Screenplay

A screenplay, or script, is a written work by screenwriters for a film, television program, or video game. In them, the movement, actions, expression and dialogues of the characters are also narrated.

The major components are action (sometimes called "screen direction") and dialogue. The action is written in the present tense and is limited to what can be heard or seen by the audience, for example descriptions of settings, character movements, or sound effects. The dialogue is the words the characters speak, and is written in a center column.

Unique to the screenplay (as opposed to a stage play) is the use of slug lines. A slug line, also called a master scene heading, occurs at the start of every scene and typically contains three pieces of information: whether the scene is set inside (interior/INT.) or outside (exterior/EXT.), the specific location, and the time of day. Each slug line begins a new scene. In a "shooting script" the slug lines are numbered consecutively for ease of reference.

Screenplay transitions were cues to the editing team that communicated how transitions between shots were to be handled. CUT TO was a simple direction that stipulated the literal cut from one scene to another — usually, but not always, referring to a location change as well. In older scripts, you would find such a transition between every new scene.

Scene (filmmaking)

In filmmaking and video production, a scene is generally thought of as the action in a single location and continuous time.

While the terms refer to a set sequence and continuity of observation, resulting from the handling of the camera or by the editor, the term scene refers to the continuity of the observed action - an association of time, place or characters.

A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

A film storyboard (sometimes referred to as a shooting board), is essentially a series of frames, with drawings of the sequence of events in a film, similar to a comic book of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand.

It helps film directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualise the scenes and find potential problems before they occur.

Besides this, storyboards also help estimate the cost of the overall production and save time.

In creating a motion picture with any degree of fidelity to a script, a storyboard provides a visual layout of events as they are to be seen through the camera lens.

Another benefit of storyboarding is that the production can plan the movie in advance. In this step, things like the type of camera shot, angle, and blocking of characters are decided.

Some writers have used storyboard type drawings (albeit rather sketchy) for their scripting of comic books, often indicating staging of figures, backgrounds, and balloon placement with instructions to the artist as needed often scribbled in the margins and the dialogue or captions indicated.

Occasionally, architectural studios need a storyboard artist to visualize presentations of their projects.

Usually, a project needs to be seen by a panel of judges and nowadays it’s possible to create virtual models of proposed new buildings, using advanced computer software to simulate lights, settings, and materials.

Clearly, this type of work takes time – and so the first stage is a draft in the form of a storyboard, to define the various sequences that will subsequently be computer-animated.

Méliès at his studio in Montreuil

Advanced Screenplay Formatting John P.Hess