Objectives:

  • Explore and identify sources of inspiration for films

  • Use a screenplay format to effectively express an idea

  • Use Francis Ford Coppola's screenwriting technique

Francis Ford Coppola's Technique for Writing a Screenplay based on a novel



First, watch the interview with Francis Ford Coppola about how he wrote the screenplay for the Godfather. Next, follow the instructions below:

  1. Frey will hand you a random page out of a novel. In this case, we are using The Stories of John Cheever.

  2. Take the piece of paper and glue it to an 8 and a half by eleven piece of blank paper.

  3. In the margins of the paper, write down every idea you can think of concerning how you could transform the written page into a scene from a movie. Use your imagination to make it come alive.

  4. Take your notes and together with the text from the page, convert it to a page in screenplay format using Celtx.

  5. Print out the script and staple it to your sheet. Stapel it to your notebook and turn it in to me.





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