Script Analysis 2

Course unit code:

311SA2

Course unit title:

Script Analysis 2

Mode of delivery:

zkouška

Range:

2/T

Type of course unit:

compulsory subject

Level of course unit:

Year of study

1st year

Semester when the course unit is delivered

Number of ECTS credits allocated:

3

Garant předmětu:

Name of lecturer(s):

Study Objectives:

Through the intensive analysis of films, the following principles are re-examined and explained: three act story structure, plot points, turning points, the function of exposition, the catalyst, rising action, crisis, climax, culmination, resolution, main tension, theme, as well as scenes and sequences, sub-plots, double-plots, multi-plots, and internal scene structure.

Most importantly, students will learn to analyze films according the sequence method, and to employ it in their own screenwriting. Other aspects of script analysis that have been attributed to Frank Daniel will also be covered.

Mode of delivery:

Lecture and discussion

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Scripg Analysis 1

Recommended optional programme components

None

Course contents:

This course is a continuation of Script Analysis I, which (with instructor´s permission only) is a prerequisite or co-requisite for all students. The course will continue to study films from a dramaturgical perspective and to closely examine the craft of screenwriting. The emphasis in this course will be to evaluate films produced in Hollywood during the late 60s and early 70s, part of what some critics have labeled the „American New Wave“.

In this course the process of evaluation will not focus on classic three act structure, but rather follow the „sequence methodology“ of the influential dramaturge and script instructor Frank Daniel, who arrived in the US from Czechoslovakia during this period of filmmaking.

Each film will be screened three times: first, in its entirety with an introduction about the film and its creators; the second and third time, in sequences accompanied by detailed analysis.

Study materials:

Aristotle. Poetics. Translated by Gerald Else. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1967.

Bordwell, David. Narration in Fiction Film. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.

Field, Syd. Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. New York: Dell Publishing, 1994.

Howard, David and Edward Mabley. The Tools of Screenwriting. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1995

McKee, Robert. Story. New York:Regan Books, 1997

Roemer, Michael. Telling Stories. London: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1995.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

None

Assessment methods and criteria

Students will be expected to recognize the dramatic and narrative elements explained in class, and to present a cogent analysis of a film selected for a final paper.

Language of instruction:

English

Work placement(s):

Pracovní stáž není u tohoto předmětu zavedena.

Course web page:

Note:

None

Further information:

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans:

• Cinema and Digital Media - Screenwriting (qualification subject)