The course will introduce students to basic screenwriting principals and techniques, using cross-cultural and cross-temporal examples. Course will examine the visual power of storytelling in film and other relative media, concentrating on the strategic use of visual elements to create a unified viewing experience and the use of visual moments/behavior in creating memorable characters. Students will complete the course with a strong working sense of the core elements used in visual storytelling as applied in film, tv, or new media. Final portfolio will include one silent short film and two narrative shorts.
Sample reading list:
Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style
Annette Insdorf, Double Lives, Second Changes: Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski
Michael Ondaatje, The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film
Jim Blascovich/Jeremy Bailenson, Infinite Reality
Reading/Writing assignments:
Weekly writing assignments. 60 pages of reading per week.
Prerequisites and Restrictions:
Interested students complete a creative writing application (please visit the program website) by attaching a statement about why they would like to take the course, and optionally, a 3-4 page creative writing sample in any genre. Please note this course cannot be audited. Application deadline is April 11, 2014. Accepted students will be able to enroll in SCORE May 19th-23rd.
