Building a scene

Building a scene

The scene
-          …Is a dramatic unit of larger work.

Moving the story forward
-          Every scene should be, in some way, set up by the previous scene, and should move the story forward for both the plot and the development of the characters.
-          Very scene sets up the next scene, until the screenplay reaches its climax.
-          This cause and effect relationship hooks in the audience. Every scene should have a payoff – it is crucial – you can think of this as being the:
·         Rationale for the scene
·         Its purpose
·         Why is it needed in the screenplay
·         What it reveals about the character and/ or the plot
·         The way it makes the audience curious about what will happen next

-          Constructing a scene
·         Scenes should be made as tight as possible
·         Guidelines for a scene construction
·         A scene should be begun s close to its end as possible
·         It should increase either the drama or the comedic effect
·         It shouldn’t include anything superfluous – anything that doesn’t matter
·         A scene’s length should not run more than two pages
·         Action scenes should be contrasted with dialogue scenes; heavy scenes with light scenes
·         The audience need time to take a breath: varying the texture of scenes affords them this

-          Pacing
-          As a writer builds towards the climax of the screenplay, the pacing of scenesd should increase or decrease accordingly.

-          Dramatic effectiveness

-          What happens in the ecene that makes the audience want to keep watching?

-          It could be a revelation, a decision by one of the characters, or even a cliff-hanger

-          Dramatic tension keeps the viewer involved. Plot twists are what keeps things interesting.

-          Scenes should aim to keep an audience always somewhat off balance, because this is what will keep them engaged

-          This applied to dialogue based scenes

-          Mood

-          Each scene should convey a sense of the dominant mood or emotion.

-          This can be tied into a characters goal, emotional state, and attitude at that particular moment.

-          Trying what the character thinks and feels and what he/she wants out of the particular unit of action the scene encompasses will give the scene direction and dialogue subtext.

-SHOWING VS TELLING
·         Avoid using talking heads to move the story forward, for exposition of the plot, or even the backstory
·         Always use visuals over straight dialogue. Filmmaking’s strongest draw is what we see on screen, using strong visuals will have greater impact.

-          Conflict
-          Some sort of conflict should always exist, even in less dramatic scenes.
-          The conflict can be subtle’; there should be enough emotional subtext to make it interesting.

-          Theme

-          The theme is the subject of your story?

-          What is the story really about?

-          What is the idea that you keep thinking about in your story?

-          (E.g. bullying, loneliness, discrimination, revenge). 


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