Film Courage: What is the purpose of script analysis?
Judith Weston, Coach, Teacher and Author: The purpose of script analysis is to figure out what is to be shot and that’s the core of the scene. Some people call it the nugget of the scene, what it’s about. I like to use this term emotional event and I tried to find something catchier but it just expresses what I want to say so I stick to it, but it’s to find out what is to be shot. I was talking to a former student of mine just a few days ago who’s been directing television. She did a beautiful independent feature film a couple of years ago and then from that she started getting some work doing television. We were having lunch with her and another former student and she was saying that she still felt really puzzled about how to figure out how to do television because there’s no time. She had spent a whole year preparing for her independent feature film and she was just puzzled because she said I don’t know how to be sure that I get what I have to get. I said well I think you’re looking at it from the wrong point of view, you have to do the work to figure out what it is you want to get. Don’t start with what angles camera you want, start with what the scene is about, start there. I talk about this in my new book about my dollhouse approach to figuring out your blocking. Get some dollhouse dolls or action figures or Lego figures and put some furniture around on a tabletop and move them around and see where they want to move while you’re seeing the lines or where they want to stay in one place and then figure out your shot list from taking from looking at that through a viewfinder…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Judith Weston has, for 35 years, brought tools and confidence to filmmakers and actors, with books, workshops, and one-on-one consultations. In 2015, after 30 years of teaching in-person workshops and classes to thousands of film and television directors, screenwriters, writer-directors, and actors around the world, Judith closed her studio space and shifted her focus to one-on-one consultations with directors and writer-directors of film and television as they prepare to bring their projects to life. She can be available for Zoom Q&As and workshops with schools, festivals, and organizations. Judith Weston has been a teacher of directors, actors, and writers since 1985. She has written two books, DIRECTING ACTORS: 25th Anniversary Edition: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television and THE FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques (via Michael Wiese Productions).
CONNECT WITH JUDITH WESTON
BUY THE BOOK – DIRECTING ACTORS: 25th Anniversary Edition: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television
BUY THE BOOK – THE FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques
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