Conventions Table

Action Screenplay Pulp Fiction The Matrix Edge of Tomorrow

Openings (Links to an (Links to an (Links to an
external site.) external site.) external site.)

Starts in the middle of No No Yes

an argument

Formal Type Yes Yes Yes

Tells the characters how Yes Yes Yes

to move.

Blocks of text for Yes Yes Yes

describing the scene
before the screenplay

Main Character Names: No Yes Yes

Two characters talking Yes Yes Yes

vaguely to intrigue the
audience

Footnotes describing Yes No No

scenes/words used

Rhetorical Analysis
Affordances - The opening should be the most attention-grabbing part of an action
movie and is the best way to engage the audience through the well thought out
screenplay.

Constraints - The screenplay may be great, however, not transfer to the movie screen
very well or undergo many changes before it gets there.

Organization – In most screenplay openings they begin with a block of text describing
the environment and where the characters are. Depending on the intent of the writer
screenplays can also not include the character names during the opening to intrigue the
audience more. The formal way to write a screenplay is also in Times New Roman or
some type of font with feet.

Writer- The writer is usually someone who wants to get their creative content out into
the world.

Primary audience- The primary audience is those attracted to producing action films so
the screenplay can be made into a feature film.

Secondary Audience: The secondary audience is those that are interested in

screenplays to their favorite action movies. Many screenplays are read by people just
because of their attachment to the film.

Writer’s Goal- The goal of the writer is to catch the attention of someone who would
want to produce this movie. Without anyone to pick up this screenplay the writer would
not be able to express himself through film most likely.

Context/Background – In order to create/understand an action screenplay the individual

would have to be interested and informed in film. As well as being informed within the
film community they should know the limitations of actors within a role to be able to
correctly determine how they should move within the screenplay.

Exigence- The overall purpose of creating an opening to a screenplay is to persuade

producers to pick up your screenplay. Creating a good opening may shock the producer
enough to start filming without reading the rest of the script since they would be able to
change the rest of the script later with or without your approval.

Script
Opening Slide

Hello scriptwriters, my name is Cameron Grabowski and I’d like to thank you for
allowing me access to video conference with you all to present to you how to enhance
the opening of your action screenplay! I know many of your talented writers have made
beautiful screenplays, but I am hoping to teach you something you may not know today.
To do this I will be looking at a few examples of great screenplays and one example that
is not very good and comparing it to the better screenplays. Before this, we should think
of the conventions within this genre to give a baseline of what goes into the opening of
an action screenplay.

Slide 2
 So let's think of the clearest conventions within action screenplays. More
specifically now in the openings of these screenplays we see that there is always
something that grabs the attention of the audience. Another apparent convention is the
use of a type font with feet to give a formality to the script and the footnotes that may be
there to explain the words/scenes used. Character names being stated footnotes for
context while reading, scene descriptions, and character direction are also great
conventions within the genre.

Slide 3

A great way to get a better idea of a genre is to look at a few examples of

screenplays and use the conventions we stated to find which ones you should follow.
For our examples, we are going to look at Pulp Fiction, The Matrix, and Edge of
Tomorrow.

Slide 4

As we analyze “Pulp Fiction” as a screenplay, we see that it does not start in the
middle of something, It does not include character names, and does not have character
direction. Although Pulp fiction does have Formal Type, Scene descriptions, and
footnotes. This shows that conventions are not rules since pulp fiction is an award-
winning screenplay yet does not follow all the conventions of other screenplay
openings.

Slide 5

Next, we will analyze The Matrix. Here we can see that like Pulp Fiction it does
not start in the middle of a war/argument and does not tell characters how to move, but
it also does not have footnotes, unlike pulp fiction. The Matrix does have character
names which do not keep the audience guessing as Pulp Fiction does.

Slide 6

Finally, let’s analyze the edge of tomorrow. We can see that the only convention
that it is missing is footnotes. However, this is the least successful film monetarily
speaking.

Slide 7

Seeing the overall chart we can see that some conventions are not necessary for
your screenplays, and creating this chart shows that you can make some artistic
decisions and still create a great screenplay. However, let us take a look at what
happens when you take too many artistic decisions
Slide 8

This bad example shows that you cannot disobey all the conventions of
screenwriting. Not only does it have one sentence for the title page but it also has not a
word of script on the entire page. No screen direction or characters are apparent. This is
just a waste of space where there should be a script opening.