August 10, 2016

The First Five Minutes (usually 5 pages of screenplay) or Less

Introduction of Protagonist (s), Conflict (s) and Setting.

Exhibit A: The Music Man (Franklin Lacey, Marion Hargrove and Meredith Wilson, 1962)

Exhibit B
City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931)

Ongoing Workshops

Free, Introductory Screenwriting Class

Summerlakes Homeowners Association Clubhouse Warrenville, IL.
Mondays 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Sponsored by Instructor: Mary Cantoral, M.A in Media and Cinema Studies, M.A. in History, M.F.A. Candidate (Fall 2017) in Creative Writing (Screenwriting) at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT.

(630) 393-7644

mary.cantoral@goddard.edu

https://www.facebook.com/screenvisionsscreenwriting/

Write your own Movie: Free, 5-Week Screenwriting Course

Begin your feature-length screenplay

Place: Summerlakes Homeowners Association Clubhouse, Warrenville, IL

Instructor and Sponsor: Warrenville resident Mary Cantoral, M.A. in History; Media and Cinema Studies, DePaul University, Chicago; MFAW-VT  Creative Writing Program at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT.

Classes include refreshments and movie clips

5-10 minute break

Please bring laptops if you have them for in-class writing. Syllabus given at first class meeting.

Email me for more information, to ask questions, or— even better— to sign up! mary.cantoral@goddard.edu See you there!

Past Workshops

Goddard College MFAW Fall 2016

Screenwriting: The Opening-Credits Sequence

Presenter: Mary Cantoral M.A in Media and Cinema Studies, M.A. in History, M.F.A. Candidate (Spring 2017) in Creative Writing (Screenwriting)

(630) 393-7644

mary.cantoral@goddard.edu

Writing the Opening-Credits Sequence, with returning student Mary Cantoral: We will examine how characters are

introduced, tensions are suggested, and genre is established in the first few minutes of a film. We will watch clips of a few of

them to note distinct approaches. (1.5 hrs)
We will also include a writing prompt/exercise.

4:15-5:45 Wed. June 29, 2016, Plainfield, VT

C.C.206 conference room

Objectives

The opening-credits sequence of a film can tell us a lot about the movie, its characters, its genre and its conflicts. The purpose of this workshop is to think critically about opening-credits sequences and to think about how music conveys mood, genre, establishes a sense of conflict and introduces characters.

Film clips

1. Mulholland Drive
2. Trainspotting
3. The Shining
4. Funny Games

Watch for visual and aural cues that signal the following:

Characters, conflicts, genre

Questions

Who are the characters? How are they defined? What tensions emerge? What genre is the film? How are these pieces of information conveyed? Music, mood, setting, etc.

Discussion

Which elements of cinema are used by the writer and which are the work of the director? How does music help convey mood? Why is the opening-credits scene important?

It sets the tone and problem of the film and draws the audience into its world. The opening scene:

What do you want it to tell about your story and characters?

Keep in mind also the following questions:

In the clips whose films use voiceover narration, how do these help to introduce characters? Why do these work?

Trainspotting (Dir. Danny Boyle, writ. John Hodge, 1996)

1. What genre is the film? How do we know this?
2. Who are the main characters? How do we know this? How are the characters defined individually and as a group?
3. What kinds of tensions emerge? How are these conveyed cinematically? How does the writer convey this?

The Shining (Dir. and written by Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

1. Who are the main characters? What might be the reason that we cannot see people in that opening-credits sequence?
2. How do we know the genre: music, camera, etc.
3. What might be the writer’s job in this sequence?
4. How is this different, aside from genre, from the previous clip?

Funny Games (Michael Haneke 1997, 2007)

1. Genre
2. Characters
3. Tensions
4. Role of the writer
5. How are these established by the writer/director?

Mulholland Drive (Dir. and writ. David Lynch, 2001)

1. Who are the main characters?
2. How is this opening different than the other films?
3. How does the music convey the genre via mood?
4. How does the opening-scene draw in the audience?

Exercise-Prompt

Think of a strain of music. Write an opening sequence (or any scene) for your film or story.

Discuss how the music inspired the scene you just wrote.