An effective script is the product of good planning and design. Although there are many ways to go about screenwriting, I think that if you want to produce a dynamic script that grabs the attention of your audience, then a script design plan will help you. Just as an architect makes his plan before trying to build a house, a screenwriter must come up with a plan or blueprint before making a movie.
A script design plan will allow you to accomplish the following:
1. Explore the general premise / controlling idea or the MDQ (the main dramatic question).
The MDQ is the question that is posed at the beginning of the movie and is answered in some way at the end of the movie. The MDQ spans from our hero’s journey and is subject to his moral choices, his battle with his inner demons, as well as his battle with the antagonist / villain.
Here is a rough example of an MDQ. “When a young Hobbit is tasked with the gigantic task of bringing a magic ring to a land ruled by a dark lord, will he fulfill his destiny and destroy the ring in the fiery volcano?” I think you get the idea here.
2. Plan, select and organize the arrangement of Key structural points in the script from start to finish.
Thesis Key structural points They contain scenes in which the hero faces some kind of challenge, such as a character conflict or an obstacle during his journey. Each level of conflict can be caused by one person or by the hero’s own internal frustrations or inadequacies. But regardless of whether these conflicts are small or large, they should always provide an opportunity for the hero to grow. Every scene in the script design plan should have some level of conflict leading up to The Finale.
Screenwriting Tip: Conflict is necessary for drama to be effective.
3. Design your script as a puzzle for the audience to solve.
The opening image sets the mood, genre, story, and hero of the film. From this opening image, the movie’s plot structure will begin to unfold. The design plan also helps the writer decide when to hide information from the audience and when it should be disclosed. A little bit of ambiguity is always good. Keeping your audience in suspense (while providing little gems of information every now and then) ignites their imagination. and keeps them nailed to the screen until the closing image.
4. Provide an overall structure that allows you to create individual scenes that build with intensity.
As you plan each scene within the design plan, you can decide when and where your intensity levels will take place (creating and increasing tension). Being able to create and develop a tension that captivates the audience is the key to a dramatic script and an award-winning film.
Good structure also allows your audience to follow the hero’s journey as it unfolds. An example of good structure is when the plot contains a set of successes and failures until the climax of the story and its final resolution.
Screenwriting tip: When you are creating your individual scenes, think about how you will engage the emotions of your audience. Strong action + strong emotion = a rewarding film experience.
5. Organize the character relationships and respond to the MDQ.
A design plan helps you decide how the hero’s primary and secondary relationships will intersect and develop. Once these relationships are classified, the MDQ can be answered. The main dramatic question is primarily solved by the hero, but it is also the villain and the other supporting characters that provide the action and conflict necessary for the hero to answer this question.
Besides the MDQ, there are other important questions:
Will the hero accept his mission?
How will the villain react to the hero when the quest is accepted?
How will the villain prevent the hero from fulfilling his mission?
Who will be the hero’s helper?
How will the hero react when the dark forces draw near and survive The Dark Night of the Soul?
Your script design plan will help you answer these questions before writing the actual script.
Of course, the hero will perform many actions during the course of the movie, and the antagonist will provide many reactions, but there is one overriding action that provides unity. The many actions and reactions (large or small) that take place during a movie should always point to the arched MDQ, the only major dramatic question the hero is trying to answer or the driving action that motivates him and determines everything that happens in the movie. movie.
6. Finish your script with a dynamic action and image.
When we think of the MDQ and the hero’s driving action, remember Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Frodo’s most important and dynamic action was reaching Mount Doom to finally destroy the ring. There were many events and great actions that took place during this movie, but it was this final action that would determine the fate of Middle-earth.
Of course, Gollum had an important role to play in the important and fascinating scene in The Return of the King. I find this scene (when Frodo arrives to destroy the ring in the Mount Doom fires) very interesting as it kept us in suspense. It seemed like maybe our hero wasn’t going to destroy the ring after all. If he didn’t complete his mission, who would respond to the MDQ? Someone has to do it! But with a little twist we still got our happiness forever and our answer.
Although the film was not over, this scene in which the ring is destroyed is one of the most dynamic in the film. Frodo had peaked in his character arc, and Sauron’s ring had finally been destroyed. The screenwriter had created a dramatic and pivotal scene and image, which will continue to endure as one of those iconic moments in history of cinema.
So how you organize your scenes, explore the MDQ, determine intensity levels, character actions and reactions, and the final script image will all depend on your script design plan.