Idea and Story Development

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor:

Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO

Name of lecturer(s):

Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

The main purpose is to provide a quick overview of strategies for developing a story idea, for structuring it effectively, for writing certain scenes - including working with actors to these ends.

Besides an acquaintance with certain tools and strategies for getting from A to B through effective writing, it is hoped that by the end of the seminar students will also have gained an appreciation of the importance of the overall ‘tone’ of the film/story and of how useful it can be to write with actors or whilst having actors in mind.

Mode of study:

Three-day long intensive practical devising, writing, script-editing seminar, including exercises for idea development and structured improvisation/devising together with actors.

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

Shooting experience is desirable.

Course contents:

Run and Gun Idea and Story Development

Students involved will work on their film projects. They will experience problems of subject development, story structure, scene & dialogue writing. Several strategies for developing stories and characters as well as overcoming blocks will be employed, including working with actors.

Working in small groups, existing scripts and treatments will be analysed and worked on in class. The first day will be devoted to story structure, while the second day will be focused on scene writing. Day three will feature workshopping with actors.

The following principles will be of importance:

- avoiding clichés

- striving for exactness of detail

- giving equal consideration to spoken and non-spoken actions and narrative solutions

- being brief where possible

- being aware of (but not obsessed by) subtext.

Recommended or required reading:

Recommended reading:

Aristotle, Poetics

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

John Berger, Ways of Seeing

Assessment methods and criteria:

Full attendance will give right to 2 credits.

Course web page:

Note:

Lecturer: Dr. Luca Giberti is an award-winning director and producer. After graduating in Physics at Oxford, he apprenticed under Abbas Kiarostami and Marco Bellocchio. His theatre shows have been performed worldwide - from the Piccolo in Milan to the Edinburgh Fringe, from the Oxford Playhouse to the Teatro Stabile in Genoa. He has won prizes as a director, as a screenwriter, as a cinematographer, as a video artist, including accolades from the Italian Academy of Arts in Rome (Accademia Nazionale di San Luca) and from several film festivals (Berlinale Talents, Venice Biennale Cinema, et al.). He has also lectured on directing at Sapienza, University of Rome and at Middlebury College (VT, USA).

Schedule for winter semester 2016/2017:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

Schedule for summer semester 2016/2017:

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
03.03.2017		15:00–18:00	Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác	Lecturer: Luca Giberti	přednášková par. 1
04.03.2017		10:00–18:00	Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1
05.03.2017		10:00–13:00	Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO	Učebna 1 Lažanský palác		přednášková par. 1

The subject is a part of the following study plans: