PLANNING FOR GROWTH IN YEARS OF RESTRICTED RESOURCES

CLASSROOMHOW BROADCAST STUDENTS DESCRIBEAND VISUALIZE ACTION FOR THE SCREENMichael J. Havice, Marquette UniversityMichael.Havice@marquette.eduPresented at Broadcast Education Association Annual ConventionLas Vegas Nevada April 4 - 7, 2003AbstractHow do script words translate into screen action? How do I learn how to teach aspiringscriptwriters the process involved in writing screen action? This descriptive studyinvestigates how students view screenwriting and directing. How students interpret theaction-writing task as performed by the scriptwriter and the director is the problem. Isit fair to say beginning scriptwriters distinguish between the tasks of developing actionfor the purpose of storytelling versus the task of interpreting the story action for screenpresentation? Students attempting to succeed as scriptwriters must demonstrate anability to write direct action as well as a functional understanding of the relationshipbetween scriptwriting and direction. The aspiring scriptwriter must demonstratewriting aptitude by telling the story rather than directing the action. The difficulty ofteaching effective action writing is repeatedly noted by the difficulties our students havewriting singular action components. For the beginning scriptwriter and directordifficulties are compounded by scenes connected by story. Students must learn topropose communicative action scenes (scriptwriting) and then produce those scenes(directing) before compounding their difficulties by writing and directing their ownwork. The student must learn that, for the audience, action lives in visual memorybecause of the relationship between writer and director. To learn the relationshipstudents must practice scriptwriting scenes and then direct them.How Broadcast Students Describe and Visualize Action for the ScreenProblemWords, words and more words! How do script words translate into screen action? Howdo I learn how to teach aspiring scriptwriters the process involved in writing actiondestined for the screen? I could simply instruct students to write to format and totranslate data into script. The better strategy is to investigate how students view thescreenwriting and directing tasks leading to worthwhile screen action. Teachers need tothink about and analyze how students interpret their scriptwriting tasks. Importantquestions to consider are: 1) What type of assignments and instruction help thestudents write for the screen? and, 2) Do the students we instruct on the fine art ofscriptwriting have the ability to implement the differentiated script expression when51Feedback September 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 4)