Authors: Patricia Cooper, Ken Dancyger
ISBN-13: 9780240805887, ISBN-10: 0240805887
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Elsevier Science
Date Published: October 2004
Edition: REV
Ken Dancyger is the author of numerous books on screenwriting, editing, and production. He conducts screenwriting forums and workshops in North America, Europe, and Asia. A past chair of Undergraduate studies in the Department of Film and Television at NYU, he is currently Professor of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
The short film is a unique narrative art form that, while lending itself to experimentation, requires tremendous discipline in following traditional filmic considerations. This book takes the student and novice screenwriter through the storytelling process- from conception, to visualization, to dramatization, to characterization and dialogue- and teaches them how to create a dramatic narrative that is at once short (approximately half an hour in length) and complete. Exercises, new examples of short screenplays, and an examination of various genres round out the discussion.
NEW TO THE THIRD EDITION: new screenplays, a chapter on rewriting your script, and a chapter on the future of short films
A comprehensive guide to writing this challenging form Numerous exercises to jumpstart visualization and writing In-depth discussion of genres suited to the short screenplay
Pt. I | Fundamentals : breaking ground | 7 |
Ch. 1 | Storytelling in general | 9 |
Ch. 2 | Telling a story in images | 17 |
Ch. 3 | Using sound to tell the story | 29 |
Ch. 4 | Discovering and exploring a main character | 37 |
Ch. 5 | Telling the dramatic story | 47 |
Ch. 6 | Writing an original short screenplay | 65 |
Ch. 7 | On revision : substance and style | 79 |
Pt. II | Moving forward : writing strategies | 87 |
Ch. 8 | The need for storytelling | 89 |
Ch. 9 | Visualization strategies | 101 |
Ch. 10 | Dramatic strategies | 113 |
Ch. 11 | Characterization strategies | 127 |
Ch. 12 | More on dialogue strategies | 141 |
Pt. III | Genres : forming the story | 151 |
Ch. 13 | The melodrama | 153 |
Ch. 14 | The docudrama | 171 |
Ch. 15 | The hyperdrama | 187 |
Ch. 16 | The experimental narrative | 205 |
Pt. IV | New directions | 221 |
Ch. 17 | The opportunity for renewal | 223 |
App. A | Short short screenplays | 233 |
Vincent | 235 | |
Sob story | 241 | |
Pigeon | 249 | |
App. B | Short screenplays | 257 |
Another story | 259 | |
The lady in waiting | 270 | |
Sleeping beauties | 297 | |
The wounding | 308 | |
Dead letters don't die | 323 |