BART 97A95 - Experimenting with Film Narratives - a collaborative screenwriting Workshop

In this workshop we will learn the basics of screenwriting and acquire the skills necessary to write a screenplay for a short film, through individual and collaborative work. We will read and analyze existing scripts as well as watch various scenes of independent world cinema. Each couple of sessions will be dedicated to exploring an element essential to cinematic language, such as character, dialogue, image and sound. The workshop will end in a reading-presentation of short screenplays written by the participants. Academic expectations By the end of the semester, students will be expected to: Familiarize with different approaches to narrative and fiction film writing. Develop writing skills necessary for screenwriting. Experiment with writing a short film.

Aaron COHEN-YANAY

Atelier

English

BIBLIOGRAPHY LONG MÉTRAGES Design For Living, Ernst Lubitsch (1933) La Ciénaga, Lucrecia Martel (2001) Night On Earth, Jim Jarmusch (1991) Certain Women, Kelly Reichardt (2016) Stray Dogs, Tsai Ming Liang (2013) Sans toi ni loi (Vagabond), Agnès Varda (1985) Hotel Mekong, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2012) Ten, Abbas Kiarostami (2002) Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, Chantal Akerman (1975) Love Streams, John Cassavetes (1984) Nope, Jordan Peele (2022) My Own Private Idaho, Gus Van Sant (1991) The Dam, Ali Cherri (2023) Angels In America, Mike Nichols (2003) COURTS MÉTRAGES Saute ma ville, Chantal Akerman (1968) A Wedding Suit, Abbas Kiarostami (1976) Ce répondeur ne prend pas de messages, Alain Cavalier (1979) Peel, Jane Campion (1986) Le passeur, Daniel Arbid (1999) Cherries, Vytautas Katkus (2023)

Spring 2024-2025

- Participation in class discussion 10% - Submission of three written assignments: 45% total, 15% each - Final assignment: a short screenplay of 10 minutes (group work of 2 to 3 students): 45% Late work policy Late assignments will not be accepted. Late arrival policy Once the workshop has started, late arrival only with justification.

Session 1 : Introduction to screenwriting. The importance of the screenplay, different approaches to narrative fiction. Writing for the camera. Basic notions of film directing. Reading a screenplay. Identifying the fundamental elements of screenwriting. Session 2 : The scene Historical background, the Greek Tragedy. Unity of time and space. Watching and analyzing short and long scenes, with or without dialogue. The notion of the Cut. Editing. Representing scenes from everyday life on the screen. 1st assignment: writing an “everyday” scene. Adapting an ordinary event into screenplay language. Session 3 : The scene cont' Reading and collective feedback of assignments. Notions of character, dialogue, dramatic tension, conflict. Watching and analyzing excerpts from Ten, Kiarostami and Night on Earth, Jarmusch. Session 4 : The character What do we expect from a “main character”? Psychology vs. praxis. Critical approaches to the question of identification. Watching and analyzing excerpts from: Design for Living, Lubitsch and Certain Women, Reichardt. 2nd assignment: Writing a character description. Session 5 : The character cont' Reading and collective feedback of previous assignments. Watching and analyzing the short films: Saute ma ville, Chantal Akerman and Le passeur, Daniel Arbid. Session 6 : The short film. Screenplay structure. The opening scene. Notions of premise, synopsis, treatment. The concept. Watching and analyzing the short film Cherries, Vytautas Katkus. In-class exercise: writing a short film synopsis. Session 7 : The dialogue. Different approaches to dialogue. Notions of realism, surrealism. Improvisation. The danger of being informative vs. the need of information. Watching examples of different styles of dialogues: Love Streams, Cassavetes and Sans toi ni loi, Varda. 3rd assignment: Writing a dialogue, confronting your character with an unusual situation. Session 8 : The dialogue cont' Reading and collective feedback of assignments. Notions of comedy vs. drama. Looking for the tension in the scene. Directing a dialogue. Deciding on a common theme for group work. Session 9 : the unspoken How to translate the invisible to the visible: representing thoughts and emotions in film. Watching examples of scenes without dialogue: Stray dogs, Tsai Ming Liang and The Dam, Ali Cherri. In class exercise: Writing a scene or a series of scenes with no dialogue. Session 10 : Sound and image. The importance of sound. IN/OFF dialogues. The voice over. Camera movement, shots, rhythm. Watching and analyzing excerpts from: Hotel Mekong, Apitchapong and La ciénaga, Martel. Session 11 : The limits of the screenplay. Session dedicated to in-class group writing and reading. What are the problems facing the screenwriter. The life of a screenplay. Different adaptations. Session 12 : Presentations of group work. Readings: each group will present a directed reading of their short screenplay.