Film Directing 104: Script Analysis II
/LEVEL 100 blogs are for film students and first-time directors taking on the directing role for a short film. The series is designed to help and guide new filmmakers through the director’s prep duties, pre-production activities, and principle photography dynamics.
Script analysis fundamentals for the writer/director
As a director, you are the main storyteller of a filmmaking team. It is your job to evaluate and assess a story in order to determine its appeal and feasibility.
Imagine reading a story that you know nothing about. Like every first-time reader, you are the audience for that story and your first reading of it is a completely unique experience. Did the story work? Did it make you feel something? Did you know where it was going?
It is the director’s responsibility to discover potential flaws in the story. It’s also up to the director, in conjunction with the producer, to suggest or initiate script changes that will improve the story at hand.
Here’s the deal. If you’ve written the story yourself, it may be difficult to honestly assess and evaluate it.
If you’ve never written a story or a short film screenplay, writing something good can be a very stressful undertaking.
Good storytelling is a challenge.
Good scripts are gold.
As the director, you have to be able to step back and detach from the script in order to exam it properly. Though it may be intimate and personal for you as the writer, as the director you have to wear a different hat.
You have to ask the hard questions. You need to investigate, to dig deep and find the flaws or holes in the story. You also have to look beyond the script and find the wonder and the possibilities in transforming the story from words into pictures.
The basic building blocks of good storytelling are as follows:
The inciting incident
Rising complications
Climax
Resolution
It doesn’t get more bare bones than that. This isn’t a writing blog - but a good director needs to know good storytelling.
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In film school, more often than not, you will be tasked with writing your own script. As the writer of the story, you still need to do a script analysis from the director’s perspective. Because of your writerly knowledge of the story, taking on the role of the director can cause additional problems.
One of the greatest challenges for the beginning writer/director is to “get out of their own way.”
When you have written the script that you are going to direct, there is, seemingly, very little mystery to the story. You know the characters. You know the story dynamics, right?
Your personal connection to the material can be intimate. Your reason for making the film can be personal. For some, it can all be perfect and precious.
When beginning your script analysis on a script that you have written, try working through the following questions:
Why are you interested in telling this story?
What do you bring to the story and the characters?
Have you told the story with clarity and precision?
Have you organized the story in an interesting way?
Does the story have opportunities for visual storytelling?
Does the story have a proper narrative structure?
Does your story have a twist? Is there a surprise in store for your audience?
A clear narrative situation gives the audience an opportunity to develop expectations about the characters, the story, and the story outcome.
In the end, every award-winning short film has to satisfy the audience’s expectations in a surprising and unexpected way.
You DO NOT want your audience to be ahead of the story. If they can correctly predict the outcome for your characters, you have lost them.
While the situation and setup has to be clear, the inevitable outcome should not reveal itself.
If it’s a surprise for the audience, you will be successful with your short film.
Short films are powerful in their ability to twist a plot and surprise an audience. Without the audience knowing the length of the film, the director can snap them into tears or laughter with the final scene, a final line of dialogue, or a final shot.
Visually crafting a short film that satisfies a wide audience is a matter of balancing anticipation and surprise.
Remember this: you will work just as hard to make a bad film as you will to make a good one.
Good films start with a good script.