Week one- The paper trail through the pixels...

Storytelling can take on many forms, but this week, the education that I have been receiving has mostly been online. The first week of my MA Writing for Script & Screen has been both overwhelming and exciting.

Firstly, the content and educational elements have been fantastic, informative and inspiring. There is not enough time in the day for me to cover what I want to in order to sate my appetite for the knowledge that the course is providing.

Secondly, the online systems that are used to deliver the content are mysterious, far-reaching and vast.

Imagine waiting for a large puzzle to arrive. Finally it is delivered. You eagerly unwrap it and as you walk to the table to start sifting the pieces into piles of edges, corners and middle, you drop the box and scatter every tile into a deep pile rug. Now you have to find out where all the pieces are hiding, collect them, divide them up and then begin the work itself of constructing creatively. That's me on Canvas, ASK, Big Blue Button, the Library and all the other platforms that are interwoven to provide the course.

Whilst not a technophobe, I am hardly 'tech savvy' and often refer to myself as a 'techno numpty'. It's not because I am incapable, so much as often uninspired. And now that I am inspired by the content of the course, I wish I were a bit more adept at my keyboard skills! 

"But what have you learnt?" I hear you cry... that the phrase 'preparation is everything' applies so succinctly to scriptwriting as well. When I follow the format of construction that is applied at industry level, I will iron out more wrinkles in the first few stages than I ever could once the entire script is written. The "Into the Woods; How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them"  (by John Yorke) excerpt served to show the reasons behind story writing and examined which basic structures and underlying themes work well. "Bang" went my initial creative script ramblings for our first module assessment. It was time to follow the process that has been proven successful for decades, centuries and, who knows, maybe even millennia.

Storytelling, for me, is the art of exploring conscious themes and subconscious motivators through dramatic scenes and unfolding characterisations. I always want to know 'why' someone has done something; what drives them to be a certain way and to make those choices or to be more passive and experience things at the hand of other people's decisions. Scriptwriting gives the opportunity for the seed of a personality to grow into its own unique flower under the care of the Director and the presentation of the Actor. It's an exciting, living interpretation of universal themes: love, death, betrayal and everything in between. The great questions of life and death can all be embodied and explored on the screen- and the Actors' performances help us to relate more easily. Ultimately, they simply make us aware that we are all on this great journey together.

So, I am in a procrastination-free zone, ready to complete this week's assignments...
​Well, maybe after I make a cup of tea... and read a few more articles... and... and... possibly, maybe, perhaps I will start to link all those puzzle pieces together in my mind by the end of next week...
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