Theoretical input on scriptwriting gathered by Anne Baraou (version 1.1) Introduction.........................................................................................................................3 1- Stories in general Definitions...................................................................................................................................... 4 Storytelling motivations............................................................................................................ 4 Means of storytelling.................................................................................................................. 6 Storytelling desires and needs................................................................................................. 6 Means to receive stories............................................................................................................. 7 Receptions...................................................................................................................................... 8 Some special cases of storytelling .......................................................................................... 9 Why so many stories everywhere and all the time?...................................................... 11 How are stories constructed?................................................................................................ 13 2- What is the main tool? What can’t we do without?.................................................................................................... 16 What do the characters in a story do?............................................................................... 17 Some useful notions................................................................................................................... 19 Character theories and classifications................................................................................ 25 Appendix : Useful needs, emotions, feelings and flaws................................................ 32 3- Beyond characters - More definitions Driving idea, basic idea, starting idea................................................................................ 35 Story world (or universe) concept....................................................................................... 38 The hook concept....................................................................................................................... 39 The concept of dramatic beats.............................................................................................. 40 Climax, acme............................................................................................................................... 41 Floppy belly................................................................................................................................. 41 The structure in acts................................................................................................................. 42 4- Speeches about storytelling...................................................................... 42 (Classifications, Narratology, Genette, Ricœur...) 5- Speeches about scriptwriting................................................................. 51 (Advice from various professionals) 1 6- Genres of story....................................................................................................... 73 Drama........................................................................................................................ 73 Nonfiction.................................................................................................................. 78 Fantastic-Fantasy-Poetic.......................................................................................... 89 Humor........................................................................................................................ 93 7- Dividing/Editing.................................................................................................. 108 Telling a story in a single image.......................................................................................... 109 Framing....................................................................................................................................... 110 Main camera effects................................................................................................................ 113 Offscreen..................................................................................................................................... 114 Rhythm........................................................................................................................................ 115 Digital particularity and multiple-choice stories.......................................................... 127 Regarding video games.......................................................................................................... 128 8- Dialogs Difference between heard dialogs and read dialogs.................................................... 131 What are the dialogs for?..................................................................................................... 133 Choice of words........................................................................................................................ 135 Errors and tips.......................................................................................................................... 138 Some strong links not to be overlooked........................................................................... 142 Silent storytelling..................................................................................................................... 144 9- Exercises....................................................................................................................... 145 10- Storytelling workshops Examples..................................................................................................................................... 149 Building a workshop............................................................................................................... 152 Soft skills..................................................................................................................................... 153 Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................154 Sources...................................................................................................................................154 2 Introduction “Theoretical work is a search for a theory. That work should absolutely never be confused with an actual theory.” Henri Meschonnic (French linguist, 1932-2009) Always be careful with theories and rules. The more you analyze stories, listen to pretended rules, learn theories, the more you can feel like you don’t have anything worthwhile to say (which is, remember, not the case at all). Getting older has the same effect. So never get old, that’s all. Then good bye! Oh wait, why did I agree to do this? Well, actually I’ve tried to bring together, within the limits of my current knowledge, a number of notions, theories, notes and examples that I would have liked to find more easily when I started as a writer. I’m going to start with the very beginning, but we’ll go fast. It’s just that, when you’re too focused on your own work, it’s never a bad idea to open your mind and also relax about what is exactly storytelling. There are only two things I ever taught: storytelling and sex education. They are similar in many ways. Both involve emotions, feelings, desire, skills, some natural tendency or predisposition but not really talent (for both, it’s more like the more you do it the better you get, at least usually). Everybody can do either. When you have health issues you go to see a doctor. When you have building issues you go to see an architect. When you have storytelling issues, you don’t go to see an English teacher! As well as, if you have love-making issues, you don’t go to see a professor of sexual studies. Also, both subjects started to be studied around the same period in history, when novels became a thing, and movies, and sex (or “love-making” in a proper romance). You can be attractive (you have good ideas) but unable to proceed or even not interested in having sex (I mean telling stories) frustrating people around you. You can be average, feel empty (I don’t have anything to tell) but actually find some way to do it very well. And again theories won’t help much for either of them. Ok, enough arousing, let’s focus on storytelling then. This, in no way, represents a research work or a “book” and it has not benefited from any professional proofreading (typographical, spelling or editorial). So feel free to send me comments or corrections ([email protected]). I chose, to lighten the whole, to use the neutral gender that we will take care not to read as a masculine one. This document is free of use. 3 1- Stories in general Definitions Narration comes from the Latin narratio (action to tell, to have known) derived from the older Latin gnarus (the one who knows, with its opposite ignorant, who doesn’t know). Its Indo-European root is gné (to know). Narration is a “detailed relation” or a “recital” of events as an “account” or a “sequence” of facts and actions. Story comes from the Latin historia, which comes from the Greek ἱστορία, which had a meaning a little