Embedded Files
Audio-Visual (AV) Language
Sensory and Physical Writing
Audio-Visual (AV) Language
Sensory and Physical Writing
Pre-Class Tasks
Pre-Class Tasks
Project 2
Project 2
Script, Characters List, Feedback Revisions, Weekly Writing
Filmed Readings Video edit (see Week 8)
Mid-Project Reflection (Due Last Week) - on GDrive
Readings, Analysis, Supplementary Notes
Readings, Analysis, Supplementary Notes
Campus Online
SBS Scripted Pitch Deck Guide
Westworld Pitch Package
Time Management in Calendar or Toggl
Class Content
Class Content
Campus Online
Campus Online
Visual & Audio Language
Screening - Monster (Jennifer Kent, 2005)
Class Discussion
Screening, Readings, Analysis.GDrive > Project > Notes > Notes
Record your notes re: screenings, class discussion, and analysis.
Slides
Slides
What Visual, Audio and Physical details are needed for interesting character descriptions, sensory communication, and acting body language?
Montages and Flashbacks
Montages and Flashbacks
A good, space-saving way of writing a MONTAGE of shots is double dashes:
MONTAGE -- shot -- shot -- shot
Clear separation.
Short beats, good for fast reads and tense editing rhythms.
As a FLASHBACK, it's also good.
Short fragments help maintain mystery, keeping the backstory tantalising.
FLASHBACKS often use blurry, desaturated, grainy, or aged footage. This is a good example of screen language with broad audience accessibility, required for a high-concept story, as we're doing.
Note how the example (Gilroy, 2004) strongly suggests blurriness and camera whip pans:
this awful blur of desperation and panicWhip pans communicate intense motion and disorientation. The transition
JAM BACK TO
suggests a jarring whip pan with a slam and camera shake.
The Bourne Supremacy (Gilroy, 2004)
MONTAGES or FLASHBACKS can also be written as scenes as convenient, to group shots.
INT. JOE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - FLASHBACK 20 years ago
...
INT. JOE'S APARTMENT - DAY - PRESENT DAY
...
END FLASHBACK isn't necessary when you use Scene lines; this may save page space.
A MONTAGE sequence of numbered scenes, longer format (TV Series.) This may consume more page space, so it may not be ideal for a short film script page count. If space is tight, use the double-dash -- method, instead.
In this case, it's also "Flickering Super-8 footage," a look which can be used for communicating "FLASHBACK."
Peter Morgan’s The Crown (Netflix)
You can also do a point list sequence with bullet points, numbers or dashes:
MONTAGE:
A tidal wave smashes a beach.
A building collapses during an earthquake.
A volcano erupts.
RED SCREEN, SUPER: "Special offer: Disaster Insurance!"
MONTAGES are a great way to compress time when part of the story needs to be summarized. However, a well-paced story is mostly made of real-time scenes. So the proportion of montage should be limited, or the film may be too much like a trailer.
Graphics
Graphics
In-Scene
In-Scene
INT. TV STUDIO - DUSK
ANGELA (30, f), a news reporter in casual business attire, introduces The Formation of NATO.
A GRAPHIC on the wall screen behind her shows a map of Russia in red color next to Europe.
Collage
Collage
For multiple visual/audio elements on screen at once, a collage of images is the best approach for low-budget projects. Frequently required in modern Espionage, Science Fiction and of course Crime and Mystery. Image elements should be reasonably obtainable in stock libraries, created as art or vfx, or be characters, props, or locations scheduled to be filmed in the script. All should be reasonable for the budget. Stills are the most affordable approach.
Every image is listed, not "a bunch of ..." Depending on the page space needs, use a point list or each element separated by double dashes, e.g., image -- image -- image.
In-Scene
In-Scene
KYLIE snaps out of her overworked stupor and stares wide-eyed at her computer screen, her face lit in blue.
OVEREXCITED AI
(rambles about Zombie holocaust)
GRAPHICS (STOCK): a collage of images and graphics appears rapidly on the display:
ZOMBIES rampaging in the streets
A crowd of ZOMBIES storming a car, with a screaming victim inside
A row of VICTIMS in ER tended by harried MEDICAL STAFF
Wounds on a victim's skin, closeup
Magnification of Zombie virus
"DEATHS: 100,000"
"Special offer: Anti-Zombie armour!"
ALARM warning sounds repeatedly.
Full-Screen
Full-Screen
INT. DARK GREY BACKGROUND
GRAPHICS (STOCK): ...
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Imagine a list of the image, graphic, or text elements in this collage.
Call of Duty, Map of Problems/Targets
CSI: New York, Forensic Graphics
Call of Duty, Suspects/Villians
Titles, Lower Thirds and Subtitles
Titles, Lower Thirds and Subtitles
Full-screen Title over Scene Action
Full-screen Title over Scene Action
Superimposed Text
EXT. MYRTLE BEACH - DAY
Waves gently crash onto a sunny beach. A small crowd of COLLEGE STUDENTS enjoy a party.
SUPER: "MYRTLE BEACH, SPRING BREAK, 1975"
or when the title needs more attention
SUPER:
MYRTLE BEACH
SPRING BREAK, 1975
Full-Screen Title over plain Background
Full-Screen Title over plain Background
Superimposed Text
INT. BLACK SCREEN - TITLES
SUPER: "MYRTLE BEACH, SPRING BREAK, 1975"
or when the title needs more attention
SUPER:
MYRTLE BEACH
SPRING BREAK, 1975
Full-Screen Stylized Titles or Graphics
Full-Screen Stylized Titles or Graphics
INT. GRAPHIC - TITLES
GRAPHIC, Floral Parchment Title: "MYRTLE BEACH, SPRING BREAK, 1975"
or
INT. PARCHMENT BACKGROUND - TITLES
SUPER: "MYRTLE BEACH, SPRING BREAK, 1975"
Lower Thirds Supers
Lower Thirds Supers
Scene or character intros, messages, text effects, and small- to medium-sized titles.
CRASH! The door explodes open. SUPERCHICKEN zips into frame from a cloud of SMOKE!
-FREEZE FRAME-
SUPER: LOWER THIRD: "SUPERCHICKEN - AVENGER OF THE MILDLY WRONGED"
Subtitles
Subtitles
For dialogue in small text at the bottom of the screen, use parenthetical. One parenthetical per scene is enough. Translated dialogue is italicized.
KLINGER
(subtitled Arabic)
(babbling and agitated)
May the fleas of a thousand camels nest in your armpits!
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018)
After Class
After Class
Revise your Script
Revise your Script
Based on lecturer feedback, peer feedback, notes from group work, and research analysis of your references, improve your script. Please do this on time, acting on feedback in the week you receive it, to practice industry-style development.
If you can't figure out how to improve and iterate new versions, maybe you're missing something. Consider if you need to arrange more scarce feedback time with your facilitator, study better writing and acting references more deeply, feel out the character's heart, intent, or action, write better pauses and timing, use better and clearer descriptions of music, mood, and sound effects, or carefully follow reference scenes, modifying them as needed, which is the recommended practice for most students.
Change the version/draft number when you save and export a new file in the required script file type.
My Story Name v#
Reminders
Reminders
Workload: 10 hours per week or 60 hours per project. You may review this in the Unit Guide.
You're expected to create weekly versions of revised work, seek feedback, communicate your status or needs, and send notifications of unavailability or lateness for classes as a team player, thank you.
Google Calendar, Trello, or Toggl - a weekly time-based task routine - is an appropriate way to plan and track your time, set reminders, and provide screenshot evidence of your total workload hours, as you'd do in a studio.
The facilitator usually responds to feedback requests or 1-to-1 support bookings in outside-class time in 1 day or so.
Scriptwriting Method.
Script Formatting (required for readings, feedback, or group work.)
Script Timing techniques.
English Tools: grammar, spelling, tense, and thesaurus tools to use in your day-to-day writing routine before sharing.
Project Scope (limits)
References you're expected to follow: Low-Budget Student Short Films and Screenplays for Scope and high-concept Screenplays with broad appeal and accessible writing style for your Writing.
Script Filetypes accepted for
(a) export/import collaboration and feedback
(b) printing
(c) submissionsShared GDrive folder location and file naming.
Software and Resources
Frequency of Engagement & Communication
Prioritizing Tasks, Interpreting Feedback
Workload and Timeliness
Report abuse