The Science of Screenwriting: The Neuroscience Behind Storytelling Strategies

Description

In a world awash in screenwriting books, The Science of Screenwriting provides an alternative approach that will help the aspiring screenwriter navigate this mass of often contradictory advice: exploring the science behind storytelling strategies. Paul Gulino, author of the best-selling Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, and Connie Shears, a noted cognitive psychologist, build, chapter-by-chapter, an understanding of the human perceptual/cognitive processes, from the functions of our eyes and ears bringing real world information into our brains, to the intricate networks within our brains connecting our decisions and emotions. They draw on a variety of examples from film and television -- The Social Network, Silver Linings Playbook and Breaking Bad -- to show how the human perceptual process is reflected in the storytelling strategies of these filmmakers. They conclude with a detailed analysis of one of the most successful and influential films of all time, Star Wars, to discover just how it had the effect that it had. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction, or, Should I Save the Cat and Send the Hero on His Journey? Chapter 1 The Science of Information Flow, or, I Say Schema, You Say Schemata: Top-Down versus Bottom-Up Top-Down and Bottom-Up I Say Schema, You Say Schemata Frame versus Scene Your Schema Is Not My Schemata The Elusive 100 Percent Foolproof Movie Formula What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: Clues and Constructivism at Work Perceptual Prompts—Perspectives on Where Reality Is Chapter 2 The Science of Connecting to the Main Character, or, Why Do I Worry That a Meth Dealer Might Get Caught? What Life’s All About Aristotle and Fear and Pity and Pfaff Introduction of the Main Character: First Impressions Count Introducing Jaak Panksepp The Nonhero’s Journey Learning from Others: Character Arc The Science of Character Arc What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: Empathy Perceptual Prompts—Who Is the Bad Guy? Chapter 3 The Science of Contrast, or, Why Did the Big Huge Spaceship Follow the Little Tiny Spaceship in the Opening of Star A Little Science Directing Attention Aural Contrast Narrative Contrast: Tension and Release How Science Sees It, or, How to Avoid Narrative Exhaustion Getting Emotional, or, How to Use the Word Valence in a Sentence about Screenwriting The Return of Top-Down What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures; a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: Contrast and Atmosphere Perceptual Prompts—Simultaneous Contrast Chapter 4 The Science of Exposition, or, What’s Wrong with an Information Dump? Constructivist Psychology to the Rescue Ninotchka (1939) Can I Become a Crafty Screenwriter Too? The Science behind Otherworldly Worlds What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: Exposition as a Game with the Audience Perceptual Prompts—Where Is That Noise Coming from? Chapter 5 The Science of Cause and Effect, or, Did the Packers Really Lose Because I Didn’t Wear My Cheesehead Hat? The Science Rewind: But The Social Network Is Told Out of Order Causes with a Delayed Effect The Science What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: Cause and Effect Perceptual Prompts—Being Closer Causes Being Bigger Chapter 6 The Science of Shared Attention, or, If I Write a Screenplay in Which a Tree Falls in the Forest, and the Reader Fall The Science Studies of Who’s Looking Where How Filmmakers Handle Attention The Role of Memory The Challenge of Short Films The Challenge of Virtual Reality What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of Sort Screenwriting Explorations: Resetting Attention Perceptual Prompts—Shared Attention Depends on How Well You Know the Speaker Chapter 7 The Science of Conflict, or, What’s Wrong with Watching Two Hours of People Just Getting Along and Helping Each Other The Science of Conflict Conflict Deep within Us The Emotional Roller-Coaster Verbal Conflict Conflicted Human Nature Dialogue: On the Nose and off the Rails What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: Conflict on the Scene Level Perceptual Prompts—Brain on Conflict, or the Missing Phoneme Effect Chapter 8 The Science of Imagination: Temporal Lobes, How to Think Creatively, Stages of Mind, or, Your Dope-Fueled Imaginings Preparation Incubation Aha! Moment What You Just Learned (or, Our Attempt to Load the Above Information into Your Brain’s Experience Structures, a Summary of So Screenwriting Explorations: There’s No Such Thing as Writer’s Block Chapter 9 The Structure Question, or, How Many Acts Does It Take to Sell a Script? Digging Deeper Breaking Those Rules Chapter 10 Star Wars, or, How George Did It The Opening Crawl Used Android Salesmen The Main Character Appears Connecting to Luke The (Sand) People versus Ben Kenobi Mos Eisley The Journey Out of the Millennium Falcon and into the Garbage Room Escape from the Garbage Room Contrivance: A Digression Escape from the Death Star Getting Ready The Battle Chapter 11 Epilogue, or, Go Forth and Create Reference Index