FEATURES
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Debra Chasnoff goes back to school with "Straightlaced"
In eighth grade, Debra Chasnoff was already a tall, attractive brunette with beautiful blue eyes, who yearned to be noticed by a boy named Sammy but he didn’t have eyes... more
NEWS
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Michael Lumpkin named new E.D. of International Documentary Association
Press release: "Independent film veteran Michael Lumpkin has been chosen by the Board of Directors of the International Documentary Association to lead the organization as its new Executive Director. Lumpkin... more
SEEN
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Sun shines on the wardrobe shed during the Civic Center-based filming of Milk in San Francisco this past year. After filling the Castro Theatre for the month, the film is... more
BLOGS
Based on a True... Nevermind
In the NY Times' Awards Season package, Dennis Lim's "Screenwriting Drafts of History" takes a look at the screenplays behind three political biopics: Milk, W. and Che. (Click each title for excerpts.) In profiling th...
[From The Latest from GreenCine Daily]
CALENDAR
Category: Beyond Words
Nature or nurture: Screenwriting takes time says Sebastopol-based writer Pam Gray.
Case studies in screenwriting: Pam Gray
Sebastopol-based screenwriter Pamela Gray’s approach to screenwriting is the literary equivalent of the slow food movement: she takes the time she needs to find her story, nurture it along, coax her characters into life, and find deep truths that don’t emerge through a formulaic approach.
topics: bay area, features, hollywood, independent film, screenwriting
moreThe dimensions of dialogue
To the novice screenwriter, dialogue is a maddening conundrum. It has to be spare but expressive, sound natural, fit the characters and allow for insights and revelations. The most skillful dialogue on film also achieves a structural dimension. It can shape the narrative just as surely as the plot does.
Dialogue can take any number of forms. It can become a map of the lead character’s emotional journey, a smokescreen for the plot to proceed behind or a storm cloud of oncoming disaster.
topics: bay area, filmmakers, how-to, screenwriting
more
The dimensions of dialogue
To the novice screenwriter, dialogue is a maddening conundrum. It has to be spare but expressive, sound natural, fit the characters and allow for insights and revelations. The most skillful dialogue on film also achieves a structural dimension. It can shape the narrative just as surely as the plot does.
Dialogue can take any number of forms. It can become a map of the lead character’s emotional journey, a smokescreen for the plot to proceed behind or a storm cloud of oncoming disaster.
[Editor’s note: This is first in a series for SF360.org’s Indie Toolkit devoted to the screenwriting craft, and it looks at how different uses of dialogue can alter the narrative blueprint of a film. Future articles will profile notable screenwriters, focus on new directions in narrative and reflect further on aspects of craft.]
topics: bay area, filmmakers, how-to, screenwriting
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