Program Description
The auteur theory is one that took hold in cinema more than a half-century ago and still endures today. But as Akira Kurosawa has proclaimed: “I could make a bad film of a great script, but not a great film of a bad script.
Film Studies 4005 concerns itself with screenwriting, short form. Throughout the semester, we explore the techniques and demands of writing for the screen. Overall composition, editing and dynamic revision are areas of focus. We also focus on dramatic structure and construction, as well as elements of Story, Dialogue and Character/Point of View.
We function as a workshop. Work is created, assessed, revised and polished. Informed, objective critical analysis while one's work is being generated is a major feature of the course.
Other Areas of focus:
We generate work in screenplay form. A series of four short pieces. One is the adaptation of a short story or chapter from a book that is in the public domain. Next, we realize a piece that is purely visual. Then, a piece that takes place in one setting and is driven by dialogue. Finally we do an integrated ten to twelve page piece that could ultimately be shot.
All of this work, written, re-written and polished, is ultimately collected in a bound Final Manuscript, which serves as the document of the experience we shared during the semester.
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Program Description
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