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Screenwriting: Laying Down The Blueprint of Your Film

Screenwriting involves telling stories through visual means. It differs from novels and plays in focusing on dramatic action seen on screen rather than internal thoughts or stage performances. An effective screenplay establishes a film idea, story, and characters before following specific formatting guidelines for scene headings, descriptions, dialogue, and structure. The structure includes three acts that set up obstacles and their resolution. Good characters have dramatic needs, points of view, attitudes, and undergo changes. Proper screenplay format ensures readability and follows industry standards.

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Alyssa Joie Paler
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304 views24 pages

Screenwriting: Laying Down The Blueprint of Your Film

Screenwriting involves telling stories through visual means. It differs from novels and plays in focusing on dramatic action seen on screen rather than internal thoughts or stage performances. An effective screenplay establishes a film idea, story, and characters before following specific formatting guidelines for scene headings, descriptions, dialogue, and structure. The structure includes three acts that set up obstacles and their resolution. Good characters have dramatic needs, points of view, attitudes, and undergo changes. Proper screenplay format ensures readability and follows industry standards.

Uploaded by

Alyssa Joie Paler
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SCREENWRITING

Laying down the blueprint of your film


WHAT IS SCREENWRITING?
The art and craft of telling stories through pictures.
WHAT IS SCREENWRITING?
• Not a novel – inside the head of the character (mindscape of dramatic action)
• Not a play – takes place in a stage infront of an audience (language of dramatic
action)
• A screenplay: A story told in pictures, with dialogues and description, placed
within the context of dramatic structure.
IDEA
FILM IDEA IS THE BASIS OF YOUR STORY.
• form the idea into a subject; character
• Who is your character? What happened &
how does it end?
BEFORE WRITING
• What is your story about ?
1. (eg. Shawshank Redemption; story about a man who was falsely convicted of
killing his wife and her lover and after 19 years in prison he escapes to mexico)

• Who is your story about?


STRUCTURE
• To build something or put something together
• The relationship between the parts and the whole
STRUCTURE
A story is a whole, built by the parts ACT 1, 2, 3, scenes,
sequences, costumes, music, location, characters.
STRUCTURE
• ACT I- Set up: dramatic premise, main characters, situations,
relationships between characters.
• ACT II- Confrontation: character encounters obstacle after
obstacle to achieve his dramatic need.
• ACT III- Resolution: solution (win or lose, live or die)
STRUCTURE
PLOT POINTS: Incident, episode or event that hooks into the
action and spins it around into another direction.
STRUCTURE
STRUCTURE
4 ELEMENTS TO KNOW
1. End
1. Beginning
2. Plot point I
3. Plot point II
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
What is character but the determination of incident, what is incident
but the illumination of character.
Henry James (Great American Novelist)
WHAT MAKES GOOD CHARACTER
• DRAMATIC NEED- what does your man character wants to achieve, gain, get or
achieve during the course of your screenplay.
• Every character has a dramatic need (source of all drama is conflict)
• Doesn’t have to be spelled out in the screenplay, but you have to dramatize it, give it
a form and illustrate it with your character’s behavior because FILM IS BEHAVIOR.
WHAT MAKES GOOD CHARACTER

1. POINT OF VIEW- illustration of the dramatic need of the character.


WHAT MAKES GOOD CHARACTER

2. ATTITUDE- A manner or opinion


(being right, conservative, optimistic, pessimistic, oppressive etc.)
WHAT MAKES GOOD CHARACTER

3. CHANGE- Does your character change during the course of your


screenplay?
Emotional arc (transformation of the character)
FORMAT
FORMAT
Scene Headings
A scene heading, also called a "slug line," is composed of
three parts:
• interior vs. exterior
• Location
• time of day

INT. DON'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT


FORMAT
Narrative Description
• Narrative description is the telling of the story as it unfolds on
screen. It begins directly below the scene heading.
• Write Only What Can be seen and heard
• Upper Case
• Timing
FORMAT
Dialogue Blocks
• Dialogue blocks, also called "speeches," are composed of three parts: character name,
wryly, and dialogue

CARDING
(pina hung-hung)
Wala koy gisultihan sa imong sekreto.
FORMAT
Line Spacing
• Description and dialogue blocks are printed using single line spacing. Scene headings, description,
and dialogue blocks are separated using double line spacing.

Typeface
• The screenplay and title page must be printed in 12 point courier typeface. Nothing else.
FORMAT
Cover Page
• The cover must be blank. Different colors are acceptable, but there must be
no artwork or logos. After the cover comes the title page, also called the fly
page. There are three sections on the title page: title, author, and contact
information. A typical title page looks like this:
FORMAT
Formatting Software
• Screenwriting software automatically creates proper margins as you write. This allows you to
concentrate on telling the story, rather than remembering formatting rules. Some of these
products can help you generate and develop story ideas, as well.
Example Softwares:
• Final Draft
• Movie Magic Screenwriter
• Fade in
Get started with your own film Idea!

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