(:, [: & :D

The Craft of Writing

When in doubt, think nouns & verbs
- Run dart, sprint, race
- Hit cuff, pummel, brutalize
- Speak chat, mumble, orate

Choose action over exposition
Don’t say the scene. (It’s raining)
Tell us what people are doing in it. (Open up umbrella)

Build energy with parallel constructions
- “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
- “A chicken in every pot, a car in ever garage”
- “that the government of the people, by the people shall not perish from this earth”

Notice how you build sentences and see if you can enrich them in a lyrical way.

Write casually
Don’t overuse fake words that confuse your reader.
Contract: won’t, don’t, isn’t, etc.
You might even find it helpful to shorten sentences.

Singlish
- can, but it will lower the interllectual level of the piece. Usually reserve it for dialogue.
- try using it in one or two places in the sentence. It gives voice to your dialogue, without confusing the reader.

Short sentences build suspense

Open with a bang! Close with emo!
-Your first paragraph should be the best in the entire piece.
-Look at the end. Does it bring emotional closure? Has character changed? Has your audience?

The Role of Conflict
-Conflict is the central feature of the screenplay
;man against man
;man against environment
;man against self

Conflict=Change
Change is common to everyone
change is universal
bodies change
seasons change
lives changes
relationships changes
feelings change
locations change
technologies change

As universal as change may be, people often resist it for rear of the unknown.
People must learn to cope with change if they want to survive.
The action in drama depends on conflict.

Conflict
-Definition:opposition or forces
-it is the interaction of opposing ideas, interests, or wills and creates a plot.
-Plot cannot be constructed without conflict.
-As your charactes attempt to reach their goals, they come into conflicct with each other.
-The end of the story nears when the protagonist and antagonist approach their goals and the conflict rises to generate maximum suspense and excitement.

Well,

I have a blog excluding this. I have Msn. I converse in Singlish. I have friendster. I hang out at Junction 8 or town and watch alot of movies. I love spicy food.

Anyway, those who are different from Singaporeans my age does not mean they are superior or ‘cooler’ than typical Singaporeans at my age. I can be a typical Singaporean but I’m different in a special way.

I feel that the use of dialogues is a ’short cut’ of telling a story and it will always be more interesting to watch an action instead of a dialogue. (For example: Mr. Bean! Although it is a comedy but it shows that actions are interesting.) However, dialogues can be appropriate at certain times. For example, I feel that putting in alot of effort to illustrate something not important in the film is a waste of time!

Story is action
-action is any kind of activity, movement, interaction of characters with their surroundings
-talking about feelings is not as powerful as illustrating why you feel this way through your actions.

Film is behaviour
-Actions are simply the manifestations of behaviour.
-Human emotion are understood by watching the actions and reactions of the characters.

Action speaks louder than words
Words are Less interesting.

Dynamic action
-has the potential to enrich the experience of the audience by building an emotional relationship btw the characters and the audience.

What’s the difference between experience and memory? I have never thought that this two words were in any contrast. Actually, experience is what actually happen and memory is what the brain chooses to remember about the experience.

We watched a local film, Autograph book (directed by Wee Li Lin). Basically, I found the film entertaining as I always admire children who can act so well(especially the vulgar girl!). The story of the two girls were mostly narrated by dialogues. I still remember in secondary school, our teachers would advise us to never write dialogues. However in film, it seems like the most essential thing. By using dialogue, it not only shows the personality of the character by the way he/she talks, it can also express emotions(although I feel that actions is the best way to show emotions). It also helps us to understand the film better by telling us past or future events. It can be used to reveal a new information(twists) to the audience and express a culture(Singlish shows Singapore’s culture).

Here are the notes!

Elements of Dialogue
Dialogue reveals character.
>A character talks about himself or herself
>Other people talk about the character.

Dialogue establishes relationships between characters.
-Characters express attitudes and opinions that are in opposition to one another.
[Like in the scene where the 2 girls were on the bus...]

Good effective dialogue will move the story forward.

Dialogue communicates faces and information to the audience.
-It conveys essential exposition.
-Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the story line.
[When there are important details that the audiences have to understand,that they cannot find out for themselves.] Plot based information.

Dialogue ties the script together.

BUT What are the bad things about dialogue?
Tells too much.
{Somethings are better expressed by actions rather than words!}

Dialogue should be used sparingly, never telling the audience what they can see for itself.
-Dialogue is no substitute for action!

Dialogue should not match conventional spoken dialogue, “real talking.”

Dialogues do not have to be real, but realistic.
I feel that if a cast speaks too formally in a casual conversation, it will not feel realistic to me as I can feel that it is scripted as a casual conversation will not sound like that.

I am still wondering why was it so difficult to write the dialogue of my mother and father speaking instead of a husband and wife speaking to each other.

(It’s been SIX weeks!)

Class started by discussing about the shot film we saw last week- Les Mistons, written by Francois Truffaut, France 1957. The film was about a recount an unsucessful love.

“The virginal heart has it’s own logic”.

What does this phrase mean? What’s a virgin heart? I guess it either refers to a heart who have not experience love or a heart that has never been broken.

Then, we went to our given group(Hari,Gwyn,Caleb) and read each others letters. All of our letters were sad ones. I guess being happy is boring. Sin agrees! [:

Criticisms? 

The reader may not feel the sad emotions the writer is trying to express.
So how do we, as a writer, get our emotions across?

Using big words? descriptive words? Do we like a particular story more than others because we feel sad for what has happened to the character/writer?

After our group discussion, Ryan read to us his personal letter to the past. Ryan says it is not a sad letter but I felt it had a tinge of sadness to it? I could sense anger in it too… hmm… Anyway, it was well written as I could feel and visualise in my head what happened.

We watched an australian film, Intransit, written by Mike Daly.

The main character was in transition of his life before he dies. He’s conflict is that he had something to say to his father. I felt that the short film was interesting to watch as we had to analyse and interpretate what is the story the filmmaker is trying to tell us by the scenes that changes every other second. It was not very easy as there was no dialogue, to make things even more confusing… the same characters appeared at the same time suggesting de javu? Hmmm..

Writing for an Audience
- Being a scriptwriter = being a storyteller
- The cinematic experience is not just made up the words you might put on paper, but the audiences’ emotional reaction to that information.

I guess it’s not just about the big words/good vocabulary that makes a story good. People want to feel something when they watch a film!

Director to people?
Writer to people?
Camera to people?
People to people.

What is the writer’s purpose?
- To connect:
- Themselves
- Their unique vision
- The material
- The drama
- Others

Audiences want to be transported by a screenplay.

Where do you look for a story?
} Inside yourself.
} Everything to learn about other people is already in you.
} Now you need to figure out how to connect to it.

Kane said that people watch movies hoping to find a character that he/she can connect with his/her own lives. Personally, I only agree to a certain extent. People can also relate to the characters in the story because they have seen those ‘characters’ existing in their own family or even circle of friends! (: Moreover, I do not think that we would like a particular film more just because there is a character that’s familiar to us. What make a story interesting is their interesting characters! No?

EXPERIENCE
{ All people have fragments of stories.
{ These potential ideas prompt your desire to know more.
{ Respond emotionally and inteleactually to what you heard.
{ Good stories are born in the heart, not the head.
{ Remember the role of an audience.
{ After all, you ARE the audience.

Qn to self: What’s interesting about your story that you think your audience would find interesting too? What do you, as an audience, want/do not want to hear or watch? (:

Ryan read to us 2 stories. One of them is true and the other is false. I seriously could not guess which of them is the true story! I realised absurd stories can be equally convincing too. Why? And if one is less descriptive than the other, will it make it sound less convincing?

After that, we wrote our true/false stories and lesson ended!

Class started by going through some of our fifty-words stories…

Title The Little Rat
Author Annabelle
Main idea Birthday girl’s mischievous brother took a bite of the cake ornament and stuck it back into the cake.
What works: Clear description.
What doesn’t: No anticipation of what is going to happen next as it is not very surprising for younger brothers to be mischeivous.

Title Granny
Author Qinghong
Main idea Nicky was visiting his dying grandmother.
What works: Good visual description of the room.
What doesn’t: Poor continuity of tenses.

Title Speed demon
Author Sin
Main idea The driver was ecaping from somewhere swiftly and got into a car accident and died in the end.
What works: Able to feel the raising tension. Well written with short and descriptive sentences.
What doesn’t: Character remained rather anonymous.

Title The Wedding
Author Caleb
Main idea Photographer, Liang, is at Jessica’s wedding, remembering how marriage was like.
What works: Able to understand what is going on at the wedding and the characters involved.
What doesn’t: Story very vague. Does not seem to focus on any particular person as the main character.

So, does the plot or the character comes first? Personally, I thought character comes first, because every plot is about a character. No? Ryan says plot comes first! Hmmm…

Every story starts with a character. The character is the heart, the soul, and nervous system of your story. (I like how this can be linked to the characters in Wizard of Oz! (;) It is by the characters’ action where viewers will experience emotions and relate to them.

Without character, you have no action.
With no action, you have no conflict.
Without conflict, you have no story.
Without story, you have no screenplay.

When developing a character, we should ask ourselves
- What do I want him/her to be? (personality)
- What does the character want?
- What is the character’s quest? How is it going to be done?
- What drives him/her to the resolution of the story?

ESTABLISH YOUR MAIN CHARACTER
1. Characters should have these 3 dimensional structure:
1. PHYSIOLOGY(Physical Appearance)
2. SOCIOLOGY(Interaction)
3. PSYCHOLOGY(Thoughts)

1. PHYSIOLOGY
• Sex
• Age
• Height and Weight
• Colour of hair, eyes and skin
• Posture
• Appearance
• Defects, Abnormalities, Deformities, Birth Marks, Diseases
• Heredity

2. SOCIOLOGY
• Class : lower, middle, upper
• Occupation: type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, attitude towards organization, suitability for work
• Education: amount, kind of schools, marks, favourite subjects, poorest subjects, aptitudes
• Home Life: parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated / divorced, parents’ habits, parents’ mental development, parents’ vices, neglect, character’s marital status
• Religion
• Race, Nationality
• Place in the Community; leader among friends, clubs, sports
• Political Affiliations
• Amusements: hobbies, books, newspapers, magazines he/she reads

3. PSYCHOLOGY
• Sex Life, Moral Standards
• Personal Premise, Ambition
• Frustrations, Chief Disappointments
• Temperament: choleric, easy-going, pessimistic, optimistic
• Attitude Towards Life: resigned, militant, defeatist
• Complexes: obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias
• Personality: extrovert, introvert
• Abilities: languages, talents
• Qualities: imagination, judgement, taste, poise
• I.Q
• What is the deep and personal secret this character has which he is desperate to protect/hide

2.SEPARATE THE COMPONENTS OF HIS LIFE INTO 2 BASIC CATEGORIES:
A) INTERIOR (What happens before the story)
B) EXTERIOR (The plot)

Character psychology and interior is different but they influence each other.

A) INTERIOR
• The interior life takes place from birth until the moment your film begins.
• It is a process that forms character. [when you start formulating your character from birth, you see your character build in body and form]
• How old is he when the story begins?
• Where does he live?
• Does he have siblings?
• What kind of childhood did he have?
• What was his relationship to his parents?
• What kind of child was he?
• Is he married, single, widowed, separated or divorced?

EXTERIOR
• The exterior life takes place the moment your film begins to the conclusion of the story. It is a process that reveals character.
• Who are they and what do they do?
• Are they sad or happy with their life?
• Do they wish their life was different, with another job, another wife?

YOU MUST CREATE YOUR CHARACTERS IN RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PEOPLE OR THINGS

ALL DRAMATIC CHARACTERS INTERACT IN 3 WAYS:

1. They EXPERIENCE CONFLICT in achieving their dramatic need.
[Eg, they need money – how do they get it? Rob a bank? Rob a person? Rob a store?]

2. They INTERACT with OTHER CHARACTERS.
[Either in an antagonistic, friendly or indifferent way]

3. They INTERACT with THEMSELVES.
[Eg, he must overcome his fear of being caught to pull off the robbery successfully]

We then watched the few minutes of Taxi Driver. My group worked on the exterior. We felt that the character was rather contented with his job. He observes people and by the way he speaks about them, he seems to be cold towards people. By the look of his apartment, he seems quite a loner too. The other things he does: Takes pills, porno theatre, drives cab, write diary.

Memory is a storytelling tool. ‘Your memory is a wonderful cabinet of past incidents which you have experienced or been told. These memories are points of references to your own past experiences.’ So by writing what I already know, I can relate better and convince the writer. However, we should write what we also do not know…

Memory play an influence to the film!

Today, we watched an example of a Greek tragedy in modern times, we watched Election.

It is a Greek tragedy as the teacher, Mr. McAllister was the ‘hero’(he did what he thought was right by throwing the votes away for Paul to win.) in the movie and yet he had a sad ending. That is exactly what a Greek tragedy would be like; the hero brings upon his downfall by himself. He was a moral-education teacher yet he went against his morals and commited adultery. He brought upon his tragedy. The ending was not a happy one as the problem did not re-solved in him returning to his wife. And in the end, Ms. Flick still got to become president of the school and went on to become someone who succeeded in life. Oh yes, I felt that the last part where they showed Tammy again and updated us about her lesbian life was episodic.

Lastly, I would like to say that I felt the heavy sexual content was not necessary! They could have showed those parts in a different way, i mean not literally show but maybe by tell-tale signs? I feel that this show could have more viewers if not for its R-ratings, or maybe they would have lesser viewers instead. Ok, I’m contradicting, I know. Heh.

Week 3’s lesson started by Ryan asking if we had any difficulties understanding/completing our assignments as there wasn’t any lesson for week 2. Gwyn commented that he did not have any trouble completing my sentence into a story as he felt my sentences were ’simple’(I shall take that as a complement! (:) and ‘neutral’. And so Ryan asked me to share one of my openers with the class. I read the first sentence(Minutes feel like seconds as Cheryl tries to unlock the room.) to the class and Ryan talked about it. In my opinion, this sentence is not a neutral one as it has created an expectation of how the story will be continued.

Anyway, we went on next with our presentation on Aristotle. I was grouped with Khai and together we made up Group A! Ryan handed out mahjong papers and markers for the different groups to draw out their presentations. Everyone was in shock as they have already created powerpoint slides for the presentation. Luckily, Khai and I only did a brief one as ryan did not mention about powerpoint slides needed. Anyway being in Group A, we presented first. Below are the main notes on our presentation as well as other’s. (All of us were like typing agressively, bullet-speed! ahhaha.)

Aristotle was born in Stagira in north Greece. (384 B.C)

Aristotle’s Poetics is a book that gives an account of poetry. It is the foundation of Renaissance poetic theory. He explains poetry through principles and classifies them into different genres and parts.

Aristotle wrote the Poetics about seventy-five years after the last of the great fifth century tragedies had been written. His chief aim was to give advice on writing tragedy to contemporary poets.

What is the definition of Greek tragedy?
It is a drama genre, a literary composition written to be performed by actors in which a central character called a tragic protagonist or hero suffers some serious misfortune which is not accidental. Tragedy stresses the vulnerability of human beings. However, is not totally pessimistic in its outlook. Although many tragedies end in misery for the characters, there are also tragedies in which a satisfactory solution of the tragic situation is attained.

Ryan’s notes on the definition of tragedy:
A tragedy is an Imitation of an action (mimesis) that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, in the form of action not narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its kartharsis of such emotions.

Mimesis: Greek meaning:”Imitatin”/”Representation”. The extract of how art imitates/represents reality.

Kathersis: Greek meaning: “Purification” or “Cleansing”. Audience can identify themselves witht the characteristics, as they are able to experience what the character feels.

What is an example of a movie or a play that follows Aristotle’s definition of tragedy? Explain your selection.
Saving Private Ryan. Tom hanks was considered the ‘hero’ in the film. According to Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, the hero actually dies in some unlucky situation, which is unintentional. Tom Hanks in Saving Private got shot in the end and suffers massive blood loss and therefore he dies in the end.

6 parts of tragedy.
plot
character
diction (rhythmic language)
thought
spectacle (costumes/set/props) (beautifies, more interesting to watch.)
song

Cause & effect chain:
cause =reason
effect=result
chain=diminoeffect

Each event leads to another; Chain of events.

Action is the foundation of a plot.

According to Aristotle, tragedy…
- shows rather than tells.
- creates a cause-and -effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen
- arouses not only pity but also fear, because members of the audience can imagine themselves within the cause-and-effect chain.

Unity of actions!

1. Time
2. Place (moving of sets very troublesome.)
3. Action

Film allows breaking of all these rules because controls what we see.

We should try to keep it simple, general theme. Make it understandable.

Plot is the arrangement of incidents. (calendar of events)
it is not the story itself, but the way the incidents are presented to the audience

The structure of the play.

THREE-act structure.
Beginning
- the incitive moment
- it must start with the cause-and-effect chain

Middle
- climax
- it must be caused by earlier incidents and itself cause the incidents that follow it

End
- resolution
- must be cause by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents.
- the end should resolve the problem created during the incitive moment.

What is a episodic plot?
it is a plot where lesser focus is placed on connection between scenes and it is only bonded by common characters.
scenes have no unity & does not link logically
same characters, no constant sequence.. no coherence, ex. Shakespeare’s. MacBeth/12th night.

simple vs complex plots.
a simple plot wld be one idea , continuous. Simple has only a “change of fortune.”
a complex plot has a reversal of intention “peripetia” & recognition “anagnorisis” connected with the catastrophe.
perepeteia: reversal of circumstance or turning point (sudden reversal dependant on intellect and logic.)

Anagnorisis- the point in the plot , particularly the tragedy where the reality of the situation dawns upon the main character.

Cannot begin suddenly, nor end suddenly.
Credibility- must be believable

There shld NEVER be someone who comes in suddenly, to solve all problems and leaves. (Fairy God-mother etc.)

Character
-supports plot.
(secondary.)
-personal motivations are connected to the cause-effect chain
- the protagonist in a tragedy should be renowned and prosperous, so his change can be from good to bad.
-in the IDEAL tragedy, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own downfall-not because he is sinful or weak-but because he does not know enough. when he finally finds out, its called anagnorisis.
-this lack of self-knowledge is called “hamartia”.

Mindless Looking vs. True observation

This topic was interesting as Ryan posted a question in class, “Is shopping considered ‘Mindless Looking’ or ‘True Observation’?” And all the guys answered ‘Mindless looking straight away while the girls answered ‘True Observation’. Hee.

Week 2 and Hari Raya falls on it, resulting in no class. /: Not much reflection can be written I guess? The only thing for me to write about is the reflection about not having class. Hmm…

Without class time, I was very tempted to procastinate(as usual) but I was reminded by Ryan’s tips typed on my notes for lesson one. Saturday is just a very insane time for me(and I’ll bet for everyone else too) to complete assignments but I did it! Without the pressure to complete assignments, I took hours to complete all these though! x:

Argh. Anyway, it’s play time now. Hahaha Bye!

I’ve turned partner-gwyn’s sentence into a story ! (: