Production Phases
•There are three phases of production common to most professionally produced motion pictures. These are:
–
–Preproduction phase
–Production phase
–Postproduction phase
Preproduction Phase
•In general, the preproduction phase encompasses all aspects of preparation that are performed before the camera starts to roll. Some aspects of preproduction include:
–Screenwriting
–Storyboarding
–Funding
–Assembling a crew
–Casting
–Costume Design
–Location Scouting
–Set Design
–Properties (“props”)
–Scheduling
Script Writing:
•Screenplay/Script: The screenplay supplies the general plan for the production of a film. There are two types: the “spec” script and the “shooting” script.
•The “Spec” (Speculation) Script is the version of a screenplay that writers distribute to producers in the hope that it will be “optioned” (i.e. considered for production). It primarily contains:
–Slug-Line (brief description of the setting, e.g. “INT. ROOM – DAY” which means the interior of a room during the day)
–Business (descriptions of characters/action)
–Dialog (the lines intended to be spoken by the actors)
•The Shooting Script is a much more detailed version of the spec script that includes numbered scenes, specific camera angles and other technical information. An example of a page from a shooting script (from the film Pieces by Andrew Halasz shot here at William Paterson) can be seen below.
•Writing a screenplay and analyzing a film narrative require an awareness of similar concepts:
–Character
–Conflict
–Action
–Story
–Plot
Character:
Character is presented to the audience in TWO ways. From an INTERIOR view and an Exterior view.
•In an instructional book on screenwriting, Syd Field (1979) divides character into interior and exterior aspects. Viewers of a film don’t have access to the character’s interior life and so it must be expressed in the exterior life through actions taken in professional, personal, and private contexts. One pursuit of narrative analysis is the interpretation of character motives based on action.
Conflict
The source of narrative conflict is the needs and desires of the character when they are met with oppositional forces. There are three basic types of narrative conflict:
•Character versus Nature (i.e. the physical world)
•Character versus Character
•Character versus Self
Action
In a film narrative, a character is expressed through his/her actions in responding to a conflict. Two overlapping types of character action are:
•Social Action (e.g. dialog, communicative behavior)
•Physical Action (e.g. stunts, athletic behavior)
Story
Cooper & Dancyger (1994) define a story as “any narration of events or incidents that relates how something happened to someone. The ‘someone’ will be considered the main character of a story, and, if the element of causality is added to the telling of how something happened to that character, the story will then be considered to have a plot” (p. 3).
There are a limited number of relevant stories to be told because there are a limited number of human emotions and experiences. Plots, however, are limitless because emotions and experiences can be elicited at in an infinite number of ways.
Myths or fairy tales are an excellent starting point for the construction of a plot because they tap into the reservoir of unconscious, archetypal human experiences. As Cooper & Dancyger (1994) point out, “In most cases, the archetypal form of the story remains, while the meaning and the underlying myth changes in response to the pressure of changes in society” (p. 5).
Plot
–Syd Field (1982) describes the construction of a screenplay according to three acts:
1.Setup
2.Confrontation
3.Resolution.
–A diagram of these three acts is below:
The Hollywood Formula for story telling has a beginning, a middle and an end; three acts. This is a very simplified breakdown of how it works. Throughout the story there needs to be plot points, or key action scenes to keep the story moving.
–Act I
•According to Field (1982), the first act (or setup) must be directed toward arriving at the first “plot point” and accomplish three tasks within the first 30 pages or so. These are…
1.Set up the story.
2.Introduce the main character.
3.State the dramatic premise.
4.Establish the situation.
Hollywood Formula:Act 1 – Beginning: Introduces the characters, the premise and the setting. About ¼ of the running time of your movie. A plot point typically at the end of Act 1 to force the hero into action.
–Act II
•Just as the first acted is directed toward the goal of arriving at the first plot point, the second act must be directed toward arriving at the second plot point. The task of the second act is to show the confrontations that stand between the protagonist and his/her goal in approximately 60 pages.
Hollywood Formula: Act 2 – Middle: Half the running time. Most of the conflict and action take place. Some sort of crisis that drives the protagonist (hero) on takes place in the middle or end of the act.
–Act III
•Act three completes the narrative paradigm by bringing the protagonist from confrontation to ultimate resolution. Just as Act I was directed toward arriving at plot point 1, and Act II was directed toward arriving toward plot point 2, Act III is directed toward arriving at the resolution.
Hollywood Formula: Act 3 – End: Resolve the story. There should be a climax just before the end of Act 3, where everything is resolved to give a Hollywood happy ending. You never want to disappoint the audience, as Alfred Hitchcock liked to say.