3. The Subject of screen Play

What do you need to write a screenplay?

 An idea, of course, but you can't sit down to write a script with just an idea in mind. You need a subject to embody and dramatize the idea.

A subject is defined as an action and a character. An action is what the story is about, and a character is who the story is about.

Every screenplay dramatizes an action and a character. Knowing your subject is the starting point of writing the screen­play. Every screenplay has a subject.When you can articulate your subject in a few sentences, in terms of action and character, you're ready to begin expanding the elements of structure and story.. Just keep doing it, and you will be able to articulate your story idea clearly and concisely.

How do you go about finding a subject?

An idea in a newspaper or on the TV news or an incident that might have happened to a friend or relative can be the subject of a movie. t's very simple. Trust yourself. Just start looking for an action and a character.

When you can express your idea succinctly in terms of action and character—my story is about this person, in this place, doing his/her "thing"—you're beginning the preparation of your screenplay.

The next step is expanding your subject.

Research is absolutely essential. All writing entails research, and research means gathering information. Remember, the hardest part of writing is knowing what to write.

Research is essential in writing a screenplay. Once you choose your subject, and can state it briefly in a sentence or two, you can begin preliminary research. Determine where you can go to  in­crease your knowledge of the subject. Dur­ing the screenplay, and gaining clarity about that need allows you to be more complex, more dimensional, in your character portrayal.There are two kinds of research. 

By doing research—whether in written sources such as books, magazines, or newspapers or through personal interviews—you ac­quire information. The information you collect allows you to oper­ate from the position of choice, confidence, and responsibility.

1 text research. 
That means going to the library and pulling out books and newspaper and magazine articles and reading about a period, people, a profes­sion, or whatever.

2.Live Research

It  means going to the source—doing live interviews, talking to people, getting a "feel" for the subject. If it is necessary or possible to conduct per­sonal interviews. They can give you a more immediate and spontaneous slant than a book, newspaper, or magazine story.

The principle rule of storytelling bears repetition: The more you know, the more you can communicate.

Research gives you ideas, a sense of people, situation, and locale. It allows you to gain a degree of confidence so you are always on top of your subject, operating from choice, not necessity or ignorance.

Start with your subject. When you think subject, think action and character..There are two kinds of action—

physical action and emotional action.

Physical action can be a battle sequence; or a race, or competition, or fight, fed by revenge,

Emotional action is what happens inside your characters during the story. Most films contain both kinds of action, physical and emotional.

Define the dramatic need of your character.
 Source: The Foundations of Screenwriting Book 

What does your character want? What is his/her need? What drives him to the reso­lution of your story? 



source http://www.frontline.in/other/not-art-for-arts-sake/article6808027.ece In Veedu the heroin want t build a home for their own, We must define the need of your character. What does he/she want?In Veedu Sutha want to build a home. . That is her need.The need of your character gives you a goal, a des­tination, an ending to your story. How your character achieves or does not achieve that goal becomes the action of your story.

All drama is conflict.  If you know the need of your character, you can create obstacles to fulfill that need. How he/she overcomes those obstacles is your story. Conflict, struggle, overcoming obstacles, both inside and outside, are the primary ingredients in all drama—in comedy, too. It is the writer's responsibility to generate enough conflict to keep the reader, or the audience, interested. The job of the screenwriter is to keep the reader turning pages. The story always has to move for­ward, toward its resolution.

To knowing your subject. If you know the action and character of your screenplay, you can define the need of the character and then create obstacles to that need.  It is the fuel that feeds the story engine.

Without conflict, there is no action. Without action, there is no character. Action is Character. What a person does is what he is, not what he says!

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" is Newton's Third Law of Motion, a natural law of the universe. The same principle applies to your story. It is the subject of your screenplay.As an exercise, find a subject you want to explore in screenplay form.

If need be, look through the daily newspaper to see if a per­son, or incident, or situation grabs your attention. Think about how you might want to structure your story, then reduce it to a few sentences in terms of action and character, then write it out. Remember, it may take you a few pages to find out what you want to do, and another page or two to clarify it, but then you'll be able to eliminate the unnecessary and focus on your subject.

Source : Syd field, P - 31-42,