Lesson 2

• Narrative
• Higher Education (degree)

Have you watched any documentaries this week?

THE CORE

Really think things through. Look long and hard and persistently at the major problem: THE CORE. What is crucial is THE CORE — Kazan

Finding the core

The first problem of the writer/director/filmmaker is to determine what his core is to be. This direction gives unity to the whole script. Your first job is to find the centre (core) for the work. The more integrated this centre is, the better the script/film. All else devolves from this.

Questions to ask yourself:

- What is the story really about?

- What does it mean in you?

- What does it awaken in you?

- How does the script affect your soul?

- In short, what is your relationship as an artist to the material, the script.

A phrase that will guide you...

The study of the script/subject matter should result in a simple formulation that sums up the play in one phrase, a phrase that would be a guide for everything the director does. She begins with the simple words: For me, this play is about…” 

The phrase should define the essence of the action that transpires on screen; it should reflect what is happening, what the characters are doing. It must imply effort, progression, transition, MOVEMENT. The concept must imply not only the events, but the plays mood and colours, it’s emotional landscape and form. It is to serve as the key to the production, what will give it unity.

Vietnam War

In this lesson, we'll watch the introduction to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's Vietnam War documentary series. We will try to find out what the core of this sequence is.

Have a pen and paper. Take notes as you watch. 

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Can you tell me what the core of this sequence is? What it is about?

I believe it's the artist's responsibility to lead people into hell, but I also believe it's important to lead the way out - Ken Burns

Structure 

 Keep rearranging structure until it works. Everything is itself an arc. Within a sentence that you write, there's an arc to the sentence. Within a paragraph or a comment by someone, there's an arc. A scene has its own arc. A collection of scenes within an episode have their arc.

Is there an arc in the introduction? How did the filmmakers' achieve this?

Embrace the laws of storytelling. Whether you’re making a documentary or writing a feature film, every filmmaker is under the power of the laws of storytelling.

Let's examine another sequence and figure out how the storytellers use another storytelling convention to capture the audience's attention...

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Hook the audience 

Hook your audience immediately. The beginnings become the most artful, the most challenging, the most critical moments of the film. It's the first note. How do you strike that strong note that invites your viewer into what you're going to do?

But how? Any ideas how this sequence hooks the audience?

Keep them watching

Keep them watching by holding back information. 

Storytelling telling is the art of making sure the audience wants to know what happens next. 

In other words, when you are writing/editing, provoke their interest and then cut away. 

Now it's your turn... 

Write/plan an introduction for a short documentary that you are currently working on...

Can you hook your audience immediately? Hit that first note.

Can you keep them watching by holding back information/make them want to know what happens next?