Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have:
1. Become familiar with the reading of scripts and film texts in a critical way.
2. Become acquainted with the basic methodology for carrying out a script evaluation.
3. Explored the formation, principles and techniques by which the evaluation of a script is approached through the lens of film production terms alone.
4. Acquired the ability to compose a script diagram (Script Coverage), which will include the synopsis, comments and suggestions about the strengths and weaknesses of the script, as well as its final evaluation regarding a potential realization in film production.
Course Content (Syllabus)
Cinema narrates stories. Sometimes, producers choose, develop, change or even co-shape these stories and the way these are told. The producer is – among others – an adequate reader of scripts and their components. In this course, the main principles of the dramatic analysis are taught. The components which constitute a story. The way these components are organized and narrate the story. During the development of a film work, the producer sometimes participates in and others he/she leads the development, improvement, rewriting of the story.
In this context, ways of approaching, evaluating and analyzing a film script are developed, while films are studied in terms of structure, style, form, narrative and characters. Finally, a methodology of encoding the above projects from the point of view of the film production (Script Coverage) is suggested.
Keywords
dramatic analysis, script report, script coverage, script analysis, script diagram
Additional bibliography for study
Ackerman, H. (2017). Write Screenplays That Sell - The Ackerman Way. Beverly Hills, California: Tallfellow Press.
Garfinkel, A. (2007). Screenlay Story Analysis: The Art and Business. New York: Allworth Press.
Griffiths, K. (2015). The Art of Script Editing: A Practical Guide to Script Development. Harpenden, UK: Creative Essentials.
Seger, L. (2010). Making a Good Script Great. Beverly Hills, California: Silman-James Press.