Guide to Script Writing
Aug 28, 2015 18:01:36 GMT
Post by caomoyl on Aug 28, 2015 18:01:36 GMT
GUIDE TO SCRIPT WRITING
By starryskies
By starryskies
Format
Without using script writing software, I find the easiest way to format a script is like this
SCENE ONE
(Sirius and James in the Gryffindor common room in the evening. Chatting in the background, rustling of papers)
Sirius: You’re not actually doing that homework, are you?
James: (distractedly) Hang on... (now paying attention to Sirius) Yeah, of course I am! Evans is in the class, and she always does her homework.
Sirius: What? That’s insane, mate.That’s not even a reason.
(footsteps as Lily approaches)
END SCENE ONE
- Okay, so the SCENE ONE and END OF SCENEs are for the actors and directors, as much as you, so they know when the sound effects should stop, fade out, etc.
- The Scene Directions are also important for giving a good sense of place and time, as well as immediately showing who is and isn’t in a scene. This can help with picking appropriate sound effects, as well as helping your voice actors. In a short script, where there isn’t much time to develop your characters, these scene directions need to be a lot longer, describing the relationship between the characters is super helpful for the actors, so they can accurately portray them, for example;
(Sirius and James, two sixteen year old boys who are best friends are sitting in the Gryffindor common room in the evening doing their homework. Chatting in the background, rustling of papers) ....
- Emboldening the character names before speech is just to easily show who is speaking
- Speech directions. I’ve formatted them the same as the scene directions (in brackets, in italics) as they are also there to guide your actors, and help them with how the character is speaking. For example,
(distractedly) Hang on... (now paying attention to Sirius) Yeah, of course I am!
shows that James was doing his homework and couldn’t interrupted in his train of thought.
NOTE: I have used ‘scene directions’ and ‘speech directions’ to mean two separate things. The speech directions are the lines intended for the actor, to help them understand how to say their lines, and the scene directions are mostly for the editors/directors, for them to help craft the scene through sound effects, etc, and are usually found at the start/end of scenes.
You need to write a clear and concise script in order to avoid the confusion of your actors and directors. It’s very important to clearly show how you want an actor to approach a line.
Take, for example the line: Really?
This line can be said in a surprised voice, an excited voice, an exasperated voice, or a sad voice. It’s super important that you clearly show your intentions or your actors can get very confused and your directors won’t understand what kind of mood you’re aiming for. An easy way to get around this is to write the bare bones of dialogue first, and then go back and add in your directions, or you could give your script to a friend, and ask them to read it out how they see it- and then you can see where they struggle with portraying the characters, or where their portrayal differs from yours.
Making Dialogue Natural- the basics
Okay, so making dialogue natural is one of the hardest things to do. The thing you have to remember, is that it’s how you talk, not how you write. You may think that’s a bit obvious, but if you ever record a conversation between you and your friends, then you’ll be amazed at how much people backtrack, or repeat what they’re saying, or use fillers like ‘um’ and ‘er’, and even in writing dialogue for a story, you won’t put that much filler-y stuff in.
Now, for writing a script, you’re not going to put that much in either, but you are going to do more, and it will be more noticeable if you don’t, because no-one talks that perfectly in real life.
For example;
Hey, are you gonna come over tonight? Like, sevenish?
or
Hey, my house? Seven? Bring your own popcorn!
sounds much more natural than
Hello, would you like to come to my house at seven tonight to watch a film?
Obviously that is an exaggerated example, but the point stands. People say yeah, not yes. We use contractions like don’t and can’t, or gonna. We’ll say, and then he said this and I was all like, what?
If you’re worried about your dialogue not being natural, my best remedy is read it aloud. Pretend to be each of your characters, and see if it sounds good to you. Would your character really say that? McGonagall probably wouldn’t say summat, but she definitely would use simple contractions like hasn’t, no matter how strict she is.
Natural dialogue- conversations
Making banter and conversations is pretty hard as well. We don’t usually let someone finish their sentence without saying something like hmmm, or yeah, but this is pretty hard to achieve in a script because you’re probably going to confuse your audience.
So, rule one; show it’s clear who is talking. Especially when your audience isn’t clear on who is who, such as at the start of the script, drop in a few names, so the listeners understand who is speaking to who. They don’t have your stage directions, only the voices and sound effects, and they can’t see who is talking. A good opening scene could look something like this;
James: (calling) Sirius! Sirius! Wait up! Sirius!
Sirius: James? What do you want? I thought you had detention with McGonagall.
James: Remus got me out of it, said it was family business.
Remus: Well, I have been known to have my moments.
Sirius: James? What do you want? I thought you had detention with McGonagall.
James: Remus got me out of it, said it was family business.
Remus: Well, I have been known to have my moments.
If this was read out, you would immediately know which voice was which, and a few more bits of name-dropping would get your readers very familiar with your actors.
When writing dialogue, in order to make it effective and natural, is to remember who your characters are talking to. This is the same with writing dialogue in prose as well. Lily isn’t going to say whattup blud, how’s it hanging? to Dumbledore, but it is feasible that Sirius would.
Another thing is try to keep your speech as short as possible (so there are short exchanges between your characters), while at the same time make your sentences longer than usual. In natural speech we don’t stop where you would put full stops, but we still need to breathe, so will need commas for conclusions. To summarise (as that was quite badly explained)...
- Short, quick exchanges between characters, eg.
Remus: Hey!
Lily: Hey, how’re you?
Remus: Good thanks, you?
Lily: Yeah, great. Are you going out tonight?
Remus: Where, to Hogsmeade?
Lily: Yeah, I heard Honeydukes is having a sweet giveaway.
Remus: That sounds amazing.
Lily: Well, I’d get there quickly if I were you, you don’t want the third years hogging it all.
Remus: (laughs) True! See you around, Lily!
Lily: Bye!
Lily: Hey, how’re you?
Remus: Good thanks, you?
Lily: Yeah, great. Are you going out tonight?
Remus: Where, to Hogsmeade?
Lily: Yeah, I heard Honeydukes is having a sweet giveaway.
Remus: That sounds amazing.
Lily: Well, I’d get there quickly if I were you, you don’t want the third years hogging it all.
Remus: (laughs) True! See you around, Lily!
Lily: Bye!
- Make your sentences slightly longer than usual, using commas for short pauses instead of full stops which the actor will assume means a longer pause, for example, instead of,
1: Well, I guess this is it. The end of my script writing career. I’ve been foiled by a paper cut. I cannot go on any further!
you could put
2: Well, I guess this is the end, then... my script writing career has been foiled by a papercut, and I just can’t go on any further!
Although it is another exaggerated example, the first sounds quite jumpy and unnatural, while the second flows as smoothly as a jungle river. (Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, sometimes characters need to. talk. like. this. and. that’s. okay. too.)
Telling, rather than showing
This is also super hard and pretty important. The thing is with voice acting, is that we can’t see what’s going on, and sound effects can only go so far.
So this isn’t okay.
James: What’s that?
Peter: What’s what?
James: (pointing) That.
Peter: Oh, that! (picks up something from the floor) Dunno.
James: Ugh, it looks weird.
Peter: (holds it up to the light) Oh wait... is it some kind of an example?
James: You mean like a script? It could be.
Peter: What’s what?
James: (pointing) That.
Peter: Oh, that! (picks up something from the floor) Dunno.
James: Ugh, it looks weird.
Peter: (holds it up to the light) Oh wait... is it some kind of an example?
James: You mean like a script? It could be.
I mean, in the example, if you took out the speech directions, you would have a massive chunk of dialogue where the audience is thoroughly confused, and unless that’s your intention, then you don’t need it. The act of holding it up to the light- in a play, that would clearly showing the audience what it is, but your listening audience can’t get that.
A good example of telling, rather than showing, would be this;
James: What’s that?
Peter: What’s what?
James: That, on the floor there. Pick it up, Pete, you’re closest.
Peter: Alright. (pause) Is it.... some kind of an example?
James: Could be. Like a script? It looks really weird!
Peter: What’s what?
James: That, on the floor there. Pick it up, Pete, you’re closest.
Peter: Alright. (pause) Is it.... some kind of an example?
James: Could be. Like a script? It looks really weird!
That example gives you all the information about the scene that you need to know (the only other thing that should be mentioned here has also already been said; at the start of the scene remember to name drop a bit so your listeners get used to who is playing who).
To conclude...
- Formatting your work correctly makes it super easy for you to quickly see what you’re writing, and for your actors and directors to find the correct scenes
- Use speech directions and scene directions to help your actors understand their character better, and to help your director/editor set the mood, find the right sound effects for you and edit accordingly
- Remember that dialogue is supposed to be on-the-spur of the moment, and is by no means perfect, so add in some things like erm, um, and I guess, like, summat- although don’t overdo it.
- Keep exchanges between your characters short and snappy
- Generally, you should make sentences longer than usual, so that your speech flows more naturally
- Drop character names into the script at the start of scenes, or when you bring a new character in so your audience gets used to their voices.
- Explain what is happening in the scene, rather than trying to rely on sound effects- remember your audience can’t see what’s going on, and there’s only so much that sound effects can do