Seminar on the ‘Art of Scriptwriting’ organized by DeSIFMA

 

A seminar on the ‘Art of Scriptwriting’ was organized for young college students of Visual Communication by DeSales International Film and Media Academy on the 2 nd of October2023 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Around 62 students from various colleges including Saveetha College, Patrician College, Mar Gregorios College, Loyola College, the Department for Media Studies, Madras University, and students from various other institutions who are interested in cinema participated in the programme.

During the welcome address, Dr. Magimai, the Dean of studies, remembered Alfred Hitchcock who once said, ‘The three things needed to make a good film are, the script, the
script and the script ‘. He also shared about the film ‘A Trip to the Moon’ made by George Melies during the silent era, which continues to inspire writers even today to come up with good scripts. He also remembered Sydney Alvin Field who wrote the book ‘The Foundation of Screenwriting’ and how the book inspires scriptwriters even today to create good scripts.
‘The art of scriptwriting is an ocean, and we are sure to pick up some pearls during this seminar’, he concluded.
Fr. Naveen Nirmal MSFS, the Coordinator of DeSIFMA felicitated the speakers Dr. Alaguselvam, Mr. Ilango Kumaravel, the Actor Harris Moosa, Mr. Charles, and the heads of
visual communication departments of participating colleges.
The Stages of Scriptwriting

 

The first speaker, Dr. Alaguselvam, a noted screenwriter from Madurai during his power- packed presentation, mentioned various sources of stories that include, ‘news items,
history, mythology, news from individuals, experiences of people, and our own grandparents’.
He outlined the important stages in story writing, ‘the central theme, the story, the expanded story, the screenplay, and the one-line screenplay’. ‘The scriptwriter needs to
think in terms of shots, angles, special effects, re-recording, and background score while writing the script’.

While commenting on the stages of scriptwriting, he said, ‘The opening of the story, the introduction of characters, and the introduction of the conflict are very important during the first half of the movie. The second half involves, the beginning, changes, problem- solving, and moving toward the climax which could be either comedy or tragedy. Based on the need, the scriptwriter can introduce songs and fights to get the attention of the audience’ he added.
Bring out the Soul of the Novel
The guest of honor was, Mr. Ilango Kumaravelu who wrote the script for the box office hit,‘Ponniyin Selvan’ (The Son of Ponni) – Part I and Part II, based on a historical novel written by the famous writer ‘Kalki’ who published it his monthly magazine for nearly five long years during 1930s.

During the interaction, Mr. Kumaravel highlighted the role of scriptwriting in movies. He said that when we make films based on novels, we need to bring out the soul of the novel rather than converting the novel into a film literally and we took nearly a year to complete
the screenplay.
He advised the students to make use of the technologies available to tell interesting stories. He said, ‘The most creative persons in the movie industry are writers and actors. The more you work, the better you get. You need to know the history of writing to make good scripts.
See as many films as possible and write down all thoughts that come into your mind’.

 

The Voices from the Participants

‘Scriptwriting is one of the subjects we study now. This session surely will help us to immerse in the subject deeply’ said N. Kannan from Saveetha College.
‘This seminar has generated lots of interest in us towards scriptwriting and story formation.
I found it very interesting and exciting’ said Ms. Jeevitha Selvarani from Mar Gregorios College.
‘Today I came to know the process of scriptwriting and the role of scripts in movies. I enjoyed the sessions of all the speakers. It’s a great opportunity for me, thanks to DeSIFMA for organizing such a useful seminar’ said, Mr. Sugumar from the University of Madras.
Dr. Magi, the Dean of Studies thanked all the participants on behalf of the Director, Fr. J. Stephen MSFS, and invited the student community to make use of the facilities available in the Academy to develop their skills to make value-based films.

 

- Media News.