Part 6 Media HW

8/11/2019 Part 6 Media HW

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Initial Research // Short Films Part

6

Short Screenplay Writing

By Myles Egan


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Key Questions About Writing a Good

Short Film Screenplay:

Examples we are given are:

1. Who is the protagonist?

2. What is the active question, which is the basis of the action

in film?

3. Who or what opposes the protagonist?

4. From whose point of view is the audience being shown the

story?

5. What is it about? or, What is the theme?

6. What is the style of the film?


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The Protagonist: 1

1. Who is the protagonist?It explains just how important and vital the protagonist is to the story and evendescribed as the heart of the story. It gives examples of films and showing us differentwaysto use them and how the story doesntalways need to be shown form their pointof view. For example, in Zinky Boys Go Underground (1999) the story of anAfghanistan war veteran is from the point of view of the protagonists younger sister.

2. What is the active question, which is the basis of the action in film?This question can also be thought of in terms of what does the protagonist want? Butthis being the starting point of an idea can be tricky, so therefore it is more importantto think about the action of the film and what you want the audience to be interestedin within the film. However, the answer to this question varies; As in The Curious(1994), the aim was for the audience to share the protagonist's curiosity about thestrange young woman at the window, compared to Deep Down(2002), which wanted

the audience to share the woman's obsession with her mother's dress. Although, thekey part to this question is deciding on an incident that will create the foundation ofthe film and build the story towards a climax. As seen in films such as Yellow (1998)and The Cutter (1992). However, other films such as Zinky Boys Go Underground(1999) and Springing Lenin (1992) requires more narrative time, but the narrative stillfocuses on a key moment/incident.


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The Protagonist: 2

3. Who or what opposes the protagonist?

It talks about the importance of making sure that the audience knows

why a character is reacting in a certain way for example key areas that the

audience must understand when building the bigger picture for them and

being able to come to a resolution for them, they must understand why acharacter isn't able to deal with certain situations, why they are forced to

do something different and why they behaving against their normal way

of reacting. Authenticating and appropriating this across to the audience

is critical when developing an engaging story-driven narrative.


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Point of View and Theme

4. Whose point of view is the audience being shown the story from?

It tells us how important narration and narrators are. As when showing the

audience whospoint of view you are representing it from, you need to be able to

include background information about the character in order to create an

authentic in-depth character that the audience can adopt a sense of familiarity

with by the character having a clear identity through their style, personality andattitude.

5. What is it about? or, What is the theme?

The theme within the film is the key ingredient in order to play with the audiences

feelings and emotions, it is the ingredient that creates the drama in the film andso is very important the message and unfolding of the story. Themes can

sometimes be complicated and a lot od the time are only thought of/found

after/during the creation of the first screenplay draft.


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Style and Tone

6. What is the style of the film?

The style of film is described as an important aspect in the way in which a

film can address the audience and the look/style of the film is critical to

providing a clear cohesive bond between the visuals and narrative,therefore it is particularly important within short films. The tone is also very

important, as it is the tone within the work that engages with the emotions of an

audience. Tone also creates a key representation of the characters and their

actions.

Part 6 Media HW

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Transcript of Part 6 Media HW