development with video consolidation as well as DVD sales, which over the past
two decades is the biggest earner in revenue. According to The Contemporary
Hollywood Film Industry, Philip Drake states that box office takings currently
account for less than a quarter of total revenues and have become increasingly
"front loaded," earning the majority of receipts in the opening two weeks of
exhibition, meaning that films need to make an almost instant impact in order to
avoid being dropped from screens by exhibitors. Essentially, if the film does not
succeed in the first few weeks of its inception, it will most likely fail in its attempt
to gain a sustainable amount of revenue and thus being taken out from movie
theaters. Furthermore, higher-budget films on the "opening weekend," or the three
days, Friday to Sunday, can signify how much revenue it will bring in, not only to
America, but as well as overseas. It may also determine the price in distribution
windows through home video and television.

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 In Canada, the total operating revenue in the movie theater industry was
$1.7 billion in 2012, an 8.4% increase from 2010. This increase was mainly the
result of growth in box office and concession revenue. Combined, these accounted
for 91.9% of total industry operating revenue. In the US, the "...number of tickets
sold fell nearly 11% between 2004 and 2013, according to the report, while box
office revenue increased 17%" due to increased ticket prices.

New forms of competition:

One reason for the decline in ticket sales in the 2000s is that "home-
entertainment options [are] improving all the time— whether streamed movies
and television, video games, or mobile apps—and studios releasing fewer
movies", which means that "people are less likely to head to their local
multiplex". A Pew Media survey from 2006 found that the relationship between
movies watched at home versus at the movie theater was in a five to one ratio and
75% of respondents said their preferred way of watching a movie was at home,
versus 21% who said they preferred to go to a theater. In 2014, it was reported that
the practice of releasing a film in theaters and via on-demand steaming on the
same day (for selected films) and the rise in popularity of the Netflix streaming
service has led to concerns in the movie theater industry. Another source of
competition is television, which has "...stolen a lot of cinema's best tricks – like
good production values and top tier actors – and brought them into people's living
rooms." Since the 2010s, one of the increasing sources of competition for movie
theaters is the increasing ownership by people of home theater systems which can
display high-resolution Blu-ray disks of movies on large, widescreen flat-screen
TVs, with 5.1 Surround Sound and a powerful subwoofer for low-pitched sounds.

Ticket price uniformity:

The relatively strong uniformity of movie ticket prices, particularly in the

U.S., is a common economics puzzle, because conventional supply and demand
theory would suggest higher prices for more popular and more expensive movies,
and lower prices for an unpopular "bomb" or for a documentary with less audience

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appeal. Unlike seemingly similar forms of entertainment such as rock concerts, in
which a popular performer's tickets cost much more than an unpopular performer's
tickets, the demand for movies is very difficult to predict ahead of time. Indeed,
some films with major stars, such as Gigli (which starred the then-
supercouple of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez), have turned out to be box-office
bombs, while low-budget films with unknown actors have become smash hits
(e.g., The Blair Witch Project). The demand for films is usually determined from
ticket sale statistics after the movie is already out. Uniform pricing is therefore a
strategy to cope with unpredictable demand. Historical and cultural factors are
sometimes also cited.

Ticket check:

In some movie theater complexes, the theaters are arranged such that
tickets are checked at the entrance into the entire plaza, rather than before each
theater. At a theater with a sold-out show there is often an additional ticket check,
to make sure that everybody with a ticket for that show can find a seat. The lobby
may be before or after the ticket check.

Controversies:

Advertising: Some moviegoers complain about commercial advertising

shorts played before films, arguing that their absence used to be one of the main
advantages of going to a movie theater. Other critics such as Roger Ebert have
expressed concerns that these advertisements, plus an excessive number of movie
trailers, could lead to pressure to restrict the preferred length of the feature films
themselves to facilitate playing schedules. So far, the theater companies have
typically been highly resistant to these complaints, citing the need for the
supplementary income. Some chains like Famous Players and AMC Theatres have
compromised with the commercials restricted to being shown before the
scheduled start time for the trailers and the feature film. Individual theaters within
a chain also sometimes adopt this policy.

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 Loudness: Another major recent concern is that the dramatic
improvements in stereo sound systems and in subwoofer systems have led to
cinemas playing the soundtracks of films at unacceptably high volume levels.
Usually, the trailers are presented at a very high sound level, presumably to
overcome the sounds of a busy crowd. The sound is not adjusted downward for a
sparsely occupied theater, and some patrons employ earplugs for the trailer period.
Volume is normally adjusted based on the projectionist's judgment of a high or
low attendance. The film is usually shown at a lower volume level than the
trailers. In response to audience complaints, a manager at a Cinemark theater in
California explained that the studios set trailer sound levels, not the theater.

Copyright piracy: In recent years, cinemas have started to show warnings

before the movie starts against using cameras and camcorders during the movie
(camming). Some patrons record the movie in order to sell "bootleg" copies on
the black market. These warnings threaten customers with being removed from
the cinema and arrested by the police. This example was shown at cinemas in
the United Kingdom:

You are not permitted to use any camera or recording equipment in this
cinema. This will be treated as an attempt to breach copyright. Any person doing
so can be ejected and such articles may be confiscated by the police. We ask the
audience to be vigilant against any such activity and report any matters arousing
suspicion to cinema staff. Thank you.

Some theaters (including those with IMAX stadiums) have detectors at the
doors to pick up recording smugglers. At particularly anticipated showings,
theaters may employ night vision equipment to detect a working camera during a
screening. In some jurisdictions this is illegal unless the practice has been
announced to the public in advance.

Crowd control: As movie theaters have grown into multiplexes and

megaplexes, crowd control has become a major concern. An overcrowded
megaplex can be rather unpleasant, and in an emergency can be extremely

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dangerous (indeed, "shouting fire in a crowded theater" is the standard example in
American English of the limits to free speech, because it could cause a deadly
panic). Therefore, all major theater chains have implemented crowd control
measures. The most well-known measure is the ubiquitous holdout line which
prevents ticket holders for the next showing of that weekend's most popular movie
from entering the building until their particular auditorium has been cleared out
and cleaned. Since the 1980s, some theater chains (especially AMC Theatres)
have developed a policy of co-locating their theaters in shopping centers (as
opposed to the old practice of building stand-alone theaters). In some cases,
lobbies and corridors cannot hold as many people as the auditoriums, thus making
holdout lines necessary. In turn, ticket holders may be enticed to shop or eat while
stuck outside in the holdout line. However, given the fact that rent is based on
floor area, the practice of having a smaller lobby is somewhat understandable.

Refunds: Most cinema companies issue refunds if there is a technical fault

such as a power outage that stops people from seeing a movie. Refunds may be
offered during the initial 30 minutes of the screening. The New York
Times reported that some audience members walked out of Terrence Malick's film
Tree of Life and asked for refunds. At AMC theaters, "...patrons who sat through
the entire film and then decided they wanted their money back were out of luck, as
AMC's policy is to only offer refunds 30 minutes into a screening. The same goes
for Landmark, an independent movie chain... whose policy states, "If a film is not
what is expected… and the feature is viewed less than 30 minutes a refund can be
processed for you at the box office."

Snack prices: The price of soft drinks and candy at theaters is typically
significantly higher than the cost of those items at a fast food chain and food store,
respectively. Popcorn prices can also be exorbitant. It has been "...estimated that
movie theaters make an 85% profit at the concessions stand on overpriced soda,
candy, nachos, hot dogs and, of course, popcorn. Movie-theater popcorn has been
called one of America's biggest rip-offs, with a retail price of nine times what it
costs to make."
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10.5 Let Us Sum Up

10.6 Unit End Exercises

10.7 Points for Discussion

10.8 Answers to check your progress

10.9 Suggested Readings

1. Marich, Robert (2013) Marketing To Moviegoers: Third Edition

(2013), SIU Press books, p.295

2. Erich Schwartzel and Ben Fritz (25 March 2014). "Fewer

Americans Go to the Movies". WSJ. Retrieved 21 January 2016.

3. Levison, Louise. (2007) "FILMMAKERS AND FINANCING".

Burlington, MA: Focal Press. p. 119-120

4. Spencer, D A (1973). The Focal Dictionary of Photographic

Technologies. Focal Press. p. 454. ISBN 978-0133227192.

5. Landecker, Hannah (2006). "Microcinematography and the History

of Science and Film". Isis.doi:10.1086/501105.

6. Baker, T. Thorne (1932). "New Developments in Colour

Photography". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts.

7. Hora, John. "Anamorphic Cinematography". In Burum, Stephen

H. The American Cinematographer Manual (9 ed.). ISBN 978-0-
935578-31-7.

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