Unit 6: Drama, Screenwriting, and Visualized Narratives
Unit 6: Drama, Screenwriting, and Visualized Narratives
Words don’t always live on the page—sometimes they need to leap off. This unit explores dialogue, staging, and visual storytelling. Students write murder scenes, then flip perspectives to write the interrogation that follows. We adapt earlier narratives into screenplays, dissecting how dialogue changes when actors bring it to life. Maybe we even turn a story into a comic strip, a script, a storyboard—something that forces the writer to think beyond words.
How does storytelling change when dialogue becomes the primary tool for conveying information?
What makes dialogue feel authentic, engaging, or powerful?
How do stage directions, visuals, and nonverbal cues shape a narrative beyond words?
What are the unique challenges of writing for performance rather than for the page?
How can structure, pacing, and choice affect a reader’s or audience’s experience of a story?
What makes a scene compelling when it’s stripped down to action and speech?
How do genres (such as noir, dystopia, or comedy) impact the way dialogue is written and performed?
What role does perspective play in storytelling when characters have conflicting interpretations of events?
How do we balance exposition with natural dialogue?
How can visual storytelling techniques (storyboarding, comics, or scripting) change how a writer approaches narrative?
Write compelling, believable dialogue that reveals character and moves the story forward.
Analyze how screenplays, scripts, and staged narratives function differently than traditional prose.
Create a visualized narrative (screenplay, comic, storyboard, or interactive format) that effectively tells a story.
Explore genre through dialogue and staging, playing with conventions in noir, dystopia, and comedy.
Write a scene from two perspectives, showing how character bias and perception shape storytelling.
Develop structured, intentional pacing in storytelling, using dialogue and action beats to create rhythm.
Adapt a prose story into a screenplay, considering the limitations and strengths of each format.
Use performance-based techniques to refine dialogue and understand how words sound when spoken aloud.
Experiment with nonlinear, interactive, or multimedia storytelling techniques.