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فیلمنامه کوتاه - فیلم کوتاه از مفهوم تا تولید
With the growth of film festivals, cable networks, specialty home video, and the Internet, there are more outlets and opportunities for screening short films now than at any time in the last 100 years. But before you can screen your short film, you need to shoot it. And before you can shoot it, you need to write it. The Short Screenplay provides both beginning and experienced screenwriters with all the guidance they need to write compelling, filmable short screenplays. Explore how to develop characters that an audience can identify with. How to create a narrative structure that fits a short time frame but still engages the audience. How to write dialogue that's concise and memorable. How to develop story ideas from concept through final draft. All this and much more is covered in a unique conversational style that reads more like a novel than a "how-to" book. The book wraps up with a discussion of the role of the screenplay in the production process and with some helpful (and entertaining) sample scripts. This is the only guide you'll ever need to make your short film a reality!
- GenresWritingFilmNonfiction
316 pages, Paperback
First published November 20, 2006
17 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
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January 24, 2021
حیف کتابی به این خوبی که تقریبا هر آن چیزی که راجع به نوشتن یک فیلمنامه کوتاه لازم هستش رو داره اما ترجمه ی بسیار ضعیفی داره، اگر ترجمه ش خوب بود میشد ۴ ستاره داد.
اما باز هم با وجود ترجمه ی ضعیفش خوندنش رو به اهالی سینما و کسانی که در فکر نوشتن فیلمنامه هستن و یا به این موضوع علاقه دارن پیشنهاد میکنم.
نکته ها و دستور العمل های بسیار دقیق و ظریفی در این کتاب هستش که میتونه کمکتون کنه.
اما باز هم با وجود ترجمه ی ضعیفش خوندنش رو به اهالی سینما و کسانی که در فکر نوشتن فیلمنامه هستن و یا به این موضوع علاقه دارن پیشنهاد میکنم.
نکته ها و دستور العمل های بسیار دقیق و ظریفی در این کتاب هستش که میتونه کمکتون کنه.
August 18, 2018
ترجمه متوسطی داره اما بد نیست، به نظرم مترجم نتونسته جهان زبانی کتاب رو در ادبات موضوع خودش شکل بده برای همین هم گاهی خوانشش با ابهام، نه در ساختار متن و جمله که در درک مفهوم و جان کلام خودش رو نشون میده.
اما در مقابل فهرست ریز و تفکیک شده خوبی داره و پله پله برای نگارش فیلمنامه کوتاه عناصر روایت رو توضیح می ده.
نکته خوب دیگرش هم در نظر گرفتن جنبه های تولیدی در حین نگارش هست که کمک زیادی میکنه تا خروجی امکان تولید شدنش بالاتر بره و صرفا متن خوبی نباشه که امکان تولیدش نیست.
آخر هر فصل هم مطالبش رو در یک صفحه خلاصه کرده که برای مرور خیلی مناسبه.
یک فیلمنامه کوتاه ضمیمه از لاموریس و چند تا لیست فیلم پیشنهادی هم برای دیدن در انتهاش داره که عموما فرانسوی هستن
اما در مقابل فهرست ریز و تفکیک شده خوبی داره و پله پله برای نگارش فیلمنامه کوتاه عناصر روایت رو توضیح می ده.
نکته خوب دیگرش هم در نظر گرفتن جنبه های تولیدی در حین نگارش هست که کمک زیادی میکنه تا خروجی امکان تولید شدنش بالاتر بره و صرفا متن خوبی نباشه که امکان تولیدش نیست.
آخر هر فصل هم مطالبش رو در یک صفحه خلاصه کرده که برای مرور خیلی مناسبه.
یک فیلمنامه کوتاه ضمیمه از لاموریس و چند تا لیست فیلم پیشنهادی هم برای دیدن در انتهاش داره که عموما فرانسوی هستن
July 16, 2017
کتاب خیلی خوب و جامع، اما ترجمهی فاجعهی فاجعهی فاجعه!
January 24, 2018
In The Short Screenplay, author and screenwriter Dan Gurskis promises, in the book’s very own subtitle, to guide you “from concept to production” – and that’s exactly what he does. From chapter to chapter, he moves through the process in an easy to understand way, fully outlining the realities of crafting any film, but especially a short film, from an idea to a ready-to-shoot screenplay.
Each of Gurskis’ seven chapters in named after a part of the process. He explains each concept and then goes deeper under sub-headings, and he takes his time to make sure you follow, including in-line definitions of ideas or jargon related to screenwriting and filmmaking. He also peppers in quotes from screenwriters and authors, gives plenty of examples to further clarify concepts, and he even concludes each chapter with a review “cheat sheet” of key concepts.
In the very first chapter, “Shorts”, Gurskis lays out the most structural basics of writing a screenplay for a short film. He explains that shorts are an art form all their own, separate from features, TV, and theatre, and he warns against some common problems writers will face when coming up with story ideas. Keep the cast of characters small, and the time frame of your story short. Write visually and avoid heavy dialogue and exposition. This simplicity can be attained by avoiding extensive effects, multiple or complicated subplots, or fantasy or sci-fi worlds that would be difficult to introduce in a limited time.
Chapter two is all about character. A good character is at the heart of every great film. Ideally, the protagonist will be empathetic because when an audience connects strongly with a character they become more invested in the story. The four main types of characters are: the protagonist, typically your “hero”, whose objective drives the plot; the antagonist, any character whose objective hinders the protagonist from reaching their goal; the catalyst, a character who can spur the protagonist to action; or a confidant, who exists so that the audience can hear what the protagonist is thinking when it can’t be expressed visually, but not so clumsily that they’re just talking to themself. These four character types, though especially the protagonist and antagonist, will have an objective, a need, an outlook, an attitude, and an arc. Their true nature is defined by their choices and actions throughout the screenplay, and it may be contrary to what they say. When the protagonist and antagonist have diametrically opposed objectives, Gurskis calls this a “unity of opposites”, and this can drive the story very effectively.
Now Gurksis moves into narrative. Gurskis tells us about the beginning, middle, and end of the story, more accurately called the “setup,” “rising action,” and “resolution”. Setup is where everything is introduced, including setting, tone, theme, your protagonist, and a general direction for the plot to follow. The inciting incident, the moment upon which the rest of the story hinges, comes at the end of setup and introduces the rising action. This section of the script includes all the minor triumphs and setbacks your character will face, increasing in intensity as the story moves towards its climax, the highest dramatic point in the action. After the climax comes the resolution, where any unanswered questions are resolved and equilibrium is restored. Every scene in all three sections of your script should be directly linked to each other through cause and effect, and any scene that does not serve such a purpose should probably be removed.
In “Dialogue”, Gurskis explains that in theatre and television the story is advanced through dialogue, but film is served more through visual storytelling and dialogue should be used to complement that or fill in the gaps where necessary. Any line of dialogue should achieve one or more of six goals: move the plot forward, reveal character, provide information about the story, establish tone, convey theme, or add to the backdrop of the story. Like a scene without a purpose, lines that don’t achieve those goals should probably be removed. The author also goes into more detail about how to achieve useful and natural dialogue, tips that will definitely help me write more effective dialogue in the future.
Chapter five is all about development. This is where Gurskis demystifies what some people may call the process, or as I like to call it, the scary part. He provides a number of tools for the screenwriter to fully develop the world and characters that the screenplay will exist in, and to develop the script itself. For the last two chapters, Gurskis switches gears a little. For chapter six, instead of talking about merely writing, he talks about your screenplay in the context of producing an actual film. This chapter is especially useful for those writers who want to shoot or direct their own scripts. He tells us about many of the possible places you could lose a lot of money and quick screenwriting fixes, such as not using two locations where one could do. In chapter seven, it’s all about the formatting, an overview of how to format a screenplay so that it looks up to the industry standard and is as easy to read and work with as possible. After that, he includes several pages of reference material, including glossaries and examples of work.
Overall, I found this book extremely useful. First of all, it is written specifically for crafting shorts, which is much more relevant to me right now, given the constraints of my production classes, as well as my budget both in and out of film school. But it still contains a lot of more “universal” content that I may extrapolate onto other forms of writing, should I choose to foray into features, television, theatre, or even prose. It helps, too, that Gurskis explains some of the major differences in writing for each of those. I think it greatly demystified the writing process, especially in his chapter on development. He broke it all down quite easily, but it wasn’t quite so formula-driven as something like Save the Cat! either, allowing the script more freedom to grown and evolve, and the screenwriter more freedom to experiment. I really appreciated that Gurskis pointed out the prodution realities, too, and encouraged us to remember things like budget and time constraints in order to reign in some of our imaginative excess and to simplify locations and casting. I found his end of chapter summaries and his extensive collection of jargon glossaries and script and development paperwork examples to be extremely useful.
The Short Screenplay by Gurskis was short, informative, easy to understand, but still useful to someone who isn’t a complete beginner. Its lessons will continue to be of use and influence as I write my own shorts and if I move into features later on, and its reference section and chapter summaries will provide a great resource if I need a quick reminder or refresher as I work.
Each of Gurskis’ seven chapters in named after a part of the process. He explains each concept and then goes deeper under sub-headings, and he takes his time to make sure you follow, including in-line definitions of ideas or jargon related to screenwriting and filmmaking. He also peppers in quotes from screenwriters and authors, gives plenty of examples to further clarify concepts, and he even concludes each chapter with a review “cheat sheet” of key concepts.
In the very first chapter, “Shorts”, Gurskis lays out the most structural basics of writing a screenplay for a short film. He explains that shorts are an art form all their own, separate from features, TV, and theatre, and he warns against some common problems writers will face when coming up with story ideas. Keep the cast of characters small, and the time frame of your story short. Write visually and avoid heavy dialogue and exposition. This simplicity can be attained by avoiding extensive effects, multiple or complicated subplots, or fantasy or sci-fi worlds that would be difficult to introduce in a limited time.
Chapter two is all about character. A good character is at the heart of every great film. Ideally, the protagonist will be empathetic because when an audience connects strongly with a character they become more invested in the story. The four main types of characters are: the protagonist, typically your “hero”, whose objective drives the plot; the antagonist, any character whose objective hinders the protagonist from reaching their goal; the catalyst, a character who can spur the protagonist to action; or a confidant, who exists so that the audience can hear what the protagonist is thinking when it can’t be expressed visually, but not so clumsily that they’re just talking to themself. These four character types, though especially the protagonist and antagonist, will have an objective, a need, an outlook, an attitude, and an arc. Their true nature is defined by their choices and actions throughout the screenplay, and it may be contrary to what they say. When the protagonist and antagonist have diametrically opposed objectives, Gurskis calls this a “unity of opposites”, and this can drive the story very effectively.
Now Gurksis moves into narrative. Gurskis tells us about the beginning, middle, and end of the story, more accurately called the “setup,” “rising action,” and “resolution”. Setup is where everything is introduced, including setting, tone, theme, your protagonist, and a general direction for the plot to follow. The inciting incident, the moment upon which the rest of the story hinges, comes at the end of setup and introduces the rising action. This section of the script includes all the minor triumphs and setbacks your character will face, increasing in intensity as the story moves towards its climax, the highest dramatic point in the action. After the climax comes the resolution, where any unanswered questions are resolved and equilibrium is restored. Every scene in all three sections of your script should be directly linked to each other through cause and effect, and any scene that does not serve such a purpose should probably be removed.
In “Dialogue”, Gurskis explains that in theatre and television the story is advanced through dialogue, but film is served more through visual storytelling and dialogue should be used to complement that or fill in the gaps where necessary. Any line of dialogue should achieve one or more of six goals: move the plot forward, reveal character, provide information about the story, establish tone, convey theme, or add to the backdrop of the story. Like a scene without a purpose, lines that don’t achieve those goals should probably be removed. The author also goes into more detail about how to achieve useful and natural dialogue, tips that will definitely help me write more effective dialogue in the future.
Chapter five is all about development. This is where Gurskis demystifies what some people may call the process, or as I like to call it, the scary part. He provides a number of tools for the screenwriter to fully develop the world and characters that the screenplay will exist in, and to develop the script itself. For the last two chapters, Gurskis switches gears a little. For chapter six, instead of talking about merely writing, he talks about your screenplay in the context of producing an actual film. This chapter is especially useful for those writers who want to shoot or direct their own scripts. He tells us about many of the possible places you could lose a lot of money and quick screenwriting fixes, such as not using two locations where one could do. In chapter seven, it’s all about the formatting, an overview of how to format a screenplay so that it looks up to the industry standard and is as easy to read and work with as possible. After that, he includes several pages of reference material, including glossaries and examples of work.
Overall, I found this book extremely useful. First of all, it is written specifically for crafting shorts, which is much more relevant to me right now, given the constraints of my production classes, as well as my budget both in and out of film school. But it still contains a lot of more “universal” content that I may extrapolate onto other forms of writing, should I choose to foray into features, television, theatre, or even prose. It helps, too, that Gurskis explains some of the major differences in writing for each of those. I think it greatly demystified the writing process, especially in his chapter on development. He broke it all down quite easily, but it wasn’t quite so formula-driven as something like Save the Cat! either, allowing the script more freedom to grown and evolve, and the screenwriter more freedom to experiment. I really appreciated that Gurskis pointed out the prodution realities, too, and encouraged us to remember things like budget and time constraints in order to reign in some of our imaginative excess and to simplify locations and casting. I found his end of chapter summaries and his extensive collection of jargon glossaries and script and development paperwork examples to be extremely useful.
The Short Screenplay by Gurskis was short, informative, easy to understand, but still useful to someone who isn’t a complete beginner. Its lessons will continue to be of use and influence as I write my own shorts and if I move into features later on, and its reference section and chapter summaries will provide a great resource if I need a quick reminder or refresher as I work.
May 4, 2019
فكر كنم به شدت مشكل ترجمه داشت. فيلمنامه نويسي الان به لطف آقاي محمد گذرآبادي به يه لغات مشترك و مناسبي رسيده و ديگه نيازي به ترجمه دوباره بعضي از كلمات نيست، نميدونم چرا مترجم اين كتاب دوباره ترجيح داده اصطلاحات رو دستكاري كنه، ضمن اينكه اين كتاب بيشتر شبيه گام به گام بود تا بحث عميق روي فيلمنامه فيلم كوتاه. اصطلاحات زيادي اومده بود كه بعيد بدونم تو عمل موقع نوشتن به كار بياد و بيشتر درگير بازي كلمات و لغات شدنه
July 8, 2015
این کتاب وافعا تمام جوانب و مراحل نوشتن و تولید فیلم کوتاه رو شامل میشه و واقعا خلاصه و جامع نوشتن فیلمنامه از ایده تا تکامل رو شرح میده
September 13, 2024
It's straightforward and easy-to-read, and contains lots of useful information for people who aren't particularly used to writing or don't have common sense. But it sort of rubbed me the wrong way: it was awfully didactic, and seemed to be about writing one particular kind of movie, a very realistic high-production value professional live-action film. For instance, it warned against specifying weather, or times of day, even though if the film were animated those would not be issues at all, it warned against certain locations, but if you were creating something particularly stylized, you wouldn't be using the real thing. It's probably my theatre background: I can think of umpteen interesting ways to approach something, but in Gurskis's film world there seems to be only one. (It's the most common one, but it's not the only way, it's the conventional way).
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
April 14, 2022
I definitely recommend for anyone who needs some inspiration to make that short film they’ve been dreaming about or has no idea how to make a short film. However, having gone to film school and having made multiple short films, it was more basic than I would have preferred. Nonetheless, there are nuggets of wisdom within and I will be using the last section of the book as an encyclopedia moving forward.
August 28, 2022
کتاب «فیلمنامهی کوتاه» را خیلی وقت پیش خواندهام و به نظرم کتاب تقریباً خوبی برای آشنایی با فیلم کوتاه است. مطالب جالب و مفیدی در این کتاب پیدا میشود که خواندنش را مفید میدانم. همچنین، نوشتههایش را با گزینگویههایی از دیگران نیز آراسته است. این گفتهها گرچه مستقیم ارتباطی به این کتاب ندارند، اما من چون آنها را از این کتاب خواندهام، تکهای از آن حساب خواهم کرد. همچنین، ترجمهٔ متوسطی دارد که خب، با آن کنا�� آمدم.
February 17, 2025
اول بگم ترجمه نتونسته از پس کار بر بیاد مخصوصا در ترجمه اصطلاحات شما با اصطلاحاتی مثل تدبیر روایی یا داستان پشتیبانی قراره روبرو شید همین طور بی نظمی در چینش مطالب. از اونجا که کتاب های مرتبط با فیلم کوتاه زیاد نیست پس نمیشه از دست داد این اثر هارو. نکات داخل متن مفید هستن و میتونن کمک کننده باشن البته نه همه نکات. فقط هم مربوط با فیلم کوتاه نیست و نکاتی برای فیلم بلند هم داره که نیاز نبود باشه. آخر کتاب یک فیلمنامه داره و همین طور پیشنهاد چند فیلم کوتاه برای دیدن.
مراقب هم باشیم.
مراقب هم باشیم.
May 20, 2025
A nice overview into the world of film. I like the way the chapters in the book are structured. However, the author uses he, him, and his as a general noun which got on my nerves while reading the book (ex. When the filmmaker is writing his screenplay, he may want to use this technique). I understand this form of writing is probably just a product of the time but it became a pet peeve of mine after a few chapters.
December 21, 2024
I read this short screenwriting theory book for my university course. It offers a surprising amount of industry-focused advice and terminology - more than Field and McKee, at least.
I wouldn't say that this theory book is a must-read, but it's short and insightful and you'll definitely finish it with some new take-aways.
I wouldn't say that this theory book is a must-read, but it's short and insightful and you'll definitely finish it with some new take-aways.
February 10, 2020
This is a good introductory text on the topic. It is also useful as a reference or handbook. It is kind of plodding but has a great deal of good information.
February 13, 2020
Swell notes and wrong ones at the same time. Don't believe everything you read here
July 7, 2021
کتاب خوبیه ولی ترجمه بدی داره. یه سری اصطلاحهای فیلمنامهای را کاملا اشتباه ترجمه کرده بود و انگلیسیش میفهمیدم منظور نویسنده چیه.
April 28, 2024
Offered great insight, structure, and categorization for film. Good complement to other resources I've read recently. Good reference book for starting out in independent short film
December 1, 2024
read this book for class. provides good information in a way that makes sense and engages with my brain.
July 11, 2015
What I really liked about this book was its explanation of the difference between theater (dialog focused), film (image focused), and TV (fills space between commercials). I had been wondering about that. There is also specific advice about writing a short film (like a table showing the length of a film vs. how much stuff you can fit into it), information about structuring a story, writing dialog, and common pitfalls (resolution by character death - oops). The first half of the book I think would be very useful if I ever go back to my screenplay or write more.
The second part of the book, on production, I had mostly read before in another book. Basically, anything you find interesting in a blockbuster film (crowds, scenes in a car, specific weather, specific times of day, special effects, stunts ...) you're not going to have money for. Still great advice, I had just seen it before.
Overall, super useful and a good read for this armchair filmmaker ;)
The second part of the book, on production, I had mostly read before in another book. Basically, anything you find interesting in a blockbuster film (crowds, scenes in a car, specific weather, specific times of day, special effects, stunts ...) you're not going to have money for. Still great advice, I had just seen it before.
Overall, super useful and a good read for this armchair filmmaker ;)
January 15, 2011
I thought this was clear and well done. I used the techniques to write my screenplay.
November 13, 2014
I had to read it for class. It was pretty useful.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews