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Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect, Second Edition |
Author: Claudia H. Johnson
Published: 2005-02-04 |
List price: $35.95
Our price: $32.35
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As of: November 20th, 2008 11:29:35 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Good book on creating shorts that have emotional connection.
This book is as many reviews have said, good at helping you create shorts with characteres and stories that connect. I would read other books to make sure you get action and pacing in your short, but this is a good book for helping in connecting your story to the audience.
 The best Screenwriting book out there
Very detailed book on the many aspects of screenwriting. Johnson goes through not just the contruction and process of screenplays, but how to approach and think about writing. Althought the tile is specific to short screenplays, this book has the fundementals of writing freature lengths as well. The best!
 Great ideas; why don't they work?
Ms. Johnson has some terrific, if not-quite-revolutionary, insights and ideas on screenwriting. Her central idea is that connection is more important than conflict, and she eloquently presents and defends this approach. I really appreciated the inclusion of the DVD, which shows the results of her exercises and approach with some good (not great) student films.
On the down side, the good-not-great-ness of these films reveals quite clearly the greatest weakness of her approach. The resulting films are warm and fuzzy and "work" on the level of human connection, but consistently lack exactly those elements of drama that she says aren't important--namely the tension and conflict that make you care what happens next when actually watching a film. Her ideas are so good it saddened me that the films seemed to prove the most obvious and naive argument against her central premise: Won't films that emphasize connection at the expense of what is traditionally called "conflict" come across as BORING and predictable? Sorry to say it, but yes these films are just that and I was left more than a bit skeptical that her approach as presented would really generate films that didn't share the same flaw.
Bottom line: As a filmmaking teacher, I'm very glad I bought this book. It opened my mind to some great new ideas and practical approaches to teaching. On the other hand, I would not show any of the films from this book as examples for my students to emulate and learn from, and I would be very cautious about taking the approach presented in this book too far when writing either student or commercial screenplays.
Buy it despite its limitations--it's really worth a read!
Better for a group than an individual
This is an interesting book which offers some fresh thoughts about screenwriting. It suggests that conflict is about a half of what makes a good story, whereas all good stories don't only have conflict but have connection in them, human connection. This is an interesting and thought-provoking approach that can definitely contribute to the process of learning to write well.
However, it has some flaws - first, I think all the excercises are pretty much meaningless unless you do them in a group, with other students and a teacher. And this book is all about the excercises, so I found it unuseful.
Also, this book doesn't really explore all the aspects of screenwriting that are in a way essential to writing a short screenplay. It's more like an introduction with some excercises to get you going.
The only real advantage here is the DVD with the short films and their scripts that are included in the book. It is interesting and can certainly give you a direction of writing, but again it's very limited. All these films are pretty much the same, there isn't a variety of short films that can really give you a view of the infinite possibilities.
the rosetta stone for a new writer
there are hundreds if not thousands of books which claim that they are the one key to unlocking the door to becoming a successful screenwriter. as a wannabe myself, i have purchased and read far too many of these books. ms. johnson's book is the real mccoy. i gained so many insights into the process in each chapter. following her suggestions, i realized that i was making the act of putting ideas on to paper much more complicated than it needed to be. the upshot being that i was finally able to finish several projects that were graying with age and these projects are now sitting with the people who can turn my words from my pages and put them up on to the screen. thank you ms. johnson
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