SCRIPTS

Pre-Production Unit

Video Production

Northern Lehigh High School

SCRIPT• a method for expressing with words the pictures and

sounds imagined by a writer in a way that can be understood and interpreted by others who turn them into actual pictures and sound

– details story, setting, and dialogue

– may take the form of a screenplay, shooting script, lined script, continuity script, or a spec script

– Basic Script Formatting:

• U.S. Letter paper with 12 point Courier font

• Action is written in present tense

• 1 Page = 1 Minute of Screen Time

SCRIPT STRUCTURE• ACT: one of the main divisions of a play or film

• THREE-ACT STRUCTURE:

– Common format for modern screenplays

• Setup: introduction; establishes characters, their relationships, and the world they live in; used for exposition

• Confrontation: rising action, stakes get higher

• Resolution: crisis, falling action

– Ex: The Lion King; Back to the Future; The Avengers

• SCENE: smaller divisions within an act; a unit of action or a segment of a story in a play, motion picture, or television show

FORMAT: TITLE PAGE• Similar to a cover page of a report

• Indicates the title of the film/play/etc.

• Includes writing credits

THE DARK KNIGHT

ByJonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan

Story byChristopher Nolan & David S. Goyer

Batman created byBob Kane

THE DARK KNIGHT

ByJonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan

Story byChristopher Nolan & David S. Goyer

Batman created byBob Kane

BASIC SCRIPT ELEMENTS• NAME

– Indicates the character who is speaking/acting

– Centered on the page in ALL-CAPS

• DIALOGUE

– The words or phrases the characters are speaking

– Centered beneath name, single-spaced in upper/lower case

• ACTION

– Describes what the characters are doing; what is happening

– Left-aligned, double-space before and after in upper/lower case

DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLEAre these all your lunches?

Boy shakes his head.

DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLEYou mean you eat other people’s lunches?

Boy nods.

DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLEStop it!!!

DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLEAre these all your lunches?

Boy shakes his head.

DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLEYou mean you eat other people’s lunches?

Boy nods.

DETECTIVE JOHN KIMBLEStop it!!!

SCRIPT ELEMENTS• PARENTHETICAL

– Used to indicate a character’s speech inflection or describe brief action

– Centered beneath Name, single-spaced in lowercase or initial caps

– Use sparingly

– Ex. (shouting), (crying), (sobbing), (laughing)

NATASCHA(Russian Accent)

Hello.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

THE JOKER(smiles)

The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.

NATASCHA(Russian Accent)

Hello.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

THE JOKER(smiles)

The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.

ABBREVIATIONS• V.O. (Voice-Over)

– A character or narrator can be heard talking from some unknown place (the future, heaven, inside our head)

• O.S. (Off-Screen)

– A character can be heard but isn't actually on the screen or present in the scene.

• O.C. (Off-Camera)

– A character is in the scene but not seen by the camera

• POV (Point-of-View)

– a camera angle placed so as to seem the camera is the eyes of a character.

VOICE (O.S.)Get away from there!

VOICE (O.S.)Get away from there!

SCRIPT ELEMENTS• SLUG LINES

– indicate location and time in three parts: interior/exterior (abbreviated Int./Ext.), location, and time.

– Left aligned and in ALL-CAPS, double-spaced before and afterward.

– Any change of time or location requires new slug line

– cannot be the last item on a page/script.

– Unique to screenplays (as opposed to stage plays) INT. OFFICE, HIGH RISE – DAY

INT. WAYNE PENTHOUSE – MORNING

EXT. HIGH-RISE – DAY

EXT. DOWNTOWN GOTHAM – DAY

EXT. PARKING GARAGE – NIGHT

INT. OFFICE, HIGH RISE – DAY

INT. WAYNE PENTHOUSE – MORNING

EXT. HIGH-RISE – DAY

EXT. DOWNTOWN GOTHAM – DAY

EXT. PARKING GARAGE – NIGHT

SCRIPT ELEMENTS• TRANSITIONAL INSTRUCTION

– indicate changes from one setting to another, or from one time frame to a different time frame

– Right-aligned in script in ALL-CAPS

– Ex. CUT TO, BACK TO, JUMP CUT, SMASH CUT, FLASHBACK, SERIES OF SHOTS, etc.

EXT. BANK – DAY

The School Bus pulls free of the Bank Wall and pulls out onto the street, SLIDING INTO THE LINE OF IDENTICAL BUSES HEADING PAST THE BANK. The buses trundle past COP CARS racing up the street… and we –

CUT TO:

EXT. MOVING OVER GOTHAM – NIGHT

From the top of a brick building a SHAFT OF LIGHT comes on.

EXT. BANK – DAY

The School Bus pulls free of the Bank Wall and pulls out onto the street, SLIDING INTO THE LINE OF IDENTICAL BUSES HEADING PAST THE BANK. The buses trundle past COP CARS racing up the street… and we –

CUT TO:

EXT. MOVING OVER GOTHAM – NIGHT

From the top of a brick building a SHAFT OF LIGHT comes on.

SCRIPT ELEMENTS• CAMERA DIRECTIONS

– These indicate how close the camera is and how it will move, focus, etc.

– Directions include POV shots, pans, tilts, push ins, pull outs, dolly moves, tracking shots, close ups, wides, etc.

– As a screenwriter, resist the temptation to include many camera directions in your script

WHIP PAN – The batmobile races down the street.

POV of the tiger as he peers through the bushes at his prey.

TILT UP to see the falling asteroids crashing towards Earth.

WHIP PAN – The batmobile races down the street.

POV of the tiger as he peers through the bushes at his prey.

TILT UP to see the falling asteroids crashing towards Earth.

ADDITIONAL VOCABULARY• SETTING

– When and where the story takes place

• CAST OF CHARACTERS

– A list of all the actors/characters in a production

• BLOCKING

– The physical arrangement of actors in the scene at any given moment

• PAGE NUMBERS

– appears in the upper right hand corner of the header

– styled in Courier 12 font

– no page number is printed on the first page

SCRIPT ANALYSIS ACTIVITY• Read opening scene of Toy Story 3 as a class

• Follow along with script while watching the scene

• Afterwards, label the following elements on the script in the margins of the page:

– Label 3 names, 3 lines of dialogue, 3 action blocks

– Label All Slug Lines

– Label All Transitional Instructions

– Label All Camera Directions

– Label Page Numbers

– Label Parentheticals

– Label Abbreviations and indicate what they mean