1. What is a Screenplay?
What is a Screenplay?
" Screenwriting is a craft, a craft that can be learned”. Screenwriting is
a definite craft, a definite art. A screenplay is not a novel, not a play.
A novel and try to define its fundamental nature, that
the dramatic action, the story line, usually takes place inside the head of the
main character. We see the story line unfold through the eyes of the character,
through his/her point of view. We are privy to the character's thoughts,
feelings, emotions, words, actions, memories, dreams, hopes, ambitions, opinions,
and more. The character and reader go through the action together, sharing in
the drama and emotion of the story. The main character is who the story is about. In a novel the action takes place inside the character's
head, within the mindscape of dramatic action.
A play is different. The action, or story line, occurs onstage, under the
proscenium arch, and the audience becomes the fourth wall, prying on the lives
of the characters, what they think and feel and say. They talk about their hopes and dreams, past
and future plans ,discuss their needs and desires, fears and conflicts. In this
case, the action of the play occurs within the language of dramatic action;
it is spoken in words that describe feelings, actions, and emotions.
What is a story?
A story is the whole, and the elements that make up the story—the action, characters,conflicts, scenes, sequences, dialogue, action, Acts I, II, and III,incidents, episodes,events, music, locations,etc.—are the parts, and this relationship between the parts and the whole make up the story.
A screenplay is different. Film is a visual medium that
dramatizes a basic story line; it deals in pictures, images, bits and pieces of
film. The nature of the screenplay deals
in pictures,
Screenplay is a story
told with pictures, in dialogue and description, and placed within the context
of dramatic structure.
To understand the principle of structure, it's
important to start
with the word itself. The root of structure, struct, has two definitions
that are relevant. The first definition means "to build" or "to put
something together," like a building or car. The second definition is
"the relationship between the parts and the whole."
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