Scene Craft — Conflict, Subtext & Turning Points

Pre-production Pack

Deliver the full pre-production package for your summative short — the documents that make Week 12 shootable.

Week 11

• Script
• Storyboard
• Shot list
• Risk assessment v1

• 3–4 minute target runtime
• Realistic for available kit and locations

• LO1 — Write a scene with a clear objective, obstacle and turn.
• LO2 — Cut a scene by 30% and make it stronger.
• LO3 — Read your own dialogue aloud without flinching.

• Enter late, leave early
• Objective / obstacle / turn on every scene
• Dialogue as action, subtext as engine
• Cutting the first and last lines
• Table reads and rewrites

1. 01

   Objective in one sentence

   Write what your protagonist wants in this scene, and what stops them, on an index card. Pin it above the page.

2. 02

   Enter late, leave early

   Delete the first and last three lines of the scene. Read it again. What broke, what improved?

3. 03

   Subtext pass

   Rewrite one exchange so nobody says what they mean. The audience must still understand.

4. 04

   Table read

   In threes, read the scene aloud. Note every line the actor stumbles on — that's a rewrite flag.

5. 05

   30% cut

   Reduce the scene by 30% without losing information. Announce the final word count.

• Characters explaining the plot to each other.
• Every scene ending with the answer to the question it asked.
• Dialogue you can't say out loud.

The scenes you rewrite here go straight into your Assessment 1 script. Save every version — tutors read revision history.