SCENE ANALYSIS
Spring 2017
Week 15
Final Exam: In-Class Screening is May 4th, 8:30am-10am. Please note the production materials you should hand in with your final project as outlined in the Week 11 assignment.
Week 14
Sign up for one-one-one editing meeting
Week 13
Sign up for script / production meeting
Week 12
Assignment: Write First Draft of Script
Readings:
Week 11
Assignment: Proposal for Final Project
Viewing: Elephant (2003, dir. Gus Van Sant)
Gus Van Sant on Elephant:
Week 10
Readings:
- An Index on Screenwriting: Answering Basic questions
- Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling; and one critique of those rules
- Jane Espenson's Blog Archive from 2005-2010 on TV writing (but useful for non-TV screenwriting too)
- Scriptnotes Podcast: Two Hollywood Screenwriters with a weekly podcast on Screenwriting
- A growing list of Screenwriters on Twitter
- Bordwell on "Three Dimensions of Film Narrative"
Some Videos on Screenwriting:
Week 09
Assignment:
- Dramatic Voice / Narrative Voice (group due April 4th)
- Ideation (Individual, due March 30th)
Assignment Materials: Moonlight Scene; 20th Century Women Scene; Moonlight song "Hello Stranger"
Reading: Cassavetes on Cassavetes: A Woman Under the Influence
A Woman Under the Influence (1974, dir. John Cassavettes)
Small Deaths (1996 dir. Lynne Ramsay)
Week 08
Reading: Dramatic Voice vs. Narrative Voice; Excerpt from "Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film," Chantam (read "Real Author, Implied Author,.." subheading)
Michael Mann's Annotated Heat Script Coffee Shop Scene
Assignment:
- Annotate Winter's Bone Scene;
- Scene (written by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini)
- Director’s Annotated Scene Checklist 1st Pass
Some Annotated Script Pages:
From Fassbinder's Lola (1981)
From Full Metal Jacket
From Alien
Week 07
Readings: William Ball on Objectives; Michael Bloom on Interpreting Action
Additional Reading:
Viewing:
Chop Shop rehearsals
Week 06
Readings: Dramatic Elements in a Scripted Scene; "there is art in the performer’s construction of the face, and of the director’s cinematic shaping of it"
Reminder: "Staging Oners" exercise is due in class on Thursday, March 2nd.
Viewings:
Michael Caine on Acting (old school, but worth watching):
The Making of "A Separation":
The Social Network BTS Making Of:
Week 05
Assignment: Staging "Oners"
Week 04
Reading: Proferes on Staging; Rabiger on Coverage
Viewing: High School Lover (for guest Script Supervisor lecture on Thursday)
Week 03
Reading: Sidney Lumet on Lenses & Camera
Abel Cine's Useful Calculator of Lens Focal Length on Different Imaging Planes
Supplementary Readings:
- An example of Shot Consciousness: Planimetric Shots
- An Essay on Composition, Aspect Ratios, and Godard
some stuff on lining a script -- Marking the Shooting Script
Recommended for Additional Reading (to buy): "Script Supervising & Film Continuity"
Very Quick Script Lining Reference Video:
Week 02
Assignment 2: Reverse Formal Analysis
Reading: "Chapter 5: The Camera" from Fundamentals of Film Directing (Proferes)
Scenes for Assignment:
Y Tu Mama Tambien Scene (dir. Alfonso Cuarón):
Somewhere Scene (dir. Sofia Coppola):
Magic Mike XXL Scene (dir. Gregory Jacobs):
2 Guns Scene (dir. Baltasar Kormákur):
Coen Brothers & Storyboards:
Viewings for Assignment:
Scene from "Do the Right Thing"
Scene from "The Verdict":
Scene from "12 Years a Slave":
