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Storyboard By Ryzom CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Intro to Visual Writing

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Course Description

Prerequisite:  None

A student works on a project for Intro to Visual Writing

Intro to Visual Writing is a screenwriting workshop that takes students from basic visual literacy to scene writing and longer sequences, culminating in a completed short screenplay or beginning of a feature film.  Students will engage in exercises in basic visual literacy (composition, shot selection, camera movement) and more advanced visual thinking (storyboarding); learn the fundamentals of writing in screenplay form (both format and content); and complete a number of scene-writing exercises which build toward longer sequential storytelling.  Throughout the course students will learn to give and take constructive criticism in a writing workshop, a crucial skill for the collaborative world of film.

Instructor Bio

Adam Tobin

Adam Tobin is a Senior Lecturer in the Film and Media Studies Program in the Department of Art and Art History, where he teaches Screenwriting, Script Analysis, Adaptation, and Visual Writing. He has also taught Television Writing, Screenwriting, Pitching, and Improvisational Speaking for Stanford Continuing Studies.  He worked as a story analyst for Jim Henson Pictures and ran pitch seminars at Blue Sky Studios and Aardman Films.  A graduate of Stanford (Class of 1993), Adam received an M.F.A. in screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and has written for many U.S. networks.