Analysis/ Refelction 1 “What you want”

Whilst undertaking Film-TV 1, I hope to gain various Film and TV production skills at least at an entry-level professional standard. I envision that the multilayered elements within the course will allow me to develop abilities in creating and implementing a story idea, professional scriptwriting, producing media at a high-quality standard as well as the post production elements of editing and analysis of the media I create. Additionally, I perceive that the various production aspects of the course will come full circle, which could include composing a professional script to assuring script continuity in the editing process. Along with the production and postproduction elements of the course, I anticipate that I will practice problem solving along with reflecting upon my own practices. I would also like to become fluent and articulate with the structures and conventions of the media practices presented in this course.

 

Kid's Auto Races

Image sourced from http://venicebeachbustours.com/335/charlie-chaplin-%E2%80%93-kids-auto-racing-in-venice-beach-%E2%80%93-1914/

Screenwriting Lecture

Jasmine put forward an interesting point during her lecture on screenwriting. Jasmine spoke of the advantages of brevity versus verbosity. Some key points I took from the lecture were that the audience does not want to be told what they can already see on screen, brevity should have prevalence over verbosity as well as characters should be able to act out what they are feeling or thinking instead of saying it – e.g. snort instead of saying “I’m angry”. I found what jasmine expressed on the subject encouraged me to consider the ways that I can help convey a narrative other than direct dialog when considering the process of screenwriting.

 

Reading Reflection

Millard’s paper, titled ‘Writing for the Screen: Beyond the Gospel of Story’ provides insight into what it is like to professionally write for the screen. Interestingly, Millard draws on historical screenwriting practices, telling of some of the first and still highly enticing films that were made including Chaplin’s ‘Kids Auto Racing At Venice’. Millard’s paper resonated as she historically traces the essence of storytelling along with the absurdity of self-help ‘education’ and seminars. Ultimately, it made me consider traditional methods of capturing a story for the screen as well as lengths some screenwriters may go to achieve the utopian story.

On another note, I found it pretty astonishing that some smuck Chicago based producers tried to purchase all of the world’s stories in the early 1900’s – from biblical texts to Aesop’s Fables for a measly million dollars. Seriously? Wow.