- Home
- A-Z Publications
- Journal of Screenwriting
- Previous Issues
- Volume 13, Issue 3, 2022
Journal of Screenwriting - Textual Perspectives: Screenwriting Styles, Modes and Languages, Nov 2022
Textual Perspectives: Screenwriting Styles, Modes and Languages, Nov 2022
- Introduction
-
-
-
Textual perspectives: Screenwriting styles, modes and languages
Authors: Romana Turina and Gabrielle TremblayWhile addressing the question of screenplay textuality, this Special Issue takes a close interest in the ‘media thickness’ of the screenplay in its textual form. In doing so, we wish to contribute to the exploration and affirmation of scenaristic processes as both cultural and intermedial practices, as in general, screenwriting and screenplays are indeed to be considered at the crossroads of different artistic, mediatic and social fields. This is a flexible editorial posture and assumed as such, one which above all aims to consider the constitutive plurality of given textual practices, not only in terms of conceptual and social anchoring, but also of styles, modes and languages.
-
-
- Articles
-
-
-
What we cannot see in Sound of Metal and Her Smell: Interplays of awareness, perspective and language in the screenplay text
By Carina BöhmA common belief in screenwriting practice dictates that a screenplay should only include what can be heard and seen, keep emotions at bay and avoid literary inflections. Perspective, however, only becomes visible with the limitations of its visibility. What cannot be seen can be as meaningful for the story as what can. In considering the collaborative translation process from what is written to what is filmed, I will investigate the communicative effects of using different storytelling languages in the writing of perspective. Establishing the interrelationship of perspective, awareness and languages, this article will analyse examples from two screenplays, The Sound of Metal and Her Smell, to explore the different impacts of writing styles on awareness and perspective in telling the screen story. I will argue that processes of individual and collaborative awareness play a crucial role in screenwriting to communicate outside and inside perspectives of character.
-
-
-
-
Henson and Juhl’s Tale of Sand: From lost archive to graphic novel and illustrated screenplay
More LessIn the interval between the production of the short films Time Piece (released in 1965) and The Cube (released in 1969), Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl wrote the first draft of Tale of Sand, with the aim of adapting it into a feature-length film one day. However, both Henson and Juhl eventually became involved in other projects, so their manuscript remained forgotten for several years and the film was never produced. Found after some decades in The Jim Henson Company’s archives, the screenplay was adapted into an award-winning graphic novel in 2011 and three years later it was published as an illustrated screenplay, both with illustrations by Ramon K. Pérez. In this article, I analyse the graphic novel as an adaptation of the original screenplay, briefly focusing on how it combines different media types and production paratexts. Then, I examine the illustrated screenplay, its medial characteristics as well as its relevance within the adaptive/editorial project. The investigation considers the cultural and economic contexts of production and publication of screenplays, and their impact on adaptive choices and practices.
-
-
-
The power of schism: Unconventional narrative structure in No Country for Old Men
By Chris NeilanWhilst screenwriting handbooks have popularized and disseminated practical approaches to writing the screenplay and, to a certain extent, demystified and perhaps even democratized the process of screenplay creation and development, they have also solidified a restrictive doxa which delegitimizes unconventional structural approaches and, in doing so, solidifies a homogenized story product which tends to replicate different variations of the same dominant ideology. In this article I argue for a change in focus within screenwriting theory and the development process, towards an understanding of the meaning produced by the conventional model and the meanings that can be produced by alternative models, and away from the replication of the conventional, through an analysis of a particularly unconventional structural schism in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007).
-
-
-
Spinning and singing: Exploring memory and gender non-conformity through screenwriting for publication first
More LessThis article discusses a short screenplay written for publication first, rather than production, and how this approach enabled the writer to explore fringe or non-commercial topics, specifically male gender non-conformity and queer identity formation. Shifting the focus of screenwriting from the sole goal of production to a twin goal of publication first and then production opened up a number of creative and scholarly avenues for the writer and means that the script will find an audience (a readership) irrespective of production. It also means that the textual qualities of the script are foregrounded. The script and this article explore the notion of effeminacy as a non-normative gender of considerable discursive potency that simultaneously disrupts both masculinity and femininity. The screenplay and this article also explore the relationship between memory and identity, arguing that interventions into memory contribute to the shaping of queer identity. The screenplay foregrounds dialogue as a textual strategy to enhance the readability of the screenplay and position it firmly as a textual or literary artefact.
-
-
-
Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal: Cannibalizing the canon
By Ryan TaylorAmerican storytelling has been dominated by White heterosexual men and such scripts/stories disseminate messages that support their authority by narratively or symbolically subjugating competing identities. Consequently, in order to open texts up to diverse meanings/representations, fans create their own works which better serve their desires/needs (what Henry Jenkins referred to as ‘textual poaching’ in 1992). But what happens when, having been given control of a canonical text, the fan becomes the scriptwriter who modifies the source material to reflect their own civic commitments? How might they differently negotiate White heterosexual men’s hierarchical authority and the subjugation of marginalized identities? The scripts for Hannibal (NBC 2013–15) allow us to answer such questions. In adapting Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter novels to television, scriptwriter Bryan Fuller reconfigured and reshaped (rather than retold) the source material in a way which reflects the transformational practices of fan fiction. In what ways might Fuller’s reconfigured teleplays provide a platform for marginalized perspectives (and thus challenge the White heterosexual male’s dominance of the source text)? What is the discursive function of the scriptwriter in reshaping source material in order to speak to/for/about diverse and pluralistic identities? How might (and why does) Bryan Fuller’s scripts cannibalize the canon?
-
-
-
Rethinking our protagonists: Absence on screen and meta-narratives of empire
More LessIn this article I argue that responsibility for diversity needs to be inbuilt at a much earlier stage in the screen drama production process – from the very moment, indeed, when protagonists and plotlines are first conceived. Genuine diversity is everyone’s responsibility, not just the ‘diversity manager’ or ‘diversity initiative’. This is an issue for screenwriters, for the education of screenwriters and it is something that screenwriting research needs to explore. My focus falls here on historical drama, for which I argue that inbuilt diversity is especially pressing. Populist ideas about the past impact the lives of ethnic minorities today, and are perpetuated by invisibility, which is then treated as evidence of that same invisibility. I explore how Britain’s relationship with colonial Australia is understood – and perpetuated – through the meta-narrative of Empire and culture and how this informs my approach to my own writing practice. This article is based on the papers presented at the 2017 Screenwriting Research Network (SRN) conference, University of Otago, Dunedin; the 2019 European Association of Studies of Australia (EASA) Conference in Toulon, and at the 2019 Australian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) conference, University of Technology, Sydney.
-
-
-
Reading the docufiction script: Harnessing the thin line between facts and fiction
Authors: John Iwuh and Nicodemus Adai PatrickThe ethical issues raised by merging facts and fiction in docufiction screenplays as a genre suitable for social impact storytelling still linger. Hence, for the intended message to be effectively passed, the genre, formatting and narrative technique have to be clearly established for the readership’s consumption. Therefore, this article will investigate how facts are reinforced by fiction in docufiction. Textual analysis of Nicodemus Adai Patrick and John Iwuh’s Dissent (2019) is employed in exploring narrative techniques and formatting as indicators of the proportion of facts and fiction in a docufiction screenplay. It concludes that docufiction is a deliberate document with a mission in which the fact supplies the foundation on which fiction stands. Pre-knowledge of the embedded fact is primal to a deeper appreciation of a docufiction. It concludes that the readership’s level of comprehension and satisfaction will be enhanced if the thin line between facts and fiction is spotted.
-
- Book Reviews
-
-
-
Scene Writing: The Missing Manual for Screenwriters, Chris Perry and Eric Henry Sanders (2022)
By Warren LewisReview of: Scene Writing: The Missing Manual for Screenwriters, Chris Perry and Eric Henry Sanders (2022)
London: Bloomsbury Academic, 245 pp.
ISBN 978-1-50135-212-6, p/bk, USD 24.95, CAD 32.76
-
-
-
-
Script Analysis: Deconstructing Screenplay Fundamentals, James Bang (2022)
More LessReview of: Script Analysis: Deconstructing Screenplay Fundamentals, James Bang (2022)
Abingdon: Routledge, 180 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-00313-885-3, e-book, £26.99
-
-
-
Reginald Rose and the Journey of 12 Angry Men, Phil Rosenzweig (2021)
More LessReview of: Reginald Rose and the Journey of 12 Angry Men, Phil Rosenzweig (2021)
New York: Fordham University Press, 315 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-82329-774-0, h/bk, $18.96
ISBN 1531502962, p/bk, $19.99
ISBN 978-0-82329-774-0, e-book, $12.99
-