FLIM School: Day Three part II
The evening was my first screenwriting class.
The professor was this hilarious old man.
"I was preparing to have a great summer and all I was to know that Olga of Greece is not coming to our class after all" He went about his amusing account of how he got to know this exiled princess of Greece and Denmark had enrolled in the class but had pulled out eventually.
Lesson (excerpts):
'In a good screenplay somebody wants something badly.'
'...The beginning screenwriter usually rushes to dialogue to solve the problem. What we end up with is a bunch of characters who speak openly and honestly about their feelings. The ONLY drama in the theater will simply be the audience stampeding for the exits.'
'...screenwriting is a craft based on logic. It consists of the rigorous application of several basic questions: What does my main character want? What hinders him'her from getting it? What happens if he'she does not get it?' -David Mamet
Screening: Cadaverous by Michael Fiore
The first was shown without sound. That's when the 'old man' description of the professor comes in. He comments at every action that the character is going to make or has made. Imagine watching a movie with a person like this! Godamnit! Haha....but forgiveable...he's trying to teach us about the film...and he has probably watching it a dozen times with a dozen group of students!
The second was with sound. It didnt really make a difference. The script was well-written such that it was highly cinematic and visual. Little dialougue was necessary!
Then was the introduction of each student in the form of writing the reason 'how we ended up in the class' in a cinematic manner the professor had instructed us at the beginning of the class.
There were only 12 of us: An IT professional who could not stand his boss and decided to quit, a personal therapist who is also a lawyer and had written his own scripts including one which was to imitate 'Indiana Jones' called 'Ohio Jackson', a theater company owner, a former investment banker who now hates everything coporate, a producer who works for a company associated with MediaCorp, a magazine intern, a man with very few skills...just to name a few. And surely...there was almost the princess of Greece and Denmark. The intro session was so intermittantly disrupted by the proffessor lamenting about the princess's withdrawal from the class!
Really interesting manners in which it was presented. Highly entertaining. It ended in an applause as the owner of a theater company who's also an actor presented his highly dramatic account complete with his concoction of sound effects. And it was half an hour past the allotted teaching time then...such was the enthusiasm!
The professor was this hilarious old man.
"I was preparing to have a great summer and all I was to know that Olga of Greece is not coming to our class after all" He went about his amusing account of how he got to know this exiled princess of Greece and Denmark had enrolled in the class but had pulled out eventually.
Lesson (excerpts):
'In a good screenplay somebody wants something badly.'
'...The beginning screenwriter usually rushes to dialogue to solve the problem. What we end up with is a bunch of characters who speak openly and honestly about their feelings. The ONLY drama in the theater will simply be the audience stampeding for the exits.'
'...screenwriting is a craft based on logic. It consists of the rigorous application of several basic questions: What does my main character want? What hinders him'her from getting it? What happens if he'she does not get it?' -David Mamet
Screening: Cadaverous by Michael Fiore
The first was shown without sound. That's when the 'old man' description of the professor comes in. He comments at every action that the character is going to make or has made. Imagine watching a movie with a person like this! Godamnit! Haha....but forgiveable...he's trying to teach us about the film...and he has probably watching it a dozen times with a dozen group of students!
The second was with sound. It didnt really make a difference. The script was well-written such that it was highly cinematic and visual. Little dialougue was necessary!
Then was the introduction of each student in the form of writing the reason 'how we ended up in the class' in a cinematic manner the professor had instructed us at the beginning of the class.
There were only 12 of us: An IT professional who could not stand his boss and decided to quit, a personal therapist who is also a lawyer and had written his own scripts including one which was to imitate 'Indiana Jones' called 'Ohio Jackson', a theater company owner, a former investment banker who now hates everything coporate, a producer who works for a company associated with MediaCorp, a magazine intern, a man with very few skills...just to name a few. And surely...there was almost the princess of Greece and Denmark. The intro session was so intermittantly disrupted by the proffessor lamenting about the princess's withdrawal from the class!
Really interesting manners in which it was presented. Highly entertaining. It ended in an applause as the owner of a theater company who's also an actor presented his highly dramatic account complete with his concoction of sound effects. And it was half an hour past the allotted teaching time then...such was the enthusiasm!
posted by jax at 6:02 PM
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