WRITING FOR RADIO & THE ART OF STORYTELLING!
Columbine, Colorado state flower
IN THIS NEWS-BLOG:
- EVENTS AT THE 15th ANNUAL MOONDANCE!
- “BREAKING BAD” STAR TO APPEAR AT MOONDANCE!
- CREATIVE WRITING FOR AUDIO DRAMA!
- THE ART OF STORYTELLING!
- MOONDANCERS WRITE US!
- MOONDANCE RECOMMENDS!
- SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!
EVENTS AT THE 2014 MOONDANCE FILM FESTIVAL:
~~~ September 26, 27, 28, in Beautiful Boulder, Colorado, USA ~~~
Moondance continues to be an intimate, casual, very carefully programmed film festival that attracts avid indie film buffs, filmmakers, writers & composers from the US & around the world who trust our film selections, workshops & networking events to be of the top quality, productive & entertaining, while being important & memorable. Please plan to join us!
- INDIE FILM SCREENINGS! (Features, shorts, documentaries, animation, trailers & music videos)
- PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOPS & MASTER CLASSES!
- PRODUCTIVE FREE NETWORKING PARTIES & EVENTS!
- PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS WITH THE PROS!
- CELEBRITY MASTER CLASS ON ACTING FOR TV
- MINGLE WITH CELEBRITY ATTENDEES!
- SPECIAL VIP CELEBRITY FILM, Q&A WITH THE DIRECTOR + PRIVATE RECEPTION
- GALA AWARDS CEREMONY & RECEPTION!
- & much more!
GIANCARLO ESPOSITO, best known for his role as Gus “The Chicken Man” Fring, on AMC television’s super-popular “Breaking Bad” series, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama award at the 2012 Critics’ Choice Television Awards and was nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award at the 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards, and for his co-starring role in the current NBC television drama, “Revolution”, recently received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, has graciously accepted our invitation to attend the 15th annual Moondance International Film Festival, to appear at the screening of his directorial debut film, “Gospel Hill”, and the Q&A session afterwards and private reception. He will receive the coveted Moondance Living Legacy Award at the 2014 Moondance, and present a master class on acting for TV & film.
ADVANCE 2014 MOONDANCE FILM FESTIVAL TICKET SALES, COMING SOON!
MOONDANCERS WRITE US:
“Thank you for all you do for the writing community, not just for film. As a three-time award recipient in the audio drama division I am always proud to point out to people the value Moondance places on writers in all genres.” ~ Sable Jak, audio writer/producer, Moondance 3-time winner, Seattle, WA
“I am a fan of Moondance! Congratulations on doing a fabulous job single-handedly, it appears.” ~ Kenny Mann, filmmaker, author, journalist & teacher
“Thanks for introducing me to Moondance. Being this side of the Atlantic, I was aware of Sun and Rain dance but having read your festival site, I like the philosophy of your event. Next year!” ~ Andrew Griffin, UK filmmaker
“Just wanted to let you know how thrilled my colleagues and I are to be attending the 15th Moondance Festival and presenting a workshop on Audio drama for writers. The Audio drama field is growing rapidly and many new opportunities are becoming available for writers, actors, directors and even visual artists. We hope, in the panel, that we will not only provide information on producing dramas but writing for them too. With so many new innovations such as binaural (3D) sound already happening the field is wide open and welcoming for even more innovation and experimentation. We look forward to seeing you in September!” ~ Sable Jak, audio writer/producer, Moondance 3-time winner, Seattle, WA
“Moondance is a great festival. I’ll definitely be there.” ~ Kent Youngblood, director, producer, screenwriter, Denver, CO
RADIO PLAYS ARE MIND-MOVIES!
Creative Writing For Audio Cinema
By Elizabeth English
Radio is sometimes known as the writer’s favorite medium; as Malcolm Bradbury once said, it is “a world made with words shaped into being, without a physical presence.” With radio, you have to use your imagination – something you don’t need when watching TV or movies. We can be whomever we want to be, travel wherever we want to go; all in “our mind’s eye”, thanks to radio programs. The stories and scenarios are often planted forever in our memories and in our own personal “theatre of the mind”.
Radio drama has long been a fertile training ground for writers and is a genre in which screenwriters, playwrights and television writers feel at home. It has given voice to generations of writers. From Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and Irish writer Samuel Beckett to Orson Welles, to American playwright Harold Pinter; all have been involved with radio drama. Moondance is dedicated to ensuring that the medium of radio and audio drama remains an integral and dynamic part of our international broadcasting and cultural heritage.
Two of the things that make writing for radio & audio drama extra-special, from a fiction or non-fiction writer’s perspective, are:
1) You stand a better-than-average opportunity for getting your work produced, and
2) 99.9% of your work will be produced as you wrote it, not as someone else envisions it.
And that audio field is now an over $2 billion-a-year international business, plus that many different radio genres, drama, comedy, sci-fi, romance, kids, educational, documentary subjects and so on, are of interest to fiction & non-fiction writers & listeners.
Audio Cinema (through Audioflix) is looking for new authors and stories, of all genres. The lovely thing about audio is: we are not ruled by what is popular at this time, so if someone has a children’s story or a gentle tale of love, it stands as good a chance of being considered as does an adventure story or thriller!
Audio programs are now mostly produced for, and sold to, the Internet, and Moondance 2014 will offer a unique workshop/panel of professional & award-winning radio & audio drama writers & producers who will introduce you to writing for audio program production, show you how to get produced, and inspire you to adapt your writing to this lucrative & globally popular genre.
MOONDANCE RADIO/AUDIO PROGRAM JUDGING CRITERIA:
STORY/PLOT: Is the story interesting? Does it have a logical progression? How is the plot development? Is the story told completely? Does it have a great, memorable ending?
SOUND: Does the script utilize the medium to its fullest? Does the script show how sound can tell a tale? Are the sound effects used intelligently? Does the use of sound add to — or distract from — the action?
CHARACTERS : Are the characters believable? Interesting? Do they help move the story forward? Does the reader care about them? Does each character add something to the overall story?
LANGUAGE: Do the characters speak as they should, depending on the era, character, personality, psychology, & various events in the story? Are the voices clearly understood? Do they react to each other and events?
CONFLICT: Does it have conflict that is believable? Does it add dramatic tension to the story? Is the resolution of the central conflict reasonable and satisfying?
REALISM : Does the play feel as if it actually takes place where & when it should? Does the audience know the locale or setting? Can it make the listener imagine the visuals of the location, scenes and characters? Does the radio play transport the listener to that time and/or place?
PRODUCTION: The best radio/audio scripts grab the reader/judge and demand attention. They beg to be produced.
Here’s a link to the writer’s submissions page at Audio Cinema: Seeking Submissions | Audio Cinema Entertainment | Just another WordPress site
THE ART OF STORYTELLING
indignadaaexamen.blogspot.com
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, and images, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and instilling moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters, and narrative point of view. Storytelling predates writing, with the earliest forms of storytelling usually oral combined with gestures and expressions. In addition to being part of religious ritual, rock art may have served as a form of storytelling for many ancient cultures. The Australian aboriginal people painted symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art, and dance, which bring understanding and meaning of human existence through remembrance and enactment of stories. People have used the carved trunks of living trees, cave walls, and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record stories in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation, and social status. Oral stories continue to be committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite the increasing popularity of written, filmed, and televised media in much of the world.
Storytelling is a means for sharing and interpreting experiences. Stories are universal in that they can bridge cultural, linguistic, and age-related divides. Stories function as a tool to pass on knowledge in a social context. Stories mirror human thought as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Listening to a storyteller can create lasting personal connections, promote innovative problem solving, and foster a shared understanding regarding future ambitions. The listener can then activate knowledge and imagine new possibilities.
The art of narrative is, by definition, an aesthetic enterprise, and there are a number of artistic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure with identifiable beginnings, middles, and endings, or exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on temporality, which includes retention of the past, attention to present action, and future anticipation, as well as a substantial focus on characters and characterization.
Elements of the oral storytelling art form include visualization (the seeing of images in the mind’s eye), and vocal and bodily gestures. In many ways, the art of storytelling draws upon other art forms such as acting, oral interpretation, and performance studies. A process of collective narration can help to influence others and unify the group by linking individuals and the past to the future. A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens – second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives.
(Excerpted from Wikipedia)
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
“If there’s a specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle, for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.” ~ Kathryn Bigelow, Oscar-winner, “The Hurt Locker”
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Still photo from “Peaceable Kingdom”
“A good reputation is more valuable than money.” ~ Pubilius Syrus, (former Syrian slave & writer of maxims – 46 BC – 29 BC)
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Cornwall pathway photo by Michael Weise
“Hope is like a road in the country where there never was a road before; but when many people walk it, the road comes into existence.” ~ Lin Yutang, philosopher
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Image by A.W. Rossi
“I remind myself that nothing I say today will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.” ~ Larry King
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Photo by Stephan McGhee
“There is no failure except in no longer trying.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
2014 FESTIVAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
https://moondancefilmfestival.com/contact-us/
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NEWS-BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival/com/blog
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