Project Evaluation

 This first term has been really insightful for me, I've learnt lot's of new information and recapped on knowledge that I already had. I'd never focused on screenwriting when I studied Film so it was all new to me, I really enjoyed this unit, I've always enjoyed Literature so the two combined helped me perform in the unit. Going back 12 weeks all I'd be able to tell you about screenwriting is that it's a script and that there's multiple acts. But now, I'd be able to tell you about the majority of how scriptwriting works. It's got me looking forward to my next opportunity to write scripts as there are more ideas I feel I could explore.

Throughout the term we had to analyse the story structure of three short films and for me, this significantly helped me understand screenwriting. I had to break down the story and identify the inciting incident and the climax by using the three act structure, which involves, the set-up, the confrontation and the resolution. All of this in mind, one of the main points we were taught to focus on is the change in the story. Screenwriting is all about change, you can't have this without conflict and you can't have conflict without opposition. When it came to writing my own script, having already identified the dramatic structure of screenplays, I was able to implement this into my script and create a story which followed the three act structure. As stated previously, this knowledge has helped me progress in story-telling and will help me gain a deeper understanding characters and story structure. 

In my script there is a clear story arc, I followed the three act structure and there is very clear conflict that my protagonist faces. There was one thing that really stuck with me that was mentioned in a lecture, this was that there needs to be an equal amount of opposition, it has to get to a point in the story where all seems lost as the opposition has become unbalanced but the protagonist still overcomes this as the forces overcome one another. I applied this to my script, it really helped me to build the characters as they are best friends and the different interested creates that conflict but due to the best friends action which causes trouble all seems lost but it's not too unrealistic because I wanted the script to remain realistic.

Our final task of the term was to film a two-minute sequence from one of our classmates script. During this term we were told about multiple roles that go in to making a film, these range from producer, director, DOP, sound and more. Everyone was allocated a role to make the film possible and the relevant paperwork was completed too. I've never transformed someone else's script into a film before so this whole experience was new to me. The whole operation went smoothly as the scene we filmed was relatively simple, we only used one location and it was mainly dialogue meaning we didn't have to be over the top with extravagant shots and overcomplicate the scene. Everyone had their role and knew what was expected of them. The group decided that everyone would do their edit, as I wasn't in charge I decided not to contest this but I knew when it came to deciding an edit to submit it would be difficult to choose one. Another issue that we faced was that we didn't have enough film to meet the criteria. We were told that our exert had to be 2 minutes long but when editing we all found that we were short by 20 seconds plus. I managed to extend mine to 2 minutes 10 seconds but I'm aware other people were still struggling to meet the brief. All in all, our shoot went well, everyone worked well together and we were able to produce a piece of work demonstrating our knowledge of everything we've learnt this term. I was one of the actors in the shoot so my knowledge of characters and conflict definitely helped me to understand my role. 

In conclusion, I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the course. I've really enjoyed scriptwriting and learning about the story structure, it has helped me developed as a writing and a filmmaker as I now know, in detail, screenwriting. I know that my knowledge of story and conflict will carry through into directions next term as I will be able to bring the characters to life and understand the story inside-out.