SCRIPTWRITING- FILM

Motion Picture/Film Examples


Note: typical film scripts contain more than just dialogue. Have your students notice all
other terms and directions embedded in these types of scripts, often called screenplays.

 


To Kill A Mockingbird
Scout reads to her father

 Download these pages from the screenplay for this 
scene from the film


Because of Winn Dixie

 Download page 1 from the book, Because of Winn-Dixie--have your students create the opening scene (Opal inherits a dog) using the storyboard below

 Blank storyboard

Recommended Resources:

Film/Scriptwriting periodicals

Download the entire screenplay to Pan's Labyrinth

The Language of Film: Screenwriting 
Teachers Resource Guide (YMI, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)

Scripting Screenplays: An Idea for Integrating Writing, Reading, Thinking, and Media Literacy.
English Journal, v84 n2 p86-91 Feb 1995

Screenplay Format (Wikipedia)

 Tickets, please: plug in the DVD player—watching movies in class can improve kids'
reading and writing skills in some surprising ways

Internet Script Database
Scriptologist
Drew's Script-o-Rama
How Screenplays are constructed (UK resource)
How to format a screenplay (Scriptologist)
How to write a screenplay (The Visual Writer)
Scriptwriting/New Scripts (BFI)
Screenwriting Glossary
Teacher's Guide to Making Student Movies (Scholastic)