Rules fo Story Writing

Kurt Vonnegut's Rules for Short Stories
Sounds suspiciously like Syd Field's rules for screenplays:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time
was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.*

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful
things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so
to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with
suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few
pages.

Fake Post

Doc Martin - Regional Identity

If you want to send practice essays, you know the email address

Footballers Wives - Class

Footballers Wives - Representation of class.

Footballers Wives - Gender

Gender Representation in Footballers Wives

Fat Friends

Fat Friends

Representation - Gender

Shared Conventions of TV Drama

Shared Conventions of TV Drama

Characters who offer shorthand representations of real types of people or stereotypes.

Narrative which is visually presented and demands high levels of audience understanding (of what is assumed to happen in between edits – the different between plot and story)

Mise En Scene, all the elements which add up to an instantly recognisable atmosphere, which is “authentic” for the events, themes and people for the events, themes and people that are being represented in the Drama.

Camerawork and Editing that ensures continuity and creates drama through visual conventions.

Dialogue Sound and Music which create a balance between verisimilitude (the logic of the text’s world which appears real) and drama (dialogue which might be less polished” in the real world, music which tells the audience the motion they should feel)

Red Riding - Regional Identity

Regional Identity in Red Riding

Anne Frank Age Clip

Homework - Bullet point the essay "Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of age using the following: camera, editing, mise en scene and sound."

Sound

Types of Sound

Studio sound - Sound recorded in the studio to improve the sound quality, eliminating unwanted background noise ('ambient sound'), e.g. dubbed dialogue. This may be then mixed with live environmental sound.

Selective sound - The removal of some sounds and the retention of others to make significant sounds more recognizable, or for dramatic effect - to create atmosphere, meaning and emotional nuance. Selective sound (and amplification) may make us aware of a watch or a bomb ticking. This can sometimes be a subjective device, leading us to identify with a character: to hear what he or she hears. Sound may be so selective that the lack of ambient sound can make it seem artificial or expressionistic.

Live Sound - May sound 'fresher' in that it includes natural background noise (e.g. including cars and birdsong in an outside shot)

Sound perspective/aural perspective - The impression of distance in sound, usually created through the use of selective sound. Note that even in live television a microphone is deliberately positioned, just as the camera is, and therefore may privilege certain participants.

Parallel (synchronous) sound - Sound 'caused' by some event on screen, and which matches the action.

Commentary/voice-over - Commentary spoken off-screen over the shots shown. The voice-over can be used to: introduce; add extra information not evidence; to interpret the images for the audience from a particular point of view; to link parts of a sequence or programme together. A commentary confers authority on a particular interpretatio. It may be the voice of one of the characters, unheard by the others.

Sound effects - Dubbed-in sound effects can add to the illusion of reality: a stage- set door may gain from the addition of the sound of a heavy door slamming or creaking.

Music - Music helps to establish a sense of the pace of the accompanying scene. The rhythm of music usually dictates the rhythm of the cuts. The emotional colouring of the music also reinforces the mood although it is not normally intended to be noticeable. Through repetition it can also link shots, scenes and sequences. Foreground music is often synchronous music which finds its source within the screen events. It may be a more credible and dramatically plausible way of bringing music into a programme than background music (a string orchestra would probably be bizarre in a teen drama).

Silence - The juxtaposition of an image and silence can frustrate expectations, provoke odd, self-conscious responses, intensify our attention, make us apprehensive, or make us feel dissociated from reality.

Time and How To Do It

Time Manipulation

Screen time: a period of time represented by events within a programme.

Subjective time. The time experienced or felt by a character, as revealed through camera movement and editing (e.g. when a frightened person's flight from danger is prolonged).

Compressed time. The compression of time between sequences or scenes, and within scenes. Achieved with cuts and editing. (E.g. it is logical for one shot of a guy putting his foot on the bottom stair and cutting to to him entering the room at the top or long journeys can be compressed into seconds). The use of dissolves and fades can sometimes be used to signifiy a long passing of time.

Long take. A single shot which lasts for a relatively lengthy period of time it can give an 'authentic' feel since it is not inherently dramatic.

Simultaneous time. Events presented as occurring at the same time, either by parallel editing or cross-cutting, or sometimes split-screen - often alternating.

Slow motion. Action which takes place on the screen at a slower rate than the rate at which the action took place before the camera. It usually emphasises an action.

Accelerated motion. This is used usually for humour or to speed up a slow action.

Reverse motion. Reproducing action backwards, for comic, magical or explanatory effect.

Replay. An action sequence repeated, (sometimes in slow motion).

Freeze-frame. This gives the image the appearance of a still photograph.

Flashback/Flashforward. A break in the chronology of a narrative in which events from the past (sometime future - more sci-fi drama) are disclosed to the viewer. Used to be signalled by defocus or ripple dissolves.

Extended or expanded time/overlapping action. Where the action is filmed from several angles and repeated to expand the time - sometimes used to give a different viewpoint.

Mise En Scene

Mise En Scene

Mise en scène is everything that appears before the camera, namely:
• the setting
• the costume and make-up
• the use of figure, expression and movement by actors
• the lighting/filters

The style scale

At one end we have:
Form over content - how things are shown is most important, and beyond a usual representation of reality. Expressionist films are highly stylised, and are characterised by oblique camera angles, distorted shapes, bizarre settings, high contrast lighting and the surreal and subjective.

At the other we have:
Content over form - looks like real life - the intent is to make us forget it is a representation. This is the dominant style of most films, and is sometimes referred to as "the style of no style."

Setting
Setting gives a sense of place and time. You should always analyse the set because it provides important clues about the nature of the film, such as:
• where the action takes place
• when the action takes place
• the mood
• the characters
• the genre of the film.

Costume and make-up
Costume and make-up can be considered as part of the set, because they indicate:
• the period
• the state of society
• social class
• cultural backgrounds
• character traits.
Changes in costume indicate changes in character, e.g.:
• rich to poor
• taking off clothes as lowering defences.
Clothing might also be a trademark.

Figure, expression and movement
• Body language
• appearance
• facial expressions (very significant in close-ups)
• sound elements.
The way a character stands and moves is important.
• If they are the foreground they might be considered more important.
• If they move against a stationary background attention is drawn to them.
• Even distribution of characters makes for a balanced shot, whereas uneven distribution is unsettling to the eye.
• Positioning of characters within the frame may even indicate emotional distance.

Props
What is being used in the scene is key as it can tell you everything about the charcter and also be key to representation. It is also an element to shaping our opinions about character. For example:
• Having a character use an old fashioned phone as opposed to an ipod touch
• A can of Stella Artois in a teen drama
• A cigarette

Look for objects in hands, having extreme close ups, given to other characters, being drawn attention to.You MUST talk about the SIGNS and SIGNIFIERS of the Mise En Scene, e.g. "This signifies to the audience that ..."

Inserting Video

In the blog entry box there is a small picture that looks like a film reel and the following screenshot will appear:



You then select your a video and try to upload it.

If this doesn't happen then link to a youtube film instead.

Go to youtube and you should have a screen like this:



Copy and paste the embedding code and paste it into your blog and shiny things like this will happen:

Screenshots in a Mac

To take a screenshot with our macs you can either:

• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard