Impressions

So far this year, the TV1 course has run slowly enough for new members of the industry can become aquainted with the basic practices and conventions surrounding the field of script-writing.

We have looked at everything from a script-to-screen approach to script analysis and vice-versa; to deconstructing eachothers synopsis, some of whom have never written anything in their lives before; to highlighting the key factors of a good script.

I have found that whilst this approach at times has been somewhat dull (I can't remember the number of times now I have had the fundamentals of narrative drilled into my head), I have appreciated the opportunity to explore some of the other ideas that Christine and Paul have presented during the lectures.

One in particular this week that caught my eye was the idea that as a writer, you are in charge of the rules of your universe, the one you re-create within your script. It is up to you whether or not your character walks to work or drives but either way, whatever you chose becomes "the rule" for that character and from that point on, that becomes that character's routine.

Christine was discussing this particular idea in reference to Big Tree, a short film written by two RMIT students whose script we analysed and whose film we then watched. In it, the tree swallows each item of paraphenalia the boys throw at it. The "rule" in this universe is that for whatever reason, the tree eats the toys and that is that.

Obviously in this script a little explanation would have gone a long way in regards to why the tree is able to make cricket bats and balls disappear but the writers must have decided to leave that for another day.

In my script, I will need to remember this idea of their being an order and a way in which my universe is run so that I do not confuse my audience as the writers did in Big Tree.