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What are Backgrounds?
What are Backgrounds?
Our stories need backgrounds for each scene. They mark the beginning of a new scene, nearly resetting everything from the previous. However, there are a few exceptions. A new scene will not reset the following:
Formats (spotlight, cinematic, texting)
Zooms
We can browse all of our available backgrounds via the 'Art Catalog' tab at the top of our screens.
Backgrounds' syntax, or the rules we follow to correctly arrange words and symbols to achieve certain effects, is as follows:
Background names should always be:
Capitalized
Include an "INT." or "EXT." in the beginning
Need to be exact to the background name, or will not be recognized
Zones
Zones
We divide each background and/or scene into zones. Each zone is the width of one iPhone screen, with no overlap. Zones are important because they are the part of the background that will show up on a reader's screen (hence, each zone being the width of one iPhone screen). The whole background will not appear at once, unless the background only consists of one zone.
From left to right, we begin with zone 1, then zone 2, and so forth. Take a look at the example of the way we would divide a background by zones below.
Four zone background
Though our initial example shows a background with 4 zones, our backgrounds can range from having 1-4 zones. That means we can have a background with only one zone, only two zones, or only three zones. The majority of our backgrounds have 3 zones.
Now that we've learned about different zones, we can identify which zone we want to be shown on a reader's screen by using the syntax, "@cut to zone 2".
One zone background
Two zone background
Three zone background (the majority of backgrounds)
Putting it All Together
Putting it All Together
Let's say we want to find a background for a scene at a red carpet event. How do we go about finding this background and setting it up in our code with the desired zone?
Open up the Art Catalog to find different backgrounds
Scroll through the catalog, or use the filters and/or search to find our red carpet scene. In this case, we'll search "red carpet"
3. We're going to use the third background, so let's copy that background's title and paste it into our code
4. Once we've pasted the background's title into our code, let's add "@cut to zone 3" in the next line
Which part of the background do you think will appear when selecting zone 3?
If you guessed the zone all the way to the right, then you were also right!
If you cut to zone 2 or 1 in this background, you'll see that the scene turns into the part of a red carpet with a backdrop. Play around with the zones to see how you can achieve dimension in your scenes through different zones of a single background!
We are also able to have things occur in between zones fluidly, such as following a character walking in between zones, but we'll learn more about that in our more intermediate and advanced courses.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Backgrounds have a certain number of zones, depending on the width of the background asset
Choosing a zone will set the part of a background that we want our current moment in a story to be in
We can view all of the available backgrounds in the Art Catalog, which you may navigate to from the "Art Catalog" at the top of Episode pages
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