So in order to understand my project, I decided to look and study a script from a major production that is publicly available to me but before we do that we need first observe how script looks like and it's various elements.
We also will be looking at a few pages from the script of the movie '300' written by Micheal Gordon.
The script is available from this website publicly: scriptslug.com
The script's fist page contains, the tittle, the author(s), the editors, a legal disclaimer and finally the companies that own the intellectual rights to the movie. In my script, i would not have to add the legal disclaimers as my script would not legally copyrighted until it was filed to do so but the rest needs to be made.
This is a sample page from the script, one thing to note is that script writing is done very deferentially as compared to an novel or essay. Also if a dialogue is voice over, it needs to have the '(v.o)' mark next to the character indicating it is a voice over. The text is formatted in the style of action(description) being left aligned while dialogue being center aligned. The first words in this page are 'fade in' which indicates that is a new scene it opens with a fade in transition.
This page is shows more elements of script as it starts with a scene tittle. A scene tittle has four variables, The type of location where the scene will take place, whether it was outside environment (external or EXT.) or if it was in a man made environment like a building for example (Internal or INT.). After indicating the type of location, then you mention the the name of the location. After stating the name, you add a dash and indicate the time when this scene took place, usually most writers only use two types, DAY/NIGHT but this can be variable and you can even be specific such as, afternoon, evening, and even carry forward your time from your previous scene saying Contin.(Continued). The last element of scene tittle being what number the scene is, in this script, it's 3. Usually you don't have to do this manually as most popular script writing software automatically do this for you.
The script also contains indication of a continued scene, as at the end of the page there is '(continued') which means the scene is still going on in the next page, this is important as it gives everyone making the production indication that it is still the same scene as the last page. What's done next is in the next page, you open with 'Continued:' to indicate that it is the same continue as the last page.
One last thing I have noted is that the action(description) is a lot more different than a story or essay as looking at the example, they read more like directions rather than a story as they, simple, concise, too the point and only shows what is happening on-screen, what the characters are doing and if an environmental change happens, how the character interacts with that change.
I will be incorporating all of the conventions of script writing in my script and treat it more seriously.
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Reference List
Gordon, M.B., Snyder, Z. and Miller, F. (n.d.) 300 (2006) film script, Script Slug. Available at: https://www.scriptslug.com/script/300-2006 (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
writersstore.com (2021) How to write a screenplay: Script writing example & screenwriting tips, Writers Store. NA. Available at: https://writersstore.com/blogs/news/how-to-write-a-screenplay-a-guide-to-scriptwriting (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
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