Dramatic Worlds at Anglia Ruskin

Posted on 30/10/2015 by Phil

BCre8ve Mentor launches new course module this month.

October sees the launch of a new level 3 module within the creative writing faculty at Anglia Ruskin University. Anglia Ruskin, in Cambridge, was started in 1858 by the famous art critic John Ruskin as the Cambridge School of Art, which is now part of a university with sites in London, Peterborough and Chelmsford.

The module is supervised by Judy Forshaw and Rick Harvey – a BCre8ive Mentor. BCre8ive Mentors provide support to creatives in order for them to develop their ideas and projects to work within the new digital transmedia spaces, with support from new funding options e.g. crowdfunding, and existing production companies.

Dramatic Worlds

Looking to expand provision beyond the bounds of conventional modules such as screenwriting and short fiction writing Story Worlds seeks to embrace the demand for transmedia storytelling. The module focuses on the creation of (Dramatic) Story Worlds.

Using the template- see Dramatic World blog – provided by BCre8ive, the aim is to enable students to create and build Story Worlds over a twelve-week period that can then be fed directly into the online initiative. The module has attracted an initial cohort of 27 students.

Although each student will create their own Story World (for assessment purposes), they are positively encouraged to form small interdisciplinary teams with students from other disciplines (music, fine art, animation, sound design) to replicate the Mash-Up and Workshop phases of development on the BCre8ive site – See collaboration blogs.

Posted in Creative Collaboration, Dramatic Worlds | Comments Off

Is Bond Really a Thriller?

Posted on 22/10/2015 by Phil

In the week of the new James Bond film ‘Spectre’ Phil Parker looks at the thriller genre and asks is James Bond really a thriller? This is one of a series of blogs I am writing on genre to help people understand how certain genre frameworks are essential to how audiences respond to narratives, especially screen narratives.

So what makes a thriller a thriller?

The following framework is based upon two sessions held with writers in London who wanted to workout what genre were in practice, not in theory, and how they might use them to create better narratives. It was a more difficult problem than any of us realised, but it was by focusing on what we thought were thrillers that we finally came up with something. The Bond films were amongst the films mentioned.

The Key elements which make a Thriller.

As with my other genre frameworks the thriller has primary and secondary elements.

The Primary Elements are as follows:-

The central active question focuses on a mystery, which must be solved.

This active question is normally established very early on in the narrative often in the opening sequence or immediately after the prologue. In thrillers an attack on someone or the death of someone is often the opening of the narrative. For example in the TV serial ‘The Bridge’ a body is found on the bridge at the very beginning of the opening episode. While in film the deaths at the beginning of ‘Bourne Identity’ or ‘Illustrious Corpses’. illustrate this point.

The central protagonist/s face death – their own or someone else’s.

The main character/s in a thriller inevitably confronts death always someone else’s, but often their own. Note in on-going series e,g, television detectives, or a film franchise, the central characters cannot die, so the death is normally focused on others. It is also the case that the thriller genre is one of the genre where though you may have a lead protagonist, they often operate as part of a team of two or more. Examples of this can be found in, ‘Seven’ and ‘Inspector Morse’.

3. The force/s of antagonism must initially be clever, and/or stronger, than the protagonist.

This is key to the notion of the narrative being thrilling. The protagonist must be confronted by an enemy who appears in the first instance to be clever, more skilled, and more powerful than the protagonist. It is this tension of how will the protagonist win, which keeps the audience engaged in the narrative. Think in terms of the murderer in ‘Jagged Edge’ or the drug dealers in ‘The Wire’.

A notion of innocence must be at risk.

This is normally represented by a character, but it may be an institution or way of life. In many thrillers it is a child, or the victim of a crime, who is seen as the innocent but it can be the whole human race as in the Thor’ film.

All action and characters must be credibly realist/natural in there representation on screen.

This is the essential boundary line between thriller, and horror. In horror the boundary of realism is crossed with spirits passing through solid walls etc. In thrillers we remain in the ‘real’ world no matter how fantastical or futuristic that may be e.g. ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Outland’.

6. Thematically thrillers centre around injustice, and the morality of individuals.

These two emotional themes are core to thrillers working. Each can be used though it depends on the type of thriller as to which is the most effective. In investigative thrillers the focus on the morality of individuals appears to be the dominant emotional thread e.g. ‘Spiral’ and ‘ The Maltese Falcon’. While in action driven thrillers it is more often focused on notions of justice e.g. ‘The Italian Job’ and ‘Speed’.

7. The Narrative construction is dominated by protagonist’s point of view.

This varies slightly depending on type of genre. In psychological, and conspiracy, thriller restricting the audience to the main protagonist’s point of view is critical to building suspense and the sense that the protagonist is in real danger in what is a very uncertain world. This can be seen in ‘Le Boucher’, and being deliberately exploited in ‘The Usual Suspects’. While in action thrillers and murder mysteries the audience is often shown things the protagonist cannot see or know about e.g. ‘Red’ and ‘MIss Marple’ stories.

8. The main story is either a quest, or the character who cannot be put down.

When developing protagonist/s for thrillers two main story types work best, one of which contradicts the often cited theory that all protagonists must have a character arc! The first type is the age old quest storyline – the simple question of ‘Solve the mystery or catch/find the killer?’ This is found in all TV detective series right through to comic inventions such as Clouseau in ‘The Pink Panther’.

However, the character who cannot be put down is not only present in ongoing TV series from ‘Morse’ to ‘Inspector Montalbano’ but central to the success of most action thrillers and many conspiracy thrillers. Examples of the latter can be found in the main characters in ‘Enemy of the State’ and ‘Humger Games’.

9. The action is set in a corrupt/damaged world.

Central to thriller’s working is the backdrop to the main action, the context of the deaths. At the heart if not at the surface of all thrillers is a world which has been corrupted or damaged in some way.

In conspiracy thrillers this is often a corrupt political system e.g. ‘The Berlin File’ and ‘Girl with Dragoon Tattoo’ while in murder mysteries it s about corrupt individuals e.g. Murder on the Orient Express’ or ‘Notorious’. This setting ensures that the challenges for the protagonist to discover the truth and/or survive are increased, and thus the tension within the overall narrative.

So are James Bond films thrillers and thus thrilling?

In the first instance the first three criteria are easily met with Bond setting out to discover who is behind a certain killing, facing death – often in the opening sequence, and up against a mysterious and, at first, often unidentified antagonist.

The question of who is innocent in this world is often represented by a woman, someone who is a victim of the system, and who may or may not initially be on Bond’s side. Her innocence is not necessarily about her character but more about her position in relation to the antagonist, and the danger she is in.

Though the Bond films are noted for their over the top action sequences and some time fantastical action sequences they all remain within the boundaries of realism – no ghosts, spirits, or fantastical creatures suddenly appear in a Bond movie.

Equally the Bond films have focused on a notion of justice rather than morality, through the morality of certain individuals has often played a small part in the plotting.

Bond is clearly on a quest in terms of solving the mystery and defeating the antagonist but his second main storyline is very much about a character who cannot be put down. An interesting fact within the notion of protagonist having to have a character arc – if this were true then all the early Bond films would have been failures.

So in conclusion Bond clearly is a Thriller – the question of what type of thriller I will leave until another blog.

Posted in Art of development, Dramatic Worlds, Feature films, Genre | Tagged genre, theme, thriller | 2 Comments

Drama’s Personal Journey

Posted on 02/10/2015 by Phil

What is the Personal Drama Journey?

Those familiar with screenwriting theory may have heard of ‘The Hero’s Journey’, and the underlying concepts of Robert McKee’s ‘Story’ or ‘Save the Cat’. All of these narrative structures , which some claim are the structures for a successful film, are based upon the framework of the Personal Drama genre. In this blog I will outline the key aspect of this strong and popular genre framework, with examples, and hopefully show that there are five main types of personal drama currently being used in the world today.

In general, genre as a term of reference has been seen to be a largely cinematic concern, while personal dramas dominate television. However, in order to see the genre it is easier to look at its manifestation in a one-off linear form first, i.e. film, rather than in the television series form. Therefore, the following definition of the genre is based upon personal dramas within feature film narratives, but with a few examples from television to illustrate the parallels. NOTE: Other people have seen this framework work in novels and theatre – so whatever form of writing you are interested in, this genre will probably apply to your writing at some point.

As with my blog on romances the primary elements those which set the franework for Personal Drama journey’s are based upon the combination of stories, themes, dramatic form, characterisation and style.

The secondary elements within the framework lead to the specific types of genre.

On this basis the following types of genre can be identified:-

The Inner drama – concerned with the state of someone’s mind

The Domestic Drama – focused on family and work relationships

Rites of Passage – concerned with the transitions at different stages in life

The Communal Drama – looking at the conflict between individuals and their society

The Epic Drama – individual stories set against a conflict between societies

Primary Elements

The primary defining qualities of the personal drama are:-

A single isolated protagonist, who undergoes or attempts a major transformation of themselves or their world.Note: the nature of this isolation is dependent on the type of genre.
A distinct world with which the protagonist is at odds.
The dominant story types are a quest, or the character who cannot be put down.
The dramatic structure is a linear framework, but often has an episodic form.
Thematically it is either a desire for order, or the desire for validation.
The central character’s dramatic arc is enormous compared with the changes within the characters of other genres.
The dominant style is expressionist, but naturalism is also commonly used.

These seven key elements can be found in anyone of the five personal drama types, which is why I have brought them together to illustrate the power of these elements in the initial defining of a genre for audiences.

There are five types of personal dramas derived from these basic elements, which are defined by the nature of the central dramatic conflict.

THE FIVE TYPES OF PERSONAL DRAMA

These combine the primary elements with other narrative elements to create distinct genre groups of key elements.

The Inner drama

Seen by most screenwriters as one of the most difficult conflicts to realise on screen as it focuses on an inner conflict of the central character.

The central character dominates the narrative space and is in every scene, in some way.
The central problem of the character drives the plot, and provides the motivation for all the action.
The main character provides a narrow point of view on all events. The use of voice over is common.
The second story is often also the main character’s story. This is the mechanism by which the main character dominates the narrative.
Secondary characters are merely used to express the options the central character has with respect to their problem.
Thematically it centers primarily on a desire for order but the theme of validation has been used in the recent past e.g. A Beautiful Mind..

Examples include ‘Lost Weekend’; ‘My Dinner with Andre’; ‘The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’; ‘Raging Bull’; ‘Being John Malkovich.’ The Piano Teacher’; ’A Beautiful Mind’

The Domestic Drama

Relationship based drama which does not focus on romance but more on family or work relationships.

The main story is about the central relationship/s which is/are either familial or situational i.e. it is not a romance.
The central problem for the main protagonist is that the other character/s present a threat to their world.
The second story has equal weight with the first, similar to a romance plot.
Secondary characters merely present additional problems for the main characters.
Locations are restricted, with much action set in interiors.
The thematically it centers on a desire for validation.

Examples include ‘Clerks’; ‘Terms of Endearment’; ‘My Life as a Dog’; ‘Short Cuts’; ‘American Beauty’; ‘Only Fools and Horses’; and most Soaps.

Rites of Passage

These are essentially a variation on the Domestic drama with 3,4,5. and 6. remaining the same but the focus in 1. and 2. being slightly different.

Often the main story centers on a teenager, or a group of teenagers, who wish to be seen as more adult. However, rights of passage have now been used to deal with transitions later in life.
The central problem is seen as a challenge to the protagonist/s current way of dealing with their life/situation.

Examples include ‘Stand By Me’; ‘The Year My Voice Broke‘; ‘On Golden Pond’; ‘Muriel’s Wedding’; ‘American Pie’ ‘Hollyoaks’; ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’.

The Communal Drama

Different from the domestic as this about the individual against their community, however that might be defined e.g. work environment.

The main story places the protagonist/s at odds with their community.
The second story reflects the same conflict.
The plot is driven by the main character/s desire to avoid, or resolve, the conflict.
Secondary characters reflect the acceptance of the wider community position.
The setting is restricted to a particular community setting, but several individual locations are common.
Thematically it centers on the desire for validation or the desire for order.

Examples:- ‘Raise the Red Lantern’; ‘A short film about Killing’; ‘Thelma and Louise’; ‘The Full Monty’;’ The Fisher King’ ‘Goodbye Lenin’; ‘Masters of Sex’.

Note: this genre often provides the framework for narratives, which can be described as melodrama

The Epic Drama

The key here is the conflict between societies which provide the context for the personal journeys.

The main story centers on the protagonist/s desire to change, or experience, a wider world.
The second story is a major conflict between differing cultures or value systems.
The plot is driven by the changing circumstances of the second story’s major conflict.
The locations are various and are determined by the development of the major conflict.
Point of view is omnipresent, with many scenes not involving the main character.
Thematically it centers on a desire for validation.
The style is dominated by naturalism with very few expressionist elements. However, as with action thrillers the scale of events means that scale becomes a major part of the style. This impacts on locations, crowd scenes, and mise-en-scene details.

Examples include ‘The Battle for Algiers’; ‘Ghandi’; Lawrence of Arabia‘; ‘The Last Emperor’; ‘Dances with Wolves’; ‘The Killing Fields’; ‘La Reine Margot’ ‘Lord of the Rings’.

This provides an overview of how personal dramas work, and where the oft told structural device of the Hero’s journey sits within contemporary screen narratives.

You can read more about genres and how all the different elements work in my book ‘The Art and Science of Screenwriting’: Phil Parker: Intellect Books

Posted in Art of development, Genre | Tagged development, drama, genre, personal dramas | Comments Off

The Importance of Setting and Theme in creating TV Drama Series

Posted on 10/09/2015 by Phil

Back in April this year, I was listening to an international group of students pitch their ideas for TV drama series. And what I noticed was that the American students gave equal weight to setting and theme, plus characters and the British students relied only on theme and character to generate stories. These were ideas for contemporary series. And I wondered if this was a cultural difference.

I think I particularly noticed this because earlier on we had been talking about the BBC 1 show Ordinary Lies which is set in a car showroom, somewhere in England. The car showroom provided two things: it was a location where ordinary people worked and it contained a cross section of the population. But it could have been a supermarket or even an office block.

Ordinary Lies, created and written by Danny Brocklehurst for BBC 1, was about lying, the lies people tell to survive and the consequences that result. It was an anthology of single stories, unified by location, theme and a single mystery strand about an absent husband which was serialised across all eight episodes. I loved the characters and their stories but the location made little impact on me at all.

With this show in the mind, plus the students pitches, I started wondering, do we in the UK underestimate the importance of the setting when creating shows? Do we use it to its full potential? And two of my favourite US shows came to mind, Six Feet Under and Mad Men.

If you take away the setting of the funeral parlour in Six Feet Under, you have a drama about a family who have to deal with their lives and grief after the patriarch dies. What makes this show more interesting and gives it its USP is setting their stories around running the funeral parlour and the theme of what death and grief mean to the living.

Many fans of Mad Men fell in love with the exquisite period setting and costumes plus the characters. But the choice of the ad agency setting was crucial to the success of this show. It was about the American Dream and the impact of the 1960s on we live our lives now. How was the Dream sold to us? Via advertising and so an ad agency is the perfect setting to explore this.

After the unexpected success of Mad Men many copycat shows were hastily made. One reason why shows like Pan Am, The Playboy Club and even The Hour didn’t succeed in the same way was because they didn’t understand the relationship of the series setting to the theme or concept of the show. Having an interesting setting alone isn’t enough if the show isn’t about anything beyond the setting.

Of course there are excellent British shows which also use their location to equal dramatic effect. Happy Valley (BBC1) by Sally Wainwright is a great example. West Yorkshire, renowned for its beautiful landscape and the home of the Brontes, has a romantic appeal to the visitor. But the stories of kidnapping, rape, drug dealing and crime resonated in stark contrast to the romantic location. And this made it stand out from a show about crime and drug dealing in an urban setting.

So to conclude, setting and what a show is about both need to have an equal weight when creating a new drama series. An interesting setting on its own its not enough. And the meaning of your theme can be enhanced by the right setting to give a show its unique voice.

Show titles: another US/British difference

Thinking about recent British shows for this post, I noticed something else. We do love shows with a location setting in the title. Downton Abbey, Broadchurch, Whitechapel, Happy Valley, Ripper Street. In contrast, I can’t think of many US shows which do this beyond Nashville, which refers to country music as much as the setting. It probably means nothing but I thought it fun to point out.

This bog was originally published by Tanya onw her won blogsite. To reda more fo her ideas and commenst go to https://tanyanashscriptwriting.wordpress.com/biog/

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CREATING YOUR DRAMATIC WORLD

Posted on 01/07/2015 by Phil

Dramatic worlds are the basis of our multi platform world so where do you start when you just have a narrative/story, a character drawing or an interesting idea or subject? Phil Parker, co-founder of BCre8ive, provides some clues to creating a dramatic world from these small beginnings.

So what is a dramatic world?

In essence it is a collection of narrative elements (artefacts in BCre8ive terms) which will provides the basis for developing a number of different narratives in different formats on different platforms. When Stan Lee first created a Marvel comic he never dreamed they would be big blockbuster films, the basis of games, novels, collectables, and of massive online social media activity. However, now all these possibilities are part of the world in which we create and plan to reach audiences.

Finding characters and their stories.

Starting with a narrative, which has stories or at least one character’s story within in it is obviously one of the easiest places from which to create a dramatic world. In this context it is easy to identify the main character, and in most cases at least one other character. If you have a plot this will involve the character/s in at least one story. A main character may have two or more stories e.g. in many thrillers the main character often has an investigation, and a romance story. Equally, in drama the main character may have a goal or journey to complete or antagonist to defeat, but will also have a relationship to resolve.

If you just have a character as in a cartoon, or someone who you are fascinated by then finding them a story becomes the first task of building your dramatic world. This can easily be achieved by looking at the key story options from asking do they have a goal, a journey, a relationship to resolve, someone or something to avoid or defeat, or a problem they must deal with? Once you have decided on one of these options you have the bass of their first story.

Finding the second character for your dramatic world often arises from the first character’s story. Who is it that the first character is confronting, trying to find, build a relationship with? This is the second character of your piece. Their story reflects what they have to do to make the plot interesting when combined with the first character’s story.

Note: Stories at this level are often very simple – as it is the development for particular formats and platforms, which leads to particular plots and complexity.

The Style and Setting

All stories and characters exist in a particular time and place, which is the setting of your dramatic world. This can be described in words but is best captured in visuals. The reasons for this are that visuals have an immediate impact, and crucially most platforms require visual representation, so providing some visuals in the dramatic world, helps people assess the potential of the world on particular platforms.

This is easy if you start with drawings etc. but if you start with words you need to either find and illustrator, animator, or photographer who can provide you with some visuals or find some visuals that will give people a sense of what you think the world will look like.

It is this look, which determines the style of your dramatic world.

You may add some music or soundscape material to enhance the feel of your world.

There are several website which provide royalty free images for you to use to provide some visuals, when creating your initial dramatic world e.g. free digital photos; dreams time; stock photos for free

The Genre

Often seen as a contentious area – see my blog on genre – this is for the sake of dramatic worlds, a simple classification of the type of narrative you wish to create with your characters, and is implicit, if not explicit, in the characters, and the setting.

One interesting development over the last decade has been the humanizing of ‘monsters’, in particular, vampires, which has moved many narratives involving them from the horror genre to the romance e.g. Twilight or epic drama e.g. Underworld. though often they are still called horror, just because ‘monsters’ are present.

Identifying audiences

It is very hard to predict who will ultimately really engage with your world. No-one predicted that women over 35 would be the main users of Facebook games. However, when you create a work there is normally someone or a group of people who you think will want to engage with it. Providing some indication of this audience allows people to see which group of people you think the world will appeal to, and which platforms might be the best options to use, in the first instance.

What makes a good dramatic world?

Interesting characters – something that makes them stand out from existing characters i.e. characters who are already out in front of audiences, in the world where you have set them.

A fresh approach to a genre, often achieved by a strong visual style, and distinctive characters who are not normally associated with the genre.

A very distinctive setting – creating a world most people are not familiar with, or one where the familiarity is offset by a comedic approach, or a fiendish plot, is often key to successful narratives.

Creating a world, which can generate vast amounts of material for new platforms e.g. mobile is also a critical part of developing dramatic worlds, which will work at the low cost, web based end of the production that often then serves as the starting point for the higher cost end productions.

So create your dramatic world and start engaging with audiences everywhere.

Posted in Art of development, BCre8ive Lab, Dramatic Worlds | Comments Off

What Genre is your dramatic world?

Posted on 24/06/2015 by Phil

The term, ‘genre’, is used widely by critics, writers, audiences, and those in the creative industries from painters to filmmakers and games developers. This term ‘genre’ is seen by many as an outrageous constraint on their artistic freedom and reject outright the idea of working to meet genre expectations. Other creatives are keen to create a certain type of work for which there is a ready audience but are frustrated by the lack of clarity, in books and articles, studios, colleges and general conversation, about what these genre expectations are. For everyone, not just the person beginning their creative journey, this is a confusing area.

Genre Confusion

Genre is one of those words that everyone uses but few people can actually explain. We all know what we mean by saying we are going to watch a Sci-Fi movie or reda a Sci-Fi novel. But when asked to identify what makes it a Sci-Fi as opposed to a soap few of us would have a complete answer. You only have to think of Star Trek, or Babylon Five, Third Rock from the Sun, to start seeing the crossovers.

Distributors and exhibitors often misrepresent a work’s genre when selling a it to an audience, reader, player or buyer. This, and the lack of clarity in academic texts, compound this general confusion.

The problems with genre labels

Industry Labels

The label, romantic comedy, is now readily attached, to any narrative, which has a romance story and is slightly, or predominantly, comedic. The problem is the presence of these two elements does not, in themselves, mean anything. The differences between Hitch and Castaway or Sex and the City illustrate how diverse the range of films, which have a romance story in them and with varying degrees of comedy, can be lumped under the label, ‘romantic comedy’. The same is true of novels, television series, webseries, and to a lesser extent games.

However, this use of labels, and its currency with audiences and creators desperate to find some common ground on which to identify diverse and often difficult narratives, has led to a confusing and almost useless set of terms which generally go under the term genre. They may sell but in and of themselves they do not help a creative identify which genre they are working in and what narrative elements they may wish to keep or use within any given genre.

Academic Answers

Within academia, the term genre has also been a source of confusion. Academics wrote on genre to a large extent in the English language during the Fifties and Sixties. The majority of this writing attempted to find narrative elements which were exclusive to one genre and not another: in other words, to find the essence of a genre. This led, in one instance, to The Western being defined by the idea that people rode horses, wore hats and carried guns.

In 1987, Tom Ryall, analysing the gangster film, identified a relationship between the film, the audience and the film’s creators, which laid the foundations for a system of genre analysis based upon a set of rules, norms of style, narrative form, subject matter and themes (see Ryall T, Genre in Film Criticism, BFI 1987).

Genre as a Framework

Developing the ideas in Ryall I worked up a new genre framework for screenwriters in ‘The Art and Science of Screenwriting’ (Intellect 1999). Since then this framework of genre has been successfully used with regard to plays, novels and games. The key is to recognise the defining qualities of genre rests with the audience not the creator. Here is a simple definition.

Genre is a set of patterns and particular combinations of narrative elements that audiences recognise, and use, when engaging with a creative work.

Note: Narrative here does not refer just to a story based work, but to the totally of a work which may embrace elements of style, sound, medium, dramatic form as well as story.

Over time, audiences build up a recognition of these patterns in films, books and television. They then use them when viewing new narratives. This memory of narrative patterns is in turn used by creatives to establish a set of expectations within audiences. These patterns vary to some degree over time and can be combined in several different ways.

The difficulty with identifying genres is the flexibility of the various narrative elements, and the problem of shared elements within and across genres. However, all genres have two distinct patterns or sets of elements. These are the primary elements, which separate them from other genres, and the secondary elements, which differentiate the different types within a genre. Investigative and action thrillers are different types of thriller, for example. Similarly, the romance genre, as shown below, has several sub-genres.

Primary elements

These work in much the same way as stories do, providing known points of reference for the audience which allow them to concentrate upon the particulars of this narrative. These elements are found in all the works that belong to the genre group, and are normally evident within the first two sequences of the narrative.

Secondary elements

This set of elements differentiates one type of narrative from another within particular genre groups, in essence defining the sub-genres.

Genre – framework definitions

The following is a brief overview of the romance genre as an introduction to how this genre framework works

“Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.” – Albert Einstein

Romances

This genre has three sub genres: romantic comedies, where love conquers all, dramatic romances, where love comes at a cost, and, finally, tragic romances, where love has been lost, and something else has taken its place.

The primary elements of the romance genre are:

The two central characters are both involved in romance stories. If it is a triangular romance, then the third character is also involved in a romance story.

The central protagonists have an equal weight in terms of narrative time spent with them, and the level of problems they have to overcome to realise their goals.

The narrative is focused on one of two themes: the desire for love or the desire for pleasure.

There is no separate main antagonist i.e. the two main characters are each other’s antagonist.

The main plot structure is formed by the romance stories of the central protagonists.

Secondary characters are used to provide contrasting outcomes for the central characters, and to move the plot along.

The dominant style is naturalist, but expressionism and fantasy can be used.

The secondary elements that define the three types of romance genre are:

The Dramatic Romance

The narrative centers on the question – what is value of love?

The plot aims to establish the existence of love, and then to place it in conflict with other human needs or sources of love.

There are two or three central protagonists.

The main motivation of the protagonists is to satisfy their sense of loss/loneliness, but they have other equally pressing demands in their lives.

A main secondary character is also usually involved in a romance story, this storyline is used to illustrate a possible outcome for the main characters.

All other secondary characters are merely there to provide narrative information, additional dramatic problems or illustrate the theme of the narrative.

The narrative is dialogue driven, in that it is the psychological motivations of the characters, revealed in dialogue, which initiate action.

A singular location is common, though this could be a city or community. It contains and illustrates the problems the central characters face to fulfil their love.

Examples of this type are: The End of the Affair, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Ju Dou, Brief Encounter, Bridges of Madison County, The Edukators, The Theory of Everything.

The Romantic Comedy

‘Don’t forget I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her” – Richard Curtis

The value of love is taken as a given. The purpose of the narrative is to illustrate how true love conquers all.

The plot is driven by a combination of external barriers and the issue of the two main protagonists committing themselves to the relationship.

The two main protagonists face innumerable barriers to establishing their relationship and recognising that they are in love with each other.

One of the protagonists normally believes that they could be meant for each other early in the narrative, but the other resists this conclusion.

The central characters do not necessarily develop substantially through the narrative. The character arc, or growth, is merely, ‘Will they or wont they discover this is the person for them?’ and, ‘When will they both end up realising this?’ The change is more often in circumstances not inner journeys

Secondary characters provide the source of the main dramatic developments in the plot.

The narrative is a combination of action driven and dialogue driven sequences, the balance being dependent on the style of the narrative.

The aim of the plot is to provide as many comedic moments as possible between the two central protagonists, their environment or other characters.

Multiple locations are the norm.

Secondary characters stories can dominate sequences within the narrative, but always with one of the protagonists present. This provides for a wider point of view than in the dramatic romance.

Examples of this type are: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Annie Hall, Clueless, When Harry met Sally, Hitch, Tangled.

The Tragic Romance

The value of love is taken as a given for one of the protagonists. However, the other protagonist has substituted something, normally money or power, as the object of desire and is, therefore, ultimately not capable of sharing the love of the first protagonist.

The two protagonists are involved in a romance, but it is a tragic one as their very natures mean it must end in one or both being destroyed.

Note: This is not about tragic endings. Some of the most memorable Dramatic Romances end in death/separation, but this not implicit in the characters’ relationship with love. It arises from the circumstances surrounding the romance. In the tragic romance, it arises from the nature of the characters themselves.

Secondary characters reveal the true nature and intentions of the protagonists.

The plot aims to provide as many surprises and twists as possible in terms of what is the real motivation of the person who has substituted something for the love of another.

Therefore, it is crucial that the audience believe that both protagonists are really be in love, but as the narrative unfolds realise this is not true.

The narrative is dialogue driven, but action provides the main revelations in the plot.

Secondary characters’ stories can dominate some sequences, but always with one of the protagonists present.

Sex, or sexual attraction, plays a significant part in the motivation of the love-oriented protagonist.

Examples of this type are Body Heat, Double Indemnity, The Last Seduction, Dangerous Liaisons, Raise the Red Lantern, Un Coeur en Hiver and Atonement, Lust Caution.

The other three main genre frameworks are

Personal Dramas – individuals journey towards a goal

Thrillers – ranging from investigative to psychological

Horror – dealing with monsters and demons.

I hope this helps you identify, and work with the genre you are creating in no matter what the nature of your dramatic world is.

For me, genres are a way for people to easily categorize music. But it does not have to define you. It doesn’t have to limit you. – Taylor Swift

Posted in Dramatic Worlds, Feature films, Genre | Comments Off

Brave New Worlds – A Mentor’s View

Posted on 18/06/2015 by Phil

This blog on the work of a creative mentor is written by BCre8ive Mentor David Manderson

One Strange World

So, we’ve got our setting. Let’s say, hmm…a leather-tanning factory in nineteenth century rural France. Our characters: the women who live and work in it all their lives and the animals who are bred for slaughter in its out-houses. Our idea: that animals and people can shake off exploitation together. We’ve even got the theme.

Anything else? Oh yes, chunks of the story are told by the factory. The building itself, with all its filthy nooks and blood-spattered grannies, is the narrator.

So why doesn’t it work?

This isn’t a plan but the outline of a story already written by a young writer who won a prize with her first novel and now needs a second.* It’s essential that she gets that second book out there and that it’s better than her first.

But it isn’t. Not yet.

She’s worked and worked on it and it’s just not come right. She’s revised it again and again until her brain spins. She’s changed the viewpoint, she’s changed the tense. She’s tried everything she knows and some things she doesn’t. And still it refuses to come alive.

Where I Come In

I work giving advice to new writers or writers who are some way into their careers, giving them feedback on their material and trying to help them move forward. In the other half of the week I’m a novelist. I write screenplays, short stories and articles too, but novels are what I do.

What’s sometimes apparent is that a writer is using the wrong medium or misusing the genre. A young author trying to compress a feature into a five minute screenplay, or an established novelist using every trick he knows to make that thriller really exciting (he’s only ever written literary fiction before), are two examples.

What I also come across are creative people whose move from one world to another has proved successful. Several screenwriters who didn’t quite make it to the big screen are now widely published crime novelists here in Scotland. And then there’s the TV scriptwriter who scored a hit with his adaptation of the Katie Morag series and is now writing books for children alongside his soap opera episodes.

And with the new medium comes new challenges, different conventions and different methods, but also, most importantly, fresh opportunities.

From Print to Visual

The leather-production plant story, for example, became a living, breathing thing when it was taken, not by a traditional publisher but by a graphic novel company. The rave rejections turned into eager acceptances. In fact the designers and artists couldn’t wait to get their hands on it.

What had been an idea that struggled to live in one world was transformed into one that grew without effort in another. There were important aesthetic decisions, which chimed with the novelist’s wishes and encouraged her to go in this direction, one of which was not to show the gore.

The story no longer needed the exposition, description and scene-setting the writer had pushed into it because the audience could see for themselves the sullen brutalization of the workers and the fear and grief of the animals as they were led to their deaths.

Collaborative Energy

Not only that, the writer had to learn to do something she’d never done before, which was to work with other people.

And contrary to reports of novelists being difficult to work with, she loved it. She could see how the artists could take her idea to places she couldn’t, she could help her story grow into new shapes and contours which she couldn’t have done alone.

It took quite a bit of courage to agree that huge blocks of her original had to go, including the talking factory. But she did. And when the proofs of the graphic novel showed how the original’s flaws had become strengths in this brave new world, she was delighted.

She’s back to writing a different novel now, one more like her first, and it’s working fine.

The launch of her graphic novel, where the artist and the storyteller will share the credit, is scheduled for a major book festival next year. There’ve been talks of a TV spin-off. And film, animated or real, is where she and the publishers plan to take it next.

She’s writing other things now too, and some are working. Others aren’t, no matter what she does to them. Some things never change. But at least she knows to move them around a bit. Another new world could be just round the corner.

*This story is itself a fiction. It doesn’t exist, but the journey of the writer did.. I do work with creative people turning their stories into to new forms, but their ideas are, of course, copyright-protected, and I keep them confidential.

Posted in BCre8ive Lab, Creative Collaboration | 4 Comments

‘A Place like Settle’ – a BCre8ive Lab Opportunity with £8000 on offer

Posted on 13/06/2015 by Phil

Do you have an idea for an interactive story?

Bring your story to life in an interactive way? With £8,000 production funding guaranteed, mentoring support from the BCre8ive team, Settle Stories and TELL in the BCre8ive Lab with crowdfunding courtesy of Crowdshed; this is a unique opportunity to create for a new digital platform..

Why an interactive Story?

Interactive Storytelling is becoming a mainstream form of entertainment. Interaction has many layers, from audiences directly influencing a dramatic storyline to narratives that lead the audiences to explore storyworlds. As with all stories, the key is interesting characters in worlds you want to explore and journeys that you want to travel.

With this project BCre8ive and Settle Stories have partnered with TELL a new platform for publishing interactive stories. In your submission to the BCre8ive Lab we are looking for great characters and engaging story options. Fully worked out interactive story narrative can evolve in collaboration with Settle Stories and the TELL team.

TELL is a new platform set to launch in the second half of 2015. It has been built by the team behind the successful interactive experience ‘The Nightvision Experiment’.

TELL allows stories to be constructed using video, audio, text, html and photos. These elements are woven together using ‘story bricks’ giving lots of flexibility for producers and audiences to explore a story.

Sign up at tellplayer.com to get the first sneek previews TELL.
“As storytellers we must push and learning new approaches. Audiences expect a new level of interaction with stories that match their own experiences.” Kevin Moss, TELL

The Story Brief

The narrative can be in any genre, have up to 6 characters, and be set in a contemporary world in ‘A Place like Settle’ http://www.visitsettle.co.uk/

The story experience is aimed at digital natives (typically 12 – 35 year olds) and is open to wide interpretation. ‘A Place Like Settle’ is a theme where ‘like’ is the key word. You are encouraged to interpret this as widely as possible, while still allowing the production to be shot in contemporary settings – with a few special effects.

‘Like’ Settle – An idyllic Yorkshire Dales town

Picture a land of rolling hills, cobbled streets and a population with more sheep than people. A friendly world where passers-by say ‘hello’, children roam free in open countryside and the word ‘community’ counts.

Settle resides under the looming limestone crag of Castleberg and has a long list of incarnations from isolated farming community to market place, quarrying centre to mill town. Settle changes, it adapts to prosper.

Probably the smallest art gallery in the world – in Settle

This is a place with stunning train rides, Ye Olde Naked Man Café, the smallest gallery in the world and internationally acclaimed tales at the Settle Stories Festival. A place full of characters. Characters like, Bill Mitchell, 60 years a journalist, there is no-one he does not know! There are some odd folk about. Some curtain twitches, nosy nieghbours and gossips – don’t expect to keep a secret. Word here travels fast!

So why a Transmedia Storytelling project in Settle?

“Settle Stories mission is to change the world through stories. To achieve this we aim ‘To broaden the media used for storytelling.

In recent years we’ve done this through experimenting with digital storytelling. During both the 2013/14 Settle Stories festivals we’ve had a digital story trial using QR codes to uncover a story. We’ve held live digital storytelling events on Google Hangouts and have experimented with telling stories using augmented reality.

We’ve become fascinated with bringing stories to life using digital technology. So when we met Phil Parker at Bcre8ive.eu and Kevin Moss from playthisnext.com who’ve built the innovative TELL platform, we knew these were the people who could help our digital storytelling dreams become a reality. It turns out they can raise that one better.

Alongside the team here at Settle Stories, they can make your digital storytelling dreams come true.” Sita Brand, Director Settle Stories

A BCre8ive and TELL opportunity

There is £8000 for production, which will be combined with a crowdfunding campaign run with Crowdshed https://www.crowdshed.com/

See your idea realized as a global interactive story in 2016 on TELL.

Once registered join the BCre8ive site as an individual or a group – yes you can bring your team with you. Then develop your dramatic world with its characters and potential storylines, plus some visuals, for ‘A Place Like Settle’. You then need to contact a BCre8ive Mentor on the site, have them check over your idea, and approve it for submitting to the Lab, with Settle Stories.

The deadline for submitting your completed idea is July 20 2015.

Posted in BCre8ive Lab | Comments Off

Immersive theatre and discovering a Dramatic World from within

Posted on 08/06/2015 by Phil

This guest blog is written (31^st may 2015) by Tanya Nash, a BCre8ive Mentor, and relates her experience of attending an immersive theatre experience and this use of a dramatic world.

On Wednesday, I was offered a ticket to see a play at The Young Vic theatre, World Factory by METIS that I knew nothing about. The theatre’s website told me,

“From the factory floor to the catwalk, from Shanghai to London, World Factory weaves together stories of people connected by the global textile industry.”

I wondered if I was in for a sad and depressing afternoon.

Walking into the studio theatre, the first thing I noticed was that there was no stage. The room was full of small oblong tables, each with a single work lamp. And I had to sit at one of them. I felt nervous and wondered what was going to happen.

There were 4 actors who were both our narrators and game tutors. And then I realised that I was about to experience my first piece of immersive theatre. As audience members our role was to make managerial decisions on the running of a garment factory in China.

Before the game began we were given an introductory account of the history of textile making in both the UK and China via actors, video clips and photographs projected onto all four walls around us. Then we were asked to open the cardboard box on our table in front of us.

Opening the Box

Whilst we were doing this, we quickly realised that we also needed to introduce ourselves and find out our skill set in the real world, if we were going to be at all successful. We were six confident women, ageing from 40s – 70s with a similar political outlook. But this would obviously not be the case for all the groups.

Inside our box were a number of items; a wad of play money, a folder containing the photographs and names of our 24 employees and a leaflet giving us more details about the world we were now in. The game began when our game tutor handed us our first scenario card. And on the back of the card were 2 choices. Once we had made our decision we scanned that choice via the correct bar code. And our tutor gave us the next card.

“Humans had built a world inside the world, which reflected it in pretty much the same way as a drop of water reflected the landscape. And yet … and yet … ” Terry Prachett in Wyrd Sisiters

As the game unfolded we made many decisions. Would we cut staff or lower wages to survive? Would be take a grant to improve working conditions? Would we make a new product? Would we allow workers to unionise? Would we break the law? Would be provide them with transport back to their home town for their annual Spring break? And we were presented with garments we had made, new members of staff and also offered bribes.

It wasn’t always easy to predict an outcome. For example, we chose the option to install better heating for our workers. But instead of improving productivity, our workers suffered from heat exhaustion.

The End Game

At the end of the one-year story period (60 mins in real time), our role was over. Now we discovered why we had had to scan our decisions via their bar codes. All the statistics from the 20 groups (120 audience members) participating were screened onto the walls around us. Not surprisingly, the groups that treated their workers poorly made the most money. And the opposite decision was also true. My group was a middle of the road team who played it safe, did our best for our workers and we survived. In fact no team went bust which surprised me. But this wasn’t the end of the show. There was one more choice to make.

Each of the 4 actors had a minute to ask us where we wanted to invest our profits – textile recycling, new markets in Africa, improving working conditions for Chinese workers or investing in UK garment trade. We put our money into re-cycling, as did most of the room.

Using Dramatic Worlds

My background is in the creation, development and production of drama series for both radio and television. Drama series require fixed narratives and hook their audiences via great characters and interesting story outcomes.

World Factory was a fascinating insight into another way of using a dramatic world. Characterisation was minimal and provided by printed biographies and still photos of our key players in China. The narrative was driven by our choices based on exposition rather than character or story. The dramatic conflict was provided by the audience negotiating with each other and our games tutor.

To prevent us being overloaded with detail, there were times when we lacked enough information to properly inform our decision. And we were a team who were all of similar mind. It would be fascinating to see the show again with people who thought quite differently to me.

A Mentor’s Perspective

Looking at this from the perspective of a BCre8ive mentor, I can see other possibilities for this dramatic world such as online gaming, a graphic novel or short web series. And one of my friends thought it would be a good training experience for his team in the corporate world.

Posted in Dramatic Worlds | Comments Off

What Value is a Short Film/Video?

Posted on 03/06/2015 by Phil

This guest blog is written by BCre8ive Mentor Clifton Stewart.

The First Question?

How long is a short? A question film makers, particularly new ones, often ask when deciding to embark on making a ‘great short’ They know that a page of script is a minute of screen time, so how many pages should it be?

Really, there is no clear definitive answer, which should be a relief but often causes more confusion. A ‘short’ in the USA for instance is often referred to as a ‘Short Feature’ and can run for anything between 20 and 40, even 50 minutes long. In the UK and the rest of Europe a short film is regarded as having a running time of up to 15 minutes, with 10 being the most frequent length.

However, what film-makers should really ask themselves is not how long do I make my film, but rather how many minutes it needs to be? Often funded schemes for instance will only consider short film ideas of, around or under 10 minutes.

Even the role of the short film too is perceived differently depending on where you go, and who, you talk to in the industry. In the UK there is a perceived wisdom, thankfully now largely changing, that so long as a film is in focus, pays homage to a current blockbuster it will be enough, wobbly vision camera work being obligatory.

To say this is missing the point is being overly kind. The short film is extremely important and will often have as much care and attention, if not more than many feature films. The reason for this is simple, and kind of obvious without too much consideration.

“Short films are not inferior, just different.” – Jane Campion

A great short film is the ideal calling card for new and emerging film-makers.

Often people do not have the time to view long films, so shorts from unknown talent, are more easily viewed – given the short time needed to engage, uninterrupted, with them. A short is an effective way to get attention, support and funding for other projects as you climb the ladder to Hollywood excesses. For established film- makers, both in front of and behind the camera, it is often an opportunity to experiment and at the same time work with people who will, some day soon, remember them when the budgets are bigger.

When Moth, a short I wrote was in pre-production I went to the technical read through at Ealing Studios. To be sat around a table with Oscar winners and nominees who were prepared to work on the short because they believed in the project, was a testament to the enthusiasm and commitment of many in the industry.

In my experience as a film festival programmer both here in the UK and the USA I am often very quickly made aware of how short films are often made with more care and attention than feature. Many shorts have quite stunning cinematography, others were driven by the music and others featured named and recognisable actors.

The range of themes and issues too can be more competently dealt with in a short film narrative than a feature. The shorter duration often lends itself to more intense and personal stories, a single issue or theme dealt with in a more focussed way, and making for compelling viewing.

As a calling card it is far easier to sit through a 10 or 15 minute short film that shows promise than a 90 or 100 minutes of a poorly produced feature. Just because you have a DSLR doesn’t mean ‘it’ makes a good feature length movie. It is not the tool it is the person using the tool who makes the art.

Some UK Short Film History

In the 1990’s, and early 2000’s, the popularity of the 10 minute short in the UK was based upon funding of such shorts by both Channel Four, through schemes such as Short and Curlies, and the BBC’s own 10 x 10. For a while this was maintained and expanded by the UK Film Council through the regional film funds. At one point over 300 shorts received public support in one year. Unfortunately, TV schemes are now rare and C4 have just converted their one new talent short programme into a feature development programme. While there are still some regional schemes most have disappeared and these funds are now focussed on ‘micro-features’.

“Short films really helped me develop as a story teller, animator, and as a director.” John Lasseter

The Importance of Festivals

The main opportunity for shorts is still a film festival, even with the rise of online screening portals. Having curated film festivals here and abroad, visited many film festivals and worked as a script editor and mentor on TV short film schemes there really are a tremendous number of good and strong short films produced each year.

Palm Springs and Clement Ferrand – a personal account

To put this into perspective, the two most important festivals are the Palm Springs International Film Festival in the USA and Clermont Ferrand in France. I have been lucky enough to have my own short films screened at both and attended the Palm Springs. Competition is fierce for all film festivals, and these two in particular, but it is worth persevering.

Palm Springs often has over 3,000 submissions and screens less than 300 short films. Clermont Ferrand often has a database of close to 5000 short films from all over the world.

These two among many film festivals will have some ‘Hollywood’ and certainly home grown industry interest in the screened films. Networking was intensive along with workshops, one to one sessions and the obligatory poolside parties, yes they really do take place.

Add to this the presence of actors, agents and producers the attraction for film-makers to attend is easy to see. It is also worth noting that the winning film at Palm Springs is Academy recognised and automatically considered in the short film category at the Oscars.

It is also useful to know that all films submitted to Clermont Ferrand in France – the biggest dedicated short film festival in the world – go into a market catalogue for viewing in the short film market whether selected for competition or not.

There are many more short film festivals in Europe and also the UK, an online search will bring these to your attention and it is also worth considering targeting your film to a festival covering similar themes and genres, start by looking at the closest city to you is a good way to start, then look wider

To Be Online or Not to be Online

Online portals and particularly the rise of YouTube and Vimeo do bring with them opportunities but also a dilemma form film-makers.

On the one hand everyone can now see your film – if they can find it!. The downside is that many Film festivals will say no to including any film that has been uploaded to YouTube.

It is probably best to keep your film to the festival circuit for a time, probably a couple of years before uploading, that is if you even decide too. In the event of your film being picked up by a short film distributor, likewise it should not have been uploaded.

However, Vimeo is often seen as a more ‘professional’ looking portal for online screening and certainly the films I watch password protected for programming reasons have all been on Vimeo. As it is password protected, Festivals may see this more as a distribution/marketing use than actual public screening as YouTube is.

Online is an important way to get your work seen, however, the sheer volume uploaded each day is breathtaking , 300 hours per minute to YouTube, which is why it is often best to submit and be included on a specific channel rather than go it alone and fight for your slice of views.

For sure have your own online presence but linking and piggybacking on a successful short film portal is a good option.

Finally…

Short films are needed, are highly regarded and certainly the way to go as a delivery method to showcase your talents to an international audience….but remember, even a great short film has to start with a great script.

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