Today was the start of the unit 1 on the TV Production course I am studying at UCA. Unit 1 involves storytelling; for this unit we have to produce a 10 minute screenplay either a DRAMA, THRILLER or COMEDY. It will be produced in to either a 2 minute trailer for the script or the first 2 minutes of the script. To start this unit, our lecturer Simon Welford gave a presentation titled 'What is Storytelling?' .
The presentation consisted of a clip from a variety of TV shows such as Blackadder, Stranger Things and Breaking Bad. Each clip showed something different from the final ending of a TV series to the start of a brand new one. The clip shown for Breaking Bad I found interesting as it was talking about 'change', which is an important aspect in writing.
It also pointed out the 'reality' of writing, that not many of us can just sit down, open a laptop and start writing a story; in fact a lot of prep and planning is needed, from coming up with the idea to brainstorming and researching. The presentation quoted Lynda La Pante (2010) stating 'What's the point of writing a beautifully structured script, with all the right technical points in it, if the writer has nothing to say?' explaining that although you may have a perfect script, with all the right points, if the writer has nothing to say then what was the point in writing it. A tip from Simon Welsford was to 'write what you know.'
We then got shown two short story paragraphs 'The Bank Robbery' and 'The Sandwich' we had to state which one we preferred, all but around 3 people favoured 'The Sandwich' story, the reason for this most likely being because it had character change in.
We were told the 3 main ingredients to a story:
- Character - Every story needs a character one that drives the story forward. The Character should be thought of first. It is the most important part of a story.
- Goal - A goal is always needed, the story is getting the character to that goal and the Character will usually find this is what they wanted.
- Conflict - This is what 'creates drama' and where the story goes forward and creates the core.
But also change, we were told this is the most significant part, that our character must change by the end of it, whether that would be a good or bad change. Coming back to the clip from Breaking Bad we were shown; the reason I found this interesting is because it showed 'Walter White' talking about change. In life there is always change good and bad and it is a constant cycle of good and bad until it transforms.
Being interested in scriptwriting myself, I already knew a little of how storytelling works and that a lot of planning and prep goes into it. However, there was still a lot I took away from this presentation and I always enjoy being able to further my learning in this area.
I learned about the key things a story needs and that I may not have always applied this to my own writing, I usually come up with a setting to a story first and then the character, maybe I will find it easier if I try the other way round.
I have been thinking of a few ideas for my script, they are very little ideas as of yet and whether I will pick one, I haven't decided. I am definitely going to be searching the news and internet for ideas and brainstorm a few that I think may go somewhere. I have also spoken to family to hear some of their stories for inspiration. Hopefully something will stand out soon and I can get started on my 25 word pitch.
Reference List:
Ray Frensham (2010) Break into screenwriting: Teach yourself, Teach yourself, Google. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bpi2dnn91H0C&lpg=PT57&ots=_u-zWx9wxf&dq='What's%20the%20point%20of%20writing%20a%20beautifully%20structured%20script%2C%20with%20all%20the%20right%20technical%20points%20in%20it%2C%20if%20the%20writer%20has%20nothing%20to%20say%3F&pg=PT57#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 22 September 2016].
No comments
Post a Comment