Pre-Production Resources
The web abounds with free material that can help you develop your pre-production skills. On this page, I have gathered together some of the video material and other resources that I thought were useful and interesting.
Narrative Structure and Storytelling
Narrative Structure in 40 Seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZyACElLUyA
Three Act Structure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIGYtzR-Ylw
3 Act Structure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6QD5Pbc50I
How to Structure a Story: The 8 Point Arc: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/
A Person with a Problem (the protagonist): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7bIaTYNdw
The Seven Keys of Storytelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVcg9L6FLPA
How to Make Short Films for Online Audiences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxsLowc-LuQ
Story and Plot: http://www2.anglistik.uni-freiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/Plot01.htm
The Seven Basic Plots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots
Kurt Vonnegut Graphs the Plot of Every Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIogLNFkV8
Plot versus Story in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJRwvMZOLRg
Protagonist vs Antagonist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RWsRjQQ6Ec
Narrative First: Protagonists and Antagonists: http://narrativefirst.com/articles/protagonist-and-antagonist-beyond-hero-and-villain
How to Write Compelling Loglines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvlWd2tz4xg
Screenwriting
How to Write a Script: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwtf_tpVras
Raindance's 7 Rules for Writing Short FIlms: http://www.raindance.org/7-rules-for-writing-short-films/
Whatascript! The Top 7 Deadly Flaws of a Bad Screenplay: http://www.whatascript.com/index.html
8 Tips for Screenwriters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl11D0BGXJ0
Martin Scorsese on Story vs Plot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrkHyvl5NeI
Charlie Kaufman on Screenwriting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q_kEDJSywQ
Script Templates
Final Draft Free Trail: http://www.finaldraft.com/ [Sadly FInal Draft have stopped their free trial offer, but it is worth checking their site in case it comes back online.]
Slugline Free 14 Day Trial: http://slugline.co/ [Excellent basic scriptwriting software. Does everything that most people will need. Only for Macs at the moment. Also available for purchase from the App Store.]
Trelby (Free screenwriting software for PCs): http://www.trelby.org/
BBC template for Film and Single TV Drama: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/screenplay.pdf
Other BBC Script Templates: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writers-lab/medium-and-format#heading-script-examples
Simple documentary script template in Word: https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDcQFjADahUKEwi58MXYtq_IAhXjqaYKHTIVBvg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagomediaworks.com%2F2instructworks%2F3editing_doc%2F3docedit_scriptmpl%2Fdocs2col.doc&usg=AFQjCNFO-zf5r8DHyjmUss0FUsnECt_fAQ&sig2=wqB_ibIEKh98bDy6mlNWGQ
