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WHAT ADVICE IS GIVEN ABOUT SHORT
SCREENWRITING IN THE SCREENONLINE
ARTICLE?They point out that one of the striking features of the last decade of short film
making in the UK has been the steady rise of story-driven narratives, and the
increasing attention placed on the screen play. The heart of all short films is the
character story, which is fully presented in a screenplay.
The screen online article seeks to answer six key questions:
• Who is the protagonist?
• What is the active question, which is the basis of the action in film?
• Who or what opposes the protagonist?
• From whose point of view is the audience being shown the story?
• What is it about? Or, what is the theme?
THE PROTAGONIST 1
Finding the central character of the narrative is critical to any story-driven
narrative. This character can dominate the narrative; however, they may
not be the person who tells the story in the film. Asking ‘what does the
protagonist want?’ limits the options when starting out with an idea. It is
more useful to think about what is the action of the film and what is the
audience being asked to follow or to be interested in? – The answer to
this question can take many forms. The key to answer this question in the
short form, though, is to decide on an incident which will form the basis
of the films climax, and/or its narrative action. E.g it is focussed on a
single defining moment in the central characters life, also it can be the
moments leading up to a key defining moment of their life. But in others it
may be that the nature of the story may require more narrative time, but
the narrative still focuses on a key moment.
THE PROTAGONIST 2
‘Who or what opposes the protagonist?’ this question helps to focus on
the first two questions into a potential dramatic narrative. Knowing why a
character cannot deal with a situation, or is forced to do something
different, or against their normal way of reacting, is critical to developing
an engaging story-driven narrative. Many examples of short films have
very clear antagonists, but in other short films the forces of opposition
are not as clear.
POINT OF VIEW AND THEME
Once decided on whom the film is about, what or who opposes them, and
what it is the audience is being asked to follow, it is important to ask the
question ‘whose point of view is the audience being shown the story
from?’. The reason this question is central to all short films, is because
the need to address the scale of exposition, background information and
character motivation all in a very small narrative space. This is why
narration and narrators are so useful in the short film form. However,
‘What is it about?’ or ‘what is the theme?’ is one of the most difficult to
answer at the beginning, to say what the subject is and developing an
underlying theme is easy. But finding a theme in any film is critical to
giving a film a dramatic unity, relating directly to the audiences emotions.
The theme is not normally found until at least a draft screenplay is written,
though in a few cases, as when writing, for example a romantic comedy
the theme is clear in the conception.
STYLE AND TONE
The style and tone of a film is another central aspect to address when developingany film, especially a short film. The lack of narrative time makes tonal shifts verydifficult to pull off, and building up to a climax slowly is difficult also. However,naturalism dominates the short form, illustrated in forms such as surreal qualities,expressionist p.o.v camerawork and heightened colour. The look and style of afilm is critical to providing a visually coherent narrative, it is the tone of a workthat engages with the emotions on of an audience. Humour is used mainly tooffset the central characters potential tragic situations, in others tension iscreated by ensuring the audience does not know what will happen next, just likethe central character is uncertain, and the audience’s fear of uncertainty/ chaos isengaged. This sense of uncertainty reflects the dramatic one at the core; this isbecause the dramatic tone is based upon the characters having mixed outcomesin their actions. Either they solve a problem only to be faced immediately byanother or, if they win something it’s at a loss.
Ultimately, tone is captured through the performance and in direction but thescreen play sets the foundations for the tone to be found by the director, actorsand cinematographer.
