Paper : Film Proposal
Assignment Introduction:
Your second paper asks that you write a film proposal for one of the stories you select from the attached list of readings.
Although the Paper asks you that you be creative in reimaging and adapting your chosen story for a film, it also requires that you analyze and closely read the original text in order to refashion it in a notable way.
This paper does not require the use of secondary sources but if any sources are cited in your paper they must be documented using MLA format in the body of your paper (in-text citations) and on your Works Cited page.
Generally, a film proposal is a written presentation of a story (a kind of sales pitch) for film production. It is not a screenplay but the first offer or step you make to a producer before he/she may ask you to write a script.
This paper does not require that you write a Hollywood script or screenplay, but it does require that you write a film proposal that follows each of the template guidelines below.
Although it is helpful to include brief dialogue, please remember this is a paper, not an actual. film script or play.
In your proposal, dramatically present your story, especially the key scene and turning point scenes, using descriptive language and vivid details.
Consider how the original story puts forward an important scene, placing it in context of the event and using sensory details to reinforce a rhetorical effect. Watching a movie, however, is different than reading a story.
When we read, we create images (colors, landscapes, appearances) in our mind’s eye; when we go to a movie, this ‘work’ is done for us: we sit back to see, hear, and feel what is presented before us. Similarly, your film proposal will need to present and enliven these images for your audience.
Remember, even as you adapt the story you select, your paper must pay attention to a core element(s) and/or theme(s) from the original narrative.
To get started, think about your overall task and purpose: What do you want to get across to your audience?
Perhaps you want to dramatize a specific struggle, open a window of awareness, challenge a particular stereotype, or update your story to a different time and place.
Perhaps you want to highlight or re-see a different angle of character or ‘tell’ the story from a different perspective, one that might give voice to a major or a minor character, to a new conclusion, or a different rendering of an important event.
In writing your film proposal, consider your role as writer, your task, and your audience. Remember to title your paper! Also attach a Works Cited.
Assignment Template – Required Format:
The template below is a required format to guide for your paper. Although your introduction may be one paragraph, some of the other sections will most likely be two or more paragraphs.
Introduction: This introduces your film proposal for your audience. In this paragraph, take some time to identify and describe a core element or theme of the original story before stating how or in what way your proposal will revise the original narrative. After presenting the core element you will adapt, conclude your introduction with a kind of logline, a one or two sentence summary, similar to a thesis, that pulls together the central point and rhetorical pitch (‘emotional hook’) of your story, the main idea and purpose of your adaptation.
Overview of Your Adaptation:
Follow your introduction with a presentation or overview of your film adaptation. This section highlights in broad strokes a summation of your adaptation to demonstrate your film’s main thrust or appeal.
Include whether it will be a romantic comedy, a tragedy, tragicomedy, an animated, action, or sci-fi adventure, etc.
For example, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is often considered a ‘gothic’ (and feminist) narrative, one that is told from the perspective of the woman narrator.
Perhaps your film proposal will be told from John’s point of view, or if a mystery, it might be narrated by an inspector that has been called in to solve mysterious circumstances in the case.
Faulkner’s Southern gothic “A Rose for Emily” is told from the townspeople’s point of view, but what if the story were told from Emily, Tobe, or Homer’s perspective or even the missing mother?
Actors, Roles, Theme Song or Music:
After summarizing your adaptation, identify well-known actors you wish to play important roles and assign names to the characters they will play.
You have an unlimited budget for this film. If you hope to cast famous stars (often a selling point), who will they be?
Why do they fulfill expectations for the role? If you believe it’s best to cast a relatively unknown actor in the role, what particular qualities, features should this actor have? )Do not cast family members or personal acquaintances.)
In this section also include any music or songs that you will incorporate in your film to enhance a notion of character, plot event, setting, or theme.
Key Scene:
This is an important section that asks you to rewrite (but not repeat) a key scene from early or midway in the original narrative, retaining elements of the original story even as you revise them.
Take time ‘showing’ this scene in writing. Apply ‘close reading’ skills to your scene presentation.
Think about how and/or in what way your scene helps underscore your purpose, how it clarifies a central conflict or moment that helps set up your film’s resolution.
For example, will this scene provide essential background information, an important element of plot, or a character’s motivation?
Remember to present this scene dramatically: place it in context of the situation, using sensory details and brief dialogue to make it lively.
Turning Point/Resolution:
The turning point is the scene of climax that works toward a resolution of the central conflict. Given your adaptation and key scene above, what is it that you most want your audience “to get” or understand at the resolution of your film?
If you change the ending of the original story, what message or experience do you hope to get across?
If your adaption does not offer a resolution per se, in what way might your ending pose a question or challenge to the audience?
Conclusion: In your conclusion, sum up and ‘re-pitch’ your film treatment to close the deal.
Upload your paper to the Bb Assignment page Turnitin.
Paper Length and Format: four plus pages (1100-1250 words) Type and double-space your paper, one-inch margins, no larger than 12-point font, New Times Roman or Garamond. (Revisions are due two weeks after you receive your draft back from me.)
List of Stories for Paper 2: Film Proposal
Select one story from the following list to write about for your film proposal. Please note: if you chose a story not on the list your paper will lose 30 % credit:
Stories for Paper 2 (All copies of stories are on the Course Materials Menu tab, Course Readings folder, Unit II – Stories)
Petina Gappah, “Before Tonde, After Tonde”
Ralph Ellison, “Battle Royal”
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”
James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”
Ursula Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
Amy Tan, “Two Kinds”
Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies”
Junot Diaz, “Wildwood”
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”
Note: The list does not include Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Alice Walker’s “Flowers” or the brief “Muddy Road,” none of which may be used for Paper 2.
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