Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Independent Component 2
Log of hours:
Evidence of 30 hours of work:
Literal
I, Inez Franco, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 50 hours of work.
I researched how to write screenplays, how to sell screenplays, whether or not to seek representation or just a deal, I used old notes and took new notes on my essential question and searched for examples of how it has been used in real screenplays, I read screenplays, I applied my answers to both ROP screenplays and my original screenplay, and of course I wrote my own screenplay.
Interpretive
This Independent Component bears great resemblence to my first one but it's completely different in the interpretive!
The first screenplay I wrote, and the research I was doing with the screenplays I was reading was to look for something they all had in common and try to emulate that quality in my script.
Here, in the second go around I already have my three answers. So what I did with my research was accumulate it and search for examples of my answer being put to the test in real screenplays.
After I did all that I took my first screenplay "Eugene's Abyss" and I ripped it apart to the bare bones and then applied my answers to it. I was testing all of the three- four at the time- answers, in order to see which was the most helpful in improving my own screenplay.
Applied
After testing all four answers: Write with a voice, Throw theme out the window, Seduce reader in the first ten pages, and invest in your protagonist I have found my best answer.
I effectively threw out the idea of theme and it helped! I got through the script! It has an ending and ironically it has one with a theme- that came OUT of the story. But getting through the screenplay is not the same as writing a successful screenplay.
Then I invested a lot of time and used lots of scenes/motivations/desires/reflection characters for my protagonist. And that helped too! My hero was a well developed hero! But even with a thematic ending and a strong hero, I still didn't have a screenplay I was willing to try to sell.
So after that I spent a lot of time writing and rewriting the first 2 pages (because in a twenty page script page two is at the 10% mark) and I finally wrote a beginning that I was satisfied with and that I think would catch people's attention! It was awesome. I felt like I really was improving my screenplay little by little. All the hard work was paying off!
But something was just missing... and I knew what it was.
Voice!
Through out the whole process I'll admit I have been trying really hard to get the writing to sound commanding, evocative, and seducing. I wanted to put voice in there so bad!
BUT VOICE IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN JUST... JUST WRITE. No... voice is a reflection of experience in writing and comfort in your writing, it's not something you teach or something you can learn. You know how some people are just great writers? Those people have voice. And the more and more you practice it the better it gets, of course.
Well I couldn't just make voice come out in the screenplay. I'm not saying I can't write! No no no. I can. I grasped my voice in the third interview and in my defense paper in 11th grade and in my college essays. Voice is what got me into NYU. But sometimes you write awesome papers and sometimes you don't. Here I just couldn't get my voice in the script. It's whats missing and it's what making me self-conscious about the script...
The best way to write a successful screenplay is to write it with voice. I've never been more certain!
Evidence of 30 hours of work:
 |
| Research |
 |
| Screenplay specifically for Independent Component 2 |
Literal
I, Inez Franco, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 50 hours of work.
I researched how to write screenplays, how to sell screenplays, whether or not to seek representation or just a deal, I used old notes and took new notes on my essential question and searched for examples of how it has been used in real screenplays, I read screenplays, I applied my answers to both ROP screenplays and my original screenplay, and of course I wrote my own screenplay.
Interpretive
This Independent Component bears great resemblence to my first one but it's completely different in the interpretive!
The first screenplay I wrote, and the research I was doing with the screenplays I was reading was to look for something they all had in common and try to emulate that quality in my script.
Here, in the second go around I already have my three answers. So what I did with my research was accumulate it and search for examples of my answer being put to the test in real screenplays.
After I did all that I took my first screenplay "Eugene's Abyss" and I ripped it apart to the bare bones and then applied my answers to it. I was testing all of the three- four at the time- answers, in order to see which was the most helpful in improving my own screenplay.
Applied
After testing all four answers: Write with a voice, Throw theme out the window, Seduce reader in the first ten pages, and invest in your protagonist I have found my best answer.
I effectively threw out the idea of theme and it helped! I got through the script! It has an ending and ironically it has one with a theme- that came OUT of the story. But getting through the screenplay is not the same as writing a successful screenplay.
Then I invested a lot of time and used lots of scenes/motivations/desires/reflection characters for my protagonist. And that helped too! My hero was a well developed hero! But even with a thematic ending and a strong hero, I still didn't have a screenplay I was willing to try to sell.
So after that I spent a lot of time writing and rewriting the first 2 pages (because in a twenty page script page two is at the 10% mark) and I finally wrote a beginning that I was satisfied with and that I think would catch people's attention! It was awesome. I felt like I really was improving my screenplay little by little. All the hard work was paying off!
But something was just missing... and I knew what it was.
Voice!
Through out the whole process I'll admit I have been trying really hard to get the writing to sound commanding, evocative, and seducing. I wanted to put voice in there so bad!
BUT VOICE IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN JUST... JUST WRITE. No... voice is a reflection of experience in writing and comfort in your writing, it's not something you teach or something you can learn. You know how some people are just great writers? Those people have voice. And the more and more you practice it the better it gets, of course.
Well I couldn't just make voice come out in the screenplay. I'm not saying I can't write! No no no. I can. I grasped my voice in the third interview and in my defense paper in 11th grade and in my college essays. Voice is what got me into NYU. But sometimes you write awesome papers and sometimes you don't. Here I just couldn't get my voice in the script. It's whats missing and it's what making me self-conscious about the script...
The best way to write a successful screenplay is to write it with voice. I've never been more certain!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Helping 2013
Friday, April 20, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Answer #3 (part two)
EQ: What is the best way to write a successful screenplay?
Answer: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to throw theme out of the window.
Evidence:
1. Theme grows out of story. Story does not grow out of theme.
2. Theme is cerebral, desire is emotional, and art is emotional.
3. If you start with theme then your writing is limited, like trying to work around proving a point your story becomes more of an argument and a thesis than anything else. This kills the surprise and delight that makes the movie experience.
Source: Hal Ackerman, co-chair of the screenwriting program at UCLA and author of Writing Screenplays That Sell.
Answer: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to throw theme out of the window.
Evidence:
1. Theme grows out of story. Story does not grow out of theme.
2. Theme is cerebral, desire is emotional, and art is emotional.
3. If you start with theme then your writing is limited, like trying to work around proving a point your story becomes more of an argument and a thesis than anything else. This kills the surprise and delight that makes the movie experience.
Source: Hal Ackerman, co-chair of the screenwriting program at UCLA and author of Writing Screenplays That Sell.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Answer #3
EQ: What is the best way to write a successful screenplay?
Answer 3: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to seduce the reader/audience in the first 10 pages, or at the 10% mark.
Evidence: 1. When you're trying to sell your screenplay it is already hard to get someone to even open it, let alone read it. So it essential to seduce the reader so that they will continue to read through the rest of the screenplay. 2. You often hear "grab your reader in the first ten pages". That statement is misleading because if you're writing a love story that has little to no action and think that you need to "grab" the reader then you might think that an action sequence or something flashy and uneccessary should be in the first ten pages. It should not. You also have to be mindful that you must introduce your characters and a significant change in the hero's everyday life by this time. The most difficult part of this whole process is to weave everything together. Somwhere in the first 10% of your screenplay you must introduce characters, their current situations, the setting, etc. This answer is as good as any other answer: have a strong leading character, good plot that is moved by outer motivations and desires, great drama, a satisfying climax and ending, blah blah blah etc. The only difference is that before the reader can read and realize any of those other aspects - which are great answers as well- they either read it or don't. Without being persuaded to continue to read the screenplay they cannot realize the other things that I have mentioned make a good screenplay.
Source: Every screenplay that I have read: Annie Hall, Citizen Kane, Shakespeare in Love, A Knight's Tale, and the book Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge.
Answer 3: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to seduce the reader/audience in the first 10 pages, or at the 10% mark.
Evidence: 1. When you're trying to sell your screenplay it is already hard to get someone to even open it, let alone read it. So it essential to seduce the reader so that they will continue to read through the rest of the screenplay. 2. You often hear "grab your reader in the first ten pages". That statement is misleading because if you're writing a love story that has little to no action and think that you need to "grab" the reader then you might think that an action sequence or something flashy and uneccessary should be in the first ten pages. It should not. You also have to be mindful that you must introduce your characters and a significant change in the hero's everyday life by this time. The most difficult part of this whole process is to weave everything together. Somwhere in the first 10% of your screenplay you must introduce characters, their current situations, the setting, etc. This answer is as good as any other answer: have a strong leading character, good plot that is moved by outer motivations and desires, great drama, a satisfying climax and ending, blah blah blah etc. The only difference is that before the reader can read and realize any of those other aspects - which are great answers as well- they either read it or don't. Without being persuaded to continue to read the screenplay they cannot realize the other things that I have mentioned make a good screenplay.
Source: Every screenplay that I have read: Annie Hall, Citizen Kane, Shakespeare in Love, A Knight's Tale, and the book Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)