Raven 101--Screenwriting

Last night, our very own Kevin Bowden gave a short presentation on the bare bone fundamentals of screenwriting. To re-cap:

Film is VISUAL, and therefore must be written so. Avoid writing about the character's feelings, or expressions. Only state essential information that is visual. When it comes to writing, feelings are for novels not screenplays.

Follow a three-act structure. The first act entails introducing the protagonist, antagonist, and the inciting incident that pushes the movement of the second and third acts. This includes establishing a want/need of the protagonist, or an urgent goal that needs to be accomplished. It should be easily identifiable.
The second act is the chain of events that unravels as the protagonist makes his/her journey. They will usually fail...
Until the third act, in which they can succeed or fail again. This is usally where the climax of the film is located and everything is resolved...or not.

Create CONFLICT. What needs to be acheived, and what are the obstacles in the way?

A well written scene is its own mini three act structure. What character has the power in the scene? What do the character's want? What are the obstacles in the way?

This is all a very brief skim-through of Kevin's presentation on screenwriting. I didn't get into formatting structure, because that is a whole crazy topic by itself. However some GREAT resources to help guide you all and further your research:

http://www.screenwriting.info/
Great website that contains almost everything you need to know.


http://store.scriptbuddy.com/
Has a wide variety of professional and well known screenplays, plus software, and an assortment of books about screenwriting.

http://www.script-o-rama.com/
Contains many screenplays of well known movies...for free.

http://celtx.com/
Free screenwriting software. Will help you get the hang of formatting a basic screenplay on your own.