5. Theatre, film industry

PLACES: The positions for all actors and crew at the beginning of a play.

REHEARSAL: A practice for a play.

RUN-THROUGH: A type of rehearsal that goes through the entire play, or a full act, as opposed to specific moments or characterizations.

SCRIPT TERMS

ANTAGONIST: A character who acts in opposition to the main character, or protagonist. Often the 'bad guy' of the play.

COMEDY: A humorous play. Traditionally, comedies ended in marriage, which implied birth and new life, as opposed to a tragedy, which ended in death.

CONFLICT: A situation that arises when the objectives of two or more characters or forces are at odds. Good plays and stories are built on conflict.

DIALOGUE: Written conversation between two or more characters.

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: The structure of a play. This form was established based on classic Greek and Roman theatre; not all modern stories fit into this structure.

EXPOSITION:This establishes the setting and characters of the play.

INITIAL/INCITING INCIDENT:The moment that introduces the primary conflict of the story.

RISING ACTION:The build in the action between the inciting incident and the climax. Most modern plays are made primarily of rising action.

CLIMAX: The moment of highest tension in a play. The moment in a play when the protagonist makes a decision that makes the end of the story inevitable.

FALLING ACTION:The part of the play which follows the climax. In modern stories, the falling action is frequently quite brief.

DENOUMENT: The end of the play, when conflicts are resolved and the ultimate fates of characters are revealed. Generally, comedies leave their protagonists in better situations than the ones they started in, while protagonists in tragedies are usually worse off.

FARCE: A type of comedy that seeks to entertain its audiences through a series of extravagant and improbable situations.

GENRE: The style of the play. Genre can be as broad as 'comedy' or 'tragedy' or as narrow and specific as 'courtroom drama' or 'burlesque'.

MELODRAMA: A style of theatre primarily popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Characterized by exaggerated plotting and characters, 'melodramatic' has come to mean an over-the-top style.

MONOLOGUE: A speech given by one character to other characters. Monologues are frequently used as audition pieces.

MUSICAL: A play using musical accompaniment and sung music to tell its story.

PLOT: The events of a play, from its beginning to end.

PROTAGONIST: The primary character in a play. Often considered the "good guy."

SATIRE: A story or play which uses humor to make strong statements about individuals, policies, or society as a whole.

SCRIPT: A printed copy of the dialogue and instructions of a play.

SOLILOQUY: A speech given by a single character to himself to express his thoughts for the benefit of the audience, as opposed to a monologue given for the benefit of other characters.

SUBTEXT: The underlying emotion, thoughts, and meanings underneath what is said by the characters in a play.