First off, let me say I am very impressed with your midterms (and very proud). I know it was challenging, but now you know you can do it.
For homework:
- Read Story, Ch. 5 Story Structure and Character
- Adventures in the Screen Trade, Ch. 4 & 5
- Complete your five minute short script that you began two weeks ago. Turn in your treatment, character descriptions, and script (stapled). It should be in the narrative format.
If you didn't download the script templates, here is the site where you can:
http://www.media-academy.net/yacco/templates/index.htm
Have fun!
Truly,
Mariah
4 comments:
McKee notes that character and structure go hand in hand, and once again, he's preaching the gospel to me. However, I'd like to think of plotting structure as more of a subconscious event. Bill Watterson once said he prefers for his characters to make their own choices, to the point where the ending of his own story surprises him. I think this line of rational comes into play with McKee's Third Act Theories. When a character is truly fleshed outt, their action and choices will become crystal clear, feeling like their was almost no work involved in getting your story from A to B to C.
Goldman's shared experiences on Hollywood make it seem more bleak and shallow than I once thought.
As a film student, I'm used to casting problems, but none on the level of which he's talking about, when your career depends on the decision of someone else. In a very profound way, Goldman makes you realize the power behind onscreen talent. Not having the star power seems like a shallow aspect of filmmaking, but it's one of the most important aspect of connecting to an audience initially. Redford may have been seen as soft in that follow-up role after Butch and Sundance, but I think him being a fantastic actor, and having already established a connection with an audience, would have more sympathy and more people willing to follow his journey, because they know him.
This weeks reading seemed to cover the before and after of character development, from inception in the screenplay to final casting.
We read Ch. 5 in "Story" in wk 3. I thought it sounded familiar. But to reiterate on my prior post:
True characters are portrayed in the choices they make while under pressure. The more extreme the choices, the deeper the understanding of the nature of the character. Pressure being an essential part of the picture. You have to coordinate the story to reveal the characterization of the character. You cannot change just the character without changing the story to match who your character really is inside. You can lose everything if your climax doesn't carry any weight. If the ending (or climax) of the story cannot reveal an interesting depth, then the rest of the story is at risk of being denounced. Character or Story? You decide.
I really loved this chapter because i find inner depth so much more interesting than exterior fasaude. Character arc is something we have already gone over but Mckee gives us a lesson in the five steps of the character arc. First is character, Second is heart of the character, Third is the deep nature that is at odds with outer countenance, Fourth having exposed characters inner nature, Fifth character reaches peaceful maturity. Wow what a journey. what I took away from this chapter is that the choices we write for are characters to make will and should propel the story, which in turn keep audiences captivated. Characters go on journeys that shape who they become which could be someone completely different by the end, these changes should move the story along and according to Mckee, climax and resonate to a very satisfying last twenty minutes of movie.
The reading in Story was very helpful and informative as usual. He emphasized true character once again versus characterization. He states that the purpose of structure is to provide building pressure and dilemas in which true character is revealed. By the way, we read this chapter in week 3
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