Infinite Words by Zane

Author:Zane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

Writing Films

Writing films is a little different from writing for television, but not by much. You still have all of the same concerns, especially if it is a made-for-TV film. The one advantage of writing a feature film that will be shown in theaters is that you have more time. Therefore, you can take a little ­longer—not much longer, though—to set things up.

I simply cannot stand leaving a theater and feeling like I could have seen the same movie on Lifetime or ABC Family. I want movie-going to be an experience. With that said, the ability to do that can be somewhat limited by financing, unless you have a huge budget, but that is not going to happen right off the bat. Even with an extremely low budget, you can still do some amazing things. You will not be able to have car chases, or blow up buildings, but you can still be imaginative enough to make it work.

In addition to all of the things mentioned when I was discussing writing for television, such as the location bucket, for a full-length screenplay I highly recommend using index cards to break down your scenes. Again, you cannot have long, drawn-out scenes. You have to split them up. Instead of twelve to eighteen scenes, for a feature you could be talking eighty to one hundred easily, with the splits between the various scenarios and transitional scenes. Final Draft actually has index cards included in the software, but regular index cards from the grocery store will do. A script should be between ninety and one hundred pages but it varies and depends highly on the budget. The more pages, the longer the production, the more the expenses, and the longer the time it takes for post-production. Each scene should contribute to the progress of the plot or the development of the characters. If it does not, it needs to go down into your memory bank as a good thought but not a practical one.

Most screenplays are written in three acts. More experienced writers freestyle, but as a beginner I suggest you study and use that method.

The best way for me to describe it is this: The first act is the set-up. It introduces the characters and the situation and guides us into the main body/conflict of the story. The action is ascending and the first plot is clearly introduced, signifying the end of act one. The second act is the confrontation. This is where most of the action happens and where the drama and tension rises. It is longer than the first act. At the end of act two, the second plot is introduced (you should always have a red herring that comes out of nowhere so viewers will be on the edge of their seats). The third act is the resolution. The action starts to die down, things start returning to normal, and all is good with the world. Of course, you can always hit viewers with a shocker at the end, sparking speculation that there will be a sequel or simply to scare them to death on the ride home.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.