Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out

Syllabus at creativefilmmaking.com 1

[Teacher’s Guide for a 3 hour, 1 day a week, 15 week course. AccompanyingStudent Assignments are available under “For teachers/student handouts”]

Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out:syllabus for a course on

originating and developing ideas for films

Goals of this course:

To strengthen students’ ability to conceive and develop ideas that will lead tocompelling, authentic, personally meaningful films.

To facilitate the expression and development of their own unique artistic identity,cinematic voice and point of view through an exploration of personal experience,interests, concerns, values and inherent taste.

To motivate them to develop ideas for stories and characters through observationof, research into, and direct experience with real life.

To introduce connections between cinematic creativity and liberal arts education,drawing from a broad range of cultural sources.

To encourage awareness of the infinite possibilities for creative expressioninherent in cinema, including documentary and experimental forms.

To begin an exploration of the societal impact of motion picture media, and theextent to which awareness of their own point of view can strengthen their creativeprocess.

To enhance their collaborative skills through group discussion, giving andresponding to feedback, and collective brainstorming.

To enable them to create a diverse portfolio of project ideas, outlines andsynopses that they can draw on in future production classes.

This is not a screenwriting class.It is about the creative process - observation, visualization, intuition, self-exploration,emotional response, inspiration, aesthetics, meaning, impact, purpose, and culturalcontext. It is about what students want to express as filmmakers and why, what they thinkfilm can and should be. This is all brought to bear through class discussion on the specificideas they are originating and developing. There is a progression in the assignmentstowards more substantive project ideas and an exploration of various film structures andforms.


* NOTE: This syllabus is ideal for a seminar-style class for 12-15 students. In a largergroup, the class discussions can be designed for small groups, with faculty feedbackdelivered more individually in email and written responses to student work rather than inclass.

Ongoing Assignments:Observational Notebook — Students are encouraged to keep a small notebook orsketchbook with them at all times and write down notes and create word and/or imagesketches. They are also encouraged to take still photographs of things they see aroundthem that interest them and try to write at least a short paragraph every day in which theydescribe something they saw that day, and how they responded to it. They will selectcertain entries for their email journal.

Ask them to use the following categories to stimulate what they seek out to observe, andto help them organize what they find:

Senses — sense impressions — smells, sounds, tactile sensations,tastes, visual images

Locations — places that are evocativeObjects — things that are suggestive of some deeper significanceCharacters — people they find intriguing or complexDialogue — comments or exchanges they overhear that pique their

interestSituations — revealing circumstances and incidentsActs — behavior that is emblematic or provocativeTitles — words or phrases they encounter that seem like intriguing

titlesThemes — beliefs, ideas and values that seem basic to their

understanding of lifeQuestions — questions they have about what they observe, about their

response, and deeper questions evoked in the process

The goals of this exercise are for students to become better watchers and listeners; todevelop sharper insights into human nature, behavior and relationships; to develop a habitof observing life and taking note of it; to become more attuned to their own distinctiveinterests and responses; and to have a storehouse of observations to draw on whencreating stories, characters and dramatic or comic situations. (Original idea of thecategories originated with Michael Rabiger in his textbook Developing Story Ideas.)

Weekly Email Journal — Every week before class, students will be required to email abrief Email Journal to the instructor (no attachments, please). Their journal is read onlyby the instructor and has two parts: Part I: a selection from their ObservationalNotebook (outlined above); Part II: a short discussion of whatever feels most relevantthat week in the assigned text reading and their experience of their creative


development in general. A lot of their most important learning will happen experientiallyoutside the classroom, and these journals are a way to be more conscious of all aspects ofthis process, more mindful and more self-aware.

Clipping File — Students are encouraged to read a daily newspaper, and at least oneweekly or monthly magazine that includes current events or human interest stories. Theyshould clip and save articles, photographs and artwork that interests them as well as try tolet new material surprise them. (Needed for the Documentary Homework Assignment inWeek 11.)

Dream Journal — Throughout the semester, students should jot down separate, privatenotes of dreams they have. See page152 in the text for helpful tips on rememberingdreams. The Journal will be consulted for the Dream Sequence Homework AssignmentWeeks 7 and 8.)

Written Assignments — All outside-of-class assignments must be computer-printed ortyped and spell-checked. In addition, students should come to class prepared for in-classwritten exercises.

Reading Assignments — There will be occasional handouts in class that will be requiredreading. The required text is Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out: 5 Keys to theArt of Making Inspired Movies and Television by Dannenbaum, Hodge & Mayer. Twosuggested texts are Gabriele Lusser Rico’s Writing the Natural Way and MichaelRabiger’s Developing Story Ideas.

Preparation for Final Assignment: “Fifteen Triggers” – The final assignment will be a listof brief descriptions of fifteen of each student’s best story ideas or “triggers” for shortfilm projects. It is important for them to keep track of these ideas as they makeobservations, collect news clippings and dreams and do class assignments.

GRADING CRITERIAWeekly assignments (in-class, homework) 40%Class participation 30%Ongoing assignments (Email journal, notebook, news clippings) 30%

Creative work is always a challenge to grade. In this class assignments will be evaluatedboth on the quality of the work as measured by commitment, energy, personalinvestment and self-reflection as well as the ability to meet deadlines. Class participationincludes full involvement in and contribution to all class discussions, as well as reading(in advance at times) the assignments of the other students and offering thoughtful,constructive comments. Class attendance is mandatory, and includes being on time toclass (otherwise, the students who present their material first are short-changed).


15 WEEK SEMESTER OUTLINEThis section is designed for teachers. The assignments referred to are also availableas handouts written for students (see “Student Handouts” link).

Week One (Introspection I)Introductions. Review of Course and Syllabus. Handouts, text information.

In-class exercises:1. Discuss “What is creativity?” “What are the elements of a conducive environmentfor creativity?” Consider the space your class meets in- could it be arranged differently?Can the lighting, wall space and noise levels be addressed in order to make the roommore compatible for risk-taking and collaboration?2. 5 minute Autobiography Ask students to write their autobiography in five minutes.After they have finished (and not before) ask them to write it again for another fiveminutes, using entirely new material. (This idea originated with Deena Metzger inWriting For Your Life). Discuss aloud the process students went through. Their writingwill not be read aloud or collected.3. “What tugs at your sleeve?” Have students write a brief essay on whatever hastugged at their sleeve up to this point in their lives- worried them, intrigued them, giventhem the greatest joy. Encourage them to find concerns that are not so global (“worldpeace”) as to be overwhelming or so specific (“my credit card is overdrawn”) that theyhave too narrow a range. Find issues and experiences that are less easily solved, thosethat are very personally defined (eg. “What is the nature of my loneliness now that I amliving away from home?” “How do I mediate my love for my huge SUV and my concernfor the environment?”).

This writing assignment is not intended to define the issues that will generate filmideas for them- it is a “snapshot” of who they are at this point in their lives, a small pieceof a long journey to find their own voice. Discuss aloud the process they each discoveredas they wrote this essay. This essay is not read aloud or collected but students should saveit (referenced in Weeks 13 and 14).

Homework Assignments:1. “Rediscovering the Roots of Your Creativity.” (Limbering, p.45)Ask students to write about their reactions to this experience of revisiting childhood playand bring their writing to class. Suggest they notice their own body language as theyplay, the elements of total engrossment in creating things as a child would that arerevealed and remembered.2. Read two subsections of Chapter One: Introspection (1) “A MysteriousPredisposition: Discovering Their Creative Field” and (2) “Finding the Resonance:Choosing the Stories They Want to Tell” and include a response to the text in theirweekly Email Journals. Journals should also include notes on their process, observationsand are due two days before class meets again.


Week Two (Introspection II)

Warm-up: (done at the start of every class)This is a very brief activity (one to three minutes) that can be led by the teacher for thefirst few weeks and then originated by individual students in the following weeks. Anyappropriate breathing, stretching, meditating, centering/focusing, listening or othersensory exercises can be used. Many of the techniques encountered later on in thissyllabus can be used multiple times and in multiple ways - clustering, brainstorming,drawing with the opposite hand, writing to selections of music. Consult Rico’s Writingthe Natural Way for more ideas.

Presentations of Homework:1. “Roots of Their Creativity”- Students discuss their experiences of playing creativelyand turn in their essays. Encourage students to identify actual sensory experiences relatedto their play- smell, sound, texture, sight, taste- and coach them to use vivid and specificlanguage- “a tree” becomes “the soft, feathery bark of an old redwood.” Discuss theirexperiences of being inside the “zone’ of total concentration while playing, creating.

Screen: Faith and John Hubley’s animated shorts- A Windy Day and Moonbird areexcellent films for evoking childhood imagination and play. They are in The HubleyCollection, Volume I (1983), and available for online purchase.

In-class exercises:1. Clustering: Demonstrate this technique on the board and out loud by doing it with thestudents participating. Starting with one word in the middle of a blank area, build word“clusters” around this word, in any direction. Next identify a string of words or an ideafrom the cluster of words that has some “heat” for them and is a promising direction toexplore. The idea is to then write from this material for seven to ten minutes. (The“clustering” idea is from Gabriele Rico’s Writing the Natural Way.) Let them know thatthe class will be discussing the process but not reading individual material aloud. Thepurpose of this exercise is to out-fox their rational minds and let themselves play. Theyshould write quickly and constantly, keeping their pens moving.2. Going Home: (Limbering, p.46.) Write about this in class.

Homework assignment:1. Exploring Family: (Limbering, p. 46) Students can use photocopies of old familyphotos or depictions of children and parents found in magazines, comic books, photobooks like The Family of Man, reproductions of paintings and drawings. If they wish,they can take new photos or create new artwork for this montage. Remind them to dothis assignment at least 2 days before it is due so that they can reflect on it with fresheyes. They should write a brief essay about their reflections and bring it to class withtheir montage.2. Read: Introspection “ A Private World: Drawing on Personal Memories”3. Last weekly reminder- Email journals are due every week, two days before class.


Week Three (Introspection III)

Warm-up – Student led.

Presentations of Homework: View the students’ montages of family images. Discuss thevarious themes reflected in them. Ask what is emphasized by the creator and what is notincluded. Students turn in their essays on the montage.

Screenings: Use short student films or clips from features to illuminate material thatcomes out of a filmmaker’s introspective connection to their own history. Recommendedfilms are Emiko Omori’s documentary Rabbit in the Moon about living in a Japaneseinternment camp, Ross McElwee’s documentary Sherman’s March and Julie Dash’sfeature of her family history, Daughters of the Dust.

In-class exercises:Memory Images: Do a short version of the “Memory Images” Workout on page 151 ofthe text. To help them find their own memory/images, ask students to start by firstclosing their eyes, breathing deeply and relaxing their whole body. Then spend at least 5minutes letting the images emerge before writing them out fully. Emphasize tapping intosensory information (smells, tastes, sounds) that can lead to vivid details like weather andmealtimes. Screen the opening of Kasi Lemons’ childhood memories in her feature Eve’sBayou.

Homework assignment:1. Family Story: Ask students to write a description of a short film based on a storythey’ve heard from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives, one that predates theirbirth and does not involve them. It could be a story that seems to resonate with somesignificance for their family history or their cultural background. Ask them to add aparagraph on how the emotions and the thematic resonances of the story will come acrossvisually and aurally, without being explicitly stated by the characters.2. Read text: Inquiry: ”Breadth of knowledge/Liberal Arts”

Week Four (Inquiry I)


Presentations of Homework and related exercise:Students read their “Family Story” essays aloud and respond to each other’s work.Introduce the Embedded Values section at the back of the text and ask them to eachchoose one of the sections (eg. “family Structure,” “Race, Ethnicity or Diversity,”“Gender,” “Power” etc.) that contains questions that they feel have a bearing on their own


story. Discuss these embedded values and the depth they can add to developingcharacters and situations.

Screenings:Use clips or shorts that celebrate other art forms or fields of knowledge such asCullodon, a BBC docudrama of the Scottish/English war; Pollock (Jackson), PI(mathematics), The English Patient (cathedral ceiling paintings scene), Errol Morris’ ABrief History of Time (cosmologist Stephen Hawkings).

In-class exercise:1. Intellectual Inspiration: Limbering, p.68.Ask students to list three “worlds” (kayaking, Catholic mass, woodworking) or areas ofstudy that they know something about (not media) and write about one of them, capturinga sense of the texture, detail and characters of this world. They should be specific and usevivid details – rather than choose “American History,” ask them to try for somethingmore personal to their own interest like “the seeming hap-hazard nature of the beginningsof this country.” Then have them choose one of these “ worlds” and jot down ideas foran imaginary scene or character in a film that would allow them to draw on this specificinterest or knowledge that they have. Discuss.

Homework Assignments:1. Observation Notebook: Ask students to read over their written observations in eachof the ten categories listed and choose one from each category as the raw material for afictional short story. The categories are Senses, Locations, Objects, Characters, Dialogue,Situations, Acts, Titles, Themes and Questions. If certain categories are under-represented in their Notebooks, urge students to pay attention to building them up. Asthey fictionalize, they may veer from the reality of the actual elements in order to servethe story. The idea is to benefit from the rich specificity of real people.2. Artistic Nurturing: Limbering, p.69.Ask students to attend a type of cultural event that they are drawn to but have not yetexperienced and write a brief report that captures their observations and a sense of thetextures and details of this world. Students might try anything from samba dancing orpoetry readings to classic car conventions. They have 2 weeks to do this assignment.(Due Week Six).3. Read Inquiry: “Getting Out of the Car: Observation of the World.”

Week Five (Inquiry II)

Warm-up: Use the Limbering “Sensing the World,” p.69-70.

Presentations of Homework: Students discuss their process of observing real lifeelements and then fictionalizing them for a story. Do they feel something was lost in theprocess? Gained? Has this exercise affected how they observe or record theirobservations?


Screenings: Look for film clips and student shorts that rely on close and skilledobservation of real life such as Fred Wiseman’s cinema verite films, acting roles thatrequire a specific body language as in Daniel Day-Lewis’ rendering of physical disabilityin My Left Foot or the production design required to recreate the Washington Postnewsroom in All the Presidents Men.

In-class exercises:1. “Getting out of the car…” Send students out of the classroom to find a public placeon campus where they can easily observe people as they interact with each other, enterand exit buildings, order or eat food, etc. They should observe the environment for tenminutes without writing, then take notes about all that their senses are aware of – thelocation itself, the quality of the light, the exchanges between people, the noises, thesmells, etc. They want to gather as many observable “facts” as possible but they do notneed to hear what people are saying. Remind them of the categories Senses, Locations,Objects, Characters, Dialogue, Situations, Acts, Titles, Themes and Questions. Theymany discover other categories that are appropriate. Give them 20 minutes outside theclassroom before they return and discuss their observations.2. Interviewinga. Screen: Interviews with Interviewers- About Interviewing (1985, 51:35), whichincludes interviews with Studs Terkel and Susan Stamberg. The documentary is byfilmmaker Skip Blumberg and available from Electronic Arts Intermix on the web athttp://www.eai.org. Also consider any film or television programs that contain skillfulquestioning such as Bill Moyers’ work on PBS. Discuss the elements of a good interview,the skills needed by the interviewer.b. Partner Interviews: Divide the students into partnerships. Ask each partner to identifyand discuss an area in which they have some expertise or experience. (not movies orfilmmaking). They may want to take notes as they will be summarizing theirpartner/subject’s experiences and knowledge to the rest of the class. (Give them 8-12minutes for each interview.)c. Summaries and Reflections: After each interviewer summarizes the results of theirinterview, ask them to reflect on which questions brought out the fullest responses -open-ended ones, those that extended the subject’s own responses? Which ones hadlimited results and why? What questions did they realize later that they could have askedor followed up with? How do they go deeper? Keep on track? When did they rely on theirown intuition and decide which question to go to next? Did they pick up on theirsubject’s body language?

Homework Assignments:Photographing the “Character” of a Locationa. Ask students to photograph (stills) a room that is well inhabited by a person that hadeverything to do with how that room looks. It could be an eccentric dorm room, anartist’s studio, a handyman’s garage, a chef’s home kitchen, etc. and it should bephotographed in a way that reflects the character/personality of that person. They shouldnot photograph the individual–just their surroundings. Urge them to consider the traitsand values reflected in the physical surroundings and to think of unusual places to capture


their character’s more hidden side.b. After they shoot a full roll and have their photographs developed, ask them to select 7-10 of the most evocative ones and organize them in an intuitive order - one that makessense to them, in the order that they want viewers to experience them. If they will tapethe photos on a piece of cardboard to protect them, have them use double-sided tape sothey can move the photos around into a new order during the class presentation.2. Read Inquiry “Doing the Homework: Researching the Film”3. Homework Reminders:a. “Artistic Nurturing” Their report on a cultural event in a “world” that is unfamiliar tothem is due next week.b. Dream journals: Make sure they are collecting dreams or dream fragments in theirjournals. Discuss what works for them and what is difficult in remembering dreams.Refer them to the text’s suggestions for remembering dreams.c. Final Assignment- Triggers Remind them to keep track of their ideas as they makeobservations, collect news clippings and dreams and write class assignments. This isnecessary for their final assignment- descriptions of fifteen of their best story ideas or“triggers” for short film projects.

Week Six (Inquiry III)


Presentations of Homework:1. Photographing the “Character of a Location Review selections of student’s photos.Discuss images of a place as tools for revealing character. What did they glean fromlooking at other students’ photos? What was missing? Emphasized? What changes in theviewing order of the photos might be made?2. Artistic Nurturing/”world” event: Each student summarizes their experience of achosen cultural event.

In-class exercises:1. Turning Points- Student Interviews.a. Ask students to think of a turning point in their life — perhaps a choice they made that,even at the time, they knew was decisive; or perhaps something small, subtle and brief,that they might well have missed at the time as significant but that turned out by chanceto change their life; or perhaps a moment that involved no choice at all, but was in someways a random brush with fate. They can think of several turning points and choose onethat they are comfortable sharing. They will have several minutes to do this part.b. Interview- In pairs, students will interview another student about the moment theyhave chosen. They should take notes as they interview this other person as they will bepresenting their partner’s turning point to the class. Then ask the partners to switch rolesand let the subject be the interviewer. (15 minutes each)c. Report- Students then each summarize their subject’s story of their turning point,trying to capture the essence and the importance of what they communicated and relay it


to the rest of the class. (3 minute presentations)d. Reflect- Ask students to convey their experience of having their personal story madepublic. What was emphasized, minimized, left out, added? How did their perspectivechange about their own life because of this public telling? And because of the moreprivate experience of being asked about it? The purpose is to develop their sense of theimportance of inquiry through improving their interviewing skills, their awareness of thefiltering that goes on in storytelling and the choices that get made in deciding what getsrepresented or misrepresented. It can also help students recognize the drama inherent inhuman nature, in real dilemmas with complex emotions. Students also recognize the storypotential in their own material as they use both inquiry and introspection skills.2. Writing: Wings of Desirea. Screen the Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders) opening without sound and masking thesubtitles so that students can get the idea of watching characters and following them asthey move through their lives. (Or use the American version City of Angels withoutsound.)b. Write: Ask students to choose one of the characters from their observation journal,someone who intrigued them and imagine them as they go through their day. Theyshould spend a few moments recalling that character as vividly and as distinctly aspossible, then imagine “following” them, letting the character come to life and moveindependently, revealing what they might be thinking and feeling through theirobservable actions and body language. Write for 20 minutes.c. Discuss this type of writing experience with the class and ask them if theyencountered any surprises. This workout makes a connection between their use ofinquiry/observation and their own intuition.

Homework Assignment:1. Evocative Object: Ask students to bring an object to class next week- something froman area other than film that feels mysterious, provocative, emotionally resonant andexciting to them. It should not be text-based. It might be a photograph, painting, drawing(from art, architecture, science, anthropology), something that is evocative withouthaving an obvious literal meaning or narrative, an object with specific significance in afield (a fossil, a model of a molecule, a geometric shape), and so forth. They should beprepared to describe the thoughts and emotions this object calls up in them.2. Altered States Film Clips Students can be thinking about a film clip of dreams, daydreams, fantasies, premonitions, memories or chemically altered states that theyexperienced as remarkably effective. They will bring it in for screening during classWeek 8.3. Read Intuition “Open-closedness: Link Between Intellect and Intuition”Ask them to pay close attention to John Lasseter’s story on pp.77-8 in choosing theirEvocative Object (see above).


Week Seven (Intuition I)


Presentations of Homework/ In-class exercises:1. Evocative Objecta. Re-read animator John Lasseter’s story in the text on pp. 77-8 about his experience ofimagining the inner emotions of an object- his coffee cup. Have students lay out theirobjects on a table where they can be seen easily. (With a large class, split the studentsinto smaller groups.) After a short period of time of looking closely at the objects, askstudents to notice what first grabs their attention, then what they see after spending sometime looking.b. Have them choose an object that is not their own. They should note their emotionalresponse and sense of connection to this object and then, in ten minutes, write theemotional life of the object.c. Discuss with them the thoughts and emotions these things called up in them.d. Finally, ask each student to reveal why they chose the objects they brought in.2. Art Reproductionsa. Lay out a selection of entirely non-figurative abstract art reproductions for students toeach choose their own. Ask them to choose a color or shape within it, write down theword that describes that color or shape, and create an associative cluster around the word(two minutes). Invite them to use that cluster of words to inspire their writing for thenext five minutes and to try to let the writing “do itself.” (For a refresher on clustering,see p.92, “Making New Connections” limbering.)b. Discuss the linkage between intellect and intuition and ask them to comment on thequotes in this week’s Student Assignment handout. Draw comparisons with their ownacademic work in several fields- such as having a double major- one in art and one inscience.

Screenings:1. Intuition and Intellect: Screen moments from films that reflect a filmmaker’s use ofintuition as well as intellect. In Visions of Light, cinematographers describe theirexperiences in recognizing “happy accidents” like the instance in the film In Cold Blood,where the rain running down the window created an effect of tears coming down theRobert Blake character’s face as he faced hanging.2. Altered States: Show clips from films that have cinematic representations of dreams,fantasies and altered states of mind, such as 8 1/2, The Wizard of Oz, Spellbound, LaJette, Afterlife, Rhapsody in August, Trainspotting, Persona, Minority Report and Don’tLook Now. Students also recommended Vanilla Sky, Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, andGladiator. Discuss the feelings and moods these emotionally expressive clips and the useof dream-like cinematic language (jump cuts, non-linear time, expressionistic style, etc.)to reveal a character’s inner thoughts and feelings.

Homework Assignment:1. Dream Journal For next week, students need to reread their dream journal from the


beginning of the term until now and think about what they learn from reading all theentries as a group. What are they struck by when the entries are considered all together?Next, they should choose one dream that intrigues them, and that they wouldn’t mindothers hearing, and bring it to class.2. Altered State Clips Students need to select a 3 minute (or less) clip from a film thatembodies an altered state cinematically and bring the tape in, cued to their scene forscreening in class next week.3. Read Intuition “The Dreamer: Connecting to the Nonconscious Mind.”

Week Eight (Intuition II)

Warm-up: Student led.

Screenings:View the clips students have brought in. Ask each one to lead the discussion on their ownfilm and reflect on the film’s emotional feel and cinematic language, its dream-likelanguage and connections to this week’s text, “The Dreamer: Connecting to theNonconscious Mind.”

In-class Exercises:1. Dreamwork:a. Ask students to write a one-paragraph description for a short (2-10 minute) filminspired by the dream they have selected from their Dream Journal. Ask them to writetheir film description with the same elements as they might use in a dream journal,including settings, characters, events, details, emotions, etc. They are free to deviate fromthe actual dream but they should keep in mind how they actually experience dreams, andresist imposing narrative conventions.b. Have students translate images from their dream into a poetic written form, usingfragments of sentences, vivid and expressive language, evoking a dream-like quality inhow the words are laid out on the page. If possible, give students large sheets of posterpaper to write on and then hang their sheets up when finished so the class can walkaround and read each one silently.c. Discuss with them how they might use the elements of cinematic expression(performance, production design, camera, lighting, editing, sound design, music) to createon film the “feel,” the dream-like quality of the sequence and its images.2. Writing to Music:While listening to music selections (preferably without lyrics), students writespontaneously and non-stop. The point is not to seek plot or story but to write whateverflows associatively from the music, emphasizing emotion and image. This can also be adrawing, painting exercise. Discuss the experience.

Suggested selections: “Chelsea Bridge” (B. Strayhorn), from “Gerry Mulligan MeetsBen Webster” (7:20); “Green Arrow,” from “I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One,” YoLa Tengo (5:40); “Isa Lei” (Lieut. A. W. Caten), from “A Meeting by the River,” Ry


Cooder and V. M. Bhatt (7:39).

Optional Screening: Show a few sequences from the documentary Pulse: A StompOdyssey (2002, based on the theatre performance group “Stomp”). It is a visualcelebration of sound by filmmakers Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas and the DVDversion is available online from Amazon.com.

Homework assignment:1. Ask students to do the “Daydreaming” limbering (p. 91) for this homeworkassignment. They should include their reflections on this assignment in their EmailJournal this week.2. Emotional Moments: Ask students to make a list of five key emotional moments intheir life. After choosing one, they should try to bring back the visceral sense of theemotion(s) involved, perhaps by remembering an object, a journal, letter, photograph,song, etc. They should then imagine and visualize an entirely fictional short scene thatcaptures and conveys those emotions as fully as possible. Encourage them to think interms of images, sounds, and character behavior, but not to worry about plot or how thescene fits into a larger story. In writing this scene out, they should focus on emotion asexpressed in cinematic language—setting, light, body language, dialogue, behavior, etc.Rather than “explaining,” they need to write what would be seen and heard.New this week: Ask students to email this assignment to the entire class two days beforethe next class so that each student’s work can be read by everyone else.3. Read “Time at the Desk/ Time Running in the Forest: Enticing Intuition.”

Week Nine (Intuition III)


Presentations of Homework: “Emotional Moments”—discuss the process of turning aremembered emotional moment into a fictional film scene. Instructors can offer specificfeedback on the homework scenes to each student in writing.

In-class exercises:1. Random Sound effects- Play a series of evocative sound effects (for example, distantcrying, fog horns, sirens, laughter, children at play, etc.) and ask students to cluster theassociative ideas on paper that occur to them. See the “Random Sampling” Workout onp.162.2. Sound Landscape- Ask students to imagine and then write a description of themultiple layers of sound for the opening of a film scene – as if it were a sceneexperienced in the dark. Consult the “Starting with Sound” Workout (p. 154). Option:Students can then add the visual part of their scene and discuss this process of startingwith sound.


Screenings:1. Sound Design - Show clips from films with complex sound design such as Punch-Drunk Love, Apocalypse Now, All That Jazz (rehearsal scene with near silence, magnifiedeffects) and The English Patient.2. Adaptations – Show clips of films that are adaptations of other material - books, shortstories, plays, etc. The Minority Report DVD has a discussion on track two of the initialresponse of both the director (Spielberg) and the lead actor (Cruise) to Phillip K. Dick’soriginal short story “Minority Report.”3. Parallel versions: Compare two versions of the same scene- such as the ending of About de soufflé (1960, Godard) and Breathless (1983, Jim McBride).Or a parallel scenes from both Lubitsch’s 1943 Heaven Can Wait and Beatty/Henry’s1978 version. Discuss how each version reflects the values and perspective of thedirector/adaptor.

Homework assignment:1. Adaptation: Have students choose a non-filmic work they would like to adapt. Itcould be a play, novel, short story, fairytale, poem, song, comic book – anything otherthan a television program, video game, movie or other motion picture story. It should alsobe something that hasn’t been adapted before. If the original source is long or complex,urge them to find a “moment” or piece of the whole that they most respond to. Weencourage students to find ideas that are short and producible (5-10 minutes), suitable fortheir next production class.a. Write: They should write concise descriptions of (1)what it is about the original workthat interests them, (2) their personal angle; (3) a three-sentence description of theiradaptation (beginning, middle, end); (4) a brief paragraph on what, at this point, they feelis the story’s spine (or theme, or idea, or “what the story is really about,” etc.), (5) itscentral conflict or dramatic tension, and (6) the emotions they want the audience toexperience at the end (they should be careful to describe this in terms of what they wantthe audience to feel, not what them want them to think). Encourage them to continue topay attention to vivid visual and aural imagery. One to two page maximum.b. Email: The entire assignment should be no more than one page total, and should beemailed to the rest of the class in time to be read by everyone before the next class.2. Read Interaction: “Plenty of Rope: The Fluid Collaboration”

Week Ten (Interaction I)


Presentations of Homework:Discuss process of adaptation. Student work is responded to in small groups but not readaloud.


In-class exercises:1. Ground Rules: Use the “Ground Rules” Limbering on p.115 of the text. Ask studentsto do this in partnerships, with the final product being a joint collaborative list. Studentsthen share their lists with the entire class and discuss the process of effectivecollaboration.2. Observed Moments in Photographs Lay out a variety of candid photos (perhapsselected from photography books, and then reproduced as high quality photocopies) thatcontain provocative “Observed Moments.” Each student chooses one photograph to writeabout. They should imagine that this photograph is a single frame within a very short filmthat consists of one scene with one principal dramatic moment (1-5 minutes or less inlength), and then imagine what happened just before and just after the moment in thephotograph. They should write a brief two-paragraph synopsis for that film. The firstparagraph should focus on potential images (visual and aural), motifs and themes in thefilm. The second paragraph should be three sentences — one each for the beginning, themiddle and the end of the story.Feedback: Divide the class into smaller groups, and have each writer show their chosenphoto in turn and read their two paragraphs to their group. Then the writer leads a five-minute discussion, asking for feedback on their story: what intrigues the group about thestory and its key image? How do they connect with it in terms of character, theme, tone,etc.? Ask the responding students to assume they each have specific roles(cinematographer, production designer, sound, etc.) as they participate and give feedback.

Screening: Show the special feature on the L.A. Confidential DVD that has directorCurtis Hanson’s photo presentation of his vision of the film project that he showed to theprospective producer, production designer and cinematographer.* From the main menu, click “Hush-Hush Headliners;” then “Extra! Extra! ReelShocking Evidence!,” then “The Photo Pitch”.

Homework assignment:1. Fictional Narrative: Each student now develops the idea for the short one-scene filmthey initiated in class with the photograph they selected. They should go through theirimage and clippings files or books, search online and any other sources they can find forimages that will allow them to make a five-minute visual presentation in the next class inthe style of Curtis Hansen on the L.A. Confidential DVD. They should prepare to talkabout such questions as: 1) What will the film be about? 2) What will the film really beabout? (thematic subtext, their point of view); 3) What will be up on the screen? Whatwill the audience actually see and hear? 4) What will the style of the film be? What willmake it cinematic? Students will email a written version of their answers to thesequestions to the instructor as part of the homework assignment. The instructor can emailcomments back if necessary, that help the writer clarify their intent. Students shouldbring their presentation to class along with their written answers to the above questions.2. Read Interaction “Arguments Worth Having: Responding to Creative Differences.”


Week Eleven (Interaction II)

Warm-up Student led.

Presentations of Homework & In-class exercises:1. Image Presentation of Fictional narrative- In small groups of 4, each studentdelivers the visual image presentation for their film idea from the previous week. Groupmembers each write down their one sentence summary of the core idea as theyunderstood it and then share it within the group. Various things can happen- (a) thegroup can offer such a diverse array of responses that the writer may realize that theirpresentation lacks focus and clarity; (b) the core ideas from the group can be remarkablycongruent, or (c) anything in between. (4 students per group, 15 minutes each, 60 minutestotal.)2. Rewrite Core Idea- Ask every student to take brief notes on the feedback theyreceive. Give them 5 minutes to clarify their core idea in writing and turn it in to theinstructor.3. Brainstorming- * Before beginning the next section, discuss “brainstorming” as an activity that

involves the creative free-association of ideas with no critical judgment involved. Itrequires a safe environment where ideas flow freely and noone worries about who gets the credit.

Students remain in the same small groups and choose which presented film idea to usefor the following brainstorming session. The writer of the chosen idea becomes the“director” and the group discussion leader. Those whose idea is not being used shouldselect another creative role: cinematographer, sound designer, composer, productiondesigner, producer, editor, or actor. They should imagine being a creative collaborator onthe crew of this film and offer ideas that build on and contribute constructively to the filmthat has been envisioned by the writer-director. (Schedule 20-30 minutes.)4. Group Presentations- Each writer/director summarizes the results of their group’sbrainstorming session to the entire class and then discusses the process, problems andpromise inherent in artistic collaboration. (20 – 30 minutes)5. Ten Things- Ask class members to write their own list of “Ten Things I Learned fromthe Movies and Television” (Limbering, p. 146 of text) and then write a paragraph abouttheir personal perspective on their list. Refer to embedded Values list at back of text.

Screen: Show a range of forms and styles of short student documentaries and discuss thefilmmakers’ sources, the choice of form and style. Ask students to consider and discussthe filmmaker’s point of view and personal investment in the subject being considered.Discuss various definitions of what makes a documentary

Homework assignment:1. Documentary Preparation- Ask students to select five stories from news clippingsthat intrigue them. After choosing one story idea to develop, students need to write downfive good questions that arise and then do beginning research with two other sources(reference the “Inquiry” chapter) as they develop this idea into a very short documentary(5-7 minutes). Students should prepare a written summary of the topic, including the five


or more questions they have, the research they’ve done, their approach and theme for thisdocumentary. Remind students to bring in the five news clippings also as part of theirpresentations at the next class. Ask them to email a copy of their summary to classmatestwo days before the next class. Students are responsible for reading each others’ emailsummaries.2. Read: Interaction “Everyone telling the story: Establishing a creativeenvironment”

Week Twelve (Interaction III)


Presentations of Homework: Each student presents a very brief version of theirdocumentary idea and approach to the idea, including brief references to their theme,their approach to the film’s topic, the research needed and the potential subjects. As partof their presentation, each student leads the class discussion about their proposeddocumentary. The idea is for students to practice staying connected to their intuitiveapproach to a topic while being open to others’ ideas about it (mention Murch’s “open-closedness,” pp.73-80, Intuition). Class members ask questions and offer feedback on thedegree of clarity, the personal perspective and scope of the idea.

Screenings:1. Collaboration- Show a portion of an episode of the HBO documentaryseries Project Greenlight (available on DVD). Discuss the tensions, collaborations and“arguments worth having” aspects of the clip.

Homework assignment:1. Documentary synopsis- Using the feedback from the class, students continue todevelop their documentary idea into a two page treatment. Only if they feel strongly thattheir idea cannot work, should they change topics. As they continue to focus and refinetheir approach they should explore the same questions they used on their fictionalnarrative treatment: 1) What will the film be about? 2) What will the film really be about?(thematic subtext, their point of view) 3) What will be up on the screen? What will theaudience actually see and hear? 4) What will the structure of the film be (e.g.,chronological, topical, by character, etc.) 5) What will the style of the film be? What willmake it cinematic? 6) Why did they choose this topic? Why should this film be made?Why are they the person to make it? Email- They should email their treatments toeveryone two days before the next class, to be read in preparation for class discussion.2. Read Impact “The Undercurrent: Finding the Soul of the Film”


Week Thirteen (Impact I)


Presentations of Homework: Discuss the revised and developed documentary summariesthat were emailed. Ask them to give each other their final feedback on the question “Ifthese projects were to go forward into production, what would the filmmakers want toconsider or clarify?”

In-class exercises:Re-read the topic headings of the Embedded Values section in the Appendix of the text.Screen parallel scenes from several films and discuss the embedded values inherent ineach. Look for films with diverse approaches and common elements. The early morningscene in Beethoven when the family members pressure Dad to keep a puppy can becompared to the breakfast scene near the beginning of Ordinary People. The opening ofThe Piano, where a woman arrives on the shore of her new home can be contrasted withthe opening of Raise the Red Lantern, with the arrival of a woman as a new concubine ina wealthy man’s home.

Screen: In the opening sequence of the documentary The Making of Portrait of a Ladywhere director Jane Campion works on a scene with actors Nicole Kidman and JohnMalkovich. Discuss the different collaboration styles that Campion uses with each of theactors. (available on the Short Cinema Journal DVD, Volume I:2 Issue: Dreams)

Homework assignments:1. Ask students to re-read the essay they each wrote the first week of class (“What tugsat your sleeve?”), reading it as if it was written by someone else and then answering thequestion “What themes would be particularly important to this filmmaker?” Each studentshould select one theme and create an assemblage* which reifies** that theme. Theyshould make minimal or no use of representations of characters, and should not useexplanatory or descriptive text. Suggest that they try out their assemblage on a friendbefore bringing it to class to see how or if the intended theme is being evoked. Studenttsshould also write brief essays on the work they’ve done in class in terms of how it relatesto the themes in their original essay.

*Assemblage: a sculpture consisting of an arrangement of miscellaneous objects,such as scraps of metal, cloth and string**Reify: to embody, to make concrete

2. Read Impact “Fresh Eyes: The Power of the Audience”


Week Fourteen (Impact II)

Warm-up: Student-led.

Presentations of Homework:Class views and reflects on their personal responses to the assemblages.

In-class exercise:Fieldtrip- If possible, take the class on a short campus fieldtrip to encounter an art formthat has some social, political or community significance and impact. Provide studentswith background on the artistic form or site before or immediately after the site visit.Discuss the artist’s perspective (if possible, in the artist’s own words) as well as theresulting impact of the work, both intended and unintended.

*At USC we visit the Blacklist Garden that honors the writers and filmmakerswho were blacklisted and unable to work during the McCarthy era (see USC website).

Screenings:1. If pertinent, show film clips that relate to your field trip.2. Screen clips of two different versions of the battle climax in Henry V, one directed byLaurence Olivier and one by Kenneth Branagh, who both played the title role. Askstudents to write a brief paragraph about the embedded values in each film, reflectingeach filmmaker’s point of view. Discuss their ideas aloud.

Homework assignments:1. For the final class students should select a 1-3 minute clip of a compelling moment in afilm, whether it was a positive or a negative experience for them. Ask them to write abrief paragraph on why they chose the clip and what Embedded Values they detect in theclip. It can be on VHS (cued to the clip) or DVD (with a precise time noted for the startof the clip). Option: If they do not have access to a copy of this clip, ask them to email theinstructor with the exact title and director/year of the film as well as a description of themoment itself. Select from among the available film clips for the class screening.2. Read Impact (3) “Taking Responsibility: Owning the Images We Create.”

Week Fifteen (Impact III)

Warm-up: Student-led.

Screenings: Students present their selected clips and describe the reason the momentonscreen was compelling to them. Discuss the Embedded Values questions that are mostrelevant to each clip.

In-class exercises:1. “What wouldn’t I do…?” Ask students to write a brief essay (20 minutes) on


“What wouldn’t I do as a filmmaker?” Have them think about this question interms of a specific scene or film they’ve experienced or, something hypothetical, that interms of point of view or content they wouldn’t be willing to work on. Have them includea discussion of what criteria they used to make that decision, what they consider theirresponsibilities as a filmmaker to be, and what hopes, expectations, and/or concerns theyhave about the impact their work may have on an audience. Discuss these ideas with theclass.

2. Evaluate the class experience- Using a summary list of the class assignments (see“Handouts- Week 15” pdf file online), students should make brief notes on all theassignments- what worked or didn’t work for them, what they’d like to go back to atsome point, what they’d like to continue to do as a regular practice. This evaluation ispartly for them, partly for their instructor.

Homework:The final assignment for the class is to create a personal list of 15 “triggers” or ideas forfilms that have emerged from the work done over the semester. Each trigger should bedescribed as a complete idea in one to three sentences and its connection (if possible) to aspecific class assignment. Due in one week.

Documents

Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out