Internet Based Research: Part 6 - Short Screenplay Writing

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I investigated the advice given to support new writers from the following website:

www.screenonline.org.uk/tours/shortfilm/tour1.html
www.netribution.co.uk/features/howto/scriptwriting_5_short_film.html
www.shootingpeople.org
www.scriptfactory.co.uk

The shooting People website is a membership site in which a fee of £30 is required to obtain screen writing information, so I did not pursue my investigation with this site.

The Script Factory website is also a membership site, which requires a fee to obtain information. However, there were other alternative methods advertised on this site highlighting particular books and magazines that could also be purchased for the purpose of gaining advice about screenplay writing.

Screen Line was a very informative website offering a guiding hand to a writer who is trying to produce a script for a less than ten minute short film. The guide took me through six initial questions a writer should ask themselves before constructively writing a script and answered these effectively pinpointing out the positive and negative factors for each and giving examples of produced material.

Question 1 Who is the protagonist?
The protagonist is in the heart of the film and who is central to the overall story. They do not have to be telling the story, but they must be a key in the progression of the narrative.

Question 2 What is the active question, which is the basis of the action in film?
This question addresses three areas,
What does the protagonist want?
What is the action of the film?
What is the audience asked to perceive?

To produce a story and develop it well a character must have a want, a need or an obligation. This first initial step is hard, so it would be more useful to think about what is the action of the film? And what do I want my audience to be interest in? Once this is achieved, a protagonist can be developed with a want, need or an obligation. This way I could take different angles of imagination to produce a well written script.

Question 3 Who or what opposes the protagonist?
With an event in mind and a protagonist, it is cr A Dilemma is always important to help the protagonist grow within the story itical to develop an element of antagonism which can take many different forms to increase the audience’s awareness of why the protagonist cannot deal with the situation they are in, or why the protagonist is forced to do something out of the ordinary. A dilemma or unusual situation will always help the protagonist to grow within a story.

Question 4 From whose point of view is the audience being shown the story?
Through the style and tone of the film is the critical factor that provides a visually coherent narrative and this should engage with the effective emotions of the audience. Curious tension is created by ensuring that the viewing audience do not know what will happen next and they are held in suspense and the theme of uncertainty is a total affect of a dramatic tone. This question is not usually answered until the final script draft has been written.

Question 5 What is it about? Or, what is the theme?
This should have a brief answer, but this question should always be established early on during the primary script draft, as the subject matter should already be in progress, but finding the theme in all projects is a critical one as it gives a film a dramatic unity which in effect rates directly to the audiences’ emotion.

When considering these types of questions it is crucial to consider not only the obvious themes, but also the underlying ones. For example what ties your characters together?
A good narrative has something that ties all the characters together.

Question 6 What is the style of the film?
Short films should not focus on too much information or a shift in style or tone, because the overall effectiveness could be lost or an audience would be left feeling rather confused. Many short films are placed in a naturalistic tone with a minimal amount of dialogue, that makes every word count and this will add to the overall success of the short.

Netibution.co.uk website

Andrew Lowes the author of this article believes writing a short is just as difficult as writing a feature length film. He also believes the process of writing and planning a short is an invaluable if you have a hope of becoming a screenwriter.

Mr Lowes explains that there is no definition with reference to the length of a short, but suggests that a less than 45 minute film is a short and generally the longer the short, the more difficult it is distribute. Cinema’s and the television scene tend to like shorts that are less than ten minutes long. However, trying to tell a story and create believable characterisation in this time limit certainly is not easy. Whereas in feature films,, the script writer can afford to take their time to build a narrative. A short film has to be short and direct. Mr. Lowes then goes on to suggest that a simple story well told with good characterisation and memorable dialogue is going to be far more beneficial and memorable to a viewing audience.

Characterisation is all important to shorts, the smaller the cast; the more information can be given to your audience. A large cast would mean a large budget and would prove to be quite expensive, a budget which shorts often do not have.
Dialogue is given a large section of discussion and basically Mr. Lowes says ‘Every word has to count’ and original dialogue is essential as every work has to convey something important about the character. Bad language and swearing words should only be used sparingly as anything else will come across as monotonous and this will make the writer look like an unimaginative writer. His final note with respect to dialogue is to make sure you read your script out loud as it is extremely important that the characters in question do not sound false or too obvious.

The budget for the majority of short films is fairly very low, so a director should limit filming locations, because this will save time and the cost of transportation.

The author finally concludes that the best way of learning how to avoid the pitfalls of short film writing is to watch as many as you can of other people’s shorts. Whether you enjoy them or not you should always ask yourself.
What didn’t work?
Were the characters developed will enough?
Did the story work?

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