Scriptwriting - 1st semester
Code
711011056
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Ciências da Comunicação
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Paulo Filipe Monteiro
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
To help who wants to write fiction for cinema or television in finding his/her own voice, offering, instead of formulas, experiences, examples, working tools and critical comments.
Prerequisites
This unit functions a a laboratory. Therefore it is mandatory to attend at least 75% of the classes and to present witihin the deadlines all the different assignments proposed. Whoever does not fulfill this requirements will be excluded.
Subject matter
Cinema and television are contemporary forms of communication, which in the XX century had to invent their language and in our century are reinventing it. In this course we study how has been defined and transformed the special writing of texts made to be filmed. It is a genre that can only be understood in relation to narration and drama. To understand the dramatic narration of scripts, we work on the classical theories of narration, on the narrative strategies of different kinds of films, characters, scenes, dialogues and specific techniques of manipulation of space and time. All this will be developed by working on the synopsis presented by students in the three first classes and on the different assignments along the semester.
Bibliography
ARISTÓTELES
Poética, Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional/Casa da Moeda, 1992
BORDWELL, David
Narration in the Fiction Film, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press, 1985
CARRIÈRE, Jean Claude
Raconter une histoire: quelques indications, Paris, FEMIS, 1993
A Linguagem Secreta do Cinema, Rio de Janeiro, Nova Fronteira, 1995
Le film quon ne voit pas, Paris, Plon, 1996
DANCYGER, Ken ; RUSH, Jeff
Alternative Scriptwriting: writing beyond the rules, Boston, Focal Press, 1995
FRANK, Sandy, The Inner Game of Screenwriting, California, Michael Wiese Productions, 2011
SWAIN, Dwight V.; SWAIN, Joye R.
Film Scriptwriting: a practical manual, Boston, Focal Press, 1988
Teaching method
Theory will be taught during the critical discussion of the works presented by students.
In class teaching
Evaluation method
Description of a character: 10%
Synopsis: 10%
Scene with dialogues: 10%
Script of a short film or treatment + scene with dialogues for a feature film or theoretical work on an author, film or theme: 70%