The Craft of the Screenplay A Critical Survey of English Screenwriting and Analysis of Select Screenplays

Abstract

Screenplays, as independent texts, arrived on bookstore shelves in the 1970s. newlineSince then there has been a tremendous upsurge in the evolution of screenwriting. Today, newlinethe popularity of screenwriting and filmmaking is an indivisible part of our culture and newlinecannot be ignored. With the tremendous increase of computer technology and computer newlinegraphic imagery, the expanded influence of TV, new wireless LAN technology, and the newlineenormous increase in film production, the world is in the middle of a cinematic newlinerevolution. It is most pertinent therefore to trace the history of screenplay from the silent newlinemovie era through its various stages- the talkie, the color cinema, the 70 mm stereophonic newlinecinema- to the contemporary Digital Cinema. The analysis of the screenplay as a form of newlineliterature can yield to new critical insights. A screenplay does to a film is what written newlineplay does to a dramatic performance. There are many film critics, budding screenwriters newlineand film school students who would want to study the screenplays while studying a film. newlineThe reach of the screenplays has increased from the internet downloads to the books that newlineare found in book stores. The postmodern world has accepted the screenplays as a newlineliterature as postmodernism rejects the concept of high and low literature, it also newlinerejects the distinctions between different genres and forms of writing and storytelling and newlineit might give further insights into the finished product i.e. a film. Thus an inquiry into the newlineevolution of a new art form- the screenplay, over the course of a century, can be newlineconsidered as a relevant effort in the field of literary studies. newlineLiterature Review: newlineMajor concern of this research has been to understand the craft of the newlinescreenplay and understanding how screenplays have evolved to gain literary status in the newlinecourse of time. The theories that are generally used to analyze the literary works can be newlineapplied to the screenplays in order to check their credibility as a literary piece. While newlinetaking review of the evolution of screenwriting, it