Digital Storytelling Generating ideas for digital short films

Beginning the Story Concept Process Screenwriting is more like architecture than it is a whoosh of sudden creative inspiration that magically pours out over the pages. The first step to making a short film involves finding a great original idea to develop into a script.

Beginning the Story Concept Process 1.Who is the main character in your short film? 2.What does your main character want to achieve? 3.What types of themes are you interested in exploring? 4.What makes your idea original? 5.Are you sure this is a film idea you would love to see?

The Most Important Thing 1.What is the goal of telling a good story? 2.What is the primary goal of any film, play, novel, song, TV show, video game, or animation?  The first and primary goal of a filmmaker is to evoke a series of strong emotional responses from the audience throughout the entire story.  You engage the audience when you tell the truth emotionally based on your own experiences and original insights about life in you film.

The Most Important Thing  Review the emotional impacts of your favorite films. 1.What did you feel when you were watching them? 2.When you go to the movies, keep an eye on the audience. See whether you can get an emotional read on how involved they are in the story. 3.Films that don’t do well usually fail to evoke any emotion at all.

Basic Story Structure  Here is the basic structure of a story. It is a story about a protagonist (lead character) who wants something (goal) that forces him to take action. He meets with an escalating array of conflicts (obstacles) leading to a final climax and resolution. Almost all films use this structure, and the trick is finding an original approach. You need to understand the rules first to break them effectively later.

Basic Story Structure oCharacter. The actions and reactions of your characters drive the plot forward. Characters create their own realities as externalizations of their inner worlds in a sense. oPlot. The series of events that happen in the story to the characters. oTheme. Invisible underlying universal - controlling idea, moral message, concept, emotion, issue, essence, or soul of a story. oConflict. Obstacles that stand in the way of the protagonist in achieving his or her goals. oInteraction. Characters interacting, connecting, and disconnecting form other characters, ideas, or things.

Basic Story Structure oIdeally, you want your audience to be laughing out loud, crying out in surprise, biting their fingernails, worrying about the characters, jumping out of their seats with joy, recoiling in fear, screaming out in terror, feeling at one with the universe, or exhausted form all the activity. These reactions are harder to achieve than you might think. oHow can you wrap your film idea around strong universal emotional charges?