Critical Analysis of Horror Movies: How a Screenplay Is Written
Robert Griffith
Horror is one of the most popular movie genres nowadays. People love it because it boosts adrenaline and gives lots of excitement. Before we dig deeper into how horror screenplays are written, let’s discuss how you can analyse them if you were given such a task at school or university.
Analysing a movie Since films are somehow similar to novels and short stories, you can use the same methods to analyse them. Alongside literary elements, such as plot, structure, theme, characterisation, setting, you should analyse music, sound, lighting, camera angles and editing. What’s really important is to focus on how all those elements are used in combination with each other.
Help with movie analysis Analysing a movie can be a real challenge, especially if you are aiming for a high grade. A decent paper requires an organised structure, perfect grammar, and right references. To complete all this, you need to use reliable resources, such as online libraries and custom writing services. You can also find free APA citation fixer to make sure that your citation doesn’t contain any errors. Also, don’t forget to check your paper for plagiarism as it’s a very serious academic offence. You can do it with the help of online plagiarism checkers.
Elements to analyse
Plot and structure First of all, think about the most important sequences. Analyse how the plot is structured, whether it’s linear, chronological or presented through flashback.
Conflict Conflict is typically the heart of the movie. It is always related to the main characters and can be caused by their inner sufferings or surroundings.
Characterization Characterisation is all about how characters are described through the dialogue and physical appearance. It’s also about their thoughts and feelings. Look carefully at interactions with other characters, are they static or developing.
Narrator Pay attention to the narrator who is telling the story. Through whose eyes does the story unfold and what’s the narrator’s point of view?
Imagery Imagery of the movie includes symbols, theme, and cinematic effects. Imagery is what creates pictures in our minds, so it’s especially interesting to analyse it.
How to write a screenplay
Writing a screenplay is a complex process that requires a lot of steps listed below.
Work on a longline What is actually a longline? This is a short one-sentence summary of the movie’s story. It’s used primarily as a marketing tool for studios. A longline is actually the first thing that executives ask screenplay writers to provide.
A longline contains three key elements: a goal, a main character and an antagonist. It’s also important to add a summarising adjective in front of movie characters to give a sense of their personalities. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Create your first sketch Sketch is also a primarily marketing document. It’s also called treatment and it gives studio executives an idea of whether the story is really worthy. However, it serves as a helpful tool for the writer because it helps to organize thoughts. Treatments contain the title of the movie, longline and synopsis. It’s usually two-to five-page summaries.
One can add snippets of dialogue and description to the treatment, but still the main focus must be on synopsizing the story.
Make an outline As some experts say, to master screenwriting, you must master structure. Before you completely focus on a creative process, you must write an outline. Most screenplays are 90-120 pages long and contain around 40 scenes that follow a 25-50-25 breakdown. Around 25% are given to the first and the third acts, while 50% take up the second act. In the outline you need to map out the setting and major events of each scene, including major dialogues.
If you want to better understand the structure of a movie, you should read the book by Blake Snyder called Save the Cat. Your screenplay outline is not a marketing tool, it’s primarily for you.
Write a draft This step is probably the most fun. When writing your first real draft, you should do it quickly and without thinking too hard. Do not edit your draft, it’s a creative process. If you’ve done a good job structuring your story, writing a draft will be easy for you. To save time, you can use formatting software for screenplays, like Final Draft, which is the industry standard. There is another great tool called Celtx, which is absolutely free.
Editing Professional screenwriters recommend doing at least three drafts. After finishing your first draft, read it through making some notes, but don’t do editing. In your second draft you should focus on major structural changes. You need to deepen characters, fill gaping holes and maybe even rewrite some scenes from scratch. In your third draft you should focus on polishing everything.
Author's BIO Robert Griffith is an amateur movie critic. He publishes multiple film analyses on his personal blog and in some online magazines. He focuses on new film releases and rates the movie’s quality based on some criteria.
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Horror is one of the most popular movie genres nowadays. People love it because it boosts adrenaline and gives lots of excitement. Before we dig deeper into how horror screenplays are written, let’s discuss how you can analyse them if you were given such a task at school or university.
Analysing a movie
Since films are somehow similar to novels and short stories, you can use the same methods to analyse them. Alongside literary elements, such as plot, structure, theme, characterisation, setting, you should analyse music, sound, lighting, camera angles and editing. What’s really important is to focus on how all those elements are used in combination with each other.
Help with movie analysis
Analysing a movie can be a real challenge, especially if you are aiming for a high grade. A decent paper requires an organised structure, perfect grammar, and right references. To complete all this, you need to use reliable resources, such as online libraries and custom writing services. You can also find free APA citation fixer to make sure that your citation doesn’t contain any errors. Also, don’t forget to check your paper for plagiarism as it’s a very serious academic offence. You can do it with the help of online plagiarism checkers.
Elements to analyse
Plot and structure
First of all, think about the most important sequences. Analyse how the plot is structured, whether it’s linear, chronological or presented through flashback.
Conflict
Conflict is typically the heart of the movie. It is always related to the main characters and can be caused by their inner sufferings or surroundings.
Characterization
Characterisation is all about how characters are described through the dialogue and physical appearance. It’s also about their thoughts and feelings. Look carefully at interactions with other characters, are they static or developing.
Narrator
Pay attention to the narrator who is telling the story. Through whose eyes does the story unfold and what’s the narrator’s point of view?
Imagery
Imagery of the movie includes symbols, theme, and cinematic effects. Imagery is what creates pictures in our minds, so it’s especially interesting to analyse it.
How to write a screenplay
Writing a screenplay is a complex process that requires a lot of steps listed below.
Work on a longline
What is actually a longline? This is a short one-sentence summary of the movie’s story. It’s used primarily as a marketing tool for studios. A longline is actually the first thing that executives ask screenplay writers to provide.
A longline contains three key elements: a goal, a main character and an antagonist. It’s also important to add a summarising adjective in front of movie characters to give a sense of their personalities. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Create your first sketch
Sketch is also a primarily marketing document. It’s also called treatment and it gives studio executives an idea of whether the story is really worthy. However, it serves as a helpful tool for the writer because it helps to organize thoughts. Treatments contain the title of the movie, longline and synopsis. It’s usually two-to five-page summaries.
One can add snippets of dialogue and description to the treatment, but still the main focus must be on synopsizing the story.
Make an outline
As some experts say, to master screenwriting, you must master structure. Before you completely focus on a creative process, you must write an outline. Most screenplays are 90-120 pages long and contain around 40 scenes that follow a 25-50-25 breakdown. Around 25% are given to the first and the third acts, while 50% take up the second act. In the outline you need to map out the setting and major events of each scene, including major dialogues.
If you want to better understand the structure of a movie, you should read the book by Blake Snyder called Save the Cat. Your screenplay outline is not a marketing tool, it’s primarily for you.
Write a draft
This step is probably the most fun. When writing your first real draft, you should do it quickly and without thinking too hard. Do not edit your draft, it’s a creative process. If you’ve done a good job structuring your story, writing a draft will be easy for you. To save time, you can use formatting software for screenplays, like Final Draft, which is the industry standard. There is another great tool called Celtx, which is absolutely free.
Editing
Professional screenwriters recommend doing at least three drafts. After finishing your first draft, read it through making some notes, but don’t do editing. In your second draft you should focus on major structural changes. You need to deepen characters, fill gaping holes and maybe even rewrite some scenes from scratch. In your third draft you should focus on polishing everything.
Author's BIO
Robert Griffith is an amateur movie critic. He publishes multiple film analyses on his personal blog and in some online magazines. He focuses on new film releases and rates the movie’s quality based on some criteria.