Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Reading Assignment

The reading assignment for this term is to read 4 books or 800 pages. Whichever you prefer. The two requirements for book eligibility are that 1. the book have over 40,000 words, and 2. the book be approved by me.

I am instituting this assignment because 1. Lyman has low reading scores, and 2. We have lost the 20 minutes of reading each day that we had last year.

Since I know that many of you have busy lives outside of school, I am providing in-class time for you to read. We will read during class on Mondays and Fridays. This plan has been endorsed by Mary Thrasher, the district's reading consultant.

To get credit for your reading you need to fill out a Book Report Sheet.

Make sure you pick books that you will enjoy.

Since I am providing in-class time for this assignment I am going to require that you finish a book and turn in a book report on these dates:

Book 1: November 16

Book 2: December 7

Book 3: December 21

Book 4: January 11

Late book reports will not be accepted.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The Essentials of Argument Structure

An argument is:

A claim with reasons to support the claim.

In the music video "Fat," the big guys accuse Weird Al of not being fat. Weird Al makes the claim that he is fat and gives them reasons to support his claim.

Reason 1

My zippers bust, my buckles break,
I'm too much man for you to take.
The pavement cracks when I fall down
I've got more chins than Chinatown

Notice that these reasons are pretty small time. They are easily refutable. After all, haven't all of us broken a zipper or a buckle at one time or another? Thus, we have the jab. It's a small flurry of reasons, meant not so much to convince the reader as to tenderize him/her.


Reason 2:

Well, I've never used a phone booth
And I've never seen my toes
When I'm goin' to the movies
I take up seven rows



These reasons are more convincing. Especially the one at the end. It would be pretty impossible for anyone to take up seven rows unless he or she were truly fat. Thus, we have the cross punch. Jabs have only the weight of the arm behind them. the cross punch has the weight of the whole body.


Reason 3:

When I walk out to get my mail
It measures on the Richter scale
Down at the beach I'm a lucky man
I'm the only one who gets a tan
If I have one more pie ala mode
I'm gonna need my own ZIP code



This is the final blow. There's no way to get out of this reasoning. Science backs up Weird Al's claim with the Richter scale, and the government is backing him up with the promise of a zip code.

Save the best reason for last and knock your opponent flat.

Note that essay structure very closely follows dramatic structure. There's a protagonist (the writer) and the antagonist (the audience). The protagonist starts with small conflict (reasons) and escalates to larger conflicts (reasons).

In summary:

When you start an essay think of a claim, and reasoning to back it up. Start with the smaller reasons (the jabs), go to the bigger reasons (the crosses), and end with the best, most irrefutable reason you have (the upper cut).

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Dialogue Exercises

From: CHARACTER MAKES THE STORY
By Sol Stein

Dialogue is a foreign language, different from whatever language a writer has grown up using. It can make people unknown to the writer cry, laugh and believe lies in seconds. It is succinct, can carry a great weight of meaning in few words, and, above all, it is adversarial. That doesn't mean shouting. Adversarial dialogue can be subtle. It also has modes that are akin to pitches in baseball, fastballs, curve balls, sinkers. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Here's an Elmore Leonard character propositioning a woman with a curve ball: 'Let's get a drink and talk for a few days.' A sinker is useful for comedy: 'Are you going to let go of me, or shall I scream and let the neighbors see you in your undershirt?'

Characters reveal themselves in dialogue best when they are under stress and blurt out things they never meant to say.

What counts in dialogue is not what is said, but what is meant.

Dialogue is not at all like recorded speech. Evidence: Court transcripts are recorded speech, and awfully boring.

Exercises:

1. "Writers get a great weight of meaning in few words"
Go through your script. Remove half the words from each dialogue line without losing any meaning.

2. Curve ball: 'Let's get a drink and talk for a few days.' A curve ball is when the audience thinks it knows where a line is going, but is surprised by where it ends up. Go through your script and put in a curve ball.

3. Sinker: 'Are you going to let go of me, or shall I scream and let the neighbors see you in your undershirt?' A sinker is when a character pitches a line in such a way that the antagonist is unable to hit it back. Go through your script and put in a sinker.

Benchmarks We've Covered This Term

For your viewing pleasure, following are the benchmarks we have covered during the term.

1. When we were doing critical thinking bell work we covered these benchmarks:

Reading Benchmarks:
10.1.A.1: Uses context to understand figurative, idiomatic and technical meanings of terms.
10.1.A.2: Extends general and specialized reading vocabulary.
10.1.A. 3: Understands writing techniques used to influence readers.
10.1.A.4: Understands the philosophical assumptions and basic beliefs underlying an author's work.
10.1.C.4: Analyzes techniques used to convey viewpoints or impressions.
10.1.C.5: Uses discussions with peers as a way of understanding information.
10.1.C.6: Uses text features and elements to support inferences and generalizations about information.

Writing Benchmarks:
10.2.A.4: Evaluates own and other's writing.
10.2.A.6: Writes expository compositions.

2. When we did story sheets as bell work we covered the following benchmarks:

Reading Benchmarks:
10.1.B.2: Analyzes the use of complex elements of plot in specific literary works.
10.1.B.5: Understands the effects of author's style and complex literary devices and techniques on the overall quality of a work.

Writing Benchmarks:
10.2.A.1: Uses a variety of prewriting strategies.
10.2.A.1: Uses a variety of strategies to draft and revise written work.
10.2.A.4: Evaluates own and other's writing.
10.2.A.5: Uses strategies to adapt writing for different audiences and purposes.
10.2.A.7: Writes fictional, biographical, autobiographical, and observational narratives.
10.2.B.6: Organizes ideas to achieve cohesion in writing.

Viewing and Media:
10.4.A.1: Uses a range of strategies to interpret visual media.
10.4.A.2: Uses strategies to analyze stereotypes in visual media.

3. When we learned story structure, outlined, wrote and revised our screenplays we covered the following benchmarks:

Reading Benchmarks:
10.1.B.2: Analyzes the use of complex elements of plot in specific literary works.
10.1.B.3: Knows archetypes and symbols.
10.1.B.4: Understands how themes are used across literary works and genres.
10.1.B.5: Understands the effects of author's style and complex literary devices and techniques on the overall quality of a work.
10.1.B.6: Understands relationships between literature and its historical period, culture and society.
10.1.B.7: Makes connections between his or her own life and the characters, events, motives and causes of conflict in texts.

Writing Benchmarks:
10.2.A.1: Uses a variety of prewriting strategies.
10.2.A.2: Uses a variety of strategies to draft and revise written work.
10.2.A.3: Uses a variety of strategies to edit and publish written work.
10.2.A.4: Evaluates own and other's writing.
10.2.A.5: Uses strategies to adapt writing for different audiences and purposes.
10.2.A.7: Writes fictional, biographical, autobiographical, and observational narratives.
10.2.B.1: Uses precise and descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas.
10.2.B.3: Uses a variety of sentences structures and lengths.
10.2.B.4: Uses a variety of transitional devices.
10.2.B.6: Organizes ideas to achieve cohesion in writing.
10.2.C.1: Uses the parts of speech accurately and effectively in writing.
10.2.C.2: Uses conventions of language in written compositions.
10.2.C.3: Uses commonly confused terms in written compositions.
10.2.C.4: Uses standards format in written compositions.

Viewing and Media:
10.4.A.3: Understands the connection between context and values projected by visual media.
10.4.A.4: Understands how images and sound convey messages in visual media.
10.4.A.5: Understands effects of style and language choice in visual media.

Monday, October 22, 2007

It's the Final Countdown

I've been impressed by the quality of the stories you've put out. Structure-wise, they are better written than a lot of the writing I saw in graduate school.

The term ends on Friday. 70 percent of your grade hangs on how well you do on your screenplay. You have Monday through Friday to complete your screenplays and polish them.

Today I am emailing all of you my commentary on your screenplays. I have the computer lab reserved for Monday through Friday. Take advantage of this time. If you don't feel like you can complete your work at class, I strongly suggest that you do some work at home.

Friday is the absolute final day you can turn in your polished screenplay. That's not my edict, it's the school district's. Please refer to the rubric to see what I will be grading on. It's a good idea to do a self-evaluation against the rubric before turning in your screenplay.

I look forward to reading your work.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Analysis Sheet

Name:

Period:

Analysis Sheet

Write the protagonist’s name.


Summarize the protagonist’s goal.






Write the antagonist’s name.


Summarize why the protagonist and antagonist are in conflict.






Summarize the protagonist’s dramatic need.










Go through the script and mark when the scene changes without a location line by writing “LL” next to where the location line should be.

Go through the script and mark with an “A,” the places where action lines slip into the heads of the characters.

Go through the script’s action lines and find the places where dialogue lines should be located but are not. Mark these places with a “DL.”

Summarize the three escalating events from the screenplay

1.





2.





3.





Find the place where the protagonist fulfills his/her dramatic need. Summarize 1. What ACTION the protagonist takes to fulfill his/her dramatic need, and 2. What SACRIFICE is required for the protagonist to take that action.

1.








2.

Screenplay for Analysis

The Librarian

INT: LIBRARY - DAY

Lippy, a librarian, scuttles down an aisle of books. She’s thinking about where she should place a book in her hands.

She passes by an eight year old boy. He’s reading a book. Ohhh, I’m going to get this kid, she thinks.

She walks up to the kid.

LIPPY
Now young man, you know you aren’t allowed in
the adult section of the library.


BOY
But there’s nothing good in …

LIPPY
No lip from you, sonny. Get out!

She throws the boy out. He tumbles down the outside steps of the library.

Lippy growls and adjusts her glasses.

LIPPY
Now to get that book where it belongs.

She walks down another aisle and runs into a short man with glasses a mustache. He’s reading the same book the little kid had been reading. She looks hard at the short man and then grabs the book out of his hand.

The man jumps back. He’s thinking, oh no, she caught me. Lippy snatches the glasses off, revealing the little boy. He snuck in again! She chases him around the library, upstairs downstairs, through the museum. And finally she catches him.

She takes him by the ear and throws him out the door.

LIPPY
And don’t you come back!

INT: LIBRARY – NIGHT

The library is empty. LIPPY walks down another aisle and finally finds the shelf for her book. But it’s way high up. She stands on her tip toes, but still can’t reach. She climbs up the book shelves.

Suddenly the shelves start to teeter.

LIPPY
Oh no!

The shelf tips over and dumps books all over her. An especially large book falls last, knocking Lippy on the head. Her eyes close. She’s unconscious.

A man walks by. He’s very tall. He has glasses and a mustache.

MAN
(in an unusually high voice)
Are you OK?

Lippy doesn’t answer because, of course, she’s knocked out and unconscious people can’t talk.

The man takes off his pants, revealing long stilts underneath. Then he whips off his glasses and mustache. It’s the little boy!

He jumps down from the stilts and takes the books off of Lippy.

Lippy’s eyes flutter open. Where am I?

BOY
Are you OK, Mrs. Librarian?

LIPPY
You saved me!

The boy blushes.

BOY
It was lucky I walked by when I did.

INT: LIBRARY CIRCULATION DESK – NIGHT

Lippy signs a card and hands it to the boy. The card says

CARD
ADULT LIBRARY CARD

The little boy smiles at her. He places a book on the counter. It title says:

BOOK
Great Librarians Throughout the Ages.

Lippy beams at the boy and runs the book under the scanner.

The End.





Monday, October 15, 2007

Screenplay Rubric

Though I already passed these out three weeks ago, I am posting the rubric for the screenplays here. Remember that the screenplay is worth 70 percent of you grade (if you want to remember why, go to the syllabus). So take a look and decide how you think your work stacks up. As always, I'd be happy to help you improve your screenplay. We still have another week for you to revise your screenplay in class.

You can increase the size of the image by clicking on it.





Friday, October 12, 2007

Rough Drafts Due Wednesday

Rough drafts of your screenplays are due Wednesday, October 17 at the end of class. We will have the computer lab during Wednesday's class, but not Tuesdays. If you are pretty far behind, I'd suggest you work on your screenplays at home. Especially since 70 percent of your grade hangs on how well your screenplay works out. (Don't worry, we will critique the screenplays and have a week to revise them. So your rough draft will only have to be rough.)

Remember that we're shooting for the 7 page mark.

Make sure to email your screenplay to yourself so you have it at school.

I look forward to reading your stories.

Method behind my madness

A student asked me an interesting question the other day.
"What in the world does screenwriting have to do with me passing PAWS and the SAT next year?"
It's a good question.

I have a philosophy of teaching that is different from most. What I see going on in most English classrooms is teachers presenting stories to their class and saying, "Lo, here is a perfect story sent to us from on high. Praise it." And then the class needs to write about characterization this, setting that, language the other thing.

So the students are always consumers of literature. The literature is always above them waiting to be worshiped.

I have a different approach. I want to make all of you into producers of literature. I want you to be writers before you become analyzers. I want you to experience, first hand, what it's like to write a creative work. I want you to take it from conception to outline to draft to finished product. Once you have done that, you will know what it's like to be a writer.

As writers yourselves, you can approach literature as a fellow craftsman rather than as a worshiper. You know what it's like to write a story. Thus, you can use your own experience to analyze it. Because you KNOW what it's like to create a story. You've done it.

Instead of assuming that the story in front of you is perfect and needs only praise, you can actually look at the writer's craft and tell what is working and what isn't. And believe me, from time to time, I'm going to give you some lame stories to read. I'll expect you to be able to say, 'This is a lame story," and be able to back up your assertion with good, craft-founded evidence.

It's kind of like me and cars. I barely know how to open the hood of my car. I have only the vaguest notion of what goes on inside the engine. The only way I could tell the difference between a Kia Sephia engine and a Ferrari engine is by what name is printed on it. I can only use engines; I have no idea to how construct them. So if you made me try to analyze engines, I wouldn't get too far. I'd probably just parrot back what the teacher said.

However, if I actually learned to build an engine, if I made one of my own, I'd be able to analyze engines much better. I could tell when one wasn't working. I could tell how powerful an engine was. I'd know better how to fix an engine

That's what we're doing. We're building engines.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Screenplay format

Screenplays are different from essays, novels or short stories in that they are used exclusively as directions to the shooting crew and actors. Therefore, all the language in a screenplay is visual. In other words, it tells us what we can see on the screen. It does not tell us thoughts or attitude. Only what we can see.

There are three elements to screenplay format:

1. The Location Line. This line appears whenever the scene changes. It tells us three things:
A. Whether we are inside or outside.
B. What kind of place we are at.
C. Whether it is daytime or night time.

For example, if the scene is in Billy Bob's Bowling Alley during a league tournament we could write:

INT: BILLY BOB'S BOWLING ALLEY - NIGHT

If the scene is at a water park we could write:

EXT: WATER PARK - DAY

The location line is used whenever the scene changes. It is written in ALL CAPS.

2. The Action Line tells us what we see on the screen. It does not tell us what the characters are thinking, it does not tell us what their goals are. It only tells us what we see.

For example, for the scene in the bowling alley we might write this:

LuAnne holds a pink bowling ball up to her mouth. She breathes on it three times and then mutters something lovingly into one of its finger holes.

Or if we are writing a scene at the water park, we might write:

Shay takes a running start and jumps cannonball styles into the wave pool. A giant splash goes up, soaking a pair of girls sunning themselves on the deck. They scream.

Notice that neither of these two lines tell what the character is thinking or what their goal is. That is because action lines are visual. The action lines, well written, can convey a character's attitudes.

3. The Dialog Line is for letting the actors know what they should say and (when its important) how they should say it. The name of the speaker is always centered, and the speech itself will have three inch margins on both sides.

For example, we could write some dialog lines for LuAnne at the bowling alley:

LUANNE
(whispering to bowling ball)
Go to glory on guilded wings my little rolling man.

Or the recently wetted girls could have their say:

GIRL
Who did that? Whoooooo did that!

These are the three elements of screenplay format.

1. The Location Line
2. The Action Line
3. The Dialog Line

For an example of how they work together to make a screenplay, CLICK HERE.

Some tips to get you started

Today we're starting on our 7-page screenplays. You should have already put together a "Dramatic Need Story Sheet" during class to guide your writing.

If you're having a hard time thinking of what to write:

1. Take out your Dramatic Need Story Sheet.

Look at #7: Scene Setup. A. Is it inside or outside? B. Where does it take place? C. What time of day is it? D. What is the character doing?

Use A, B, and C to write your location line:

INT: SMALL LAME APARTMENT - NIGHT

2. Now use D to write your first action line:

Mike, twenty something, unshaven, take a black t-shirt out of a closet filled to the gills with black t-shirts.

3. Now look at your first event. What does the character do? Write it down using action lines. Remember, these are instructions to the shooting crew and the actors. So write visually.

He turns the phone off and drops it on the table as he plunges to his top dresser drawer. He digs around and finally comes out with a spiky leather collar. He inspects the spikes and finds one that doesn’t meet with his standards. He licks it and polishes it with his shirt.

4. Do any of the characters say anything? Put it in a dialogue line:

MIKE
(growling Zombie style)
Luna, Luna, Luna, you will be mine soon-ah.

Now just keep following your Dramatic Need Story Sheet. Translate what it says into visual language.

If you want to see what a screenplay looks like, CLICK HERE.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

A story with a dramatic need

Today we put together stories that with a protagonist that has a dramatic need. A dramatic need, you remember is something that is broken about the protagonist's heart. An internal part of the protagonist that needs changing. The dramatic need is usually in conflict with the protagonist's surface goal.

In one class we made a story about a truck driver who is obsessed with getting as many miles and as many jobs as he can. We decided that a guy who is obsessed with his work probably tends to ignore his family. So we made his dramatic need to make room in his life for his family.

Thus, the antagonist is the truck driver's family. They will be working against the truck driver's goal of getting a lot of miles. However, their actions against his goal will work toward his dramatic need. This is the dual nature of the antagonist in the drama: he or she works against the protagonist's goal but for his/her dramatic need.

We brought him through through three events on the Dramatic Need Sheet. In the first
event, he says goodbye to his family to go on a long haul. The kid reminds his dad that his musical presentation at school is coming up, and thenpeppers him with so many questions that he makes the truck driver late getting started.

So, the kid worked against the truck driver's goal of getting a lot of miles, but he also started the truck driver on his way to fulfilling his dramatic need to spend more time with his family.

In Event #2 the truck driver takes another job at the end of his route that will keep him away for much longer than he had anticipated. That night on the phone, his wife tells him that their baby took her first steps today. This awakens the truck driver to the reality that he's missing out on his family, and that he wants to be with them. He loses sleep that night worrying about his predicament, and the next day he doesn't driver as far because he's so tired.

Once again, the family worked against the driver's goal, but now he realizes that he really wants to be with his family. A step in the direction of fulfilling his dramatic need.

Event #3 is where we show the change in the protagonist. The protagonist has to show his change through action. We do not believe characters who merely say, "From now on I will pay more attention to my family." They need to actually do something about it. In fact, they need to sacrifice to fulfill their dramatic need.

So we put gave the truck driver the very thing that will fulfill his goal: a job with double pay. But he has to take it now, and he will have to miss his son's musical performance. With this decision we will see what the truck driver really values: the money, or time with his family.

A powerful story will face its protagonist with two things that he really really wants, but he will have to choose which one he wants. It is in this way that we see what his character truly is and if he fulfills his dramatic need.

In this case, we decided that not only did the truck driver not take the job, he also drove all night to make it home in time. We see through this action that he has fulfilled his dramatic need.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Dramatic Need

Today we began to learn a little bit about "dramatic need."

A dramatic need is a part of the protagonist's heart that is broken or immature. The purpose of the story is to help the protagonist fulfill his/her dramatic need. In other words, to help the protagonist fix what is broken or to mature in a particular way.

We approached the concept of dramatic need by watching "Ausreisser" (which is available on iTunes for $2). If you haven't watched it yet, go do so. I don't want to ruin the ending for you.

The story is about Walter, a man who is approached by a little boy who claims to be his son. The man rebuffs all the boy's attempts at a father/son relationship, constantly on the lookout for a way to get rid of the kid. Eventually Walter finds out that he really IS the boy's father. He also finds out that the little boy he has been rebuffing all this time was actually the little boy's ghost who came to lure Walter to his comatose body. At the boy's bedside Walter undergoes a change of heart.

The protagonist has the dramatic need

It was difficult at first to get a hold on who was the protagonist. Many in the class argued that the little boy was the protagonist because he had a stronger goal than Walter did and was more active. This was a good argument.

However, the one thing that set Walter off from the boy is that Walter experienced the greatest range of change. In other words, he was the one with the dramatic need. The boy only had a goal (to lure Walter back), Walter had a goal and a dramatic need.

Walter's dramatic need was to make room in his heart for a son he had abandoned long ago.

Dramatic need is often in conflict with the protagonist's goal

What interesting about a dramatic need is that it is often in conflict with the protagonist's goal. Walter was only interested in getting rid of the little boy, but in order to fulfill his dramatic need, he had to become a willing father to the boy.

Revelation of the Dramatic Need usually comes late in the story

However, Walter was not aware of this. Protagonists are rarely aware of their dramatic need until very late in the story, usually because they are too interested in obtaining their goals. Usually the audience isn't aware of it until later in the story as well, for the same reasons.

The Antagonist often works against the goal, but FOR the dramatic need

Walter was the protagonist, and the little boy was the antagonist. He was constantly thwarting Walter's goals. However, the little boy was also helping Walter, little by little, to fulfill his dramatic need. Antagonist's often play this dual role in dramas: they work against the protagonist's goal, but toward the protgaonist's dramatic need.


The above schema shows how a dramatic plot works. Notice that the goal is on top (as usual) but the dramatic need is on bottom. The protagonist is working to obtain his/her goal, while the antagonist works to keep the protagonist from his/her goal. However, each event pushes the protagonist closer and closer toward his/her dramatic need.

Dramatic need is the key to a great story

The dramatic need is what separates OK stories from great stories. We're willing to root for someone with a goal, but we're willing to feel with someone who has a dramatic need. Mainly because there's a lot more at stake. Someone with only a goal only has the goal to lose. Someone with a dramatic need is often dealing with something much more important. Their own soul.