The Science of Screenwriting: The Neuroscience Behind Storytelling Strategies

by Paul Joseph Gulino, Connie Shears

Overview

In a world awash in screenwriting books, The Science of Screenwriting provides an alternative approach that will help the aspiring screenwriter navigate this mass of often contradictory advice: exploring the science behind storytelling strategies. Paul Gulino, author of the best-selling Screenwriting: A Sequence Approach, and Connie Shears, a noted cognitive psychologist, build, chapter-by-chapter, an understanding of the human perceptual/cognitive process, from the 'control panel' of the frontal lobes through to the lower portions of the brain controlling vital functions. They then provide case studies of various films - such as Top Secret, Some Like it Hot, Interstellar, Spotlight and Sicario - discussing their narrative strategies and demonstrating how these strategies intersect with the science of human perception. They also discuss such currently controversial issues as audience attention span in light of the emergence of new distribution forms (streaming video) and new narrative forms (ultra-short Vine videos to webisodes to full-season binge-watching).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501327247
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/08/2018
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Paul Gulino is Associate Professor at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange, California, USA.

Connie Shears is Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Chapman University, USA.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION; or, Should I Save The Cat and Send the Hero On His Jourbaney?
1: The Science of information flow, or, I say Schema, You say Schemata: Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up
2: The Science of Connecting to the Main Character, or, Why Do I Worry That A Meth Dealer Might Get Caught?
3: Science of Contrast, or, why the big huge spaceship followed the little tiny space ship in the opening of Star Wars
4: The Science of Exposition, or, What's Wrong With An Information Dump?
5: Science of Cause and Effect, or, Did the Packers Really Lose Because I Didn't Wear My Cheesehead Hat?
6: The Science of Shared Attention, or If I Write A Screenplay In Which A Tree Falls in the Forest, And The Reader Falls Asleep Halfway Through, Have I Written A Screenplay?
7: The Science of Conflict, or, What's Wrong with Watching Two Hours of People Just Getting Along and Helping Each Other?
8: Science of Imagination: Temporal Lobes, How to Think Creatively, Stages of Mind, or, Your Dope-Fueled Imaginings
9: The Structure Question, or, How Many Acts Does It Take To Sell A Script?
10: Star Wars, or, How George Did It

Editorial Reviews

After reading this book, screenwriters should feel a sense of confidence ... Excellence [was achieved by] Gulino and Shears in generating new knowledge to the field of screenwriting ... A great introduction to anybody who wants to take a first step in understanding the science behind storytelling principles.
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

The Science of Screenwriting explores the workings of the human brain when responding to stimuli and applies these insights to the ongoing reactions of an audience to a story. From this very accessible research a canny storyteller can learn to maximize the impact of a story before an audience actually experiences it. How great is that? Using such unexpectedly helpful and yet seemingly invisible knowledge will feel to the viewer like genuine alchemy.
David Howard, author of The Tools of Screenwriting and How to Build a Great Screenplay

Like all good books on writing, The Science of Screenwriting is not a formula for storytelling but, rather, a set of tools and ways of thinking about story that writers can use to help them with their creative task. Not only are the tools in the book extremely useful, but they all view story through the lens of brain science - in particular, how the presentation and sequencing of events evokes emotional responses from the audience. In other words, they see story not so much as an act of self-expression but rather as a craft devoted to its consumers, the people who read stories and go to the movies.
Ross Brown, Program Director of MFA in Writing & Contemporary Media, Antioch University, Santa Barbara, USA

From the Publisher