The latvian academy of culture

BA STUDY PROGRAMME Part A

Description of the Study Course

The Name of the Course: Practical Seminars in Drama
The Scope of the Course: 672 academic hours (384 hours of Drama at the Theatre, 192 hours of Drama at the Cinema, 96 hours of TV Drama)

14 credit points. The type of assessment – presentation of a Bachelor’s Paper

The Author of the Course: Lecturer Lauris Gundars
Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: Entrance examinations, the programme of Drama Theory shall be acquired parallelly.
The Contents of the Course: This is the second main component of The Theatre, the Cinema and TV Drama study subprogramme, its core. In the framework of the course students acquire both the general laws and regularities of the theory of drama, their application in the presentation of the drama material irrespective of the genre as well as study the peculiarities of each genre of drama in detail writing plays, TV scenarios and film scripts. Therefore the course is divided into three subcourses – the Drama at the Theatre, Drama at the Cinema and TV Drama. The basic quality of the course is the practical work of students – writing of plays, sketches, episodes, scripts, dialogues and applications and their repeated correction.

The Thematic Planning:

Theme	Week	Type of classes and hours
Drama at the Theatre
General regularities of drama, the nature of characters, their meaning in a dramatic work.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
Narrative as the main and leading force.	6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The essence and role of the conflict in drama.	12, 13, 14, 15, 16	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The basic narrative and the parallel lines.	17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
Character: character and the general structure of the work, character and the main task, character as an embodiment of an idea.	26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
Structure of dramatic works: the three-act’ method, the five-step construction, specific constructions and their compulsory preconditions.	33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The classical and alternative construction of plays.	41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The scope of a play: a play of several acts, a one-act play, their specific features, dramatization.	49, 50, 51, 52, 53	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The specific features of the traditional theatre and modern drama.	54, 55, 56, 57, 58	L6;L6;L6;L6
The environment: a modern environment, a historical setting, an indefinite environment.	59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
Drama at the Cinema
Narrative as the main and the leading force of the cinema drama.	65, 66, 67, 68, 69	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
Structure of the work – the three-act’ method, the five-step system, the eighteen-knot theory.	70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The peculiarities of the construction of short and full length plays, the scope and the nature of the order, cinematographic adaptation.	77, 78, 79, 80	L6;L6;L6;L6
The specific features of animation films.	81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
The documentary cinema: short and full length films. The specific features of the TV cinema in all genres.	90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96	L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6;L6
TV Drama
The construction of a programme, its script.	97, 98, 99, 100	L6;L6;L6;L6
The scripts of TV soap operas and film series, the distinctive and common features with the cinema.	101, 102, 103, 104	L6;L6;L6;L6
The peculiarities of TV drama and journalism.	105, 106, 107, 108	L6;L6;L6;L6
The specific features of TV advertising.	109, 110, 111, 112	L6;L6;L6;L6

Requirements for the Acquisition of Credit Points:
1. The attendance of at least 4/5 of the classes, all the term papers completed successfully.

2. All the examinations passed in Term 2, 4, 6 and tests in Term 1, 3, 5, 7.

Literature:
Aristotelis. Poētika, Rīga

Červinskis A. Kā uzrakstīt pārdodamu scenāriju, Maskava, 1989

Mitta A. Kino starp paradīzi un elli. Maskava, 1998

Sīgere L. Tēli un to sistēmas, USA, 1988

Sīgere L. Literāra darba pārvēršana dramatiskā, USA, 1990

Foglers K. Arhetipi un to izmantošana dramaturģijā, USA, 1987

Frīdmans Dž. Filmu sērijas un seriāli, G.B., 1993

Ekborns N. Kā nerakstīt lugu, G.B., 1985

The Name of the Course: The Analysis of Drama

The Scope of the Course: 448 academic hours (256 hours of Theatre Drama, 128 hours of Cinema Drama, 64 hours of TV Drama)

14 credit points. The type of assessment – an examination.

The Author of the Course: Lecturer Lauris Gundars

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: Entrance examinations, the programme of Drama Theory course shall be acquired parallelly.

The Contents of the Course: This is the second main component of subprogramme of The Theatre, the Cinema and TV Drama. In the framework of the course students learn how to put the acquired knowledge into practice parallelly with the acquisition of the theory and practice of drama within the study programme Practical Seminars in Drama. Like the above mentioned course this is also specifically divided into three subcourses: the analysis and methodology of analysis of theatre plays, cinema scripts and TV scripts.

The Thematic Planning:

Theme	Week	Type of classes and hours
The general construction of a work. The idea.	1, 2, 3, 4	L4; L4; L4; L4
The main task of the director.	5, 6, 7, 8	L4; L4; L4; L4
The main task of the cameraman.	72-74	L4; L4; L4
The main task of the script-writer.	75-78	L4; L4; L4; L4
The distinctive features in cases of film adaptations and stage versions. The differences in the treatment of the author and his/her work.	9, 10, 11, 12, 13	L4; L4; L4; L4; L4
The main task of the artist.	81-83	L4; L4; L4
The main task of the scene-designer.	14, 15, 16	L4; L4; L4
The main task of the costume artist.	17, 18	L4; L4
The main task of the make-up artist.	19, 20	L4; L4
The main task of the property-master.	21, 22, 23	L4; L4; L4
The main task of the special effects artist.	24, 25	L4; L4
The main task of the caption artist.	87-92	L4; L4; L4; L4; L4; L4
The main task of the composer.	26, 27, 28	L4; L4; L4
The main task of the sound operator.	93-96	L4; L4; L4; L4
The realization of the director.	97-99	L4; L4; L4
The realization of the cameraman.	102-106	L4; L4; L4; L4; L4
The realization of the artists.	29, 30	L4; L4
The connection and compatibility of the main tasks.	31, 32, 33	L4; L4; L4
The construction of specifically dramatic work.	34, 35, 36	L4; L4; L4
Characters.	37, 38, 39, 40, 41	L4; L4; L4; L4; L4
The character and the general structure of a work.	42, 43, 44	L4; L4; L4
The character and the main task.	45, 46, 47	L4; L4; L4
The character as the embodiment of the idea.	48, 49, 50	L4; L4; L4
The interaction of characters.	51, 52, 53	L4; L4; L4
The characters and the idea.	57, 58, 59	L4; L4; L4
The speech of a character.	60, 61	L4; L4
The psycho-physiologic condition of a character.	62, 63	L4; L4
The structure of a work.	64, 65	L4; L4
The three-acts’ structure of a work.	66, 67, 68, 69	L4; L4; L4; L4
The five steps system.	107	L4
The eighteen knots theory.	108	L4
The scope.	79, 80	L4; L4
The scope and the idea.	70, 71	L4; L4
The scope and the character of the order.	84, 85, 86	L4; L4; L4
Environment.	100	L4
Modern environment.	101	L4
A historic insight.	109, 110	L4
Indefinite environment.	111, 112	L4; L4

Requirements for the Acquisition of Credit Points:

1. Attending at least 4/5 of the classes, all the term papers completed successfully.

2. All the examinations passed in Term 2, 4, 6 and tests in Term 1, 3, 5, 7.

Literature:

Aristotelis. Poētika, Rīga

Červinskis A. Kā uzrakstīt pārdodamu scenāriju, Maskava, 1989

Mitta A. Kino starp paradīzi un elli. Maskava, 1998

Sīgere L. Tēli un to sistēmas, USA, 1988

Sīgere L. Literāra darba pārvēršana dramatiskā, USA, 1990

Foglers K. Arhetipi un to izmantošana dramaturģijā, USA, 1987

Frīdmans Dž. Filmu sērijas un seriāli, G.B., 1993

Ekborns N. Kā nerakstīt lugu, G.B., 1985

BA STUDY PROGRAMME Part B