156 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding MediaWriting: Script for a Short Film
For Unit 4, you will have an opportunity to write, direct, and produce your own
complete short fi lm. You will be applying principles investigated in earlier units,
including such concepts as visual communication, story structure, character
development, and use of sound.
A. Final Goal – For this unit, your objective is to produce a short fi lm,
preferably between fi ve and twelve minutes in length. In order to
prepare for this exercise, you need to produce a script for the fi lm,
as well as pre-production materials such as a shot list, fl oor plans,
storyboards, and schedules.
B. Th e Writing Process – Th ere are many ways in which we are inspired
to create. Some people are highly self-motivated for creative endeavors
and require little guidance or prompting to give communicable shape
to their inspirations. In the present situation, you may already have
a well-developed idea for this project. Perhaps you have created
characters or scenes in earlier units that you can use to develop a
complete short fi lm. If this is the case, you may already be ready to
complete character descriptions and write the fi rst draft of the script.
Later, we will discuss the importance of eff ective rewriting.
C. Writing Prompts – For others, it may be necessary to have clear
guidance and an abundance of examples. Here is a series of ideas to help
generate story material and to stimulate your desire to communicate
through motion pictures. One of these brainstorming prompts might
function as a starting point for you to create a central character or
characters with appropriate objectives and backgrounds. From that
point, you can develop a story structure and narrative culminating
in a completed script.
D. Image – In writing activities for this class, you may have written a
series of descriptions of images that you saw during the course of
a day or over a few days. Sometimes there are particular images or
visual sequences that resonate with us. Something we see or imagine
that sticks in the mind. Whether the image is from writing activities
that you have completed for this class or whether it comes from
another source, there may be one that seems interesting or powerful
to you. Where is it? Who or what is in the image? What happens
before this image, and what happens next?- Memory of Confl ict – Similar to the last prompt, you may
have a particular image in which two people are in confl ict
that forms a strong memory for you. Is there a particular
single image that stays with you, or does it seem to move?
Who is involved? What is the source of their confl ict? - Memory of Place – Similar to the last prompt, you may
have a particular image that forms a strong memory for
you of a place. Why is an image of this place seen clearly in
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