Textbook- Chapter 2

NOTE: DUE TO WEB DIFFICULTY THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN DISPLAYED IN IT'S ORIGINAL FORMAT.

Chapter Two:
Making Films For YOU

STEVEN SPIELBERG:
THE MOVIE MAN

Below is an except from a biography about Steven Spielberg

“In the fickle world of cinema, there are very few names you can splash across a billboard to ensure a film's financial success… but there's only one sure-fire guarantee - Steven Spielberg. As a director, he's the most successful of all time. His films have been so popular, so consistently entertaining, that people rush to see anything tagged as A Steven Spielberg Production, even movies he merely financed. No one else has muscle like that. No one else ever has. “

And what is it that makes Steven Spielberg such a well-known Writer/Producer/Director?

WAR OF THE WORLDS
JURASSIC PARK
E.T.
MEN IN BLACK
THE HAUNTING
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
BACK TO THE FUTURE

Or in other words, the big names, big special effects and big stories. But Spielberg wasn’t always the great filmmaker he is today. He started out in pretty much the same way as you are. And the most important area of filmmaking is something that he excels in:






HEY, MR. PRODUCER!

If you want to get to the big times, there is only one way to do it. Movies are not as competitive as they used to be, so you need to strive to be the best!

You should start, as most films do, with a story. Whether you are adapting a story already written or writing one yourself, the story is the basis for your film.




A good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. If you need to, draw a plot line, a “road map” to your story. Write down what happens at the beginning of your story, the events that build up to the climax, or the critical turning point, and the end. Here is a plot line diagram:

TRY IT!
Write your own story down on a plot line! Be sure to at least include a beginning, a middle and an end.




Now that we have our story, we need to write a film script, which is a script for the position of the camera as well as the actors. There are two parts to a film script:

MISE-EN-SCENE Which is the total area of the scene.
MISE-EN-SHOT Which is what actually appears on the camera in each shot.


LET’S MAKE MOVIES

Using our film-script, we can divide our movie into shots—pieces of a movie. What happens in between shots is the most important part of a moving. This includes changing camera angles and positioning and preparing a special effect for the next scene.




Take a look at this sample film script:

A small wooden door opens, and out comes TANNER who walks down the path. The camera pans over to see KATY, sitting on the walk.

TANNER
Been waiting long?

KATY
Long enough.

KATY gets up and starts to stumble around. She falls into TANNER’s arms.

CUT TO:

HEAD SHOT- TANNER

TANNER
Are you alright?

CUT TO:

A WIDE SHOT, TANNER is still holding KATY.

KATY
Ugh. I’m doing the sleep deprivation tango.

CUT TO:

WIDE SHOT-BEHIND. KATY stands up and sits down again. TANNER turns TOWARDS the camera.

TANNER
Up all night again?

KATY
Talking on the phone.

TANNER
With?

KATY
Yes, with (TANNER starts to smirk) and wipe that look off of your face, it wasn’t anybody you know.

TANNER
Well, I don’t mean to pry-

And we
CUT TO:

HEAD SHOT- TANNER. He most definitely IS going to pry.

TANNER
-it seems to me that if you were up that late it must be something important.

KATY
(smirking) And how late was I?

TANNER
4:30 AM, I called.

KATY
Ooh, that makes it clearer now.

TANNER
So what was it?

DISSOLVE TO:

HEAD SHOT- KATY

KATY
I’m going to be going to college!

TRY IT!
Before you read below, try to guess what each part of the script means. Why is it formatted like this? How could it be changed? What if you only wanted to change the camera angle?


LET’S ANALYZE!

1. The italicized text is part of both the mise-en-scene and mise-en-shot. When it says “Scene Change” it means the mise-en-scene will be different, but the mise-en-shot changes every time you see…
2. CUT TO: or DISSOLVE TO:. These are cues to change the shot. CUT TO: is a very quick, barely noticeable change, whereas DISSOLVE TO: merges the shot before and after the command together for a gradual transition.
3. Text is centered below the name of the person speaking and is in normal font.
4. WIDE SHOT- generally means the entire mise-en-scene can be viewed.
5. HEAD SHOT- generally means that you only see the person’s head.
6. EYES SHOT- generally means that you can only see the person’s eyes.
7. Remember that each film script is different, and these are only generalities.