Another day with Stefan Jaworski, looking at log lines for our stories, trying to distill it down to one simple idea. What the logline should contain, is the main protagonist, his or her main project, and the resistance in the story. It’s also a great idea to have dramatic irony in the logline (in Liar, […]
The Danish Film School
Film School Confidential: BACK TO THE EIGHTIES
Back at Film School this week, kicking off with big drama both on screen and off. Drama teacher Mogens Rukow is an elderly gentleman and has struggled with health problems during most of my year at the school. During his weekly talk about movie structure (and the almost just as weekly showing of scenes from Godfather I, II or […]
Film School Confidential: PAIN AND SUFFERING WITH LARS DETLEFSEN
The last three days of this week at Film School we read our treatments aloud and got critique from head of the screenwriting education, Lars Detlefsen. When we were up in that room before the summer, I felt like I took a beating. But today, a fellow student took a beating that reminded me of Bane kicking Batman’s butt […]
Film School Confidential: WRITING EXERCISES WITH NIKOLAJ SCHERFIG
Tuesday was a creative rush, getting back in shape after the holidays with a day of writing exercises.We’ve been taught by Nikolaj Sherfig before, so introductions were not necessary – we just jumped right in and started writing. He had three exercises for us (actually more, but feedback took longer than expected, so…). Write an […]
Film School Confidential: SHOW AND TELL WITH JØRGEN LETH
Back at film school this week, kicking off the final semester with absolute boredom stardom. Poet and documentary filmmaker Jørgen Leth showed us clips from some of his many films and talked about his method. Leth is quite the celebrity in Denmark, both through his films but also as a commentator during Tour de France, […]
Film School Confidential: THE 8 SEQUENCE APPROACH
Well, I wasn’t physically assaulted on the last day of the semester at Film School. But I sure felt like a punching bag, pitching my story to a teacher who was shaking his head and saying “No. No. No”. At the National Film School of Denmark they teach the three act structure, as a rule. There […]