Freewrite #4

I want to play with this idea of screenplay form creating a sort of censorship by the limitations of its content. We have only been studying the "Hollywood" screenplay, but there are other types of feature-length narrative movies made. These are usually considered "indpendent" films, but also many films from Europe and elsewhere will have different structures. (We talked about movies like "Elephant," "Boys Don't Cry," "Kids" and "Requiem for a Dream," though some of these use pretty standard screenplay form).

So, for this freewrite, I want you to concentrate on those parts of the book that would not be possible to include in a Hollywood film. These don't have to be the parts concerning sex, they can also include the intense negativity (regarding the family, for instance) or the use of alcohol or just an unhappy ending. It can even concern the types of information and context/setting that is in the book.

I want you to write a short scene (3-5 pages) that puts some of the excluded matter from the book into the movie, as well as write a brief analysis of the choices you made in getting it into film (2-3 pages). Be sure to use proper screenplay format when doing this.

The questions I want you to consider are:

• does the Hollywood screenplay form by nature exclude some types of content?
• does the fact of the movie being intended for "mainstream" audiences preclude the inclusion of some content?
• are there more freedoms for the novel than for the movie?
• are there ways to "sneak" certain content into a film?
• how would you film certain scenes without being too graphic?
• how would your scene transform the nature of how the actual movie was made - would it have to be "rawer"? more camara-shaky? use not-so-famous performers? etc.

This is due on Friday, the 6th (not this Monday, as it says on the syllabus).

We'll go over this in class on Monday if you are confused by it.