Design Guide

Designers for Learning - Adult Learning Zone

Table of Contents

Part 1: Lesson Description

Lesson Title

Abstract

Learner Audience / Primary Users

Educational Use

College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) Alignment

Language

Material Type

Learning Goals

Keywords

Time Required for Lesson

Prior Knowledge

Required Resources

Lesson Author & License

Part 2: Lesson

Learning Objectives

Lesson Topics

Context Summary

Relevance to Practice

Key Terms and Concepts

Instructional Strategies and Activities

Warm-Up

Introduction

Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration

Guided Practice

Evaluation

Application

Part 3: Supplementary Resources & References

Supplementary Resources

References

Attribution Statements

Part 1: Lesson Description

Lesson Title

Ideas (Original .01 Ideas Lesson Plan created by Albion Movie, Inc.; this version modified for Adult Learners)

Abstract

This lesson is to foster an understanding of how screenplay ideas are written, developed and supported with events, characters, dialogue, and other elements.

 Original .01 Ideas Lesson Plan created by Albion Movie, Inc.; this version modified for Adult Learners with their permission.

Learner Audience / Primary Users

Adult, 9th-12th grade reading level , non-traditional student working towards achieving a high school diploma

Educational Use

• Curriculum / Instruction

College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) Alignment

• Level: Adult Education
• Grade Level: CCRS Grade Level E (9-12 grade reading level)
• Subject: CCRS English Language Arts
• Strand: CCRS Writing Strand

• Sub-strand: Writing of Literature, History/Social Studies, or Technical subjects

• Standard Description: CCRS description(s) for the specific standard(s) and supporting standard(s) that align with your lesson:

• CCR Anchor 3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

Language

English

Material Type

• Instructional Material

Learning Goals

The purpose of this lesson is for learners to be able to:

Understand how screenplay ideas are written, developed and supported with events, characters, dialogue, and other elements. Use the script writing project to help students create their own short film script.

Keywords

• Designers for Learning
• Adult Education
• Screenplay
• Writing
• Research
• Dialogue
• Characters
• Short film script

Time Required for Lesson

30 minutes

Prior Knowledge

Students must read and write at the 9th grade level; have the ability to navigate the Internet, and type into a Word processor.

Required Resources

Internet access and a word processing document, such as Google docs.

Lesson Author & License

• Lesson Author: Suzanne Ensmann (Modified for Adult Ed students; original .01 Ideas Lesson Plan created by  Albion Movie, Inc.).

• License for .01 Ideas Lesson Plan:Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license

Part 2: Lesson

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to:

• Research historical events of interest to you.
• Write a screenplay idea based upon real or imagined experiences or events.
• Develop and support it with details about sequential events, characters and dialogue to create a short film script.

Lesson Topics

Key topics covered in this lesson include:

• This lesson focuses on guiding students how to write a screenplay. After researching Literature, History/Social Studies, or Technical subjects students will then brainstorm to write and develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences, developed and supported with events, characters, and dialogue.

Context Summary

Screenwriters get their ideas from many sources. Sometimes they think of ideas on their own. Often, however, they are inspired by other media like books or television. It is important to remember that “borrowing” an idea is not a bad thing. Humans are very good at learning from one another, and screenwriters are no exception.

Ideas for screenplays come at strange times and unusual places. Screenwriters have mentioned that they get their ideas from conversations with friends, a phrase in a book or movie, something they have seen while taking a walk, or even in dreams. When the ideas pop up, screenwriters try to write them down quickly so they don’t forget them. The same is true for events in a movie, characters, and dialogue. Some screenwriters keep a pencil and some paper with them nearly all the time so they can capture their ideas whilst they are fresh.

A list of sources for initial screenplay ideas is shown below. There may even be some other sources that you can think of. The important thing to keep in mind is that screenwriters are good at thinking up ideas on their own, as well as borrowing ideas from other media.

Research plays a critical role in the proper development of a screenplay idea. Any time a writer can introduce their audience to a new, interesting world or perspective, the reader is more engaged. Researching allows the writer to discover rich details and nuances that might otherwise have been omitted, leaving the script more hollow and flat.

Relevance to Practice

Students need to see relevance for the subjects they are taking. These writing lessons provide relevant examples of how writing may be used to create a screenplay creating the first step in a movie production. Students will see how professional writers brainstorm after researching history and literature to come up with ideas for movies which places their schoolwork into the realm of future potential careers.

Key Terms and Concepts

• Brainstorming is taking the research on history, events, other stories, or experiences to create more ideas.
• Screenplays are ideas written into a story format.  
• A good screenplay is developed and supported with detail, introduces events sequentially, and creates characters and dialogue to create a short film script.

Instructional Strategies and Activities

Warm-Up

Time: 5 minutes

01 GROUP ACTIVITY

As a group activity, have the students name some familiar movies and try to figure out where the ideas came from. If have time, continue the discussion by reversing the process and asking students to think of movies for each source on the list. If necessary, provide students with information you know about the source of different screenplay ideas. Promote a discussion of how some features of the source appear in the movie but some do not.

Introduction

Time: 5 minutes

Screenplay Ideas to be shared with students:

ALBION was written and directed by 23-year-old Harvard University student, Castille Landon.

Screenwriters get their ideas from many sources. Sometimes they think of ideas on their own. Often, however, they are inspired by other media like books or television. It is important to remember that “borrowing” an idea is not a bad thing. Humans are very good at learning from one another, and screenwriters are no exception.

Ideas for screenplays come at strange times and unusual places. Screenwriters have mentioned that they get their ideas from conversations with friends, a phrase in a book or movie, something they have seen while taking a walk, or even in dreams. When the ideas pop up, screenwriters try to write them down quickly so they don’t forget them. The same is true for events in a movie, characters, and dialogue. Some screenwriters keep a pencil and some paper with them nearly all the time so they can capture their ideas while they are fresh.

A list of sources for initial screenplay ideas is shown below. There may even be some other sources that you can think of. The important thing to keep in mind is that screenwriters are good at thinking up ideas on their own, as well as borrowing ideas from other media.

Research plays a critical role in the proper development of a screenplay idea. Any time a writer can introduce their audience to a new, interesting world or perspective, the reader is more engaged. Researching allows the writer to discover rich details and nuances that might otherwise have been omitted, leaving the script more hollow and flat.

Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration

Time: 5 minutes

To be shared with students:

ALBION was written and directed by 23-year-old Harvard University student, Castille Landon. Below, Castille tells us how she got her ideas for ALBION

1. FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCES: I grew up around horses and always dreamed of having a magical horse whisk me to a mystical land. In my script, I turned my fantasy into Evie’s reality.
2. BY INCORPORATING MY EMOTIONS: I never felt like I was one of the “cool, hip, rich” kids that frequented my school or the riding stable where I practiced. So, I made Evie an outcast who becomes a hero.
3. IRISH FOLKLORE: I love history and folklore. Greek and Roman folklore are taught in nearly every school and appear regularly in movies (think: Spartacus, Hercules). But I wanted something different. So, I used Irish folklore, and was especially fascinated with the legends of the kelpie. I did extensive Internet research on the characters and storylines in Irish legends and then adapted them into my own characters and my own storyline.
4. ADDITIONAL WRITERS: After creating my first draft script, I brought in Sarah Scougal and Ryan O’Nan (writer for Marvel’s X-Men) to develop the script into the powerhouse we have today.

Guided Practice

Time: 5 minutes

03 INTERNET RESEARCH

• Have students search for information about the inspiration for movies with which they are familiar. You may broaden the activity by assigning the students to look up classic movies.
• Have them list a Movie with the corresponding Inspiration(s) and cite their work.
• Have students submit with below Application.

Evaluation Rubric for Practice above and Application below

Time: To be included with section below

Application

Time: 10 minutes

02 SCRIPT WRITING PROJECT

Have the students work independently or in small teams of four or fewer members. If they work as teams, they can act as co-writers of a single script, or utilize the group as a writers’ room to bounce ideas off of each other while developing their scripts individually. Their task will be to think of a screenplay idea that they would like to develop. Have them consider which source(s) they will use to develop their screenplay idea. What additional resources should they investigate to more fully develop their ideas and add detail to the story? Each team has to think of a story, choose a title, and write a simple bulleted list of their ideas. Remind the students that they do not have to be completely faithful to the source. Ask the students to consider which aspects of the source might appear in the movie, parts that would not, and new content that might be added. Give each group an opportunity to share their screenplay idea and source with the class. Have students submit application included research list to instructor.

Use rubric to grade.

Part 3: Supplementary Resources & References

Supplementary Resources

ALBION: THE ENCHANTED STALLION is the first installment of a trilogy involving the world of ALBION. The film is due to be released in theatres in the Fall of 2016 and is a fantasy film in the vein of Wizard of Oz meets Game of Thrones. ALBION is about a girl named Evie who finds a magical stallion and is whisked away to another world, where she finds that she, alone, is the key to saving an entire race of people.

Interested students can learn more about ALBION, including entering the ALBION Essay Contest, at www.AlbionMovie.com.

CLICK TO WATCH AN EXCLUSIVE 10 MINUTE TEASER: https://vimeo.com/157465468

References

Albion Movie, Inc. (2016). Albion Writing Workshop - Albion: The Enchanted Stallion. Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://albionmovie.com/writing-workshop.html.

Albion Movie, Inc. (2016). Albion: The Enchanted Stallion 3-Minute Teaser on Vimeo. Retrieved May 3, 2016, from https://vimeo.com/157465468.

Attribution Statements

The Albion Enchanted Stallion 3-Minute Teaser on Vimeo was created by Albion Movie, Inc. and published at https://vimeo.com/157465468 is copyrighted and is not licensed under an open license. Embedded as permitted by Albion Movie, Inc.

This course content is offered by Designers for Learning under a CC Attribution license.
Content in this course can be considered under this license unless otherwise noted.        Page 

(Design Guide effective February 22, 2016)