Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Script frenzy Reflection

When I first heard we were going to write a 100 page script in 30 days my initial thought was awesome! Within about 5 seconds it hit me that I couldn't do that. I had never written that many pages and I had never even thought about writing a script. I knew it couldn't be easy, I had seen my dad spends years writing a book, but at the same time part of me was excited for the challenge. The script frenzy workbook was helpful in getting me prepared for the script writing and that eased my mind about the impossibility of the task that lay ahead. The workbook had some very helpful parts like character planning and outlining the basic structures for a script, but at the same time there were some parts I thought were not needed. The workbook spent way to much time on the dialogue. I found it redundant. I needed the help with how to write effective dialogue, but I think 2-4 pages of help would have been enough not the 14 the packet had. I think in the end though I would have never been able to finish my script if it hadn't been for the workbook. My final script is 72 pages of my 80 page personal goal. I originally told myself if I could write about 3 pages a day during class I would have my script done in no time. I was wrong though. Some days I was able to write 4 pages the others I couldn't get past a page. I ended up not being able to plan my time accordingly and writing the last 30 pages in the last few days of script frenzy and a few days after that. I would have liked to plan better, but I found once I was home alone with no distractions and no friends I was able to get into the zone and finish the script with ease. I think one of the strengths of my script is the descriptions. I think the descriptions allow for someone reading the script to picture exactly how the movie is going to look. I also think another strength is in the characters. I spent a lot of timing planing out how I wanted every character to act and talk and I think that came through in my script. Each character has different sayings and gestures that are unique to them and I really like that about my characters. I feel like I was able to truly get to know my characters through my script and that was something I never thought would happen. A weakness of my script would have to be in some of the scenes. I think some scenes are heavy in the dialogue and not as much action. I have a few scenes where the main characters are eating dinner and talking, but they are talking for about three pages. I would like to go back through and change that a little. That way the scene doesn't get too dry and boring. If I could make this change I think that would make my script that much better. If were given more time, I would like to have done more research. My script has a murder trial which is a big part of the plot line. I have watched a lot of murder shows on television both true crime and made up shows, but I think it would have been helpful to do internet research on how trials works. I based the trial off of what I had seen on a Dateline episode. If there was more time I would like to do some research and then rewrite some parts of the trial so that it was 100% accurate to what would really happen in court. Now that script frenzy is done, I am glad we did it. I think it was a challenge and I couldn't finish it within the 30 day constraint, but I am proud of what I have and what I finished. I think that this project taught me a lot about myself and writing scripts. It was fun, but I don't think I would write another script until I am being paid for it. It was just too stressful.

blog 12

I think this scene has one very evident strength and that is in the descriptions. The descriptions are very vivid and my peers agreed that the description allows for a clear picture while reading it. I am proud of the descriptions because that is something I worked a lot on this semester. A weakness in the scene could be the dialogue. I have found that when I am writing dialogue that explains something the dialogue becomes less int4eresting and intriguing and more expository. I would like to work on that in this scene. I think if I could make the dialogue less dry while still getting the point across then the scene would be better. If I had more time to work on this scene the dialogue would be something I would want to fix, but I would also like to try and play with the camera angles. I found that one of the hardest parts about writing the script using celtex. I would write the scene then go back and put in camera angles. I think it would be helpful if I was able to see what kind of camera angles are often used so I could try and incorporate them into my script. I put basic camera angles into my scene, but I think it would be fun and useful to explore other camera angles and figure then use them in my scene and throughout my whole script.