Page 147 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

Filmmaking and Screenwriting 105

Crafting Fiction Films

The students’ culminating project is to write a script and produce a film for
a larger audience. As fans of Stranger Things, one class and I focused on
suspense and the elements of suspense. First, we deconstructed the work of
master suspense filmmakers, such as Alfred Hitchcock, and then students
wrote the script for their suspense story, storyboarding the types of shots
necessary to convey the plot, conflict, and characterization. Lastly, students
went into movie-making mode.

Creating is a digital age skill, and the creation process is just as important as
the final product. When students are creating film projects and writing their
own scripts, designing the set, and making choices about lighting, sound,
and editing, they are demonstrating critical analysis, creative collaboration,
and multimedia communication. For ideas of projects that use these skills
beyond full-scale movies, see the sidebar “Visual Writing Projects.”

Writing a script for a film has its own specific format and requirements.
Like writing any good story, when creating a movie, students need a begin-
ning, middle, and end. Most importantly the story needs conflict to drive it.
Students have to create authentic characters that viewers empathize with.
It all begins with one thought, a seed, a spark, an overheard conversation,
and an idea is born. Yet a writer or filmmaker cultivates the idea, outlines,
drafts, and sketches the paths where the idea is to expand to reveal a story.
Students need to outline and sketch their ideas like real writers and artists.
Storyboards are great scaffolding tools to help students put their ideas down
on paper and unravel the threads of ideas that encompass their story.

When students get stuck writing and creating, we look at how other films ad -
dress similar ideas. When my students were trying to convey a sense of time
in their movie, we looked at how Disney Pixar’s Up (2009) uses time-lapse to
show the passage of time: Every morning Carl’s wife Ellie straightens his tie
before work. To depict their long life together, the shot zooms in on one tie,
then fast forwards through a sequence of many ties to suggest years passing,
until the camera pans out and Carl and Ellie are elderly. (Scan the Time-lapse
Example QR code, and fast forward to the 2:17 mark to watch this scene.)
Watching this clip together helped my students think about how they might
show time in a film. Time-lapse Example

Excerpted from Chapter 6, “Real-World Writing: Writing Skills to Succeed Beyond School.”

New Realms for Writing: Inspire Student Expression with Digital Age Formats 147