Five Golden Rules of German Expressionism

Review the video essay of at least two peers and refresh your memory about the nature and ‘rules’ of German Expressionism.

Identify 5 Golden Rules of German Expressionism in terms of representation of the monster and visual style

Task

Your task is to develop a visual / cinematic idea for your opening sequence and write the screenplay for it.

We will be working in groups next week and deciding which screenplays will go forward into production, for now this is a solo exercise.

Here is the first page of a good example from a student screenplay.

In your screenplay you should:

• Use of the screenplay format 
• Include descriptions of the locations in your screenplay (The Mirus Battery and/or surrounding rural area(s)).
  • Include element of the setting / important props within the scene.
• Create an atmosphere which belongs in the horror genre.
• Use descriptive language (simile’s and metaphors).
• Give a sense of how the camera might move or the edit cut.
• Give a sense of the diegetic sounds in your sequence.
• Give a clear description of character (costume / props, body language)

The first step though is developing some ideas for a scene. Here is a slideshow on ideas:

Task Film Inspiration

• Take a copy of this document and replace the following:
  • A location
  • A sound – Freesound.Org
  • An item of clothing
  • A character
• In pairs share your documents.
• Allow you partner time to think about your items
• Discuss the film / sequence ideas that spring from those items

Independent Study.

Write the first draft of a screenplay based on one the ideas you have been attracted to in this lesson. You should aim for about 2 -3 pages of script. Any longer and it may well be longer that 2 -3  minutes of film time.