http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/anatomy.php
David Bordwell is a Professor at University of Madison, Wisconsin.
Friday, October 16, 2009
A Brief History of Hollywood Dramaturgy and Modern Screenplay Structure
Hollywood's love of a rigid structure in screenplay writing did not materialize out of thin air. Where did all those plot points, mid-points, three-act structures come from? The journey is an interesting one. It is a tale that wanders over time and borders.
While most dramaturgy stems from ancient Greece, there is a more specific track to follow to arrive at modern American screenwriting.
The seeds were sown in France. Alexandre Dumas (Dumas pere) - 1802-1870 was a prolific writer of literature and plays. He got the idea of employing 12 writers to help him get all his ideas down on paper and, therefore, was party to the first "writing factory".
His son, Alexandre Dumas (Dumas fils), continued the concept and started a wave of so-called "Boulevard comedies" in Paris. They encompassed an attempt at a finding a common structural direction.
We move north to Norway where Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), Norway s greatest writer, was profoundly influenced by both Dumas Pére and Dumas Fils - both creatively and structurally. Together with Bjoernstjerne Bjoernsen, another Norwegian writer, they worked together on structuring plays into a form we recognise today.
August Strindberg (1849-1912), Sweden s greatest writer, was influenced by the direction being taken across the border. He, in turn, influenced Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) to the east in Russia.
All these northern developments were closely followed by an Englishman, William Archer. He was so taken with the nordic writers and their work that he taught himself the Scandinavian languages, in order to read the plays and novels in their original form. Around 1900, Archer published a book called "Playmaking". In it, he polished up the various points and presented a playwriting structure that was clear and concise.
Sailing across the Atlantic, we make a stop at Yale, where George Pierce Baker (1866-1935) was teaching theatre. He took Archer s book to heart and made further adjustments in finding the optimal playwriting structure.
Among his students was Eugene O Neill (1888-1953), one of the most respected writers in America s literature history. O Neill learned a great deal from Pierce Baker and ended up starting his own theatre group, called the Provincetown Players. They were an experimental bunch. Their influence on traveling theatre groups who toured the countryside was strong. Through their work, the movement towards a common dramaturgy, started a century before in Europe, was nearing completion.
They implemented the same structure in their traveling shows, in order to present different stories within the same framework, therefore making them more accessible to the audience.
With the advent of cinema and the rise of film as an art form, the movement towards a broad-reaching dramaturgical structure makes a quick stop back in Europe, in Copenhagen, at Nordisk Film Studios.
Nordisk, the oldest film company in the world today, controlled the lion s share of the world s film market in the years between 1906-1914. The Golden Age of Danish Cinema. Films were cranked out at a dizzying pace using, more or less, a screenwriting framework laid out by all the aforementioned people.
After the First World War, Hollywood gained strength and, no doubt influenced by the factory system laid out in Copenhagen by Nordisk, started the move towards the domination we know today.
The dramaturgical structure inherent in most Hollywood films was fine-tuned over the years until reaching the point at which we now find ourselves: The three-act structure, the plot points, the time-frame and suchlike pandemonium.
© Mikael Colville-Andersen 2006
While most dramaturgy stems from ancient Greece, there is a more specific track to follow to arrive at modern American screenwriting.
The seeds were sown in France. Alexandre Dumas (Dumas pere) - 1802-1870 was a prolific writer of literature and plays. He got the idea of employing 12 writers to help him get all his ideas down on paper and, therefore, was party to the first "writing factory".
His son, Alexandre Dumas (Dumas fils), continued the concept and started a wave of so-called "Boulevard comedies" in Paris. They encompassed an attempt at a finding a common structural direction.
We move north to Norway where Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), Norway s greatest writer, was profoundly influenced by both Dumas Pére and Dumas Fils - both creatively and structurally. Together with Bjoernstjerne Bjoernsen, another Norwegian writer, they worked together on structuring plays into a form we recognise today.
August Strindberg (1849-1912), Sweden s greatest writer, was influenced by the direction being taken across the border. He, in turn, influenced Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) to the east in Russia.
All these northern developments were closely followed by an Englishman, William Archer. He was so taken with the nordic writers and their work that he taught himself the Scandinavian languages, in order to read the plays and novels in their original form. Around 1900, Archer published a book called "Playmaking". In it, he polished up the various points and presented a playwriting structure that was clear and concise.
Sailing across the Atlantic, we make a stop at Yale, where George Pierce Baker (1866-1935) was teaching theatre. He took Archer s book to heart and made further adjustments in finding the optimal playwriting structure.
Among his students was Eugene O Neill (1888-1953), one of the most respected writers in America s literature history. O Neill learned a great deal from Pierce Baker and ended up starting his own theatre group, called the Provincetown Players. They were an experimental bunch. Their influence on traveling theatre groups who toured the countryside was strong. Through their work, the movement towards a common dramaturgy, started a century before in Europe, was nearing completion.
They implemented the same structure in their traveling shows, in order to present different stories within the same framework, therefore making them more accessible to the audience.
With the advent of cinema and the rise of film as an art form, the movement towards a broad-reaching dramaturgical structure makes a quick stop back in Europe, in Copenhagen, at Nordisk Film Studios.
Nordisk, the oldest film company in the world today, controlled the lion s share of the world s film market in the years between 1906-1914. The Golden Age of Danish Cinema. Films were cranked out at a dizzying pace using, more or less, a screenwriting framework laid out by all the aforementioned people.
After the First World War, Hollywood gained strength and, no doubt influenced by the factory system laid out in Copenhagen by Nordisk, started the move towards the domination we know today.
The dramaturgical structure inherent in most Hollywood films was fine-tuned over the years until reaching the point at which we now find ourselves: The three-act structure, the plot points, the time-frame and suchlike pandemonium.
© Mikael Colville-Andersen 2006
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Universal Releases Official Synopses For 2010 Slate, Gives Good Look at MacGruber and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/10/13/universal-releases-official-synopses-for-2010-slate-gives-good-look-at-macgruber-and-ridley-scotts-robin-hood/
Friday, October 9, 2009
Oh, that explains it...
VIDEO: Scientists Discover Celebrity-Groupie Brain Cells
http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/scientists-discover-celebrity-groupie-brain-cells-2009-10-09/28214D08-5E87-4770-B022-5E51621D25C9
http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/scientists-discover-celebrity-groupie-brain-cells-2009-10-09/28214D08-5E87-4770-B022-5E51621D25C9
SONY SHUTS DOWN DEVELOPMENT...but there's hope at Bruckherimer's!
With studio belt-tightening the way of the world today, producers are finding alternative sources of funding to buy the projects that interest them. Variety reports that Jerry Bruckheimer is quietly securing a three-year, $20 million development fund through Barclays Bank. The news comes just as The Los Angeles Times reports that Sony Pictures is all but halting spending on development until April 1, the start of its next fiscal year.
To continue reading, follow the link below:
http://www.hollywoodwiretap.com/?module=news&action=story&id=41190
Thursday, September 24, 2009
In Response to People Who Don't Believe Me
When I was college, I had the extreme pleasure (*Note of Sarcasm*) of taking a Statistics class for Humanities majors. I never understood why Humanities majors needed to take statistics, but I was told it was for research purposes. I didn't believe it until I started looking at what research opportunities were available out here. If you want to research in Hollywood, here is one of the very few opportunities you will have to research. In my 6 months of job searching and becoming fairly acute to the job scene, this is further proof to myself why I want to go into development more than research. And now I understand why Dramaturgs/Humanities majors should take stats classes...
Job Title: Research Analyst
This is an independent contractor position with opportunity for growth.
Overview:
Satisfy audience and other research-based information needs for OnDIRECTV, DIRECTV HD and DIRECTV Sports (DIRECTV Channels). The Research Analyst will be responsible for the day-to-day monitoring of DIRECTV Channels performance and will provide insight in the development of business strategies, tactics, scheduling best practices and program development.
Job Description:
Reporting to the General Managers of OnDIRECTV and DIRECTV Sports (CA) and the Market Intelligence Unit (NY), this individual will be part of the research team supporting DIRECTV Panamericana programming, marketing and advertising sales functions.
Daily Responsibilities include:
o Analyzing DIRECTV and content provider daily ratings performance.
o Producing a variety of on-going reports and analyses which monitor DIRECTV Panamericana and key content provider performance to guide programming and marketing strategy.
o Work closely with the executive team on special request projects for Programming, Advertising Sales and Marketing.
o Assist Marketing Intelligence in the development of Channel, Program and Demographics-based reports and tools, both qualitative and quantitative.
Experience/Skills Required:
o College degree required.
o Strong analytical skills.
o Experience in a television research environment.
o Experience or aptitude in Industry-standard research software. Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
o Well-versed in mathematics; basic statistics knowledge is a plus.
o Strong Writing skills.
o Ability to summarize and extract relevant conclusions from raw data.
o Detail-oriented.
Spanish language ability a plus but not essential.
Job Title: Research Analyst
This is an independent contractor position with opportunity for growth.
Overview:
Satisfy audience and other research-based information needs for OnDIRECTV, DIRECTV HD and DIRECTV Sports (DIRECTV Channels). The Research Analyst will be responsible for the day-to-day monitoring of DIRECTV Channels performance and will provide insight in the development of business strategies, tactics, scheduling best practices and program development.
Job Description:
Reporting to the General Managers of OnDIRECTV and DIRECTV Sports (CA) and the Market Intelligence Unit (NY), this individual will be part of the research team supporting DIRECTV Panamericana programming, marketing and advertising sales functions.
Daily Responsibilities include:
o Analyzing DIRECTV and content provider daily ratings performance.
o Producing a variety of on-going reports and analyses which monitor DIRECTV Panamericana and key content provider performance to guide programming and marketing strategy.
o Work closely with the executive team on special request projects for Programming, Advertising Sales and Marketing.
o Assist Marketing Intelligence in the development of Channel, Program and Demographics-based reports and tools, both qualitative and quantitative.
Experience/Skills Required:
o College degree required.
o Strong analytical skills.
o Experience in a television research environment.
o Experience or aptitude in Industry-standard research software. Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
o Well-versed in mathematics; basic statistics knowledge is a plus.
o Strong Writing skills.
o Ability to summarize and extract relevant conclusions from raw data.
o Detail-oriented.
Spanish language ability a plus but not essential.
Monday, September 21, 2009
What Did You Think About "District 9"?
I've heard lots of mixed reviews, so I'd like to know what you thought about "District 9" before I say a whole lot more.
But also, I found this article by the BBC titled:
Nigeria offended by 'District 9'; asks Sony for apology
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8264180.stm
But also, I found this article by the BBC titled:
Nigeria offended by 'District 9'; asks Sony for apology
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8264180.stm
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