FILM STUDIES AND CINEMATOGRAPHY-- Project 1 - Develop Short Story

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FILM STUDIES AND CINEMATOGRAPHY

Tuesday,Oct. 29 .2024

29.10.2024 - 10.11.2024 | Week 5 - Week 6

Jia Wenbing /0365436/

Design principles/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

INSTRUCTIONS


LECTURES

WEEK  5

Basic Elements of Screenplay Formatting
The goal of a screenwriter is to make the script easy to read and easy to understand while meeting industry standards. Good formatting helps readers focus on the story, rather than being distracted by formatting issues.
  • Title Page
  • Center the title in simple font.
  • Include the author's name and any necessary contact information (lower right corner).
  • Sluglines
  • Start with EXT. or INT.
  • Describe specific places and times (e.g., DAY, NIGHT).
  • Action Lines
  • Describe character actions and surroundings in the present tense.
  • Capitalize the first mention of a character and give a brief introduction.
  • Avoid irrelevant information and be brief.
  • Dialogue Format
  • Character names are all capitalized and centered.
  • Lines are neatly spaced below them, and parentheses to indicate tone/action are used sparingly and briefly.
  • Transitions
  • Use camera transition instructions (e.g., CUT TO:) sparingly and only when necessary.
  • Formatting Requirements
  • Use Courier font size 12.
  • Follow industry-standard margin and line spacing settings.
  • Avoid mistakes
  • Don’t write too many unnecessary details.
  • Don’t use the script to guide the camera or technical operations.
  • Be concise and clear, and serve the core of the story.
Core idea: The script format should convey the story in a visual language, follow industry standards, and make the content clear and easy to read.


WEEK  6


PROJECT-1 Develop Short Story

This project requires us to develop a 2 minute short story that will eventually be animated.
First we also develop story content ideas step by step each week:
Story Ideas - Get ideas for various techniques such as writing what I know, what-if statements, and characters and worlds.
  • Character Development - From my ideas, develop your protagonist by giving him or her obstacles (external and internal), goals, wants and needs, character arcs.
  • Setting - Place the character in the right setting, such as time period, world
  • Story Arcs and Themes - Inciting Incident, 3 Act Structure, Log Lines

At first, the focus of my story was not clear enough. After repeated revisions, I finally determined my storyline.

Fig.1.1 3 Act Structure



Later, according to the project requirements, we began to use the format and describe the scenes of the entire story.

Fig.1.2  Final Story Log  



FEEDBACK

WEEk 6:
I reorganized and revised the story according to the story line. Mr. Kamal said that my story was very clear, but the content needed to be revised a little bit. The contradictions should be written more clearly so that readers and viewers can better understand why the protagonist did this.

REFLECTION

This project was fun because it started with my story. Part of me was excited to do it because I had a story idea in my head that was developed from my real story, but I wanted it to be a warm and perfect story, and this was my chance to develop that idea. The challenge for me was to come up with a way to make sure the story flowed and had a unified focus. It is well known that stories have the power to engage readers, spark imaginations, and transport us to another world. However, real life stories can cause emotional investment, inspire trust and empathy, and make the audience feel close. Real life stories can teach us things we didn't know. Through this project, I learned the importance of story focus and how to present it. Although the process was difficult, I hope that I can better present my own content in the next project.

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