The use of active and passive voice is a tricky area for even the best writers, as rules lack clarity and do not necessarily need to be followed. While active voice takes preference over passive for many reasons, moments still exist where passive voice works better. One of the best ways to begin mastering the two voices is to gain a complete understanding of how each voice works, how they affect the audience’s understanding of the information presented, and where they best fit.
With the active voice the subject performs the action expressed in the verb. For example “the dog bit the boy,” “Jake will research his topic,” “smelling roses reminds me of my grandmother.” By the subject of the sentence performing the action expressed in the verb, sentences are clearer and more direct, cutting out confusion and boredom for readers.
Passive voice, on the other hand, occurs when the subject receives the action expressed in the verb, and the subject is acted upon. Examples of this are “the boy was bitten by the dog,” “Jake will be researching his topic,” and “smelling roses has been reminding me of my grandmother.” Overuse of this sentence structure creates awkward sentences and can lead to confusion of subjects and action, and eventually cause the audience to lose interest in what the writing says.
While the active voice is recommended, there are moments to which passive voice can actually work to a writer’s advantage. This tense allows personal pronouns and names to be omitted, distracting the attention of the reader away from the subject. Therefore fingers are not pointed, and who or whatever that carries out the action becomes unimportant.
Although exceptions can be made for passive voice, it is still important to watch out for the overuse of this complicating tense and strive to use the more straightforward active voice. A great way to edit through a piece of writing to diminish unnecessary passive verbs is to search for any “to be” words. These include “is,” “was,” “were,” “could be,” “will be,” among many others combined with a past participle. Once you find a sentence involving the past tense, switch the structure around and see if the active voice fits. More likely than not it will, but if it doesn’t fit then the passive voice is needed to convey whatever message the writer intends.
Goals: The goal of this piece is to demonstrate the difference between passive and active voice, to describe the best uses of both, and to give advice on how to edit these tenses.
Audience: The audience is that of the class and that of anyone who has trouble keeping their tenses straight and are interested in working on their problem. This definitely includes myself, as I know I need to work on this, and researching the topic is one of the best ways to learn.
Accomplishing goals: I'm accomplishing these goals by describing each tense and giving examples of what each means and how they are constructed. I then explain when it is best to use each, and give examples on how to edit and look for mistakes with passive and active voice.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Screenwriting, much like every writing process, begins with the basics of brainstorming, working from there into a complete and final form known as the script. The process to getting the finished product does differ from writer to writer, but a standard form of a professional screenplay is mandatory in order to be noticed by producers and directors.
The major foundation of all writing begins with brainstorming. Coming up with major ideas and working your way down to the littlest details is necessary to form the building blocks which your story develops from. Brainstorming itself is crucial, but so many different ways of idea forming exists, some working better than others, depending on what works best for the writer. Since screenwriting is visually packed, one of the best ways to begin brainstorming is to sketch scenes out, then to transfer the visual into worded information that later can be used in the writing process. Listing ideas, idea mapping, and free writing scenes and dialogue are all different ways to gather possible information, and it is best to work with whatever provides the best foundation to begin the script on.
The next step to take is to make a detailed outline of events and information that works as a timeline and map for your story. Whether the story is of a traditional narrative structure or not, there is always a sequence of events that occurs in a specific order for a reason. This outline, if done in depth and in detail, will make writing the script easy.
Getting the correct format of a professional screenplay down is what gets tricky. The only way to get your script read is by following some general rules. One of the easiest ways to conform to these rules is by using screenwriting software, one of the best being Final Draft, which lets you format and write your scripts intuitively and with little hassle.
While putting a script together many technical aspects need to kept in mind. For starters, scripts are typed in Courier 12 for timing purposes. When written in this font, each page roughly equates to one minute on screen time, and producers are able to gain an idea of how long the film will be. When written out the script should being to look something like this:
FADE IN:
INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE
A young Evey sits on her father's lap, combing her Barbie's
hair.
EVEY (V.O.)
I was born near the end of the
millennium, the year 1997. My
father used to say that people were
so afraid that the world was going
to end that they were willing it to
happen.
Her father sits beside her mother on the living room couch,
watching the news. From the look on their faces, the news is
bad.
EVEY (V.O.)
I don't remember much of the
century's turn. I don't remember
the market crash or the plague or
any of the Trafalgar riots.
There are scene headings, or sluglines, which tell where the scene takes place (interior or exterior), the name of the location, and the time of day. This sets the scene and gives much information to production. Character names are all caps and center with dialogue below, and seldom include with any stage and acting direction. Little dialogue should be written, and most of the screenplay should pay attention and describe what is occurring within the scene. Remember everything taking place in a screenplay, whether it is a flash-back or flash-forward, it occurs NOW.. Make sure active voice is used instead of passive voice. Once these rules are mastered the focus shifts to the story.
Interesting stories are hard to find, but some hints can create a very interesting story. Fir of all, for a story to work there needs to be something at stake. It can be something personal or something more widespread, but it must grow more powerful as the story unfolds. Every story needs lots of conflict. The end goal can’t be too within reach, and something must hold the protagonist back from the final desire. A hook, or high concept, is what makes a script and film different and interesting for an audience, making them want to see your film instead of any other. Keeping a suspenseful plot that constantly moves forward and keeping scenes short is important for our MTV generation, because we are used to extremely fast paced media and flashing imagery. Divide the story into acts much like a play, with three different parts to complete the structure. Act I and III should be about the same with act II twice as long as one. This will bring a narrative balance to the script which audiences are accustomed to seeing.
Although these formats are standard, the actual writing processes and their contents differ wildly from writer to writer. Stories that stray off the beaten path can either be ignored by general audiences or cause shock waves through the film community depending on the strength of the script and final film. One of the best websites to help find more technical information is www.screenwriting.info, and many different sources can be used to find more information about writing scripts, but reading too many how-to’s endangers the creative mind. We each work differently and that’s the magic of storytelling, otherwise stories and films would all tragically be the same.
Goals: The goal of this piece is to give great advice on how to write a screenplay, with both technical and contextual tips
Audience: My audience consists of the given english 220 class, instructor included, anyone interested in films and improving screenwriting skills, and myself as I myself would like to improve my screenplays.
Accomplishing Goals: I'm accomplishing these goals by giving descriptive advice on writing screenplays and including technical advice, as well as tips for better narratives. The inclusion of actual contemporary scripts is also important to include, as it sets a proper model to follow. Screenplay guidelines do constantly change, and it is important to keep rules up to date by reading articles explaining current trends.
The major foundation of all writing begins with brainstorming. Coming up with major ideas and working your way down to the littlest details is necessary to form the building blocks which your story develops from. Brainstorming itself is crucial, but so many different ways of idea forming exists, some working better than others, depending on what works best for the writer. Since screenwriting is visually packed, one of the best ways to begin brainstorming is to sketch scenes out, then to transfer the visual into worded information that later can be used in the writing process. Listing ideas, idea mapping, and free writing scenes and dialogue are all different ways to gather possible information, and it is best to work with whatever provides the best foundation to begin the script on.
The next step to take is to make a detailed outline of events and information that works as a timeline and map for your story. Whether the story is of a traditional narrative structure or not, there is always a sequence of events that occurs in a specific order for a reason. This outline, if done in depth and in detail, will make writing the script easy.
Getting the correct format of a professional screenplay down is what gets tricky. The only way to get your script read is by following some general rules. One of the easiest ways to conform to these rules is by using screenwriting software, one of the best being Final Draft, which lets you format and write your scripts intuitively and with little hassle.
While putting a script together many technical aspects need to kept in mind. For starters, scripts are typed in Courier 12 for timing purposes. When written in this font, each page roughly equates to one minute on screen time, and producers are able to gain an idea of how long the film will be. When written out the script should being to look something like this:
FADE IN:
INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE
A young Evey sits on her father's lap, combing her Barbie's
hair.
EVEY (V.O.)
I was born near the end of the
millennium, the year 1997. My
father used to say that people were
so afraid that the world was going
to end that they were willing it to
happen.
Her father sits beside her mother on the living room couch,
watching the news. From the look on their faces, the news is
bad.
EVEY (V.O.)
I don't remember much of the
century's turn. I don't remember
the market crash or the plague or
any of the Trafalgar riots.
There are scene headings, or sluglines, which tell where the scene takes place (interior or exterior), the name of the location, and the time of day. This sets the scene and gives much information to production. Character names are all caps and center with dialogue below, and seldom include with any stage and acting direction. Little dialogue should be written, and most of the screenplay should pay attention and describe what is occurring within the scene. Remember everything taking place in a screenplay, whether it is a flash-back or flash-forward, it occurs NOW.. Make sure active voice is used instead of passive voice. Once these rules are mastered the focus shifts to the story.
Interesting stories are hard to find, but some hints can create a very interesting story. Fir of all, for a story to work there needs to be something at stake. It can be something personal or something more widespread, but it must grow more powerful as the story unfolds. Every story needs lots of conflict. The end goal can’t be too within reach, and something must hold the protagonist back from the final desire. A hook, or high concept, is what makes a script and film different and interesting for an audience, making them want to see your film instead of any other. Keeping a suspenseful plot that constantly moves forward and keeping scenes short is important for our MTV generation, because we are used to extremely fast paced media and flashing imagery. Divide the story into acts much like a play, with three different parts to complete the structure. Act I and III should be about the same with act II twice as long as one. This will bring a narrative balance to the script which audiences are accustomed to seeing.
Although these formats are standard, the actual writing processes and their contents differ wildly from writer to writer. Stories that stray off the beaten path can either be ignored by general audiences or cause shock waves through the film community depending on the strength of the script and final film. One of the best websites to help find more technical information is www.screenwriting.info, and many different sources can be used to find more information about writing scripts, but reading too many how-to’s endangers the creative mind. We each work differently and that’s the magic of storytelling, otherwise stories and films would all tragically be the same.
Goals: The goal of this piece is to give great advice on how to write a screenplay, with both technical and contextual tips
Audience: My audience consists of the given english 220 class, instructor included, anyone interested in films and improving screenwriting skills, and myself as I myself would like to improve my screenplays.
Accomplishing Goals: I'm accomplishing these goals by giving descriptive advice on writing screenplays and including technical advice, as well as tips for better narratives. The inclusion of actual contemporary scripts is also important to include, as it sets a proper model to follow. Screenplay guidelines do constantly change, and it is important to keep rules up to date by reading articles explaining current trends.
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