It was great to have Paul back last Monday working with our group of filmmakers.
Some great short film ideas came out of this workshop, and our group are now hard at work developing scripts for a STORY PITCH on Monday 21st Feb, when we will VOTE our winning films in, which will then go into production, during February half term.
I asked Paul to share with us some of what he taught on Monday. Here are his notes:
One of the important things I discussed with the young film makers at the screenwriting workshop in Goole was the importance of developing characters. Whether we see someone for only a few minutes on screen, as is the case in a short film, or whether we see someone for the duration of a feature film, the importance of writing visually interesting characters is paramount to a good film.
Another factor that I stressed was the importance of structure, how are the characters, genre and plot introduced and what question is asked of the viewer. Every film, whether a short of a feature needs to pose a “what if” question, what is commonly known as the “inciting incident.” The event that sets the film in motion, to help understand this concept we watched numerous short film and introductions to feature length films to grasp the various ways in which film makers reveal a threat/ question/ dilemma/ riddle or mystery which they then go on to resolve.
We also looked at the nature of conflict and how this is used to propel the story forward and to reveal interesting aspects of a characters personality or quest that they are on. Without conflict there is no drama, and at the heart of every good film there is conflict. How you reveal conflict and how you resolve conflict form the basis of any films plot and the challenge was given to them that in order for their script to be selected as one of the three that will be made, how they use conflict to create drama and tension will be a key factor in how successful they are as film makers.
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