how writing affects acting
DESCRIPTION
From a Performance in Film and Videogames class at University of Calgary.TRANSCRIPT
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How Writing Affects Acting+ Myth and the Hero’s Journey
No Country for Old Men (Cohen Brothers, Writers) The Counselor (Cormac McCarty, Writer)
Robert McKee / Joseph Campbell
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Three Tips on Writing Characters for the Screen
1. Leave room for the actor. 2. Fall in love with all of your characters.3. Character is self-knowledge.
Robert McKeeStory: Style Structure Substance and the Principle of Screenwriting
Screenwriting
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Javier Bardem as Anton Chighur
No Country for Old Men, Cohen Brothers, Writer/Directors)
• Based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy
Javier Bardem as ReinerThe CounselorMcCarthy/Scott, Writer/Director)
• Based on McCarthy’s own novel.
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Spike Jonze Writer/Director• Her: Love in the Modern
Age 2013 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
• Other writings; Jackass TV Series, Where the Wild Things Are.
• Directed Her (2012), Adaptation (2002)
Clip 1:04:00
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Joseph Campbell Scholar and Writer
Myth -- basically serves four functions. 1. The mystical function, experiencing awe
before the mystery of being.2. A cosmological dimension showing one
the shape of the universe in a way that the mystery comes through.
3. The sociological one – supporting and validating a certain social order
4. But there is a fourth function of myth …
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Fourth Function of Myth
4. The pedagogical function. By establishing rites of passage into critical stages of life (or through a “story"), myth provides guideposts and beacons to serve as a reminder that there is a purpose. This is to allow a sense of comfort in the entire process, as the individual remembers that he is not the first not the last to embark upon this Hero’s Journey.
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Protagonist’s Quest (McKee)/Hero’s Journey (Campbell)• The protagonist’s quest carries him through Progressive
Complications until he’s exhausted all actions to achieve his desire, save one.
• His quest takes him to a crisis decision. His next action is his last. No tomorrow. No second chance.
• This turning point is the moment of greatest tension in the story as both the protagonist/hero and audience sense that the question, “How will this turn out?”
Writing and Hero’s Journey
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Apocalypse Now Story Structure
Escalating Action Plotline Schematic (From McKee)
Willard’s Quest(Spine of the Story)
What’s at Stake? Progressive Complications.
Unconscious Object of Desire?
X Inciting Incident Getting his assassination orders
X Crisis Decision (Turning Point)
X Get on the Boat – With Consequences
X Get off the Boat -- Consequences
X Get off the Boat -- Consequences
Do I fulfill my orders or not? Kill him or join him?
X Get off the Boat -- ConsequencesX Get off the Boat -- Consequences
X ClimaxKilling Kurtz
X Escalating Actions
X Resolution“The Horror, The Horror.”
Conscious Object of Desire isTerminate Col. Kurtz
Freedom from the darkness of his soul?
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Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)• During the Viet Nam War,
Captain Willard is sent on a mission along the Nung River to assassinate the renegade Colonel Kurtz.
Martin Sheen as Cap’t Ben Willard, Marlon Brando, as Col. Kurtz