Topic 3 - Week 3 (Pre-Production): Scriptwriting & Narratives Story Structure

Topic 3: Scriptwriting and Narratives Story Structure 

Yo everyone, how are you guys doing? All good? Okay, let's begin with this week's lesson.   

So on Monday morning, the 19th of October around 11:00am. I, my fellow classmates, and my lecturer Ms. Amanda we did our lecture for this topic on Zoom Video Call. We have discussed a new topic of the week it's called Scriptwriting and Narratives story structure. 

I have learned what is scriptwriting, so scripting is about a written text of a play, film, or broadcast. Scriptwriting is important for storytelling because, without a script, filmmakers will not be able to execute the production. Scriptwriter often sells their to production and it will later be called a production script. 

How to write a script? It's not easy or that hard either, you just need to understand the script. The script, or screenplay which is like the outlines all of the elements (audio, visual, behavior, and dialogue) that are required to tell a story through movies or Television. To understand better do some research on the internet. Get to know how a script looks like and how it should be done. There's no right or wrong way but a sample will be great for a starter. You also need to outline your story, begin with a basic flow of your narrative. You must focus on the conflict of the story, conflict drives the drama. When in the script format, each page is roughly one minute of screen time. The average length of a two-hour script is 120 pages. Dramas should be around the 2-hour mark, comedies should be shorter, around one and a half hours. 

Whereas, when you write your story there will be three acts. The pillars of a screenplay are the Three Acts. Each act can operate independently, and when taken together provide the full arc of a story. Act One: This is the set-up for the story. Introduce the world and the characters. Set the tone of the story comedy, action, romance, etc. Introduce your protagonist, and begin exploring the conflict that will drive the story. Once the protagonist is set towards the objective, then Act Two begins. For dramas, Act One is typically 30 pages. For comedies, 24 pages.

For Act Two and Act Three. Act-Two is the main portion of the story. The protagonist will encounter obstacles on the path to the resolution of the conflict. Subplots are typically introduced in the second act. Throughout the second act, the protagonist should be showing signs of change. For dramas, Act Two is typically 60 pages. For comedies, 48 pages. Lastly, in the third act, the story reaches its resolution. The third act contains the twist of the story and ends with the final confrontation of the objective. Because the story has already been established in the second act, the third act is much faster-paced and condensed. For dramas, Act Three is typically 30 pages. For comedies, 24 pages. 

There a few more processes, for scriptwriting.

Adding sequences are parts of the story that operate somewhat independently from the main conflict. They have a beginning, middle, and end. A typical sequence will be about 10 to 15 pages in length. A sequence tends to focus on a specific character. Sequences operate with a separate tension from the main story and often affect how the main story will play out. Start writing scenes. Scenes are the events of your movie. They take place in specific locations and always serve to drive the story forward. If a scene does not do this, then it should be cut from the script. Scenes that serve no purpose will stick out in the audience’s mind as flaws and will drag the story down. Begin writing dialogue. Once you have scenes, you will have characters interacting. Dialogue can be one of the hardest things to write. Each character needs to have its own distinct, believable voice. Realistic dialogue is not necessarily good dialogue. Dialogue should be focused on moving the story forward and developing characters. You should not worry about trying to capture reality with dialogue, because in real conversations are often dull and lifeless.

This is the importance of scriptwriting which I have learned in this lesson. 

An 8-minute break from zoom call with my fellow classmates and my lecturer Ms. Amanda. 

Then we continue to Narratives story structure. This going to be interesting. It tells you the flow of the story structure. 

What is Narratives? 

Narratives are commonly used in films to tells a story. Is an account of a string of events that occur in space and time and it doesn't unfold randomly, it will progress by connecting the cause and effect from the events. 

The Three-Act structure chart. 

 

Alright, I'm going to explain the five important elements in the three-act structures. Firstly, Set-up is about establishing the setting time, characters, and the world of the film. Secondly, Rising action. The conflict is introduced usually there's tension between the protagonist and anti protagonist. Many events will happen at times and it will build-up for the climax. Thirdly, the climax is the turning point where the story slowly unfolds itself. For better or worse, it will be the protagonist's future. Fourthly, falling into action, the major action has happened, like a boxing ring fight or a car race. This will sort out the major conflicts and giving a resolution to the story. And lastly, resolution and new harmony the story comes to an end and there's a new beginning for everything. 

Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic Elements

Diegetic elements are everything that exists in the world that the film depicts including everything implied off-screen: settings, sounds, characters, events. Non-diegetic elements are elements within the film, but not within the film’s world, such as credits, music, or voice-over narration. 

The characters are unaware of these elements. A director can use non-diegetic elements to suggest a narrative. Filmmakers use non-diegetic elements for several reasons: they may draw attention to aspects of the narrative from a position outside the story, they communicate with the audience directly, and they engage viewers on an emotional level.

For example, movies like 500 days of Summer, opening voice over. Spiderman into the spider-verse has an open voice over and for Deadpool when Deadpool talks to the audience.

I hope everyone enjoys this week's topic. It's a short and simple topic about scriptwriting and narrative story structure. 

Thank you for reading. ✌

Stay tuned for more lessons about Digital Storytelling and Production. 

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