Post 7- Creating Your Own Script

Lesson One

In class we was asked to individually explain for 1 minute what we did the night before, as a class we thought that this would be an easy task as a minute isn’t very long however, when it came to our turn we all found out that it was a lot harder than it first seemed. For the most of us we rushed though our events that happen the previous night and only spoke about the events in which we saw were relevant. This only became clear to us once we had listen to our teachers one minute talk when she could have easily carried on talking way over the minuet while we had all finished after 30 seconds. It was clear from listening to her sequences of events she had put into detail her story and didn’t leave out any information. This is linked to Narrative that is defined as ‘is the coherence/ organisation given to a series of facts’ as well as ‘everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end.’ We has all used narrative to help explain our events of the previous night and placed them in order of importance. This is supported by another quote that says narrative is ‘ we understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts.’ When telling our stories we chose to leave out what we thought was irrelevant for the audience to hear, this was done by using our passed experience (e.g. telling friends stories) and knowing what the audience will find interesting to listen to.

This task made us think about the different kinds of narratives that we see in different media texts, it also made us think of the difference between a story and a narrative in the way it is told. The definition to help explain this is ‘story is the irreducible substance of a story (A meets B, something happened, order returns), while narrative is the way in which the story is related (once upon a time there was a princess.’ When creating our scripts we had to think very carefully about the ways in which we want our storyline to be portrayed. The different ways in which the narrative can be interoperated is done through the audience. Julian McDougall warns us not to ‘clumsily apply a formalist model’ as it ‘does little in terms of understanding our roles in constructing narratives, and how narratives carry discourse that appear natural.’ From this statement I get the impression that audiences have an active role in interoperating the narrative. When looking at scripts however it shows that we can apply narrative in different stages e.g. the beginning, middle or end, Its down to our past experiences that narrative comes naturally to the audience as it what we know and expect in stories.

We also looked at the different models of narrative from Propp, Todorov, Levis-Strauss and Barthes, each had very different ideas into narrative and what is the most common form of narrative. Propp proposed that there are 8 different types of characters that is always present in fairytales. These where Hero, Villain, Princess, Helper, Donor, Dispatcher, False Hero, Princess Father, he further added that there is only ever 31 different actions that these characters can do. Todorov produced that there will always be equilibrium the normal narrative, dis-equilibrium something that will change the narrative and then new equilibrium the narrative will carry on but only because of what happened in dis-equilibrium. Levis-Strauss proposed that there is always Binary Opposites for example Good Vs Evil, Hero Vs Villain. It’s through these binary opposites that the narrative develops. Finally Barthes proposed that there is always Enigmas, a raising question and the audience will carry on watching to answer this question. However as an audience everyone will have a different interoperation.

In class we looked at this Power Point to help develope our ideas on Narrative and get a better understanding
http://klsmediadepartment.blogspot.com/2010/10/narrative-theory-powerpoint.html

Next in class we looked at another short film called Signs, a much more lighter and upbeat short film compared to ones we had looked at previously. To look at the narrative if this short film we watched it in sections and paused the film to try and guess what was going to happen next and as a audience what are we conditioned to think. We discussed this as a class and it was interesting to listen to the different opinions of what people though would happened next, some thought it would have a happy ending others thought the opposite. When looking at this short film we though about what makes a ‘good’ short film, there cam never be an answer for this question as everyone is so diverse and different everyone will have a different interoperation into what makes a good short film. Even though there can never be an answer its important to remember to keep it interesting or to add in a twist to the final scene


Lesson Two
In class we was asked to brain storm all the different places we could think of where we could get ideas for our own scripts, these where sonme of my ideas.

There are many different ways in which you can start to get ideas for your own script. You can uses the example which I have mentions above to get a starting point for you storyline however, these is also a number of different think that as a producer you need to think about. For example one of the first things you need to do is establish the World in which the character lives in, then the main Character what kind of personality and characterises are they going to have, then finally the Problem what kind of problem is going to get in the character way and prevent them from carrying out their task. Once you have created these three things you need to next think of another three things, the first is a Want (what is going to be their motivation throughout your story line), next we have a Need (this can be anything they feel they must have), then finally and Obligation (what must the character feel they have to complete or do).


Another way of writing a script is by completing the 4 Step to writing a script.

1. Find the ending of your story

2. Then find the beginning

3. Find the 1st turning point to your storyline, this will be the event that gets the story going

4. Then finally the 2nd turning point, this can swing the story around and sets up the ending.

The 3rd and final way in which you can start writing your script is to use the ‘Making Short Films Eight-Point Guide.’ Personally I find this the most helpful way to writing my script as its more in detail and gives you a lot more to think about while planning.
Eight Point Guide

1.Introduce the character, set the scene
2.Give the character a problem
3.Let character work out the problem

4.Before setting out to solve the problem , there may be a moment of doubt that will require the hero to seek advice. Let audience know more about the problem and weigh it up in own mind

5.With new resolve (oftener a magical gift from the mentor) Hero sets out to overcome the problem
6.Overcoming the problem, will meet extreme opposition from the rival will usually have greater or different strengths and will bear similarities to the hero
7.Hero will appear to fail in his quest. Glimpse defeat, even death, will require superhuman effort to overcome the daunting final task
8.Hero wins the final battle, the journey has made them a different person will never go back to the way they were.

An example of the 8 point guide when looking at a strory such as Goldilocks And The Three Bears is shown below,
1. An introduction into the Three Bears

2. The problem of the porridge being to hot
3. Try to solve the problem by leaving it to cool down and go for a walk
4. The introduction of Goldilocks, where there is a moment of doubt
5. Goldilocks eats the porridge, breaks the chair and sleeps in the bed
6. The three bears arrive back home and try to overcome the problem by telling Goldilocks to leave

7. The Three bears seem to fail in there quest as Goldilocks is still in their house and have broken the chairs

8. Goldilocks leave and the Three bears carry on