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Week - 1 |
Theory: Course scope, objectives, and learning outcomes. Historical development of scriptwriting, its role in cinema and television, and the cultural/social significance of storytelling.
Practice: Analysis of a sample short script and film scene; discussion of course expectations. |
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Week - 2 |
Theory: Narrative theories, story structure, classical and modern narrative models.
Practice: Short story analysis with students.
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Week - 3 |
Theory: Characters and Types in Screenwriting: Key considerations when creating characters, essential questions to answer, types of characters in screenplays, character analysis, and general rules for character creation.
Practice: Character analysis from film examples, original character design, and writing short biographies. |
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Week - 4 |
Theory: Types of conflict, techniques of plot development.
Practice: Exercises on conflict and plot design. |
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Week - 5 |
Theory: Script formats, writing rules, and key considerations in the stages of a screenplay.
Practice: Students analyze different sample scripts to evaluate format and writing rules. |
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Week - 6 |
Theory: Stages of a screenplay: Preparing a Synopsis (script draft) and a Treatment (developed script). Functions of these stages in the writing process, how they connect to each other, and why they are critical in professional scriptwriting.
Practice: Working with selected short film scripts, students prepare a synopsis and then expand it into a treatment. |
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Week - 7 |
Theory: Establishing dramatic structure in screenwriting, use of time and space. The impact of dramatic structure on storytelling, the flow of time, and the function of space in narrative.
Practice: Analyzing dramatic structure, time, and space in selected film scenes. |
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Week - 8 |
Theory: Use of sound and its components in cinematographic storytelling: Dialogue in screenplays, speech patterns, components of film sound, and their importance in the formation of dramatic structure.
Practice: Analyzing the use of sound in selected film scenes. Evaluating how dialogue, speech patterns, and sound effects contribute to dramatic structure. |
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Week - 9 |
Theory: Differentiation script, visual storytelling, and storyboard techniques: The process of transforming a screenplay into visual narrative and the role of storyboards in dramatic structure.
Practice: Breaking down selected short film scripts into scenes for visual storytelling exercises and creating sample storyboard drafts. |
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Week - 10 |
Theory: Preparing a differentiation script: scene, sequence, section, shot (plan); preparing a storyboard (visual draft). Considering scenes in terms of beginning, development, resolution, and climax; organizing and forming original stories within dramatic structure.
Practice: Creating original short stories and structuring their dramatic elements through beginning, development, resolution, and climax. |
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Week - 11 |
Theory: New media technologies and digital narrative forms. Scriptwriting for digital platforms, interactive storytelling, and multimedia integration. Differences between traditional scriptwriting and digital narrative; the role of visual planning tools (Canva, Miro, FigJam, etc.) and AI-supported storyboard applications (CapCut, LlamaGen, Andromo) in establishing dramatic structure.
Practice: Revising original short stories using digital tools. Students restructure their stories with digital platforms, adapting them to the three-act structure (beginning–development–resolution and climax) and preparing them for visual storytelling through storyboard creation. |
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Week - 12 |
Theory: The Importance of the Shooting Script in Cinematographic Storytelling: Camera angles, shot types, and framing (close-up, wide shot, bird’s-eye view, etc.) together with the role of sound design in dramatic structure. Planning scenes with visual and audio elements; transforming the three-act structure (beginning–development–resolution and climax) into visual narrative.
Practice: Preparing a shooting script for selected scenes from original stories. For each scene, students add notes on camera angles, shot types, character movements, emotions, and sound design. This exercise directly serves as the foundation for storyboard drafting. |
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Week - 13 |
Theory: The importance of scene selection in visual storytelling with storyboards. Scenes are chosen according to the three-act structure (beginning–development–resolution and climax). Each scene is transformed into storyboard frames based on dramatic intensity, character development, and atmosphere. The number of frames is determined by the length and dramatic structure of the story (minimum 18 frames; ideally 20–25).
Practice: Transforming original stories into storyboard frames. Students select scenes from their stories and convert them into storyboard frames, adding notes on camera angles, shot types, character movements, emotions, and sound design. Frames are arranged in chronological order to visually narrate the dramatic structure of the story. |
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Week - 14 |
Theory: In original storyboard projects, peer evaluation and AI support are used to identify gaps in dramatic structure, scene selection, camera angles, sound design, and emotional rhythm. Students review each other’s storyboards from different perspectives, provide constructive feedback, and then refine missing elements with AI tools.
Practice: Presentation of original storyboard projects in class and receiving peer feedback. Students discuss strengths and weaknesses of each storyboard, then integrate AI-supported revisions to finalize their projects. |