Screenwriting

The Writers Workbook

2nd Edition

Edited by Jenny Newman, Edmund Cusick & Aileen La Tourette

Wring for screen and television - Dave Jackson

Screenplays are plans for proposed film and televisions programmes. They are not self-contained pieces of creative writing, but are like blue prints waiting to be constructed and their purpose lies beyond the words. They are the first stage of a collaborative process involving directors, producers, actors etc. 

   A screen play may go through many changes and will be labelled 'a work in progress' until the film is complete. The chances of the screenwriters original vision/idea surviving intact are very slim. Many successful screenwriters choose to direct their own work so that their creative vision will still be intact.

Visualization

Screenplay is a story told in pictures. You have to learn how to think visually. The dialogue comes last. Think about the way in which films show rather than tell a story. Many films tell us about a character, their world and their situation before a word is spoken. An establishing shot of a characters environment can do this, clothing and objects can also do this. Many films use colour and visual metaphors to convey information for example in Apocalypse now. 'An establishing shot shows a jungle tree-line. US army helicopters appear and explosions set the jungle on fire as The Doors play on the soundtrack. We know instantly that we are witnessing a scene from the Vietnam war.'

The Premise
The premise is a crystallization of what the story is going to be about. It is told in one or two sentences, a few paragraphs at the most. It needs to outlines its most significant aspect.

Three-Act Structure

The most commercial feature films follow the three-act structure. Feature films divide into three distinct parts; the beginning, the middle, the end.

Act 1

The beginning of a 120-minute screenplay takes 20-30 minutes. The first act is the base on which the other two acts follow. The story is set up by introducing the main characters, the world they inhabit and the problem your protagonist must solve. The inciting incident- a dramatic event which upsets the balance of the protagonists world- usually happens within the first 10 minutes of act 1. The audiences needs to hooked with fascinating characters and intriguing central problems as quickly as possible, but you have to be careful to not confuse the audience by introducing too many names and faces too quickly. established characters should be used to introduce new characters.

Act 2

The middle should be the longest part of a film, roughly about 70 minutes of a 120-minute screenplay.This is where the narrative develops and new problems start to occur. There should be a brief lull at the end of act one, beginning of act 2. The conflict should then slowly intensify and begin to develop a subplot. A subplot is a secondary story strand that weaves in and out of the main story line. The main story is your protagonist striving for a goal. For instance a detective on the trail of a criminal. The subplot may grow out of that conflict for instance the detective develops a relationship with a policewoman who has to help him (cliche). The subplot characters are introduced in act 1, but their stories don't develop until act 2. New complications should start to develop, building to conflict throughout act 2.

Act 3
The end should be the shortest act, taking the final 20 minutes of a 10-minute script. This is where the story draws to a conclusion and provides a sense of closure. The audience should feel that the story ends in the right place. This act should also begin with a brief lull, but this should be the calm before the storm. The conflict should build quickly. This is where the protagonist either attains their goal or fails in the attempt. 'After the climax many films have a resolution scene, where plot ends are tied up'. Although a further question might be raised in the audiences mind.

'Before you start writing you need to know how your story ends.' You don't need to know the entire story in detail but the end dictates the beginning. The end of the film shapes the elements that you include in the script.

Character
Protagonist 
The majority of films have one central character. It is the person whose story is being told- someone with a problem to solve. Obstacles are put in the way by some antagonistic. In films where there are two or more Protagonists- the central characters fall into one or two categories; plural-Protagonist and Multi-Protagonist . 'In films with plural-Protagonists the story is driven by two or more characters with a shared desire or goal.' In films with Multi-Protagonists, the characters follow separate goals and these films tell Multi plot stories. Protagonists should have a powerful will which drives them to achieve their goal. They should have the capacity to follow their desire to the end. They should be able to engage the audiences sympathy 'Protagonists should change as a result of pressures exerted on them.'

Antagonist
The antagonist can be an individual or a combination of people, whose purpose is to thwart the Protagonists attempts to achieve their goal. The antagonist does not have to be the villain. It does not even have to be a person. It could even be a fatal flaw in the Protagonists character. Even though you have to strive to create believable  well-rounded characters they are all there for a purpose. 

Catalyst
The catalyst figure appear in all most every story. It serves to push the story forward and send the Protagonist in a new direction. The catalyst may be someone who reports a crime or even someone who ends an affair. They may be minor or major figures in the story and the story may have many catalysts.

Diverse Character
Their function is to provide comic relief, lightening the story to make the audience laugh. They also serve to highlight aspects of the Protagonists character.

Character Biographies.
At the planning stage make biographies of all the characters. This should contain how they look-don't give specific details like hair/eye colour unless these details are vital. Develop their back stories, how do they respond to other characters?, how do events affect them emotionally etc. Edit the descriptions to just 5-10 lines for the major characters and 3-5 lines for the minor characters.

Planning
Before writing the script, you need to plan the overall structure. You should always write in the present tense.

Scene Card
Put your basic scene ideas on index cards, using a separate card for each scene. This helps to keep the story outline fluid.

Step Outline
A step outline tells the basic story in steps. It may be a list of key scenes- saying where each scene takes place, who is in it and briefly describing what happens. The step outline can become a detailed scene-by-scene breakdown of the entire script and can and up resembling the script without the dialogue.

The Treatment
'A treatment is a screenplay told is a story form and is usually between two and 15 pages long.' 'It should flow in logical order from beginning to end and convey emotion as well as the plot.' You need to make clear why characters behave the way they do and what impact events have on them. 'The treatment should give the subtext- the thoughts and feeling behind what is said and done.' The treatment can serve two purposes. It can be a way of evaluating your story and characters. You can see if the script makes sense. It can also function as a detailed selling document. It sells the story to agents and producers.

The Outline
The outline is the synopsis which gives the plot outline and mentions the main characters. Think of it as a review of a film that is not yet made. It should be between 1 and 4 pages long.

Format For Screenplays
Write in simple functional language. Be specific and precise. Make sure you keep to the present tense. The action is always happening now. Only production scripts contain camera angle and editing direction. The necessary elements in a screenplay are:

• Scene Heading (Location, Interior, Exterior)
• Visual Exposition (What you would see if you were watching the screen)
• Dialogue

Dialogue

Dialogue Follows the visual exposition, with the characters name in capital letters in the center of the page. Their Dialogue follows on the next line. Film Dialogue is not like real life conversations. It should not be written the way everyday conversations go. Lines should be short. Try not to give one character more than three to four lines of dialogue at one time. This isn't a rule, there are exceptions. But if characters are giving a long speech, try to break it up by other characters interjections or inserting other visual elements. This stops the script looking dialogue heavy. 

Conclusion

Writing for film and television is a collaborative process. You must show willingness to revise and redraft your work. 

How to Write

The Guardian

Edited by Philip Ottermann

Writing for cinema, language takes second place. Close-ups and looks between two characters can tell the audience much more than pages of dialogue. The location can add to the atmosphere and can be a way of intensifying the story and plot.

Ideas from scripts can arise from many things; reading, watching, scribbling, day dreaming, listening, remembering etc. 

  

Camera

Over the half term I have decided that I am going to do some research on various things. Some of these things I am interested in and others I think that it is important to know, like camera functions.

Video Production Handbook
3rd Edition
Gerald Hillerson

There is a difference between video production and television production, but the lines have become blurred. Most video production is non-broadcast program-making. Productions are recorded closed-circuit on videotape, distributed and viewed by a small audience.

   Television productions are usually shown to a large public audience by over-air or cable transmissions- either 'live' or 'taped'.  Television transmissions have to conform to closely controlled technical standards. The equipment is in use for many hours of the day, so it needs to be reliable.

Camera Functions

Auto Iris - Automatically adjusts the lens aperture (f-stop) to suit the light levels. This prevents the picture from being over- or under-exposed (washed out or murky). However there are times when the iris misunderstands and changes the lens aperture when it should be constant.

Auto Focus - This is a facility that automatically adjusts the lens focus for maximum sharpness.

Auto White - This control automatically adjusts colour balance to suit the colour quality of the light and to ensure that white surfaces are accurately reproduced, otherwise all colours will be colder (blue) or warmer (red-orange)

Focus Ring/Wheel - Manual focusing (quicker and more precise than auto focus)

Photo Mode - a facility that some cameras have enabling the camera to capture still pictures.

Picture Stabilizer - A feature that compensates for irregular movements (Shaky hands)

Shutter Speed - To avoid movement blur in fast action a much briefer exposure rate than normal is needed.

Altering the Iris

When the Iris aperture us fully opened it lets the most light in. When it is at the minimum opening it lets in the least lights. But remember the smaller the opening the bigger the number.

Lens Aperture

Controlling the Camera

You need to make sure that your shots are steady and carefully controlled. You need to hold your camera perfectly still, unless you are deliberately moving it (panning and tilting).

Ways you can make sure to keep the camera steady:

1. Legs braced apart and elbows tucked in.
2. Seated with elbows on knees.
3. Kneeling with elbow resting on leg.

4. Elbows resting on ground.
5. A sandbag or a beanbag (containing tiny plastic
 balls) molds itself around the camera, supporting it
 firmly on rough ground.
6. Resting your back against the wall.

7. Resting the elbows on a low wall, fence, railing, car
 etc.
8. Leaning your side against a wall.
9. Supporting one foot on a step or box.

10. Resting your body against a post
11. pulling up a string (chain) fastened under the
camera, with its lower end taped under one foot
12. Use a monopod (single leg telescopic tube)

Camera Workshop

Today we found out that a band session we had done was in Rolling Stone

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/band-to-watch-allo-darlin-20121022

In the morning I went to do a advanced Camera workshop with Graham. I found that I already knew everything apart from the zebra striped and what they are for. We were given a handbook with everything in it that we had gone through. At the end of the session we were asked to go outside and film some footage to prove that we knew what we were doing. I went out with three other people that were in the session and I soon found out that they hadn't paid any attention to what was said. I found the session helpful because I didn't know some things like the temperature, which was explained and is in the handbook we were given. 
In the afternoon I talked to my tutor about the band sessions and about how I would love to get involved in the lighting. I then went and borrowed some books for over the holidays so that I can research some things.

Printmaking

Today I have been working on my sketchbook. Making sure that it is up to date and that I have annotated everything that needs to be done. I was then told that we have to hang our printmaking work. I was originally just going to hang one of the prints I made, but after talking to Kim I am going to use all the prints that I made. The following are possible designs.

Tutorial

Today I had a tutorial with my tutor because I felt that I was at a stand still with my work. I talked through the type of work that I like and that I would love to be involved with. 
The Wildlife side of things I will be concentrating on when I go to Africa. And also trying to find some experience for when I go. My main focus for the coming weeks is to concentrate on the narrative and drama side of things. This afternoon I will be having a course in camera techniques with Graham who has worked in the industry and is someone who I can learn a lot from. From here I may be having one to one tutorials with him were I will be able to learn a lot about drama and narrative. 
We are meant to have a three minute piece of work in by the 20th November. I was told that I could submit the Child Action North West promo that I made. This is a decision that I haven't made yet, but it is a major possibility that I will submit this work.

Photobucket Profile

My Photobucket profile

http://s1323.photobucket.com/albums/u584/em_believe/

Over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about what pathways I really want to do. After doing the promo for Child Action North West I've realised how much I miss media. I have come to the decision that I am going to do the media pathway and maybe later I will incorporate photography into it. Originally I was going to do the media and photography pathway together. I'm really interested in Wildlife documentaries, but living where I live it is difficult to make them. I would really like to look into this further and see whether it is possible to make something to do with animals. I'm also really interested in narrative work and have found what I think is a good location for a black and white short drama.
I've found this website that lists wildlife documentary makers. I need to take a closer look at it, but by a glance the documentaries that these people shoot are not feasible for me. 

http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/personlist/all

Helped Chlo

Today I decided that I would help Chlo with her project on Animals. She had brought her dog Sasha into the studio to take some photos of her. It was quite difficult to get Sasha to sit down so Chlo could take the picture. This was because of a number of reasons. One being that she is so close to Chlo that when Chlo moved away she would jump from the box another was that she was scared. Because this wasn't working Martin placed Sasha on a higher box. We told him not too because she was scared and it was too high for such a small dog. Sasha fell of the box and me and Chlo had to rush her to the vets to make sure that she was okay. Luckily she is but the session was cut short because the vet said that she needed to rest.

Child Action North West Meeting

Today was the meeting at Blackburn Orphanage. I was really nervous about showing the Promo that I had made with Sammie and Lewis. When we got there we had a talk about the history of the orphanage and what Child Action North West have done to try and raise their profile.


James Dixon came to Blackburn from Scotland at the age of 23. He set up the ragged school in 1881 at the age of 26. Dixon was a very astute marketer. 

14 December 1886 - Founders day
Adolphus Curran was the first orphan. He has a brother names Arthur who is known as the forgotten brother.

The cellar has everything - catalogue of history - 2500 names - Children records 

Because of budget cuts they lost 1.4 million in government money. Some services had to be suspended and staffing had to be reduced.


The buried Treasure of James Dixon

Inside out - BBC

They didn't give us much information because they haven't compiled the briefs yet, but they did give us some information.
From the media side of things they are looking for

• A new message
• Talk about the charity as a whole thing
• 10 short films. 2 minutes max
• Talk to service users/volunteers/staff

They split the media group into two groups. Because I had made this promo I was in the Young Carers group and so were all the ex BTEC. The rest of the media group were in the other group but they all seemed to come in the room with us to talk to Karen who is the Manager of the Carers project in Blackburn with Darwen. I don't know whether the charity wants us to work like this or whether we choose. We should find out in the next meeting. 

Child Action North West: http://www.canw.org.uk/site/

YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/CANWCharity

After the meeting when I went home I looked on the internet for videos about Child Action Northwest and about carers.

Just one simple search garners hundreds of results.

Final Day of Editing

Today is the last day of editing.  This promo has to be edited for tomorrow, which I was worrying about because our editing session was cut short yesterday because another year had to use the computers and it was there day so they got priority. As the day before Sammie and Lewis were the editors and I just had an input into it. Halfway through the day we stopped editing to capture the remaining footage that we needed, this was college footage. I sat with Becki to edit the confessions from Dolphinholme whilst Sammie filmed it. We then needed a shot of me and my friends. I gathered some of them and we were going to film in the cafe but it was very busy so we decided to film on the bench outside. It was freezing. Lewis wanted to get another shot, he wanted to get a shot of me on the camera in TV studio. I was against this because I generally don't go on the camera in the TV studio because I prefer vision mixing and prefer to be on camera when it isn't live. But Lewis persuaded me. 

Today I learnt how to change the colouring on the footage without using after effects. Once I was shown how to do this I realised that it is really easy to alter the colouring. You go onto video effects, then either colour correction RGB curves or Three way colour correction. The first circle is shadow, the second mid tone and the last highlights.

When Jamie looked at the footage he said that we needed to change the music bed because we needed one that was copy write free. Brian helped us with this by choosing the track. I didn't like it in the beginning but it went really well with the documentary. Jamie also told us that towards the end of the promo we were becoming indulgent and that we should butcher it and try to edit it down to a minute. The first attempt at this didn't go very well. The audio was no longer in sync with the video. I kept saying this but the other two group members said it was fine. When they realised that it wasn't I pointed out what was wrong with it and told them that it was impossible to get the video down to a minute without cutting some of the audio which they didn't want to do. I pointed out which bits were best to cut and that a couple of words in the audio could also be cut because they weren't essential. By the end of the editing process me and my group were both tired of my voice. 
We did really well in making the promo for Child Action Northwest in four days. Most of that time we spent editing the promo and trying to perfect it. 

Child Action North West Promo from Emily McGregor on Vimeo.


Self Evaluation 

What did I do?
For this project I was the producer, director and the Camera operator.

How well did I do it?
I though that I would struggle more with the Pre-Production and the production of this documentary because I am so close to it, however I surprised myself with how well I coped during these two stages. I took control the the project and managed to get it completed within the time limit. I had three roles to do as well as be in the documentary as it is about my story. It was challenging to be in it as well as direct it. We manged to get the footage that we needed and I had to change the filming schedule round a bit because of the weather. This was my first time at directing, which on reflection I should have done earlier as it is what most interests me. I did a good job of directing this production, especially because I was so close to the project. I think that the shots that I managed to get were good and reflected professional standards. I am able to be objective when I am planning the production and when I am filming, this is a good quality to have when film making because you have to do what is best for the production. I know when to take a step back because I can't do something, but the things I can't do I need to improve it.

How can I improve it?
I could have improved with the post production of things. I need to learn to distance myself in post-production and be able to view the footage objectively. However I knew that I couldn't edit the footage whilst being objective so I took a step back.

2nd Day of Editing

Today was the first real day of editing. From Friday’s session I already knew that I was going to be unable to sit in front of the computer and be the main editor.  I talked to my group about this and we agreed that it was okay and that I could just have an input.  Before anyone else in my group apart from Sammie came into college I managed to get the voiceover done and put it on the computer. Today we concentrated just on getting everything in order and editing it. I had an input and gave my suggestions, but I told Lewis and Sammie that if I was in the scene then they would have to make all the decisions because If I had my way  I would just cut me out completely. When we listened to the voice over we realized that some parts of it needed to be redo. Instead of using the radio studio (which was being used) we used one of the small sony recorders. I also used this to add bits to the voice over that I had previously missed out.
Tomorrow we are going to concentrate on making the edit tighter and the colouring and audio. 

Over the weekend I was meant to try to get some more footage of my family and do a camera interview. However due to my sister and my mum being ill I was only able to get the camera interview done. I found this difficult because there was no one there to help me . Because of this I couldn't see the screen, so I had to get my brother to take pictures of the screen so that I know whether the camera shot was correct. I did this in case my group wanted to talk about the possibility of using the camera interview rather than the voice over. It would mean that I did't have to redo to the interview. 

This will be used as a reference for tomorrow whilst I go and do the voice over.

After I had done the interview I realized that I could have just turned the viewing screen around, instead of getting my brother to take a picture of the screen. 

First Day of Editing

Even though today isn't our normal day to be in college we all agreed to come in so that we at least could look over the footage. We did this so that it would be easier to find the shot we want and so that we would know which shots were of no use.

 I still haven’t done the voice over so we don’t really know what order we are going to have the documentary in. I suggested that we could edit the footage down so that we would know which footage was usable. Because we were unable to do the voice over today I suggested that I could take a camera home and to a camera interview that we could use for reference, so that on Monday we wouldn't be wasting any time. I could also try to get some footage of me and my family relaxing  and the children just playing with their toys which we were unable to get before. The other members of my group said that we had enough footage but I still wanted to film some more footage because we didn't really have any footage of us as a family just relaxing. 

Pre-Production & Filming

Today Lewis asked if he could join my group so that he could help make the promo. Once that was settled we went over everything so that we know what we needed to do as soon as we got to my house. Because it had already started raining we decided that we would not go to the park.  We refined all our original ideas.

Ideas

Voiceover

How I became a young carer

Brings family together (close to mine)

Independent

Mum encourages our dreams

College helps (Escape)

Friends

Shots in college

Setting lighting in the photography studio

Radio?

Editing?

Laughing with friends

Doing other work- blogs/pre-production?

Shots at my house

Park/trampoline

Sister washing up

Alisha helping Korey with homework

Baking?

Kids playing with dog

Usual activities – singing/dancing/playing?

Kids talking?

Questions for the children interviews (we might do interviews, not fully decided yet)

What type of responsibility do you have? (Phrased better for them; what do you do to help your mum?)

What do you want to be when you grow up?

We had to fill out three risk assessment forms for our locations as there is going to be three; my house, the park and college. We also had to fill out a form for the equipment. 

We left college early so that we would be at my house when the children got home. I think that filming went pretty well as we got all the footage that we wanted except for the park because of the weather. I felt that me and Sammie did most of the filming as in the beginning we set the shots up and filmed half the footage , whilst the guys did the sound. Because of transport the two guys had to leave early before even half the footage was filmed this meant that I had to juggle being in the promo and also filming it. When I had to be in it Sammie did the filming, when I didn’t have to be in it I took over to give Sammie a rest. 

I really enjoyed getting back into media as up until this point this year i'd only been involved in the Dolphinholme filming. 

Pre-Production - CANW Promo

Yesterday we were told that Child Action Northwest wanted us to work with them. Jamie has asked me to make a promo about my story for the meeting on Wednesday 17^th October. There aren’t many guidelines to what has to be made apart from these; it has to be upbeat, be about my story and be made by Wednesday. I could choose whoever I wanted to work with so that I was comfortable. I chose Sammie and Adam because they are my friends and I felt comfortable making this promo with them.  Today I decided to plan what footage we needed to film. We decided that we are going to film tomorrow at my house; this meant that we could spend Friday going over the footage and seeing If there was anything else needed to be shot.

It was hard to be able to come up with the ideas and talk about it as a group as the other two members had other work to do and we had to try and fit planning around our other work.

Ideas

Involve my brother and sister?

To camera interview/voiceover?

Locations?

Things to shoot

Sister washing up

Alisha helping Korey with homework

Trampoline

Park

Korey Baking

Alisha singing

Kids playing with dog

Me photography studio

Editing

Talking/Laughing with friends.

Photographs?

Notes for voiceover

Family comes together

Mum encourages our dreams

College

How my sister helps

Research

http://www.childactionnorthwest.org.uk/new

http://www.childactionnorthwest.org.uk/new/index.php/fundraising/children-young-people

http://menmedia.co.uk/accringtonobserver/news/s/349058_little_gem_emily_saves_dads_life

My Story

I Started caring when I was five. To begin with It was for my mum. A couple of years later I started to care for my dad. When my mum had my siblings I stared to care for them as well.

My Brother & Sister
(Korey & Alisha)

My Mum (Debbie)

Screen Printing & Corporation Park

Screen printing

Today is the last tester day. There is only one tester left, screen printing. I used the image that I traced in graphics. To begin with I couldn’t find my image and started to worry. When I walked past someone I saw that my image was next to there image. I had about 15 minutes to try screen printing because the other person had the board that my image was on. I experimented using different colours and materials.

Now that I have done the testers I know what I can and cant do. I also know what I want to do.

Corporation Park

In the afternoon I went to corporation park with Sammie and Chlo. I was going to edit the Dolphinholme documentaries with Becki and her group but because there were three in that group I decided not to. This was because I knew that I wouldn’t get much of an opportunity to do anything because when I’m in a group bigger than two I either take over or don’t speak up. So instead I went to Corporation Park.  I took nearly 300 photos.  Because I had been doing the screen printing in the morning I didn’t really know the reason behind going to corporation park but Sammie and Chlo explained that it was an experiment. It was difficult to get shots of wildlife because of the fencing but I managed to get some even though they aren't good. It was also difficult to get shots of the waterfall because of the lens on the camera. It would have been better with a long exposure lens

I think that this location would make a good location for a
black and white short drama. 

Photbucket: http://s1323.beta.photobucket.com/user/em_believe/library/Corporation%20Park%2009-10-12