Writer’s Block will be a series of posts aimed at helping new writers learn more about writing for film/television and ultimately improve their writing skill and ability. I hope to include as much knowledge as I have about writing.

Format

The document for writing for film and television is the screenplay.

The screenplay should follow a number of format guidelines. Here’s two quick guidelines you should know:

Scene headings

For example, every scene should have a “scene heading” (a.k.a. “a slug line)”:

EXT. ROAD - NIGHT (TEXAS/MEXICO BORDER)

A million stars wink in the night desert.

1)   INT. or EXT? - “EXT.” simply means “exterior” (as opposed to INT. for interior), which just defines whether this is an interior or exterior scene.

2)   WHERE? - Next, where is the scene happening? Give the location of the set. In this example, a “ROAD” is used.

3)   TIME OF DAY - Is this scene happening during the day or at night?

It is important to use scene headings to place the reader/viewer in the middle of the scene to feel to mood, level of tension, and environment of the scene, so remember to include these in your screenplays!

Telling a Visual Story

When writing for television and film, you are no longer just writing words, but you are now writing images and sound.

Now it sounds strange, but it’s true. What you watch on television and at the movies had a screenplay of some sort written by writers who visualized the final product and wrote it out in text form. Ultimately, the end result is a visual, not textual, story.

Now what does it mean to write an image. It means visually describing, creating, and developing a frame, a shot, a scene, or a whole movie. Writers should be able to “see” the shots, “see” the emotions expressed on characters’ faces, “see” the background, “see” the foreground, “see” the missing parts and be able to “see” what fits and what doesn’t.

For those who do not, do not worry. This ability to see the final with a “film-maker’s third-eye” will grow and seem natural with enough practice and a little studying of camera techniques, camera angles, etc.

Creating/Developing a Character

A character is a figurative or hypothetical person, but this doesn’t mean that it should be far from real at all. Characters should have histories, emotions, behavioural tendencies, desires, strengths and weaknesses. This goes for even the most unrealistic and whimsical of characters. The goal is to make these characters come to life, stir up emotions in the viewer, help the viewer relate to the story through them, and if possible, make the viewer fall in love with them. Keep this in mind when creating and developing characters for your story.

Dramatic structure

This is Freytag’s Pyramid:

I’m sure we’ve all seen this in Grade 9 English and Literature courses but I’d like to refresh your memories a bit. Dramatic structure is composed of 5 parts:

• Exposition - provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, and the setting. The exposition ends with the inciting moment.

• Rising action - after the inciting moment comes the rising action. At this point, conflict is clearly seen as the story progresses.

• Climax (or turning point) - The climax is the big change in the story. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.

• Falling action - During the falling action, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist.

• Denouement (or resolution) - The comedy ends with a dénouement (a conclusion) in which the protagonist is better off than at the story’s outset. The tragedy ends with a catastrophe in which the protagonist is worse off than at the beginning of the narrative.

This structure is helpful for creating a basic story that involves a protagonist, an antagonist, and conflict, but many great films break the rules and were able to tell a story without a linear storyline. Feel free to bend/break the rules and explore what works, as long as the finished product turns out to be a truly amazing visual story.

That’s it for now…

For more information check these websites out:

Screenplay format reference: http://www.trilane.com/ref/index.html

Freytag’s Pyramid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure

Camera angles: http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html

Monomyth theory: http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/monomyth.html

(To be continued)