Film Studies and Cinematography-Project1 Story Development

26/9/2024 -  1/11/2024 (Week 1 - Week 6)

Yang Jiayi / 0369288 
Film Studies and Cinematography
Task 1: Project1-Story Development

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Lectures

Week1

The teacher introduced the content of the modules to be studied this semester. We used the weekly courses as a reference to gradually create short stories for the animation project.

fig week1 lectures

Week2-We are all storytellers

The power of storytelling lies in its ability to connect with people on an emotional level.Incorporating personal experiences into stories makes them more alive and relatable.

Your Unique Perspective

• Pixar storytellers discuss how they started telling stories and expressing themselves creatively.
• Viewers are encouraged to think about a vivid memory and express it in different ways.
• Highlights the power of storytelling and the unique perspective that each person brings to their stories.

'What if' Questions

• “What if” questions drive imagination and storytelling.
• What ifs unlock the doors to imagination by shutting down the logical part of the brain.
• World and character are essential elements in storytelling.

These are also the two aspects that we will focus on in the next task.

Week3-The Character

fig1.2 How to create a character

Character Development Process

• Characters can be explored by considering their external features (design, clothes, appearance) and their internal features (insecurities, bravery, jealousy).
• True human feelings and encounters are imperative in making trustworthy characters.
• Drawing motivation from real life individuals and circumstances can offer assistance in creating particular and special characters.
• Understanding a characters wants is vital in driving their travel.

Wants and Needs

• Understanding the difference between what a protagonist’s wants and what they need is crucial when developing a character. 

Obstacles

• Obstacles are elements that stand in the way of a character getting what they want or need.
• Obstacles can be external or internal
• The leading impediments reflect the characters blemishes and inadequacies, making them think approximately their needs and needs.

Character Arc

• Character arc refers to the choices a character makes in response to obstacles and how the character changes as a result.

Stakes

• Understanding and establishing stakes in a story is crucial to creating tension and engaging the audience.
• Stakes can be categorized as external, internal, or philosophical

Summarize

External feature: the clothes, design or look of a character.

Internal feature: the personality, beliefs or drive of a character.

Want: something that drives a character to act.

Need: something that a character must do or learn in order to succeed or grow.

Obstacle: something that stands in the way of a character obtaining what they want.

Character arc: the choices a character makes in order to overcome their obstacles and how they change as a result.

Stakes: What is at risk if the character fails to achieve their goal (OR, what are the consequences of their choices?)

External: what will physically happen to a character or the world

Internal: what will happen to a character emotionally

Philosophical: what will happen to the values or belief system of the world

Week4-The story structure

STORY STRUCTURE

• Structure is the organization of a story. 
• Basic structure: Opening, Middle and End

STORY SPINE

• Story structure is like a building foundation, and story beats are important moments in a story.
•  A story spine is a simple pattern to organize a story.

THEME

• Theme is the deeper message or lesson (moral) in a story, which connects to the main character's needs.

Apply story spine in you story based on the structure:

ACT 1
1. Once upon a time…

2. Every day…

3. Until one day…

ACT 2

4. Because of that…

5. Because of that…

6. Because of that…

ACT 3

7. Until finally…

8. And ever since then…

The moral of the story is…

Week5 -Script Writing

Script Format

The first format element is the scene title. The scene title is in all uppercase, INT or EXT for interior or exterior. It is followed by the location name and a day or night indicator.

ACTION

Sound effects that are important to the story but heard off-screen need to be in all caps.

Characters

This name is on its own line and is in all caps. Characters speaking off-screen or in voice over should be specified by the OS or VO.

Parentheses

Parentheses provide context or explanation for dialogue delivery.Parentheses should be used sparingly so as not to reduce the readability of the script.

Dialogue

The dialogue block is offset from everything else and centered onthe page. Parallel dialogue (overlapping dialogue) is written in side-by-side blocks.

Transition

The left margin must be1.5 inches, the top and bottom margins must be 1 inch, and the dialog box must be 3.7 inches from the left side of the page.

Week6-Film grammer

Elements of Film Grammar:

• Framing
• Staging
• Motion
• Editing

Major vs Minor Beats

The camera is the progress of the character's action.

fig1.3 Minor Beats

Basic Shot Type

Wide angle, medium angle, and close-up are the most commonly used lens types

We need to know what we want the audience to understand?

Extreme and Angles

Use extreme wide angle lenses to show how big the world is，and create a sense of scale, and use extreme close-ups to get close to the subject and feel intensely emotional.Dutch angle to tilting the camera to get a diagonal view of a scene can create a sense of disorientation.

Static vs Dynamic Shots

Static shots provide simple, direct framing without drawing attention to the shot itself Dynamic shots, using dynamic shots, can achieve a variety of effects

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Introduction

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Project 1: Develop Short Story

I started to create a complete short story based on the weekly lectures given by the teacher. I wanted to tell a story about human nature. The moral of this story is: the real wealth is not the material gold and silver treasures, but the inner kindness, courage and integrity. When facing temptation, sticking to the moral bottom line and interpreting the glory of human nature with practical actions is the most precious wealth in life.

I compose the story based on what I composed for the concept explanation and attempt to make a plot that ties all the occasions together to tell a coherent story.

I outlined the story.

Next, I created a story script based on my story.

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Reflections

Writing a script is a challenging and fulfilling job. We write the script through the characters and environment backgrounds we designed ourselves. This process requires not only a solid writing foundation, but also a deep understanding of the conception and construction of the story. The weekly courses allow us to learn a lot of skills and knowledge. Although the content is sometimes difficult to understand, these learnings help us make the story more complete.

The weekly video courses also remind us to dare to record our ideas and not be afraid to try. In the process of writing, we are not only creating stories, but also growing ourselves. To write a touching script, we need to dig deep into the hearts of the characters, figure out what they want and need, and accurately grasp the expectations and needs of the audience, so that the work can be more attractive in terms of emotion and content.

Script writing is a process of continuous learning and improvement. Every writing is a thinking and improvement.Through continuous learning and practice, we are not only creating a story, but also shaping our ability and thinking as creators. Every writing is a growth and gain, which enables us to conceive and express more confidently and gradually reach a higher level of creation.