Generating ideas – first drafts

I have come up with some ideas, two from my pitch project and one new original one. From these ideas I have written the first draft including the first page of each script extract. This will operate as a test to see if the idea works in a script format.

a) ‘Wildlife’ – post-apocalyptic action sci-fi thriller

This idea is the one I established and pitched in the pitch project. I like this idea the most because it is the most practical and allows for a blend of genre. I also think that this draft is the best out of the three. Despite this, it may be too simplistic and could incorporate more sci-fi/fantasy ideas further down the line.

Wildlife (first draft)

b) ‘Cosmonaut’ – space horror/thriller

This idea is original and tells the story of a rogue space team who uncovers a lost message from a hundred years ago explaining that there is life in the Andromeda galaxy, but this information is covered up by the World State of Earth, who dictate everything. The team then set on explaining the truth to the world. This idea is very original and I think it would work well, however in terms of practicality it would be very hard to make and time consuming to build the world and create a believable future with realistic but creative sci-fi elements.

Cosmonaut (first draft)

c) ‘The Mortus’ – suburban horror/thriller

This concept is more like fantasy than sci-fi, and borrows a lot of elements from shows like ‘Stranger Things’. I established this idea during the pitch project and have now developed it into a first draft. I like this idea but I think it might be a bit restrictive and too similar to its competitors like the aforementioned ‘Stranger Things’.

The Mortus (first draft)

I think I will go with A because I have already established the idea and I like that draft the most.

P1 Scripted media products

Most, if not all media products are scripted to some extent, even ‘reality’ shows which claim to be completely ad libbed are heavily scripted and planned out. The following are the scripts of different media products and how they function.

Film 

Film scripts document dialogue, behaviour, inflections, movement, action, setting and diegetic sound, which is sound that comes from the world within the film.

(‘Casino Royale’ (2006); Purvis, Wade and Haggis)

In the slugline of a film script, the setting is described along with whether it is inside or outside (INT./EXT.), as well as the time of day. For example:

INT. TOM’S BEDROOM – DAY

Most international films in English operate the same way, except for obviously the dialogue which will reflect the character’s origin or language. There may be a note to indicate if the dialogue is in another language to be translated later.

(‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009); Tarantino)

The layout of foreign language films may be different as well, to fit the language it is written in.

(‘Roma’ (2018); Cuarón)

This Spanish-language script has a very similar, if not the same structure as an English-language one.

TV

While, like film, there are many different genres of TV, the different genres require different formats and structures depending on the type of TV programme it is.

DRAMA/SOAP:

(‘Eastenders’, Episode 872; Peirson)

As it is a TV show, the scene is labelled with the episode number and the episode scene number. It also says above whether the scene will be on the Lot or in a studio, or even off grounds. This is especially common for soap operas, which tend to use studios and consistent specialist sets. The formatting is slightly different compared to a film, with all the writing put to the right side of the page and no special formatting for the character’s name, more like a play script. All actions are written in capital lettering. Other than these slight differences, a TV script plays very similarly to a film screenplay and contains familiar elements.

Despite some differences, TV drama scripts are very similar to standard screenplays nowadays, with shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ having the structure and production value of a film.

DOCUMENTARY:

Here a documentary script splits up the audio and visual elements of the picture, with narrator’s scripted voice over and scripted visuals which will be shot in the real setting of the documentary subject. These scripts are quite different, but must be as most dialogue is unscripted, specifically in interviews. Researched information and other exposition will be scripted, including shots of related action, whereas most interviews will be unscripted as the interviewee comes up with their own answers.

NEWS BROADCASTING:

Here, dialogue must be formatted to be displayed in real time during a live broadcast. There are notes on the left side and dialogue on the right, with a ‘{WIPE}’ everytime the visuals switch. The notes give messages to the production staff on the visuals and maybe to the newsreader. Unlike film or TV scripts, there is no slugline as the newsreader is always in the newsroom and no inflection as the newsreader will most likely maintain a consistent tone throughout all the broadcast.

PANEL SHOW:

Although panel shows are often mainly ad libbed, here is a scripted introduction to a panel show with a very simplistic formatting. The font and size is not consistent with most other styles, and the names and dialogue is not formatted. There is a simple introduction to what is happening in the scene, no setting description or action, with dialogue for each presenter to say without directed inflection or tone.

Radio

DRAMA:

This is very different to other styles of script. The scene is set but more liberally and simplistically than in a film or TV script. The characters are described with important details and the action of the scene. Each line is labelled with a number to help editing and overall production. Obviously because there is only dialogue, there is no detail gone into the visual description of what is happening, only the context of the scene is given.

CURRENT AFFAIRS:

This script is far less visually distinctive than other script types. The presenter and panellists are listed, then a speech or essay is written for the presenter to recite. This may spawn ad libbed discussion or may continue will information about the programme subject etc.

NEWS:

The scale of the police investigation into allegations of child abuse on Jersey is becoming clearer. Detectives say more than a hundred and sixty victims have come forward, and around forty people are now suspects — including former care workers. Search teams have also broken into a cellar at the Haut de le Garenne care home, where a child’s remains were discovered on Saturday, and say a sniffer dog has indicated there is something suspicious inside. Reporting from Jersey, our correspondent, Jane Peel:

PEEL: The police teams, forensic scientists and the specialist search dog trained to detect human traces and blood resumed work this morning. The task to get into a bricked-up cellar beneath part of this former care home. The chief investigating officer Lenny Harper said that by the afternoon they’d gained partial access to the roof. 

This script type is very similar to the current affairs type. It is mainly in an essay/speech format and leaves inflection up to the news anchor. Because there are no visuals, actions are not present. The only slight distinctive element is that it shows the transition to different readers.

Computer games

Video game scripts come in different types. Some are in a flowchart model, specifically if the game gives you multiple options. Games like ‘Mass Effect’ give you multiple dialogue options which may change the story or narrative. This means that script writers must come up with multiple different pathways for every dialogue interaction.

Other games, with a standard and more simplistic linear narrative, don’t give the player many options and force them down one predetermined pathway. They will probably be unable to choose how their character responds in dialogue or physically. Games like the ‘Call of Duty’ franchise generally give the player one objective which they must follow, with little option for movement. These kind of games generally have scripts very similar to screenplays.

Open-world games have a vast amount of possible character interactions within the game, some which the character may not even reach. Games like ‘Skyrim’ have thousands of NPCs (non-player characters) around the world which will trigger a dialogue interaction and usually a separate quest, which requires an entirely separate script. The narrative and progression of these kind of ‘open-world RPGs’ is usually up to the player and therefore the script is split up and assigned to each possible interaction.

Game scripts are huge and can take massive teams of writers to complete. They are usually separated into categories and don’t follow a linear narrative pattern.

Game scripts will also contain programmed events (e.g. whether the mode is PvP or PvE), identifying important rooms and what in the setting is immutable or destructible. You must also include diegetic and non-diegetic sound in a game script, like in a screenplay.

There are many types of script in media. Some, like screenplays, require a very specific structure and formatting, whereas others, like radio scripts, are more liberating and don’t require arbitrary rules.

 

 

P1 Analysing scripts

Scripts follow a certain design and format to be used as a screenplay. They must follow certain rules to be acknowledged commercially.

Format

All screenplays are written in the font Courier New at size 12 pt. The first page will contain the title and the writer underneath. To introduce a scene, you must start with FADE IN if the scene fades in, FROM BLACK if the scene starts from black or COLD OPEN if the scene just starts. In the case of the cold open, it is more likely a camera angle will be described instead (e.g. CLOSE-UP). Underneath this is the slugline, a line which describes where the scene takes place. This starts with INT. for the interior of a location, EXT. for the exterior or can be INT./EXT. if it changes during the scene. After the full stop you must write the location, such as JOHN’S ROOM, then a hyphen and finally the time of day. If DAY is written the scene will be shot at midday; if NIGHT is written then the scene will be shot at midnight. Other times can be written, such as DAWN or DUSK. The next line will be describing the scene – the action line.

There will be many action lines describing what happens in the scene, as well as dialogue. Centred in the page is the character’s name, possibly followed by (V.O.) for voice over or (O.S.) for off-screen. There may also be instructions for how the dialogue is supposed to be delivered or actions during dialogue.

Language

Dialogue isn’t just about writing what the characters are going to say. You need to change dialogue to fit the context of the screenplay. This means changing the dialect or vernacular. For example, an African-American character may speak in vernacular, colloquially known as ebonics, whereas an Irish character may speak in Irish vernacular. Characters who speak English as a secondary language may insert mother tongue words into dialogue, or speak differently, to a format similar to their mother tongue. Dialogue can also be subjective to the time of the screenplay. For example, someone in the 1960s probably wouldn’t use the word “hater”, as it only came to popularity in the 21st century and was only added to the Oxford Dictionary recently. Location also changes the way people speak – you probably wouldn’t have a character say “po-po” when referring to police in suburban America. The main point is that you must consider the context of the character, setting and time before writing dialogue in a screenplay.

Style

In terms of the style of a screenplay, it can fit different types of story and narrative structures. There are different act structures, the most popular being the three-act structure which has a beginning, middle and end. The first act sets up the story. The second act builds action until the end of the second act, where the protagonist is at their lowest. They then redeem themselves at the climax of the film in the third act. Then, the world goes back to normal. This also fits Todorov’s idea of narrative structure: the world is normal, but then changes and must be fixed by our hero. By the end of the story, the hero has changed the world back to normal. Obviously, not every story follows this structure. A more detailed act structure is the five-act structure, which acknowledges the conflict building to the end of act 2 as well as a denouncement which shows the world back to normal in the final act.

As well as story structure there is narrative structure. A linear narrative follows the story chronologically from start to finish. As soon as the screenplay involves a flashback or some time manipulation, the film becomes non-linear. Probably the most famous non-linear screenplay is ‘Pulp Fiction’, written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. The events of the opening scene are stopped for the rest of the film to play out, non-linear itself, for us to revisit the opening scene again at the end of the film from a different perspective.

Another aspect of style is whether your screenplay will be single-stranded or multi-stranded. A single-stranded story follows the journey of one person throughout – a literal example of this is ‘Birdman’ (2014), which literally follows the protagonist for the entire film, portrayed in a ‘one-shot’ technique which makes it seem that the film is one flowing shot with no cuts. While there are other characters in the film, they are just minor and all their actions affect the protagonist.

A multi-stranded story follows multiple protagonists; these films are usually large scale and run for a long time. A good recent example is ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018), which has no real protagonist as it follows multiple characters in different worlds, all culminating into a final act of two different settings with different events, loosely connected.

Type

The most common type of film and definitely the most common type of script is non-fiction. A non-fiction film is referred to as a documentary and therefore is never entirely scripted otherwise it wouldn’t be non-fiction. To script a scene is to remove the realism, because what happens is planned. Reality TV shows are often a blend of non-fiction and fiction as while the characters and events are real and caused by the cast, they usually have hyperbolised characteristics and are given prompts by producers/writers to cause an event. A script for a wholly non-fiction product will not plan dialogue or action, but will describe the setting, who is speaking and what they are talking about.

Angle of Article

This is the political or biased direction of a script, apparent in the dialogue or personalities of the characters. A script could be written by someone with a particularly left-wing political opinion, meaning the protagonist(s) is likely to be left-wing or reflective of their ideology and the antagonist(s) will oppose that ideology. For example, ‘American Sniper’ (2014), written for the screen by Jason Hall, promotes a pro-American and pro-military sentiment, whereas, for example, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ (1987), written by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Hurr and Gustav Hasford, which is also about war and the military, promotes an anti-American sentiment, and as like many Vietnam films of the ’70s and ’80s, criticises the Vietnam war and American involvement in international conflicts. It shows the psychological effects of the soldiers involved for a futile effort, whereas ‘American Sniper’ gives a more positive outlook on American involvement.

 

 

 

Script Project: Screenwriting 101

We recently started learning how to write scripts in class. I was tasked with using what I have learned to re-write a scene from a film. The first scene that came into my mind was this from ‘Blade Runner 2049’ (2017), where the protagonist, K, is interviewed to test if he has developed any human emotions while on a mission. This scene is very ambiguous and atmospheric, using a poem from ‘Pale Fire’ by Vladimir Nabokov throughout the film as K’s ‘baseline’. I re-wrote the first 30 seconds (approx) of the video below.

Here attached is my rewriting of the scene, without looking at the actual script.

BR2049 baseline test script

After writing this I then looked at the actual script written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green.

What I noticed is that the actual script uses far more description than I did, regardless of whether it actually made it into the film. It does more to set the scene or uses smart phrases to succinctly describe action. I also used ‘V.O.’ as in ‘voice over’ to describe audio that could not be seen, but I now realise that because the scene is taking place, just not shown, the correct abbreviation would be ‘O.S.’ as in ‘off screen’.