Screenwriting / scenario / synopsis

Educational Aims of the Modules

• to provide a learning environment which encourages diversity, creativity, collaboration and independent study leading to future practice and continuing development
• to enable the development of the students’ creative, intellectual and critical potential and to encourage new perceptions and innovative work
• to provide education and training in the skills required for a variety of relevant professional practices
• to graduate students who will contribute to aid advance future practice various areas

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Programme

These address identified learning areas:

• Creativity and quality of work
• Knowledge and understanding
• Intellectual engagement
• Practical Skills
• Transferable/key skills/personal development

On completion, students will be able to demonstrate:

• the ability to prepare, organise and produce work of increasing ambition and quality
• an ability to collaborate with colleagues and professional practitioners in other disciplines across film, television and interactive media
• knowledge of and ability in the technical skills associated with realising their work
• an understanding of the theoretical, cultural, aesthetic and historical contexts of their work
• a high level of critical awareness and the ability to articulate and communicate ideas, both visually and verbally
• engagement in visual and intellectual research as nourishment for their practice and creative energies
• • an ability to practise and research independently in a manner appropriate to their particular discipline

Having completed the training through modules, students should be able to:

• produce a short movie and demonstrate their ability to make a creative, imaginative, innovative and individual response to their chosen field
• articulate clearly (by oral, written and/or visual means) the intentions of the work they produce and the approaches, knowledge, skills and reasoning they have employed in its production.

Other Attributes Intellectual Engagement

Having completed a the training, students should be able to:

• initiate and develop project ideas which offer them challenges in terms of learning, understanding, research, technical realisation and communication
• demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of historical and contemporary practice, ideas and debate in areas of particular relevance to their individual practice so as to be able to contextualise their own achievements
• demonstrate their knowledge knowledge and understanding of the methods of enquiry, investigation and research appropriate to their individual practice and the ability to apply them in the development of their work.
• relate their theoretical understanding, ethical and intellectual position to the ideas expressed in their work
• relate their theoretical understanding, ethical and intellectual position as a filmmaker to the ideas expressed in their own work
• analyse, evaluate and debate both their own achievements and those of others who have worked or are working in areas relevant to their own practice.

Technical Skills

Having completed the training, students should have:

• a certain level of skills appropriate to individual practice as a filmmaker including those necessary for the production of their own work
• the ability to develop existing practice and acquire new technical skills when required

Personal Development

Through the holistic and pedagogical approach students may evolve on personal and individual levels. After completing the modules students should be able to:

• define personal aims at an appropriate level and evaluate their own progress
• engage in focused, independent, self-motivated learning, research and practice making use of technical and learning resources appropriate to the work they are doing
• respond creatively to new and complex problems and challenges
• communicate their ideas, achievements and ambitions effectively using oral, written and visual means and with regard for context and audience
• work effectively as an individual and in a team (as appropriate) and participate as a responsible, active member of the community
• manage their time, the resources available to them and their working environment effectively for their own work and with responsibility towards others.

Professional Orientation

After completing the modules students should be able to:

• Identify their own strengths and weaknesses, individual interests and concerns and relate these to their future career plans
• Demonstrate the ability and motivation to continue to develop your knowledge, skills and understanding beyond graduation
• Demonstrate a professional attitude and approach to their work

Overview of Screenwriting Curriculum

This module teaches students the knowledge and skills to write well-structured stories with vivid, compelling characters. The elements of character, dialogue, scene, setting, texture, style and tone are explored throughout the curriculum. Students learn all the key elements of creating scripts for film, television and immersive media including story structure, plot, scene development, characterization and dialogue. In addition to learning the conventions of the writing craft, students are given the support and structure to write.
The objective of this module is to provide students with a focused knowledge and clear understanding of visual storytelling, narrative structures, literary genres, multimedia terms and delivery methods, character creation and development, screenwriting and storyboarding, script analysis, criticism, and editing for a variety of niches and distribution methods in the entertainment and media industries.
A series of workshops and group sessions that explore all the different aspects of writing that are on offer throughout the workshop. This will include form and process – treatments, outlines, scripts – methods of working, the ‘business’ of screenwriting, visual storytelling, research-based writing, writing outside the realist tradition, examining different genres, adaptation, an introduction to writing for radio and for theatre and an introduction to Games. There will also be an introduction to other disciplines (including cinematography) and their relationship with the screenwriting process, and Silent Movie. Throughout the training, students/writers will originate a variety of contrasting feature storylines, examine them as a practical source of story construction, and explore them in terms of Visual Storytelling. Particular emphasis will be on developing further non-verbal means of storytelling. Development of character, story, backstory, structure, style, genre, theme and subtext will be covered. The module will be taken in a group with regular writing exercises and regular group feedback.

Module Structure and Curriculum

1.	Me as a story	Introspection and selfanalysis as a starting point for character development and storytelling. Students will embark on a journey of selfdiscovery which wil enable them for later work but also help with the group chesean and sucessful teamwork later on.
2.	100 Film History	This workshop explores motion picture as an art form, as a business, and a representation of society. Students examine how film has become a dominant force in culture through the study of subjects like the birth of film, the golden age of silent film, World War II, non- Hollywood films, the New Cinema of the 1960s era, and the Hollywood Renaissance.
3.	Historical Archetypes and Mythology	This workshop is designed as a general, comparative survey of a wide variety of world myths and the fundamental archetypal patterns which both inform and govern their respective structures and thematic conceits. Primary emphasis will be placed on the manner in which myths, epics, and folklore embrace and illustrate a variety of timeless and universal themes which transcend epochal and geographical boundaries. Secondary emphasis will be placed on how mythic structure and archetypal patterns inform modern forms of entertainment and communication, including film, television, computer and video games, music, advertising, marketing, and corporate branding.
4.	Story Analysis – Film	This workshop covers the analysis of feature length film structure and the history behind it. The relationship of structure to plot, character and thematic development will also be examined. Through the breaking down of existing screenplays from various genres, students will complete this workshop with an understanding of classic feature film structure, scenes, and character. Assignments include reading screenplays, learning how to write coverage, and development notes. The foundations of the art and craft of screenwriting, including proper screenplay formatting, story structure, character development, dialogue, descriptive prose, visual exposition, narrative strategies, and thematic exploration. Primary emphasis will be placed on the short format through the examination of skills and concepts applicable to short films, commercial advertising, and various forms of web-based content.
5.	Storytelling	This workshop will illustrate how to take a written story and bring it into the digital medium. Students will learn to translate their stories into a script format. Students will take their completed story and turn it into a 2D storyboard to learn visual timing. The knowledge gained will extend students’ understanding of the role of preproduction in a production pipeline.
6.	Story Structure	This workshop exposes students to the basics of filmic storytelling. This class teaches a set of skills that allow students to analyze scripts and write their own screen stories using a variety of story formulas and paradigms. Workshop topics include the Hero’s Journey, Three-Act and Five-Act Structure, and Linear and Non-Linear storytelling. Through lecture, analysis, creative writing assignments, and peer review, students learn dramatic and comedic storytelling strategies.strukturu s tri i pet činova te linearno i nelinearno pripovijedanje. Kroz predavanja, analizu, zadatke kreativnog pisanja i recenziju, polaznici uče strategije dramskog i komičnog pripovijedanja.
7.	Character Creation	Character drives story. Students will come away with a variety of techniques useful for creating well-developed characters whose motives and actions are organic to the plot and relevant to the story’s thematic intentions. Through analysis and practice students will understand and create engaging and active characters for screen, television, and new media.namijenjene ekranizaciji, televiziji i novim medijima.
8.	Screenwriting	This workshop builds upon the foundational premises, with attention to all forms and formats, including feature length screenplays. By exploring the central principles underlying formatting, idea generation, story structure, character development, dialogue, exposition, and thematic exploration, this workshop will help the student become understand the basics of story structure.
9.	Writing An Outline – Film	This workshop takes students from an idea to the scene-by-scene detailed outline. The workshop teaches organizing principles to help design the story, create a balanced relationship between the characters and how the plot will unfold in specific scenes. Students will understand the purpose and value of a detailed outline and will continue to understand structure and genre as it pertains to their content.
10.	Writing act	This workshop challenges students to think of possible story obstacles, plot points, and midpoints within act two. Through the examination and breakdown of professional scripts, students will examine how obstacles can drive the plot or serve as part of the world of the story. Students will complete this workshop with a working first draft of the first two thirds of their original screenplay. At the end of this workshop students will have a complete first draft of their original screenplay.
11.	Story editing	Through exercises and analysis, students will practice techniques in creating active exposition, character driven dialogue and dialogue that supports story progression. Students will write a series of original scenes and will also be introduced to the challenges of re-writing another writer’s work.
12.	Action Line Writing (show, don’t tell)	This workshop exposes students to the importance and significance of visual story telling. A screenplay needs to be a compelling read before it can become a great film, and well written action lines (descriptions) are vital for a successful screenplay. Students will practice the craft of communicating economically and effectively without dialogue.
13.	Adaptation – Short Form	In this workshop students will examine adaptations including the problems attendant upon translating a short story, one act play, or other short creative forms into screenplays. Students will develop an outline utilizing the concepts learned in the workshop including when to remain true to the original material and when the translation for the screen requires altering the source material.
14.	The Final Draft	This advanced writing workshop allows the students/ writers, through the process of staged readings and analysis the opportunity to evolve their script.

Running Curriculum Elements

• analysing of feature and television drama script
• screening and analysis of films in group sessions with tutors analysing them from the point of view of a screenwriter
• team building and group cohesion improvement games and activities

Evaluation

Self-Evaluation – Student progress is monitored and assessed by means of written self-evaluations supported by tutorial feedback and assessments.