Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

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  • Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

    Hi everybody!

    I like to introduce you a Screenplay-Construction-Sheet (PDF format) which I made. It took me 5 years to do it and it relates on studying tons of movies in the last 5 years. It's about structure, sequencing, character development in connection with the a-story... and much more. No book about screenwriting will give you this informations you will find in this sheet.

    The sheet is about 6 feet wide and about 4 feet high. I personally believe this sheet is an good approach to learn more about the craft because reading this sheet is not like reading a book about screenwriting, it's like watching a movie while I explain the construction of this movie, the character development and more things that happens in this movie.

    Download one of the files onto your computer. Open it with Adobe Reader. Study it. Become enlightened. You don't need an dropbox account to download the file - click beside the little login window when it opens up than it will disappear and you can start the download.

    Edit: It's now an e-book: http://movie-structure.blogspot.de


    If you don't mind I would like to have a discussion about this sheet.
    Thanx
    Last edited by Hans Gruber; 12-20-2017, 02:34 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

    Is there a way to add extra whitespace for more thumbtacks, yarn, and old newspaper clippings with the headlines circled in red magic marker?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

      Originally posted by Staircaseghost View Post
      Is there a way to add extra whitespace for more thumbtacks, yarn, and old newspaper clippings with the headlines circled in red magic marker?
      Yarn!?! This sheet is an instruction to structure a screenplay and not to knit socks.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

        It's funny, someone posts a document he/she thinks is a screenplay construction sheet and no one even took the time to challenge him or anything. How boring.

        I would say it is good to read as much as you can and look at as many of these construction sheets that you can, what they say is not useless but it's not the key to a great story either. If there was a museum that housed every failed amateur script ever written, I bet also a lot of those tried to follow the same construction.

        To really write something that is a 'page turner' something that resonates and entertains its reader, you need to be a master of tension. You need to know how to set -it up, know how to add wrinkles throughout, and know how to pay it off. Your whole second act should be written under a cloud of tension. Tension escalates, eases up, then escalates to new heights. Giveth and taketh away.

        It's not easy to write tension well. You need to create a real dilemma, that means stakes on both sides (that we care about) and a winner and a loser. You need to create one of those and then write the story behind the outcome you see. Not easy stuff to do, well.

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        • #5
          Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

          Holy jebus has anyone actually looked at this thing??

          It reminds of the notebooks in Se7en.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

            Hi Cyfress,

            thanx for your post. You are right, a sheet is not the key to a great story. I changed it into Screenplay-Structure-Sheet. It just shall be a help to structure a story and explains how a story can function. I can't teach somebody how to write a good story. You are a storyteller or u r not. It has to do with talent. The same is for drawing a picture. You can draw or u can't. You can't learn it - well, to a certain degree u can learn it but if you don't have talent, a gift, u will not become a good painter. But there are possibilities to structure a story.

            Hi slupo,

            there is a new update. I had to change some things over the weekend.

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            • #7
              Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

              Originally posted by slupo View Post
              Holy jebus has anyone actually looked at this thing??

              It reminds of the notebooks in Se7en.
              you say that like it's a bad thing. John Doe finished his list like a boss

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                Originally posted by slupo View Post
                Holy jebus has anyone actually looked at this thing??

                It reminds of the notebooks in Se7en.
                Oh, 100% it's a color-coded murderwall for sure.

                The danger with screenwriting gurus is that they sell you on the fantasy that there's this simple, easy to grasp formula that will let you bypass those irksome hard work and raw talent things. But there's no reason to get worked up about that happening when the "formula" is TimeCube-esque in its incomprehensibility, hence the initial flip reaction.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                  I took one look and deleted. It was far too convoluted and confusing to follow.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                    Originally posted by Staircaseghost View Post
                    murderwall
                    murderwall.

                    Originally posted by Staircaseghost View Post
                    The danger with screenwriting gurus is
                    The second sentence in this sheet: "This is just an example about what you can learn about classic Hollywood movie structure by studying movies instead of reading idiotic screenwriting guru books." "Take hands-off of screenwriting guru books."

                    Well...

                    Originally posted by wsaunders View Post
                    I took one look and deleted. It was far too convoluted and confusing to follow.
                    Below NOTE it says: "Start to read this sheet left side at the middle where it says JAWS START TO READ HERE." "Studying this sheet is like watching a movie while I explain how this movie is built." Live can be so easy.

                    BTW: One look isn't enough to study physics. This is just a movie I gave you in form of letters. It's very easy to understand. Just give it a try. It's not so complicated like a physics formula.
                    Last edited by Hans Gruber; 02-16-2016, 04:12 AM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                      The size of this map makes it extremely difficult to read. You have to zoom in to read just one tiny part of it. I'd need a full-size hardcopy pinned to a wall (or several walls) and maybe a week to figure it out before any of it makes sense.

                      Applause for the effort that must have went into this, but low marks for execution -- it's not very usable in its current form.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                        Hi dpaterso,

                        thanx for your feedback. The point is the sheet should be read like you are watching a movie. I think I know the problem. The monitor. I have a 27 inch monitor. I can see a lot on it. I will think about it how to make a version for a smaller monitor.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                          i think it's cool. But i do agree with the others in that you need to figure out a way to make it a little more "bite size". Because it does look somewhat intimidating as it is now. Anyway, thanks for sharing and good luck with your project.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                            bjamin,

                            I will find a way to make it "bite size".

                            This is what you see on 27 inch monitor - readable:

                            http://img5.fotos-hochladen.net/uplo...by186dakpv.jpg

                            This is what you see on 15 inch monitor - readable:

                            http://img5.fotos-hochladen.net/uplo...s1o3dvycrn.jpg

                            We need a bigger boat / monitor.
                            Last edited by Hans Gruber; 02-16-2016, 10:08 AM.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Screenplay-Construction-Sheet

                              Screenplays are like snowflakes, Hans. They have a lot of the same characteristics. All snowflakes are white and they are made from water. Yet, every snowflake is also different. It has a unique shape and pattern to its crystals.

                              All screenplays hold the same story elements, there will be exposition in every story that ever gets written. Writing it well is a different story.

                              Because at the minute mark XYZ of Blood Diamond this happens, means nothing. Every story has its own DNA.

                              As a writer, usually in the drama esque genres, you get ten pages to show the characters life in homeostasis That doesn't mean he sits on the couch and eats potato chips, homeostasis can be that he works two jobs and going through a divorce. You need to create an event or somekind of momentum that brings the character's life out of homeostasis. What the character wants is for his life to return to normal, to do that he has to resolve this event or momentum that has shifted the variables in his life into new directions. What he needs and doesn't know it yet are the changes that will come as a result of warring against this force that interrupted his life.

                              In the course of executing the story you will use screenwriting tools like character, plot, setting, theme, exposition, backstory, reversals, set-ups/payoffs, etc.

                              edited to add:

                              Its not so much about when something is introduced in a script, but how. How did the writer work it in, how was it set-up, how was it executed? Not so much when, the when of events is determined by the story. The writer is a slave to the story. A good mid point reversal, or a ironic up and down ending may come to you in the shower or in the car. You know the when of this event, question is how do you get the reader their in a way that makes the event in your head impactful. The climax to a whole movie can be the 'turn of a door knob'. That simple action can send movie goers out of he theatre just baffled yet satisfied. Strong Expositional moments should appear to you during your combing of the script over and over. You should come across moments where saying, the hero had a wife that died or kids he didn't speak to, can fit perfectly and not raise the exposition antennae of readers. Don't ever create a scene who's sole purpose is to deliver backstory or exposition.
                              Last edited by Cyfress; 02-16-2016, 11:42 AM. Reason: added

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