Week 6: Story Structure & Scripts

To Do This Week

Work on the Sound Design Assignment (5%): dual-system recording of dialogue, 3 foley sounds, music track
Write down 3 different story ideas - just a brief description is fine. You have an unlimited budget, so let you imagination go. Your story ideas should have the following elements: Setting (place and time), Character (and their goals), Event (something happens), Character Reaction (how they respond to the event).

Module Notes

Sound Design Assignment

Pitch Deck (15%)

Script (5%) – completed Oct 15

Storyboard (5%) & Moodboard (5%) – submitted with Script by Oct 22

This is a self-contained project. You will design a short cinematic idea and express it through three complementary pre-production elements: a script, a storyboard, and a mood board. You will not be required edit or shoot this project later; the goal is to practice translating an idea into clear, compelling visual storytelling. Be imaginative and unconstrained by budget while focusing on story structure, cinematic language, and visual design. Each component is worth 5% for a total of 15%.

Group Workshopping & Beat Sheets

Students will begin by discussing story ideas in small groups. Each student will develop a beat sheet—a brief outline of the key beats and emotional turns of their story—and share it with their group for approval and suggestions. Only after receiving group feedback will students write their individual script drafts. Each group will create a Slack channel (with the me included) where drafts of beat sheets and scripts are posted for feedback and suggestions. Storyboards and production design details are created only after group approval of the script.

1. Script (5%)

Length: 60–120 seconds (about 1–3 pages).
Format: Proper screenplay style (scene headings, action, dialogue).
Goal: Demonstrate a clear narrative arc (beginning–middle–end or an alternative but coherent structure), conflict, and resolution, and ideally a twist.
Process: Start with a group-approved beat sheet, then write your script individually. Post drafts to your group Slack channel for feedback before finalizing.

2. Hand-Drawn or Digitally Illustrated Storyboard (5%)

Medium: Pencil/pen sketches or digital drawing (hand-rendered look preferred).
Panels: A frame for each planned shot showing composition, angle, and movement.
Notes under each frame:
- Shot type (CU, WS, POV, OTS, etc.).
- Camera movement (pan, tilt, dolly, handheld, static, etc.).
- Editing intent (continuity vs. discontinuity; match on action, screen direction, ellipsis, jump cut).
- Key sound cues (dialogue, effects, ambience, music) and any timing beats.
Goal: Visualize the story shot-by-shot, demonstrating how framing, movement, and editing shape meaning.
Timing: Begin your storyboard only after your script has been approved by your group.
Here is a storyboard pdf you can print out.

3. Mood Board / Production Design (5%)

Images: Collect 5–10 images (AI-generated and/or screen grabs from the web) that convey look and feel.
Focus: Style, color palette, lighting, settings, costumes, and character design.
Notes: Brief description about visual design, mood and overall tone.
Timing: Create your mood board after your script has been approved by your group.
Goal: Present a cohesive design sense and color palette that communicates the project’s atmosphere and style.

Submission

Your finished project will be submitted as a published Google Slide url to Canvas. The slides should include:

Your formatted final script broken up into pages. Use screen grabs.

Digital photos or scans of your storyboard.

Panels of your production design/mood board elements with brief description.

Optional: share links to slides on Slack

Purpose

This assignment builds core skills in conceiving and communicating a cinematic concept—useful for social media videos and traditional film contexts alike. Even though it will not be produced in this class, your pitch deck should read as if it could guide an actual production.

In-class Activity: Build Your Story Structure and Beats

You came to class with three ideas for a short film. Today we start turning one of them into a story. By the end of class you'll have a rough structure of 5–6 story beats, which is the starting point for your script.

A Warning About Formulas

A story never works when it's cookie-cutter. Good stories are not easy. Aristotle said the best plots surprise us and yet feel inevitable: events happen unexpectedly, but once they've happened, we see they had to happen. Your story needs both, the unexpected and the inevitable.

Stories also don't come from nowhere. They come from your own experience and from all the other stories you've absorbed: films, books, things people have told you, things you've overheard. Use all of it.

Part 1: Small Groups (20–25 min)

Get into groups of 3–4.

Pitch. Each person briefly shares their three ideas (about 2 minutes each). Say what draws you to each one.
Feedback. For each person, the group discusses which idea has the most potential as a story, not just as an image, a mood, or a concept. Ask:
- Who is this about? What do they want or need?
- What could change or go wrong for them?
- Why does this story matter to the person telling it?
A Trick: Go the Opposite Way. Once you find the obvious path the story would take, deliberately follow the opposite. If the character would normally win, what if they lose? If they'd run away, what if they stay? If the twist is expected, what if something else breaks or changes instead? Follow the imaginary paths to the conclusion and see where you end up. Escalating a simple pattern often works in a short. You don't have to keep it, but it usually reveals something more interesting than where you started.
Choose. By the end, each person picks one idea to develop.

Part 2: Write Your Story Beats (20 min)

On your own, write 5–6 story beats for your chosen idea. Each beat should be 1–3 sentences describing what happens.

Situation. Who is the character, where are they, and what is their world like before anything changes?
Incident or Change. Something happens that disrupts the situation.
Reaction or Consequence. How does the character respond? What does the change set in motion?
Escalation. Things get more complicated, more difficult, or more intense. The stakes rise.
Climax. The moment of greatest tension, where something must be decided, faced, or lost.
Resolution. What is the world like now? What has changed, in the character or around them?

As you write, check each beat: Is this the obvious choice? Is there a change or movement? Does it feel both surprising and inevitable? Does each beat cause the next – "therefore this happened" –, or does it just come after it? – "and then this happened."

Part 3: Share and Revise (15–20 min)

Back in your group, each person reads their beats aloud. The group responds:

Where did the story surprise you?
Where did it feel predictable?
Does the ending feel earned by what came before?
Is there a moment where the opposite choice might be stronger?

Take notes and revise your beats based on what you hear.

Remember: This Is Just a Beginning

These beats are the starting template for writing your script. But a script can always change. As you write scenes, you'll discover things you didn't plan, and some of your best moments will come from abandoning the plan. Let the story tell you where it wants to go.

Bring your revised beats next week.

Free Screenwriting Tools (with AI / Formatting Support)

Fountainize – Google Docs Add-on: Lets students write scripts in plain text inside Google Docs and then convert them to screenplay format using Fountain markup. It’s lightweight, free, and easy to share for feedback.
ChatGPT: Paste unformatted drafts into ChatGPT and ask it to “Reformat this as a screenplay using scene headings, character names in caps, and dialogue under names.” For 1–3-page scripts, this is usually enough to produce a readable script without learning complex software.

Sample Screenplays

Lunch Date, by Adam Davidson
Good Will Hunting – full feature screenplay
The Sixth Sense – screenplay

Cinematic Story Stucture:

Story structure and beats: Each scene or moment should have a clear purpose — establishing setting, advancing conflict, or revealing character. Beats are the small shifts or turning points that move the story forward.
Carefully crafted shot sequences: Use framing, editing, and camera movement to capture the mood and highlight the story beats, guiding the audience’s attention moment by moment.
Visual design and style: The look of your "film" — color, texture, lighting, setting, costume, character types — should match and reinforce the mood of the story.

THURSDAY WORKSHOP: Beat Sheet

Form groups by genre interest. Work on story beatsb first and then begin first drafts.