Lecture 1b: Storytelling

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Lecture 1bStorytelling
The Wizard of Oz (1939)

• Professor Christopher Bradley

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Previous Lesson

• What kind of distance learning course is this?
• How can you succeed in this course?
• What do we study in this course?
• What are the assignments?

Thelma Louise (1991) Written by Callie Khouri
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In This Lesson

• How do I find inspiration?
• What is the writing process?
• Exercise 1

Shakespeare in Love (1998) Written by Mark
Normand and Tom Stoppard
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Finding Inspiration
Disturbia (2007) Written by and Christopher B.
Landon and Carl Ellsworth

• Lesson 1b Part I

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Writing is a Challenge

• Aristotle said, We become brave by performing
  brave acts.
• Every writer, no matter how great or famous,
  confronts the blank page.

Barton Fink (1991) written by Joel Ethan Coen
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Meeting the Challenge

• Meeting the blank page
• courageously brings
• endless rewards.
• The truth can be terrifying.
• For example, what might
• your writing reveal about you? (Wouldnt it be
  cool to find out?)
• The more you write, the more you become who you
  really are.

Poltergeist (1982) Written by Steven Speilberg
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Strategies for Starting

• Use your current habits.
• When are you most productive?
• Associate joy to writing.
• (Its Terrific!)
• Reward yourself!
• (A cookie a page?)

Written by Orson Welles (1941)
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Examples of Strategies

• Write at the same time each day.
• Write at the same place each time.
• Before you write, read, watch a film or listen to
  music that inspires you.
• Have everything you need right there so you wont
  have to get up.
• Warm up with freewriting, writing whatever
  comes into your mind.

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Journal Keeping

• Think of a journal as a gold mine. You can go to
  it again and a gain for inspiration and ideas.
• A journal is an excellent place to practice.
• You might write down
• Story ideas
• Conversations you overhear
• Events that made you react passionately

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The Writing Process
Cat People (1982) Written by DeWitt Bodeen, Alan
Ormsby and Paul Schrader

• Lesson 1b Part II

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Writing is a Process

• Even when great art looks like it just
  happened, but almost without exception, the
  artist did extensive studies and planning to get
  that unplanned look.
• Narrative is like architecture.
• There are so many aspects to writing a great
  screenplay shaping the story itself, building
  characters, creating authentic dialog, staying
  true to the theme planning is imperative!

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Steps in the Process

• The Story
• The Logline
• The Treatment
• The Step Outline
• The First Ten Pages
• Rewriting and the Next Twenty Pages

Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiter) (2007)
Screenplay by Stefan Ruzowitzky
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Step 1 The Story

• Inspirations for writing
• Personal Battles and Victories
• Personal Lessons and Losses
• The News
• Listen!
• Write what you know.
• And find out what you dont know!

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The Story

• Bring your experience to the table, not as an
  end, but as a jumping-off place.
• Dont just dictate what happened, reinvent what
  happened as a metaphor.
• Take what actually happened and ask, What if?
  What if I could bring him back to life? What if
  I could have controlled that roulette wheel with
  my mind?

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Choosing a Subject

• Write about what ignites your passion!
• Questions that might lead you to a story might
  include
• What makes you angry?
• What makes you terrified?
• What do you want very badly? Even if you dont
  think its possible?
• Who made you a different human being?
• Freewriting and journaling can help with discover
  these!

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Writing in a Genre

• Not everything in your writing comes from your
  own life. Writing movies often involves writing
  genre stories such as the thriller, Western or
  romantic comedy.

Unforgiven (1992) written by David Webb Peoples
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The Size of Your Story

• What is the overall tone of your story?
• Is it an epic?
• Is it small, intimate and observed in detail?
• Pause the lecture and watch the two clips, one
  from the epic Dances With Wolves, the second from
  the pilot episode of Greys Anatomy.

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Being Original within a Genre

• Copying another movies elements can make your
  story stale. You want a fresh story!
• Its okay to take inspiration from other movies,
  but ultimately you must add something of yourself
  to make it interesting.

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Step 2 The Logline

• You should be able to tell your story in three to
  four sentences.
• For example
• THE WIZARD OF OZ A young girl is transported
  by a cyclone from the drab plains of Kansas to
  the magical world of Oz. A fraudulent wizard
  promises to transport the her home if she
  destroys the great enemy of Oz, the Wicked Witch
  of the West. She succeeds, but the wizard is
  unable to make good on his promise. She learns
  she can transport herself back to Kansas using
  tools she already has.

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The Logline

• Build a logline by asking yourself
• What is the conflict or dilemma my protagonist
  faces?
• What major complication makes the problem
  something that seems insurmountable?
• How does my protagonist overcome the problem (or
  how is my protagonist defeated by it)?
• So now you have a beginning, middle end
• for your story.

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Step 3 The Treatment

• Think of the Treatment as a short story. You
  already know the beginning, the middle and the
  end.
• For the first draft of your treatment, tell the
  story to yourself from start to finish.

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Give Yourself Room!

• A first draft is meant to be the time when you
  lay out your ideas in rough form. A first draft
  is generally messy and repetitive and full of
  mistakes--and that's just fine! Get the basic
  story and characters down. Get a general idea of
  how the beginning, middle and end will fit
  together. The story will likely grow and change
  in the process.

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Re-Writing

• As you re-write, imagine telling the story to
  someone else. Does everything make sense? Do
  your characters actions make sense given who
  they are? Does the story make sense? Does it
  build to a strong Act Climax?

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Step 4 The Step Outline

• Sometimes called a Beat Sheet
• Once you have a completed treatment, you will
  want to break your story down into beats or
  steps.
• Most screenplays have between 35 and 45 beats.

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The Step Outline - 2

• The Screenplay Structure Guide should be thought
  of as just that a guide. Dont let it restrict
  you, but do let it guide you.
• For instance, the Screenplay Structure Guide says
  that by about page 4, it should be clear what
  youre story is about. If youre on page 25 and
  its still not clear what your story is about,
  you may have a problem!

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The Step Outline - 3

• You will go through your short story and list
  each of the events as they happen.
• If you get to the end and you only have 10 story
  events, youll probably need to expand your story
  as you likely dont have enough story for a
  110-page screenplay. The guide will help you do
  this.

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The Step Outline - 4

• Once you have 35 to 45 steps or events, youll
  look to see how they fall in the story. Have you
  created Act 1 very thoroughly, but the events are
  sketchier in Act 2? It will become clear where
  you need to flesh out your story.

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Step 5 The First 10 Pages!

• In the first 10 pages, youll give us your
  opening hook and well see your character in
  their ordinary world. That is, how they live
  when theyre not in crisis (as they soon will
  be).
• Well see the first ripple of unrest in their
  world and their unsuccessful attempt to address
  it.

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Editing

• Before you turn in your first 10 pages, carefully
  examine it for errors in grammar, spelling, or
  punctuation. This is college-level work.
• Spell-check will catch a lot, but not everything.
  
• Pay attention to Grammar Check, too! Your dialog
  may be colloquial, but not your action and
  description!

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Editing (continued)

• We also edit also in the interests of
  professionalism. You want to see your work
  produced! Script readers, the gatekeepers for
  producers, will view an error-filled, badly
  formatted script as amateur. They wont finish
  it! Dont let poor spelling and/or formatting
  knock you out of the game!

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Feedback

• You will give constructive feedback to your
  fellow writers, and they will give constructive
  feedback to you.
• You dont have to take your classmates feedback,
  but youll need to cite examples of several
  pieces of feedback that you either took or didnt
  take, and say why. I need to see youre taking
  the feedback youre receiving seriously!

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Step 6 The Next 20 Pages

• Unrest in your story has built to the first
  mini-crisis (about page 10). It becomes clear
  that your protagonist wont be able to solve
  their problem with the tools they currently have.
  Something greater will be required of them.
• By or around page 30, they take major action to
  become the person they need to be in order to
  address the challenge.

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Editing

• Again, before you turn in your final pages, check
  carefully for errors in grammar, spelling, or
  punctuation.
• Is your dialog tight? Not padded with
  unnecessary chatter? Is your description vivid,
  but spare? Does the story have a strong build?
  Is the climax of Act 1 gripping? Does it leave
  your reader needing desperately to know what
  happens next?

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A Final Point on Process

• Keep your standards high! But know that writing
  is a process of re-writing and refining.
• Think of writing as sculpture. You continually
  refine your drafts to create your masterpiece.
• To be successful with your writing, you must
  stick with it! Youre in this for the long haul!

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Assignments
Meet the Parents (2000) Screenplay by Jim
Herzfeld and John Hamberg

Lesson 1b Part III
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Reading

• Read the chapter Introduction in Robert
  McKees Story. Take the self-quiz to be sure
  youre clear on what youve read!

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E-Board Post 1

• In the chapter Introduction, McKee gives
  several examples of what story should and should
  not be.
• Post an example of a film that you assert
  illustrates something McKee says story should be,
  and an example of what he says it should not be.
• Respectfully discuss your classmates examples.

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E-Board Post 2

• Post 3 potential story ideas to the eBoard.
• Give your fellow students feedback on their 3
  ideas. Which of their ideas is your favorite?
  Why?

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End of Lecture 1b
The Exorcist (1973) Screenplay by William Peter
Blatty

• Next Lecture Story Ideas