JAN 3
Reading for Jan 5: Power Screenwriting, pp. 23 24-5 26-7 28-9 30-1 32-3 34-5 36-7 38-9 40-1 42-3 44-5 46-7 48-9 50-1 52
JAN 5
The essence of drama. What is a script?
Discussion of first 3 stages of development: theme, three-act template, and premise.
Reading for Jan 10: Power Screenwriting, pp. 109-161.
WEEK 2
JAN 10
Screening of Richard Linklater, Tape.
Discussion of internal structure and character relationships.
Reading for Jan 12: Power Screenwriting, pp. 163-205; 249-250.
JAN 12
Screening of Strangers and Validation.
Discussion of treatment, program and behavioral composites.
Assignment of project GATHERING.
Reading: Power Screenwriting, pp. 207-235, and The General Principles of Conflict: 1 2 3 4 5
WEEK 3
JAN 17
Project GATHERING parts 1-5 must be posted on blog by this date.
No class meeting due to holiday.
JAN 19
Class discussion and critique of project GATHERING parts 1-5.
Reading for Jan 26: Slavoj Zizek, The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime pp. 17-26 (section 3, "Fantasy Decomposed" and section 4, "The Three Scenes"). On the "Final Girl" as protagonist of slasher films, and the fluidity of gender roles and identifications: Carol J. Glover, Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.
Screening of David Lynch, Lost Highway (on reserve in library).
WEEK 4
JAN 24
Discussion on Facebook group regarding the readings -- "The Three Scenes" of Lost Highway (Mr Eddy scene here; Mystery Man scene here; Andy's house scene here) and the programs of the slasher film (post slasher film clips for discussion, using the readings as guidelines).
JAN 26
Project GATHERING part 6 due (script length: 4-8 pages).
Discussion of readings. Discussion of theories of characterization and motivation.
Screening of excerpt from Mike Nichols, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Dialogue here.
Assignment of project FLOWING.
Readings for Feb. 9:
Jordan Crandall, excerpt from "Landing" ("The View Enstages Me") (will be posted on fb group)
Slavoj Zizek, excerpt from "The Case of the Missing Gaze" (will be posted on fb group)
Slavoj Zizek, "Big Brother, Or the Triumph of the Gaze Over the Eye"
Susan Sontag on Bergman's Persona (also here)
and various analytical looks at Hitchcock's Rear Window: here / here / here / here / here
Individual screenings (DVDs on reserve in library) due by Feb 9 :
Ingmar Bergman, Persona
Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window
Mike Figgis, Time Code
Mike Nichols, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
WEEK 5
No class meeting; work on readings and individual screenings of films (on reserve in library) which must be completed by Feb. 9. Discussion on Facebook group.
WEEK 6
FEB 7
Project FLOWING parts 1-5 must be posted on blog by this date.
No class meeting.
FEB 9
Class discussion and critique of project FLOWING parts 1-5.
Discussion of readings and screenings.
WEEK 7
FEB 14
Project FLOWING part 6 due (script length: 6-10 pages).
Continue discussion of readings and screenings.
For Feb 16: bring in 3 found forms that could serve as unorthodox scripts.
FEB 16
Discussion and presentation of experimental forms of scripting.
Class excercise: behavioral composites from inciting moments in
Rear Window, Persona, Zizek's office window story, and the Slow House.
Assignment of project LISTENING.
CHANGES IN PARTS 1-5. You still need to have a protagonist (embodiment of the theme in action), inner flaw (protagonist's 'problem'), antagonist (attacks protagonist's inner flaw), inciting incident (intervenes in protagonist's life and incites him/her into action), backstory, immediate desire, overarching desire, convergence (protagonist's realization as a result of the conflict). Optional: allies & love interests of protagonist & antagonist. Your protagonist & antagonist doesn't have to be a person.
PART 1. you need a 1-line theme, but it no longer has to be in 3-act structure. Remember, the theme is what the work is "really" about -- the subjective baseline that is behind all the action, dialogue, and exposition unfolding onscreen. A good script is an entire symphony of purpose, emotion, and meaning assembled and propelled by the theme. To develop good themes you have to dig deep: uncover the hidden meanings in what you and others do, in a brutally honest way. The underlying meanings behind things. You have to externalize the unseen, the unsaid.
PARTS 2-5. With the experimental script, you need to accommodate, along with content, a heightened awareness of form. Each of these parts must contain formal/structural elements:
--your 1-paragraph premise (how the theme is proven) - must accommodate form
--your 1-paragraph description of the "program" must give details about the program of the script form that you've chosen (its conventions, rules, assumptions, etc).
-- your 1-page treatment must accommodate form
-- your list of the "behavioral composites" must accommodate form (sensation, action, and form + form).
PART 6. Any script form is possible (and as such, there is no length requirement), but your choice must not be arbitrary. You have to justify your use of it in all of the above.
The form is not only 'internal' but also includes the system/mechanism that causes viewers to respond to, comprehend, and interpret the film in particular ways -- and which includes the structure/mechanism of seeing, positioning, and identifying at work.
The choice of the form is not arbitrary: you have to write the script in accordance with the programs of the new form you're using. The form of the script -- since it is an experimental form -- plays a much larger role than it did before, and you have to justify your use of it in parts 2-5.
WEEK 8
FEB 21
Project LISTENING parts 1-5 must be posted on blog by this date.
Holiday - no class meeting.
FEB 23
Class discussion and critique of project LISTENING parts 1-5.
Performative Script Readings [slot 1].
WEEK 9
FEB 28
Project LISTENING part 6 due (experimental script in any format).
Performative Script Readings [slot 2].
Discussion of scripted spaces.
Assignment of project PATIENCE.
This project involves the development of a "scripted space." A scripted space is a space, situation, or an environment that is programmed in order to generate a narrative -- a narrative in which anyone can potentially become a central character (protagonist). Literally, when you walk into a scripted space or situation, you "inhabit a drama." The most ordinary activities (shopping, eating, socializing, etc) are transformed into dramatic narratives.
So far this quarter we have learned the elements that are essential to a good drama -- inciting incident, antagonist, overarching & immediate desires, etc. -- and it is up to you to put these elements to work. For example your scripted space must have the potential for an inciting incident "programmed" into it, and thus, a protangonist/antagonist relation (even though anyone can potentially step into those roles).
Here is what you need to turn in:
1. A paragraph description of your scripted space, situation, or environment, supplemented with any visuals you'd like (sketch, photograph, diagram, etc).
2. A 2-page summary of the PROGRAM of this space, situation, or environment.
3. A description (in treatment or storyboard form) of 3 potential inhabited narratives -- paths of action -- in your scripted space, situation, or environment.
4. Any supplemental material you'd like.
The material may be posted on the appropriate section below, or turned in in class via printout.
MAR 3
Performative Script Readings [slot 3].
WEEK 10
MAR 7
Performative Script Readings [slot 4].
MAR 9
Performative Script Readings [slot 5].
Project PATIENCE due in its entirety.
The syllabus is subject to change. Check this page often for updates.
