Film Directing Fundamentals : From Script to Screen

by Proferes

• ISBN13: 9780240804224
• ISBN10: 0240804228
• Format: Audio CD
• Copyright: 2001-03-14
• Publisher: Elsevier Science

Summary

Film Directing Fundamentals gives the novice director a set of specific techniques for developing the fundamental elements of this craft in realizing a screenplay for the screen, along with an introduction to the narrative/dramatic elements of film. In Part One, Nicholas Proferes provides a short screenplay to take the student step-by-step through the "detective" work necessary to uncover disparate dramatic elements such as character, circumstance, wants, and actions. This initial investigation identifies the dramatic essence of each moment, organizes them into a dramatic unit, and leads to an overall design for rendering the script on the screen. This section includes work with actors, staging, and use of the camera as an active narrator. Students are encouraged to use floor plans and storyboards to aid in the previsualization of the film. Part Two features a scene-by-scene analysis of three feature films by master directors. These are designed to be used in conjunction with the viewing of the films and allows the student to fully understand how the dramatic and narrative categories of film language are used by master directors. In addition, nine other films are analyzed for their distinctive styles and differing dramatic construction. An appendix contains the grammatical rules of film language, the cinematic categories of time and space, and essential questions directors should ask concerning their screenplays. Provides a unique methodology for aspiring directors and scriptwriters for realizing a screenplay for the screen Aimed at learning to engage an audience in the unfolding of a cinematic story Explains the use of storyboards for previsualization, staging of actors, and the use of the camera as active narrator

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART ONE
Detective Work on Script	3	(17)
Reading Your Screenplay	3	(1)
The Piece of Apple Pie	4	(5)
Whose Film Is It?	9	(1)
Circumstance	9	(1)
Dynamic Relationship	10	(1)
Spine	11	(1)
Spines for The Piece of Apple Pie	12	(1)
Tone for The Piece of Apple Pie	13	(1)
Wants	13	(1)
Actions	14	(1)
Activity	14	(1)
Acting Beats	15	(1)
Narrative Beats	15	(1)
Dramatic Blocks	16	(1)
Character	16	(3)
Director's Notebook	19	(1)
Breaking the Piece of Apple Pie into Actions	20	(10)
Designing a Scene	20	(1)
Visualization	21	(1)
Identifying the Fulcrum and Dramatic Blocks	21	(1)
Breakdown of The Piece of Apple Pie into Narrative Beats	22	(8)
Staging	30	(7)
Patterns of Dramatic Movement	32	(1)
Changing the Stage within a Scene	33	(1)
Staging as Part of a Film's Design	33	(1)
Working with a Location Floor Plan	33	(4)
Camera	37	(12)
The Camera as Narrator	37	(1)
Reveal	37	(1)
Entrances	37	(1)
Objective Camera	38	(1)
Subjective Camera	38	(1)
Where Do I Put It?	39	(3)
Camera Design	42	(1)
Style	42	(1)
Coverage	43	(1)
Camera Height	44	(1)
Lenses	45	(1)
Composition	46	(1)
Where to Begin?	46	(1)
Working toward Specificity in Visualization	46	(1)
Looking for Order	47	(1)
Dramatic Blocks and Camera	47	(1)
Shot List and Storyboards	47	(1)
The Prose Storyboard	48	(1)
Adding Camera to the Piece of Apple Pie	49	(30)
Camera Setups for The Piece of Apple Pie	52	(27)
Marking Shooting Script with Camera Setups	79	(9)
Work with Actors	88	(10)
Casting	89	(3)
First Read-Through	92	(1)
Directing during Rehearsals	92	(4)
Directing Actors on the Set	96	(2)
Managerial Responsibilities of the Director	98	(4)
Delegating Authority While Accepting Responsibility	98	(1)
The Producer	99	(1)
The Assistant Director	99	(1)
A Realistic Shooting Schedule	100	(1)
Working with the Crew	100	(1)
Working with the Director of Photography	101	(1)
Postproduction	102	(7)
Editing	102	(2)
Music and Sound	104	(1)
Locking Picture, or, How Do You Know When It's Over?	105	(1)
An Audience and a Big Screen	105	(4)
PART TWO
Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious	109	(28)
Overview of Style and Design	109	(1)
First Act	110	(3)
Second Act	113	(22)
Third Act	135	(1)
Summary	136	(1)
Peter Weir's the Truman Show	137	(25)
Overview of Style and Design	137	(2)
First Act	139	(5)
Second Act	144	(12)
Third Act	156	(5)
Summary	161	(1)
Federico Fellini's 8 1/2	162	(33)
A Masterpiece?	162	(1)
The Director as Auteur	162	(1)
Dramatic Construction	163	(1)
Overview of Style and Design	163	(1)
What Are We Watching for in This Film?	164	(1)
Detective Work	165	(1)
First Act	166	(11)
Beginning of Act Two	177	(14)
Third Act	191	(3)
Summary	194	(1)
Styles and Dramatic Structures	195	(17)
Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu (1953, Japan)	195	(2)
Some Like It Hot, Billy Wilder (1959)	197	(1)
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo (1965, France)	198	(2)
Red, Krzysztof Kieslowski (1994, Poland, France, Switzerland)	200	(2)
sex, lies, and videotape, Steven Soderbergh (1989)	202	(2)
Shall We Dance, Masayuki Suo (1996, Japan)	204	(2)
The Celebration Thomas Vinterberg (1998, Denmark)	206	(2)
The Insider, Michael Mann (1999)	208	(2)
The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick (1998)	210	(2)
Conclusion	212	(13)
What Do I Do Next?	212	(1)
From Blank Page to Final Cut: Making a Digital Video Feature in 365 Days	213	(12)
APPENDIX A. INTRODUCTION TO THE NARRATIVE/DRAMATIC ELEMENTS OF CINEMATIC STORYTELLING	225	(11)
The Film World	225	(1)
Film Language	225	(1)
Shots	226	(1)
Film Grammar	226	(5)
Screen Direction	231	(1)
Film-Time	232	(2)
Familiar Image	234	(2)
APPENDIX B. QUESTIONS DIRECTORS SHOULD ASK ABOUT THEIR SCREENPLAYS	236	(3)
Index	239