Screenwriting and Visual Storytelling
Writing for the screen and turning a script into images: how scripts move through development, premise, logline and theme, character want, need and arc, three-act, sequence and beat structure, short films and series, writing scenes with subtext, dialogue, screenplay format and software, visual storytelling with plants, payoffs and motifs, script breakdowns, shot lists, coverage and floor plans, storyboards, animatics and previs, and the business of screenwriting in the United States including copyright and US Copyright Office registration, options and chain of title, the WGA and Sundance labs, with a capstone short film script and storyboard.
FILM-210 Year 2 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 50 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Explain what a screenplay is, who reads it and how scripts move through development and production, and estimate running time from page count
- Develop ideas into premises, loglines and themes, and test them for protagonist, goal, conflict and stakes
- Build characters with a want, need, flaw, wound and earned arc, and design supporting characters by function
- Apply three-act, sequence and beat-sheet structure to features and shorts, compare alternative structures and diagnose structural problems
- Structure short films, series episodes, pilots and limited series, and explain how writers' rooms break stories
- Write scenes with a clear goal, conflict, turning point and subtext, entering late and leaving early
- Write dialogue that acts, reveals distinct voices and handles exposition economically
- Format screenplays to industry standard and use screenwriting software, including television formats
- Tell stories visually through behavior, objects, settings, plants and payoffs, motifs and sound
- Prepare script breakdowns, shot lists, coverage plans and floor plans, and estimate the cost and time of script choices
- Create storyboards in the correct aspect ratio with camera notation, and explain animatics and previsualization
- Explain copyright, registration, options, chain of title, guilds, development funding and AI rules in Canada and the United States, and complete a short film script with production documents
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 50 min total · final exam
- 1 What screenwriting is and how scripts become films 28 min · quiz
- 2 Idea, premise, logline and theme 29 min · quiz
- 3 Character: want, need, flaw and arc 27 min · quiz
- 4 Structure I: three acts, sequences and beats 28 min · quiz
- 5 Structure II: short films and series 30 min · quiz
- 6 Writing scenes 31 min · quiz
- 7 Dialogue 29 min · quiz
- 8 Screenplay format and software 29 min · quiz
- 9 Visual storytelling: writing for the camera 31 min · quiz
- 10 From page to screen: breakdowns, shot lists and coverage 30 min · quiz
- 11 Storyboards, animatics and previs 30 min · quiz
- 12 The business of screenwriting and capstone: writing and boarding a short film 28 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Writing for the screen and turning a script into images: how scripts move through development, premise, logline and theme, character want, need and arc, three-act, sequence and beat structure, short films and series, writing scenes with subtext, dialogue, screenplay format and software, visual storytelling with plants, payoffs and motifs, script breakdowns, shot lists, coverage and floor plans, storyboards, animatics and previs, and the business of screenwriting in the United States including copyright and US Copyright Office registration, options and chain of title, the WGA and Sundance labs, with a capstone short film script and storyboard.
Part of the Film & Photography stream, typically taken in year 2.