Film/Vids
The Film Script.
By this time, you know about the sounds of drama and have a stronger sense of dialogue and staging. You're discovering more about your own tastes - what you like, what you hate, what you love. All of this is about how each of us will hear things differently, see things differently and have different ideas about the ideal story for each form.
See as many movies as you can, make notes of what's your favorite film, and why it's your favorite. Think about why you like what you like. And trust your taste.
Using your story, or variation of it, or a new story - now you'll get to write six pages of Film Drama script.
Film Links:
The first link will take you to oodles of scripts. Check out scripts of movies that you love or hate. Download the script for your favorite movie & read it all the way through – without any obligation of figuring out format (as I'll have some variations in our own style sheet) but read it just to begin to sense how what's on screen begins with your written work.
Here's just one site with many, many scripts
http://www.dailyscript.com/
Another Link:
I'll be adding various templates & goodies as we go along. But these links will give you a 'head's up' - BTW - don't worry about all the terms of film; the PAN & TILT & TRACKING SHOT, FISH-EYE LENS and all that.
You'll see such standard coverage scattered through lots of scripts. The best way to approach shots, in my opinion, is with a description of what you see - what you hear - and not ZOOM & PULL BACK and PAN. Those terms are easy to learn, but clutter a script frequently & often prevent the writer from actually seeing characters and situations.
But if you describe what you see and hear - the shots will, almost on automatic, present themselves in your own imagination and, hence, in the reader's mind.
Here's an example from a time before MOW's or Features. It was written by a novelist before the day of streaming-scripts. Now you'd never write this much prose to describe shots - the point is that, without specific CAMERA SHOTS you still may evoke a movie-in-the-mind. Just click our Link...
Location, Location, Location.
Once it’s in the mind & memory banks – a location is what provides the perfect context in drama – pick the right one & it automatically throws a dramatic spotlight on material. Check out the next link... it's of ten abandoned cities – chances are that there’s at least one to start the dreams forming.
Do you have any favorites? On any planet? Here's my favorite location-suggestion of the day:
Here's the URL for a Canadian Screenwriter's views on format and structure. Lots of good material and some free books from Barry Pearson.
Clik 4 Barry Pearson
Writer Duet Cloud based & Free Software for Scripts. WriterDuet features real-time collaboration, online/offline writing, and infinite revision tracking. It works really well;
Here's a way to set up a full film by the simple re-creation of a Newsreel of the time. I produced this Movie-4-TV Just click this link...