Coming to the end of this semester, and as a result, the studio ‘Picture This’, I have come to the broad conclusion that I rather enjoy screenwriting as a whole, however, the part that speaks to me the most is the freedom to explore symbology and visual storytelling. This statement is rather broad, so allow me to break it down in regards to my own screenplay ‘Flaming Youth’.
Throughout the studio, and the process of drafting my script, I found that I was constantly trying to re-write to express more movement and symbology as a form of visual camera and storyline direction. I set the challenge for myself to not include directional cues or dialogue, and instead wrote in an ambiguous form as so the director can interpret movement. I feel as though I really dove into the deep end for my project through setting these challenges. Therefore through exploration of visual and audio storytelling being interwoven with my goals, this studio has helped me to form my own style through having the freedom to do so and explore what screenwriting means to me.
My screenplay explores the concept of safe spaces, and in particular the spaces we offer to those that are socially outcast. In the times of the 1920’s both consuming alcohol and being gay was illegal. Therefore I chose to establish and explore a lesbian romance in the setting of a prohibition bar in the 1920’s. This exploration of this space and romance allowed me to study how to write for symbology and moreover how characters and plotlines can help depict such themes. For example, the characters referred to as the ‘blonde’ and the ‘brunette’ become romantically close in this safe space. They do not enter together nor do they exit together. They come from different lives that only intertwine in this ‘safe space’. I chose to explore this as a way of developing my symbolic writing style without explicitly stating such in the text, nor having the characters speak to one another. This is what I found the most rewarding from my overall studio experience as we were taught to show not tell, as being the intense person I am, I chose to completely take on this prompt with my own twist. Moreover, I think that this idea of expression through visual storytelling that we were taught will help set students up for when we are in the workforce, as we have now explored how to write for screen, and not for one’s own logical mind, being the need to tell a story, not show it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PHLy_UkLTwkraW_6pc68J0t_Qxd3lMgx/view?usp=sharing