Class Writing and Experimentation

In this curricular unit we proceed to an in-depth study of writing processes for cinema,
investigating and problematizing contemporary concepts and practices. At the same
time, scriptwriting experimentation practices.

I. Introduction: scriptwriting
1. Vocabulary and concepts
2. Cinema and narration
3. Classic cinematic narrative
4. Narration and subjectivity: the point of view
5. Scriptwriting’s construction structures
6. The paradoxes of the screenwriter:
Robert MacKee's ideas and the film «Adaptation»
II. How fiction works: scriptwriting and experimentation
1. Aristotle's poetic theory and Ricoeur's triple mimesis
2. Figures and boundaries of fiction
3. Scriptwriting as research
4. Scriptwriting: beyond the edge
5. Case studies: analysis and research
III. Scriptwriting idea - image and sound idea
1. The bases of the short film

An expository development of the issues will be made, with illustrations, views, readings and
debate. Under the supervising of the Professor, students will be asked to develop oriented
experimentation practices, taking scriptwriting as a form of research. The students also will
develop an initial idea for a short film, from sound and visual point of view.

— Aumont, Jacques (2018). Fictions filmiques: comment (et pourquoi) le cinema raconte des
histoires. Paris: Vrin
— Branigan, Edward (1984). Point of view in the cinema: a theory of narration and subjectivity
in classical film. New York: Mouton
— Dancyger, Ken; Rush, Jeff (2007). Alternative scriptwriting: successfully breaking the rules.
Oxford: Focal Press
— Gaudreault, André; Jost, François (1990). Le récit cinématographique. Paris: Nathan

— Macdonald, Ian W. (2013). Screenwriting poetics and the screen idea. New York: Palgrave
— Méranger, Thiérry (2007). Le court métrage. Paris: Cahiers du Cinéma | les petits Cahiers
— Oulipo (1988). Atlas de littérature potentielle. Paris: Gallimard
— Perec, Georges (1978). La vie mode d’emploi. Paris: Gallimard
— Price, Brian (2017). Classical storytelling and contemporary screenwriting. Londres:
Routledge
— Ricouer, Paul (1983). Tempo e narrativa. Tomo I. São Paulo: Papirus Editora
— Wood, James (2008). A mecânica da ficção. Lisboa: Quetzal