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Description

This subject explores the creative and complex storytelling potential of the cinematic image. It examines the relationship between the eye of the camera and the written text and offers students an opportunity to investigate both sound and image as metaphor while developing an existing piece of screenwriting. It explores adaptation from a literary source as well as storytelling possibilities opened up by digital technology and contemporary experiments in narrative structure. Students with an existing treatment or draft may develop a feature or short feature. Students with a short drama may develop a shooting script.

At the completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

a. Write a clear and concise industry standard, script development proposal that engages the reader and maps out an achievable work plan for the semester.

b. Engage critically and creatively with their own work and the work of their colleagues.

c. Investigate a variety of strategies in order to develop the visual and structural aspects of their screenplay.

d. Understand how the production process and performance may change the written text.

Assessment

Assessment Item 1: THE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL. 15%; Assessment Item 2: SCRIPT/TREATMENT/OUTLINE. 25%; Assessment Item 3: THE PROJECT 60%.

Supplementary Texts

Aronson, A (2000) Scriptwriting Updated, AFTRS Allen and Unwin, Australia,

Brady, J (1981) The Craft of the Screenwriter – interviews with six celebrated screenwriters, Simon and Schuster, New York.

Bachelard, G (1958) The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press, Boston.

Benjamin, W (1970) Illuminations, Jonathan Cape Ltd, Great Britain.

Dancyger, K (2001) Global Scriptwriting, Focal Press, USA..

Egoyan. A (1993) Speaking Parts, Coach House Press, Toronto..

Engel, J (1995) Screenwriters on Screenwriting, MJF Books New York, USA,

Horton, A.S. Magretta, J (editors), (1981) Modern European Filmmakers and the Art of Adaptation, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co, USA.

Kaufman, C (1998) Being John Malkovich, photoreproduction of screenplay.

Lynch,D (1999) Mulholland Drive, photoreproduction of screenplay.

McGilligan, P (ed) (1991) Backstory 1 & 2 Interviews with screenwriters, University of California Press, Berkeley.

McKee, R (1999) Story - substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting, Methuen, Great Britain.

McQuarrie. C (1994) The Usual Suspects, photoreproduction of screenplay.

Ondaatje, M (2002) The Conversations – Walter Murch and the art of editing film, Bloomsbury Publishing, Great Britain.

Peary. G And Shatzkin,R. (1978)The Modern American Novel and the Movies, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co, New York, USA.

Seger, L (1992) The Art of Adaptation – turning fact into fiction, H. Holt and Co, New York.

Stok, D (ed) (1993) Kieslowski on Kieslowski, Faber and Faber, Great Britain.

Stuart, A (1999) The War Zone - Introduction by Tim Roth, Film Four books, Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Great Britain.

Tarkovsky, A (1987) Sculpting in Time; reflections on the cinema, New York, Alfred A Knopf, Austin: University of Texas, USA.

Ulmer, G (1994) The Logic of Invention, John Hopkins University Press.

Wees, W.C. (1992) Light Moving in Time - studies in the visual aesthetics of avant -garde film, University of California Press, Oxford, England. 1992

Wolff, J. and K. Cox, K (1993) (complied by) Top Secrets – Screenwriting, Lone Eagle Pub Co Los Angeles, USA. 1993

Other Details

Screenplay formatting A scriptwriting template is available free for students to use on the Faculty website: http://www.hss.uts.edu.au/departments/MAP/script_style_template_2006.doc

Offered in: 2009
Levels: Postgraduate
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