Unit 3 - Lesson 2: Writing For The Screen
An Introduction
Craft:
This lesson is meant to show you how to start writing a screenplay! Writing a screenplay can be both extremely fun and challenging, so to start off with some tips, we'll be beginning with a video put out by the YouTube channel, Film Riot. Don't worry about the various programs they use, or Save The Cat. If you'd like, you can look up Save The Cat and find a few free resources there, though that's more of a bonus activity!
The video is linked to the right of this text.
Connect:
Now we'll be talking about what you just watched and adding on some new knowledge!
Writing a screenplay can be both challenging, fun, and freeing all at the same time. Once you start with an idea you like, an important thing to remember are your limits when it comes to writing for the screen, as well as your benefits.
You can write in elements that might need CGI, or you can brainstorm how the camera might move about your scene. You can make many assumptions about the kind of materials you might be working with, though it is important to try your best to keep it realistic. Having real swords on set made from metal on Saturn might not be the easiest thing to make real. But having fake swords or real, non-Saturn swords would be realistic!
Create some guidelines for yourself and try your best to follow them! Sometimes the most creative things will sprout from limitation!
More lessons here
Create:
This is the final step in this lesson. Now you get to put what you learned into practice!
Pick a character or a situation you think is interesting. Come up with a few short scenes surrounding this and try to map them into an order that makes sense. Once you've done this, start writing while using some limitations. Maybe you only want to use practical effects! Or maybe you don't want there to be any "humans" featured in the film! You can even come up with animation, though your limitations might change whether or not you're writing about 2D or 3D animation. (2D would be Disney's Cinderella, while 3D would be Pixar's Cars.)