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This is an excerpt from my book on filmmaking, which is now posted in its entirety on filmmaker's index page. There are two main traditional script-formats for movies. The most common and modern format describes the scenes at the beginning, starting with an all capitalized opening line that indicates: EXTERIOR or INTERIOR (abbreviated EXT. and INT.); location or place where the action takes place, such as GRIFFITH PARK ENTRANCE; and the time of day, DAY, NIGHT or DAWN, etc. A sample script text would look something like this: |
EXT. GRIFFITH PARK ENTRANCE. MORNING.
A new model sedan comes through the entrance. The driver, a man in his mid-fifties, pulls up before the OBSERVATORY BLDG. and parks.
INT. OBSERVATORY MAIN ENTRANCE. MORNING.
POV of receptionist as the man emerges from the car and approaches the door. We will soon learn that the man is the observatory director. His name is DR GEORGE CONNORS.
The receptionist, SUSAN QUINN, notices Dr. Connors arriving.
SUSAN
Good morning, Dr. Connors.
Dr. Connors is entering through the door.
DR CONNORS
(Cheerfully)
Good morning! Call me George. Please.
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And so on. Notice the format very carefully. The current format, whatever it may be, is followed religiously, because it promotes clarity and recognizable standards of judging material for production. The older format goes like this. The script page is divided vertically in two columns. On the left you have the description of the scene, on the right you have the dialogue. The columns run concurrently. The dialogue occurs at the point where the action is recorded on its side of the column. If you’re financing your own movie you can use this format or any other one you find or invent. If you expect professionals to read your submitted script, you should present it in the only acceptable format, the first one. If you need a complete sample of a script, you can get one from a movie library or the Internet. If you'll be directing from your own script, without too much collaboration from anyone, and you can explain to your actors (if any) your style of working with a script, you can come up with your own custom styled script. For example, Ingmar Bergman writes his script in prose, much like a short story. This is very simple in some ways; however, if you do it that way, you'll need years of experience of making movies and working with actors. You could of course get really complicated and have all kinds of weird sketches and notations. That may be great if it helps you make a terrific movie. My advice is: stick with the pros’ way of doing it. Everyone is trained to understand, interpret and collaborate on a standard format script. Also, you can pretty much count on each page giving you a minute of film running time, an invaluable yardstick of how long your movie is going to be, while you’re in production. Variations in results from this rule of thumb indicate your style of working. Your page may generate forty-five seconds or slightly more than a minute of running time. You'll be able to gauge your production speed and tempo for yourself in the future. There can be wide variations in this rule, but they are rare. The "shooting script" is an in-sequence, chronological progression of the story as it’ll appear on the screen. The scenes are numbered and broken down into shots. This is typically the work of the director, after he finalizes the script. If you're the writer, leave this job to the director. If you're the writer-director, then you may want to do this to the extent of detail that you like in working with a movie on paper. Whatever you do, don't write your story in shooting script form from the outset. You'll seldom find this way of working to be rewarding. It's like trying to create a symphony by whistling the whole thing for the first time in its entirety! Mozart may have done it, but in movies no one has ever come close. |
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Some complex movies, with a lot of special effects, require story-boarding. Certainly animation and certain movies that depend on precise presentation for their success, benefit tremendously by the Story-Boarding process. As a general rule, story-boarding is another example of directing on paper. Alfred Hitchcock loved to story-board his scripts. He claimed to be bored with the production process. I wish I'd known that at the time, I would've offered to direct them for him, since all I had to do was yell "Action and Cut!" If you have a robust script and gung-ho actors, don't limit yourself, actors and crew with story-boarding. Give everyone the opportunity to collaborate. Feature film making is a collaborative art. There are exceptions, however. |