Units and Beat Changes

In this session we discovered how to divide up our text into sections known as "beats" and annotate them to unlock the true crux of each unit. This exercise enabled us to give a label to every change in dynamic within our scenes and made us delve deeper into our characterisation of our characters for "Hedda Gabler".

Drama = conflict however in order to portray these conflicts with a sense of truth and reality we must find the light and shade in what we are saying. As already mention a beat is just a bit of text where miniature objectives our pursued then blocked or achieved which leads to a change in dynamic. It is often marked by a character exiting or making an entrance; change in subject matter; silence or inaction; or change in character behaviour. An example in my own work of a beat change is Eilert enters and the light conversation between the three of us ends and an air of tension and awkwardness comes in as he brings all this emotional baggage with him. I labelled this beat as "Eilert in, Tension up" to encapsulate the feeling my character has towards this development. Brack doesn't have too much of an affiliation with Eilert but he is a highly perceptive man and is always judging so he has a very apparent opinion and by marking this beat change I have effectively identified the change in my characters thought process.

If we are to split up the text we must make sure to stitch it back together; This is key in creating a strong structure. As I have aforementioned you need to give the beat change a title. It needs to be punchy and clever. Using a alliteration helps as well as descriptive language, adjectives and actually using the words of the text. Although it still can be mundane as long as it is packed with information; for example "Good morning George" insinuates an awakening which could be metaphorical or real.

I found uniting very useful as after working practically for awhile it made me go back to the text and look deeper within the words on the page. I was really connecting with the most important aspects of each unit and how the dynamics of a scene can shift within a few sentences. I found coming up with good titles quite difficult as finding the exact right words to use was quite tricky especially because the titles shouldn't be long.