Screenwriting is a nice way to discover more about the movie industry and the making of animations, films, clips, and many more. At the base of each of these stays a screenwriter who is creating the visual elements through text. Many people and students have heard about screenwriting, but they have never seen a script before. c
Teachers and professors want to bring screenwriting into the classroom and encourage students to start writing. Screenwriting is different from novel writing and any student will discover this during classes. Getting an education and studying in college is usually a nice journey. Students are looking for interesting and exciting things to do, and screenwriting seems to be a nice activity you can introduce to classes.
Screenwriting, not Essay Writing
Because students rarely have contact with scripts and screenwriting unless they are students at a film college, they mostly think about it in terms of what they have written before. And usually, students have to write essays, case studies, and assignments on different topics.
Many of them might not feel like participating in this activity at the beginning, and it is exactly for this reason. This is why it is essential to make the difference between screen and essay writing and explain and show students the differences. You can search for a free essay example online on any topic you would want. Then, if you already have some written scripts, you can bring them to classes and work on them with the entire group of students. If in novel or essay writing you do not have many restrictions you need to follow, in screenwriting things are pretty different. In novels, the author writes from their imagination and gives the reader the freedom to imagine and create things in their own way. In screenwriting, the writer needs to write things that can be made in a movie. You can find many examples on https://gradesfixer.com/ and explore the options. But finding the differences between novel writing and screenwriting can turn into a nice game for students.
Screenwriting Through Games
Screenwriting is a different type of writing, but one that puts your imagination and creativity to the test. Many students run away from these, mainly because they do not know what it means and how it should be done. As a teacher, you can bring screenwriting into the classroom. But you need to make it interesting and exciting, and you can easily do this through games.
One of them would be to discover the differences between book writing and screenwriting. You can have a simple sentence such as “Daniel is sad because he has lost his cat”. How can you show this in a movie? Daniel is not talking at all, but he is feeling a lot of emotions, despair, sadness, grief, and so on. Ask your students to come up with ideas. These types of games will boost their creativity while also learning something new and interesting.
Comparing Scripts with Movies
Another thing you can do to bring screenwriting into the classroom is to play another game. You can bring snippets of scrips to your students and ask them to read them. Then, encourage them to express how they have imagined what they have read. Each human is unique in its own way, so they will surely imagine things differently. After you discuss this subject, you can start watching the movie snippet that corresponds to the script snippet. Look out for ways to expose the script, for details that make a difference. Students are the main consumers of media and television and finding out more about the depth of the industry will surely be exciting.
Conclusion
Bringing screenwriting into the classroom can turn out to be a real challenge. But considering the fact that teenagers and youngsters are media consumers, this subject could be of high interest to them. You can do this by inventing and finding all kinds of games you can play in the classroom. Moreover, if you propose some practical activities, they will surely be attracted by them.
It would be useful to firstly observe and discuss the differences between screenwriting and novel writing. Reading scripts and then watching the movie to see how those scripts translate into movie scenes and details would be among the most interesting activities. By doing this, you will surely incite the imagination and interest of students.
