Mr. Rivers started off class by asking what are the five conventions of screenwriting to start off class, and we talked within our groups reviewing them. He reminds us that the conventions of screenwriting are important tools to make something cinematic and professional. One of the action blocks in the screenwriting Mr. Rivers wrote in yesterdays class needed work so we took some time and wrote new ones in our groups. We went through the responses the two classes wrote to replace the action block in the screenwriting and picked our favorite one which was “His face becomes confused and frustrated as the camera pans to the screen showing a screenplay that has failed to upload,” because it was short and to the point while explaining the emotions of the character in the situation.
We then talked about CAMERA CONTROL, which Mr. Rivers told us to use sparingly in our screen writing, and not dictate every single editing movement. The most apparent editing transition in a screenwriting is “CUT TO” which signals a change in the scene. Another option can be used is the “CAMERA” tool to emphasize different types of movement in the scene. These tools are all meant to tell the story the way the writer wants to.
We then watched a scene to analyze which transition and camera movement to use in a screenplay. It was a scene from the show, Atlanta, where the main character has a confrontation with a woman at a fast food restaurant where he could not purchase a kids meal, and then proceeds to get a cup for “water” and gets soda instead. The important camera movement comes when he gets soda and another woman worker sees him break this rule and he motions to her to not say anything, adding humor to the scene.
For tomorrow’s class we need to find a clip from youtube or anything like that to analyze and sign up for “WriterDuet.com” which is a screenwriting software.
PROSE: Ordinary (the way we speak all the time)
Conventions of Screenwriting
-Patterns of formatting
-Screenplay ≠ Novel (MEDIUM)
-Common language among artists (COLLABORATIVE)
-Professionalism and Precision
FORMAT:
A) Action Blocks (start the scene) to give the audience a sense of what they see
B) Scene Heading (slugline) top of every new scene
A. B - C [INT. CLASSROOM - DAY]
A. INT or EXT or INT/EXT (interior or exterior of a setting)
B. SETTING (brief)
C. DAY/NIGHT
C) Characters (centered in the page) helps show who is speaking
D) Dialogue (always tied to a specific character
E) Parenthetical - How a line is delivered [ex. Mr. Rivers says (excitedly)]
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