Assignment overview:
For this assignment you will need your chosen story or novel and scenes for the project; all readings, articles, and glossaries. In addition, the linked article and links in the learning materials can be helpful to start thinking about what a screenplay looks like. We will do much more description, but you can see where it will go. Read a bit down into the article for an example of a screenplay to see what you will eventually create.
Screenplay vs. script: What’s the difference?
Columbia Film Glossary
In this Assignment, using the tool of your choice, you will write and draw connections between ideas you may have now for the following. Consider what might be more effective for the mood you want to create, the emotion you want to emphasize:
Setting
Point of view we will view the action through
Characterization (ideas for clothing, speech, mannerisms, accents, appearance, attitude)
Props in setting
Whether you want a voiceover narration in addition to dialogue
Do you want close ups, personal distance, intimate distance?
Do you want to create a stable visual sense or something off and slightly foreboding (we can talk about how later)?
Do you want color or black and white?
What kind of timeline would you want to utilize? Where in the story would this be?
Is this an addition to an existing scene or an entirely new scene (you may do either)?
Is it a flashforward, a flashback, or another point of view from a new character?
Assignment instructions:
First, state your chosen text from the course(Roman fever by Edith Wharton). What book or story from the course are you going to use for the project? From this text (story or novel), you will eventually adapt two scenes for the final project. You may alter the scenes in your adaptation by adding to them, or even creating another character in addition to a character already represented in your scenes.
In this assignment, list at least one of the scenes you are thinking of adapting at this point. In your initial paragraph, discuss why you have picked it, and what you would like to emphasize from the scene/story in your adaptation (this may change, of course). Write at least a paragraph in which you list the point of view from which the scene will be told, the characters involved, and the general setting. You will decide and tell us here from which point of view you will tell your scene.
In a second paragraph, identify three running ideas throughout the scene or through the larger text that you would like to emphasize. Identify and describe these tropes and/or themes in this paragraph.
In a third paragraph, briefly describe what settings the scene/s will take place in–both generally/historically in time, and more specifically, in place. All of this will be filled out as you revise moving forward.
Finally, make a thought or concept map. You may want to utilize Diagrams.net, or you may want to hand draw a thought map, and scan it and upload it here. You may list on it as well. The key is to begin to think and connect ideas and identify things to decide upon. You won’t decide everything at this point. There are many, many ways to brainstorm visually. If you search for “brainstorming” or “mapping” you will find lots of ideas and examples. The most important thing is to get down all the things that you will need to decide and begin thinking about what you will need to research.
In addition, and you may write this into your thought map, make a list of at least three things you will need to research to be accurate in your depiction of costuming, props, scenic background (the actual place as it would have appeared at the time for example), or whatever else you may need to create for the scene. We will work on this research as we move forward.
