Thursday, January 24, 2013

Class Exercise 1 - Screenplay and Storyboarding

The Six Million Dollar 

Steve Austin

- Astronaut
- Nearly dies in crash
- suffered major injuries to body
- rescued by government
- Government saves him by replacing his body parts with mechanical parts and converting him into a cyborg
- did not chose to become a cyborg
- High Importance to the government for them to save his life and spend that amount money on him

Powerpuff Girls
Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercups
- no longer one key character
- created by Sugar,Spice and Everything
-  created by accident by Professor Utonium when he wanted to create perfect little girls
-
- three different girls
- fighting crime saving the world from the forces of evil
- comic book elements/style
- 3 basic colours to represent the 3 girls
- Blossom the leader
- Bubbles the sweet girl
- Buttercup the tomboyish

Johnny Bravo

- rock n roll and Elvis Presley characteristics?
- Gelled hair to exaggeration
- thinks of Acting cool but cringe worthy in situation
- wants to get girls
-

Austin Powers

- British
- good looking and likable to all as seen in the opening with the policeman
- colourful dress sense
- is good with the ladies
- has fans
- master of disguise

Monday, September 3, 2012

About Storytelling & Characters

What kind of heroes/heroines do you like?
heroes like Batman or ironman rorschach
seemingly human and not those with superpowers
- intelligent
- courageous
- ambiguous

What kind of villains do you like?
Joker
Bane
- have principles

what kind of stories do you enjoy? why?
Stories with plots that are not predictable

Sunday, July 29, 2012

[Class Exercise]

define these terms & give examples:
GENRE
A Category that the story, show or game falls under.


Examples:
Comedy
Sci-Fi
Action


CLICHE
an overused idea or element in a story that one has seen multiple times and can identify with.

Examples:
birthday cakes at parties - someone getting their face smash in it.
Protagonist always defeats the villain.
door locks can be picked using paper clips


STEREOTYPE
Characters that have recognisable nature and predictable outcomes for them.


Examples:
James Bond escaping a seemingly impossible situation

ANTAGONIST
Usually a character or a group of characters in the story that obstructs the protagonist progress
The villain or "bad guy" in most stories that the main character must overcome/defeat.

Examples:
Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid
Sauron from The Lord of the Rings
Darth Vader from Star Wars


PROTAGONIST
Usually the main character of the story/series and usually the character that the story is based around. In other stories there may be more than a single protagonist.


Examples:
The Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings
Hellboy from the Hellboy Series
Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock Holmes
V and Evey Hammond from V from Vendeatta


SUPPORTING CHARACTER
A character that usually used to give added dimension to the main character.

Examples
Aunt May from Spider-Man
Alfred Pennyworth from the Batman

COMIC RELIEF
Usually a character, scene or witty dialogue that is humorous in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.


Examples:
Timon & Pumbaa from Disney's The Lion King
Sebastian from Disney's The Little Mermaid
Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars


CHARACTERIZATION
the art of creating characters by 
conveying information to the audience.
Characters may be presented by means of description, through their actions, speech, or thoughts


Examples
Deadpool from Marvel Comics
Sweet Pea from Sucker Punch

define these terms: (no examples needed) 
CONCEPT / CONCEPTUALIZATION
inventing or contriving an idea or explanation and formulating it mentally
THEME
a central topic, subject or concept that is in a story.
historically common or cross-culturally recognizable ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly.
PITCH
A concise verbal (sometimes visual) presentation of an idea for a screenplay generally made to a producer or studio executive in the hope of attracting development finance to pay for the writing of screenplay


LOGLINE
a brief one-sentence summary to a story, that is used for pitching a screenplay.


CHARACTER BIO
a biography or a description of a character from the story.


SYNOPSIS
a brief summary of a plot of the story.


STORYLINE
The plot of the story.


TREATMENT
 is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards and the first draft of a screenplay. 
They read like a short story, except told in the present tense and describing events as they happen
Screenwriters may use a treatment to initially pitch a screenplay, but may also use a treatment to sell a concept they are pitching without a completed screenplay.


DEVELOPMENT HELL/Limbo
a period during which a film, concept, idea, screenplay or other projects that is trapped in development and takes an especially long time to start production or never does.