Lecture 4: Starting Out: What’s it About?

1. Lecture 4:Starting Out: What’s it About? Professor Michael Green Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) Written by Guillermo del Toro

2. Previous Lesson The Nature of Story Conflict and Goals Emotion, Action and Dialogue Approaching Form Writing Exercise #2 The Namesake (2006) Written by Sooni Taraporevala (screenplay) and Jhumpa Lahiri (novel)

3. In this Lesson The Characteristics of a Good Short Film Where to Begin? Research, Belief and the World of the Story Turning an Idea into a Good Film Story Writing Exercise #3 Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) Written by Tyler Perry (play and screenplay)

4. The Characteristics of a Good Short Film Lesson 4: Part I Lust, Caution (2007) Written by Eileen Chang (story) and James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang (screenplay)

5. What Makes a Good Short Film? • Simplicity • Interesting Characters • Conflict • Emotion • Originality • Filmic Qualities • A Deeper Meaning Shopgirl (2005) Written by Steve Martin (novel and screenplay)

6. Simplicity The best ideas for short films are relatively simple. They can often be told in a sentence. They focus in on one main conflict or one incident. A good idea for a short film needs to be focused and specific, as it doesn’t have the time to leisurely explore more than one topic. 6

7. Examples • Consider the plots of the two short films we’ve watched so far, George Lucas in Love and Ten Minutes. • George Lucas in Love focuses on one conflict – a young George Lucas struggling to find inspiration for a movie. • Aside from the brief bookends, Ten Minutes focuses on one incident – a young boy trying to get bread for his family in a war-torn neighborhood.

8. Interesting Characters • Characters become interesting in different ways. Sometimes the nature of the conflict the character faces creates enough tension to stimulate our interest. • More often, it’s the character’s behavior that makes him or her interesting. • How the character responds to conflict, what actions he takes and the consequences he faces will define him more for an audience than anything he says.

9. Examples • Consider a character who, in a film’s opening moments, abandons her child or slips poison into a colleague's drink at a party. Without a word of dialogue, the character is suddenly interesting because of her behavior and actions. Being John Malkovich (1999) Written by Charlie Kaufman

10. Conflict • Good short films contain more than just the seeds of conflict. They expose a situation where conflict already exists. • Remember, the best characters are the ones that are trying to accomplish something and who have their goals and desires impeded by obstacles. • Conflict in a short film can be subtle or pronounced, but it must exist in a way that drives the plot forward.

11. Emotion “Every successful short delivers emotional content – whether it’s a joke we laugh at or an incident that moves us to tears. If you aren’t touching your audience in some way, you’re not doing your job. Great filmmakers consider how they want the audience to feel about their stories – and not just at the end, but throughout. As they plot the action they are also plotting an emotional arc.” --Cowgill

12. Originality • The best films are always fresh in some way. • We may feel we’ve seen every iteration of genres such as the Western, romantic comedy and action film, but genres can be re-invigorated with • A fresh set of characters • Content based on ideas never before explored • A new point of view towards an old subject • An innovative film style • Combining genres

13. Filmic Qualities • All good films are inherently visual – they must be more than talking heads. The real power of film lies in using both sound and image to tell a story. • This means that a good narrative film takes advantage of the properties that distinguish it from other narrative media. • Our brains process visual information much more quickly than verbal data and you should always consider this while writing.

14. Filmic Qualities (Continued) • Remember that a film unfolds in space and time and that your screenplay must reflect that by making characters active and by creating a precise setting in time and place. • To convey a story, the filmmaker uses specific tools – space, time, light, color, and sound – and the screenplay must include ample opportunity for the filmmaker to work with those unique aspects of cinema.

15. Example CONTINUED: CLOUDS ARE FLOWING FROM ALL DIRECTIONS ... converging on the distant mountains in a stormy MAELSTROM. EXT. PASS OF CARADHRAS - DAY SARUMAN’S voice strengthens ... rolling past the FELLOWSHIP like THUNDER. A LIGHTNING CRACK explodes on the mountainside above them. ANGLE ON: FRODO looks up in HORROR as a huge snow avalanche thunders down towards them! ANGLES ON: LEGOLAS pulls GANDALF to safety. ARAGORN shields FRODO and SAM as snow piles around them. Within moments, the PASS is blocked and the FELLOWSHIP are enveloped in snow. BOROMIR and ARAGORN frantically dig for the HOBBITS ... who are pulled out SHIVERING and FEARFUL.

16. The Deeper Meaning • All great films, whether short or long, have a broader subject matter, or theme, that extends beyond the particular story that the filmmaker wants to tell. • A theme is the unifying, underling idea of a story and is concerned with a universal concept such as love, honor, identity, ambition, greed, etc. • The universality of themes ensures that the audience will relate to a story on a level deeper than just the plot.

17. Theme • Without theme, there is no purpose or meaning to a work. • Some themes include: • Good triumphs over evil (or vice/versa) • Love conquers all • Violence never pays off • Every human deserves freedom • The universe is unjust

18. Discovering Theme • It’s not essential to have theme worked out ahead of time, but it must be clear by the final draft. • Themes grow out of who you are and what you believe. The best themes come from your emotions, experiences and insights about the world. • A theme must be important and compelling to you for it to be important and compelling to an audience. 18

19. Discovering Theme (Continued) • A few questions can help you define and clarify a theme. Ask yourself: • How does the story speak to me? • Does it represent my best dreams or worst fears? • Is there something innately universal suggested in the material? • Are there archetypal relationships in the story? • Who is destroyed in your story? • Who changes and grows? 19

20. Subtlety in Theme • Though themes are crucial to a story, they must emerge subtly and organically from the characters and situations. • Don’t beat people over the head with a didactic theme or lesson. Audiences want to feel as though they are discovering the theme on their own. They don’t want to be preached to. 20

21. Where to Begin? Lesson 4: Part II La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game)(1939) Written by Jean Renoir and Carl Koch

22. Coming up with an Idea • Depending on how you work, ideas for short films evolve in different ways. • Actual events might provide inspiration. • A person you’ve just met or a situation you’ve been involved in can spark an idea. • Beginnings can be difficult if an idea doesn’t jump out at you, but there are ways to narrow down the possibilities.

23. Areas for Source Material • Character • Environment • Incidents • Abstract Ideas • Situations • Informational Area

24. Character • Human action and interaction forms the core of drama and most films, regardless of what they are about, are character pieces. • This term is often used to describe a story that supposedly has little plot, but all the best stories in every genre are character-driven. • Think about your characters while you are coming up with your plot. They will help you in developing your story.

25. Environment • Because specific human behavior tends to occur in certain places, writers can sometimes use place to generate ideas. • Place also helps to establish mood. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Written by Steve Kloves (screenplay) and J.K. Rowling (novel)

26. Incidents An incident can be defined as a rapid change in circumstances for one or more people. It usually has to do with actions and events; someone does something to others or something happens to someone. Although incidents can be gentle or violent, for a writer the most productive are life changing. The change in circumstances should involve highly contrasting conditions. 26

27. Abstract Ideas • Although you can use a philosophical or thematic idea as a starting point for your screenplay - “love conquers all” or “the universe is unjust” - you have to be careful that your story doesn’t lose dramatic momentum or become didactic. As always, make sure to ground your abstract ideas with strong characters and situations.

28. Situation • A situation can be defined as a relationship placed within a certain set of circumstances. • Contrasting individuals thrown together make for colorful situations. • The African Queen • Midnight Run • The Defiant Ones • The Empire Strikes Back

29. Informational Area This consists of subjects such as terrorism, child abuse, genocide, etc, that you want to expose and write about. Current and past historical material and other real world subjects can provide a rich backdrop for stories. Solid research is crucial to the success of such stories. 29

30. The Next Step • Once you have an idea, ask these questions to help you shape and expand the story: • Who are the main characters? • What are their relationships? • What do they want? • Where is the conflict? • How does the conflict erupt? • What drives the action of the story forward? 30

31. Research, Belief & the World of the Story Lesson 4: Part III Hotel Rwanda (2004) Written by Kier Pearson & Terry George

32. The World of the Story • The world of the story is not just the setting or the backdrop in which the characters act and the film takes place. • It’s the feeling that the space delimited on the screen extends beyond what we actually see; that the lives of the characters inhabiting this world continue when they are out of view, that this world is part of the larger world.

33. Example Casino Royale (2006) Written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade and Paul Haggis (screenplay) and Ian Fleming (novel) 33

34. Example I am Legend (2007) Written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman (screenplay) and Richard Matheson (novel) 34

35. Example Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Written by Du Lu Wang (novel) and Hui-Ling Wang and James Schamus and Kuo Jung Tsai (screenplay)

36. Suspension of Disbelief • At the same time, it’s important to realize that the world of the screenplay or film is not a real world but a representation of one. • What happens on the screen is a portrayal of events, not real life. Though your audience knows this, they still desire to lose themselves in the world of the story. • To achieve this, the audience must willingly suspend disbelief.

37. Truth and Credibility • Achieving truth and credibility in drama is a multi-dimensional task. It starts by understanding the arena about which you are writing. • This is where research comes in. Don’t try to make up details of a world about which you know very little. Your audience will be able to tell the difference, and it will be harder for them to suspend their disbelief and become lost in the story.

38. Research for Inspiration • Research is a writer’s best friend. • Out of research comes twists and turns of plot, obstacles and complications impossible to imagine, little details that give a screenplay authority and authenticity. • If research is skipped over, the work often seems superficial, familiar or phony.

39. Turning an Idea into a Good Film Story Brokeback Mountain (2005) Written by Annie Proulx (short story) and Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (screenplay) Lesson 4: Part IV

40. Concept, Character and Conflict • The evolution of ideas into screenplays has as many routes as there are screenwriters, and every writer must find his or her own best approach. • But no matter how different the approach, ideas generally develop through the stages of concept, character and conflict.

41. Five Questions • To develop your story, key elements need to be defined. The following five questions will help you keep your story focused: • What is it about? Subject matter/theme. • What is the genre? • Who is the protagonist? • What is the driving action of your story? In other words, what sets and keeps your protagonist in motion? • Who or what opposes the protagonist? 41

42. Development • The basic formula for a short or long film is: • A hero • Who wants something • And takes action • Meets with conflict • That leads to a climax • And finally a resolution 42

43. The Mission • The basic approach to writing a screenplay can be modified in many ways. • Just remember that stories must first of all grab the audience on some level. • Our mission as writers is to entertain, inform, move and inspire. • Remembering our mission helps when we create and develop the plot.

44. Assignments The Blues Brothers (1980) Written by Dan Aykroyd & John Landis Lesson 4: Part V

45. E-Board Post #1 Discuss the theme or themes in a recent feature film that you have seen. What is the movie about beyond it’s plot? How do the filmmakers work theme into the story? Is the theme obvious or buried? Is it universal? Support your discussion with examples. 45

46. E-Board Post #2 Watch the short film from the lesson, Black Button,and identify the concept, characters and conflict. What is the basic plot and how is it developed? Is the protagonist sympathetic or unsympathetic? 46

47. Writing Exercise Sketch out three basic concepts for a short film (each concept should be about a paragraph). Look back on our areas of source material for guidance. Make sure these concepts are something in which you are interested, as you will later develop one of these concepts for your short script. 47

48. End of Lecture 4 Next Lecture: Who Does What and Why?