FEEDBACK TO IN-CLASS TEST 1 - Results sent via - For individual feedback, office hours on: Thursday 22 March pm Wednesday 21 March pm Thursday 29 March pm

U64006 INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING WEEK 7 Screenplay paradigm (4) and film genres (2): Krevolin's 15-step plot in neo-noir Case study – Se7en

4 MODELS Field’s 3-act paradigm (Aristotle) Vogler’s 12-step hero’s journey 7-step pattern (comedy) Krevolin’s 15-step pattern (simplified) Traditional crime thriller (3-act structure) Complex internal patterns

KREVOLIN ’ S 15-STEP PATTERN (simplified, 12 steps) U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level ACT 1 (lean and tight) 1-10 Setup  establish theme and tone. What ’ s the film about? (p.7) Story established  dramatic problem / stakes up  audience ’ s emotional involvement Protagonist prevented from acting Plot/turning point #1  reversal/twist  NEW direction (p.29) i. Decision to act ii. Changes the protagonist ’ s life iii. Related to AL  first, failed confrontation w/antagonist force

KREVOLIN ’ S 15-STEP PATTERN (simplified, 12 steps) U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level ACT 2 (longest, explore characters and relationships) Subplots (B, C, D stories etc. established and intertwined) i) affect love interest, best friends, parents (RLs) ii)linked to AL but not driving force Complications on the road to achieve goal Never let up, a “ pinch ” every 5-10 pages (up and downs, fast and slow) 60 Midpoint. Breather after big confrontation (high point), but won ’ t last (soon will lead to lowest point) The world starts to crumble i) subplots come into play or play themselves out ii) pushing down protagonist Plot/turning point #2  Lowest point (all is lost) i) revelation (epiphany) / realization (catharsis)  further decision, (re)action  driving force for change ii) affects rest of protagonist ’ s life (for better of for worse)

KREVOLIN ’ S 15-STEP PATTERN (simplified, 12 steps) U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level ACT 3 (ties up all loose ends, always building, very tight) Build up of tension i) chase or battle scenes ii) resolution of many subplots ) Big Climax i) final danger (dead or alive) VS antagonist ii) final resolution (of dramatic question) ) Epilogue, hero rewarded (money, love) 120) THE END

PRIMING PATTERN Narrative Vs. Narration (Story Vs. Plot, Fabula Vs. Syuzhet) Traditional “closed” narrative (film) Setup, Disturbance (call to adventure), Delays (hero not ready, training, mentor figure), Protagonist accepting challenge, Trials and Complicating Actions, Major turning points, etc. Cognitive dramaturgy of film beginnings  crucial, due to sequential nature of narrative Setup: possibilities and probabilities governing fictional world Opening sequences stage and direct inferences/ hypotheses/ expectations U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level

PRIMING PATTERN Cinematic narration  process of perception / cognition  psychological impact (emotions) Filmic text (cinematic grammar – images and sound) Textual elements perceived (initial information; stimulus 1) Cognitive scheme activated (narrative/cultural frames of references) Textual elements processed  inferences/hypotheses made Expectations determined  facilitate/inhibit subsequent information (stimulus 2, etc.) Perception = goal oriented  i.e. actively seeking next batch of info (not passively waiting for it) U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level

PRIMING PATTERN Priming (or primacy) = non-conscious memory  ability to identify/produce/classify items/information based on previous encounters/experience Opening sequence(s)  PRIMING pattern Establish characters, setting, story elements  events expected Establish aesthetic code / style of film U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level

ANALYSIS OF SE7EN  Act 1  Set-up (minutes 1-7):  Big city  Main characters: two detectives - one older (Somerset, Freeman), meticulous, skeptical, close to retirement; the other (Mills, Pitt) young, new in town, ambitious  Inciting incident (minute 9): Somerset’s (Freeman) supposedly last investigation, ghastly murder of an obese man  Somerset suspects a serial killer, the captain does not  Mills reassigned to another case (inexperience)  Will they give up (#1)?  Mills’s first case: murder of attorney (new plot?)  Discovery of the words Greed and Gluttony  Somerset and the serial killer, theory of the Seven Deadly Sins [PATTERN], VS the captain, refuses the case (age) (climax Act One, 24 mins in)  Will they give up (#2)?  Mills and Somerset working separately  Mills at home, disorganized, frustrated  Somerset in the library, methodical, notes on Mills desk U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level

ANALYSIS OF SE7EN  Act 2  Tracy (Mills’ wife) invites Somerset to dinner, truce, the two work together again  New victim (Victor) and new word: Sloth  Mills does not control his emotions and reacts against a reporter; Somerset calms him down  Tracy and Somerset: Tracy’s fears, pregnancy  Idea, FBI tracks readers’ reading habits: found a name, Jonathan Doe (hook, 68 mins in)  Doe’s apartment and chase  Doe spares Mills’s life (Act 2 climax - midpoint, 73 mins in)  Apartment searched, books, photos of all victims, no fingerprints  Sex parlour victim: Lust  Somerset and Mills nursing a drink: defeatist worldview of S. Mills does not buy into it (plot point end of act 2 – anticlimax, 93 mins in) U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level

ANALYSIS OF SE7EN  Three-act structure typical of detective story genre BUT  Pattern (Seven Deadly Sins) create a sub-structure within each single act that allows the writer to play with expectations and motivate the characters’ actions  Act1- Greed, Gluttony (pattern set, expect 7 murders)  Act2- Sloth, Lust, Pride (almost caught, almost dead, dead end)  Act3- Envy, Wrath (vs expectations)  Ending: reversal of roles (through use of AL and RL)  Killers becomes a victim  Detective becomes a killer  Multiple levels: ethical, emotional, personal, social values (good VS bad) U64022 Screenwriting: Advanced Level

HOMEWORK FOR WK 8 SEMINAR - Watch/Analyse “The Silence of the Lambs” - Prepare presentations (booked students) - 3-Act structure - Internal patterns (including all relationship lines and dynamics, role reversals, symbolism) - Characters LECTURE - Watch “Pulp Fiction”, “Memento”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Mulholland Drive”(?)