Iluminace 2019, 31(3):27-45 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1632

Experiments with a Lore. Alternative Screenwriting of Laterna Magika

Jan Trnka

Národní filmový archiv

This article is focused on the multimedia phenomenon called Laterna magika, or more precisely on its screenplays seen as an alternative to mainstream film screenwriting and traditional play writing. I try to fill one of the blind spots in the history of Czech screenwriting by seeking for answers to very basic questions regarding the form of scripts and nature of their development. I argue that there were two basic models of text and writing: a) a convergent model of text and writing: demonstrated by examples of two main types of formats distinctively determined by theater and film conventions, so called literary-dramatic and technical-directorial formats, which at the same time stands for traditional verbal, linguistic kind of text and writing process; b) an iterative model of text and writing: represented by many examples of different, less conventional or completely unconventional formats and forms of expression of ideas about the future work, based on the crucial assumption made by Steven Maras (and many other leading scholars in screenwriting studies) that it is possible to link process of writing to other media, not just the page, and write by other means than words. Finally I suggest that the process of screenplay development should be understood as development of the complex software which was characterized by a combination of linear-sequential and dispersive-prototype approach, in which creative re/conceptualization of the future multimedia work fluidly continued during its execution.

Keywords: Laterna magika, screenplay, convergent, iterative, alternative

Published: September 1, 2019  Show citation