LO3 – Be able to produce a script for a media product based on a client brief

This is the 30 page script that I have produced for A-Line production. I have tried to meet as many codes and conventions of a film script as possible.

 

3.2

I have tried to meet the conventions of a film script. I have used “Shaun of the Dead” as an example to follow.

The first example is the use of a title page.

I tried to copy the formatting of the Shaun of the Dead. We both used the courier font at point 12. This fits in with the font for the rest of the script. A difference is that I used capitals for every word in the title, this is because my title has a more serious meaning and I wanted to convey this through the text.

I also used Shaun of the Dead as a way to see how characters names are capitalised.

Both of the scripts capitalise a characters name when they are both introduced. This is because they are making a point to show they are characters being introduced. A difference is that Shaun of the Dead does not give details of each character, this is because the characters are every day people and are not remarkable. My characters are different from what you see in everyday life, so I felt the need to describe them.

I learnt that the line spacing need to stay consistent so that the one minute per page rule stays. There is “single spacing” between each line.

It is also important to capitalise the locations and props. This is to give the crew an idea of the most important objects in the script.

 

All of the speaker names and dialogue must be spaced separately from the rest of the text. The speaker is central and the dialogue is left aligned.  This is to make it easier to differentiate when reading lines.

The loglines are placed at the start of a scene to indicate the location and time of day. This is for the production team so they know what to prepare.

Some lines of the script will give internation or parenthetical to show the actors how to present their lines. This is to stick closer to the original vision of the writer.

 

 

 

LO2: Generate ideas for and plan a script for a media product

2.1 – Creating ideas for scripted elements using blue sky thinking.

Some genres of media have different styles within them, for example a soap can be lighthearted and up lifting or it can have a serious and realistic tone. Depending on the channel it is distributed on a soap can have a different structure, for example soaps on the BBC does not have to allow room to cut to advertising slots.

Another example of a difference in style is with documentaries, some use a fly on the wall style where the crew does not interact with the subject and just leave cameras to record everyday life, others are ad hoc which means people involved in the documentary will be interviewed or asked to do certain things.

Mood board

2.2 – Refined ideas for a short film

 Protagonist (e.g. the main character, hero, audience appeal)

• Marcel Quinn
• A down on his luck professional boxer in the twilight of his career. At 34 years old he never hit the heights that people expected him to, due to the pressures outside the ring.
• He is small for his division but makes up for it in speed.
• He has audience appeal as he is an underdog with heart and has been through a lot in his life.
• He is an African American man to show equal representation between ethnicities

Characters (e.g. cast and supporting cast and what is required for each)

• Opponent – Micky O’Hara, a tall muscular Irish man, he is trying to make a name for himself by knocking out an older veteran. He is arrogant and talks trash throughout the fight
• Trainer – Julio, an old Hispanic man with very traditional values and training methods. He is infuriated with Marcel for not fighting as best as he can.
• Commentators – The commentators are very biased against the protagonist and describe the fight for people who know little about boxing.
• Mob boss – A stereotypical suit wearing mysterious mob boss. He demands respects and wears a hat that hides most of his face. We never know his name or fully see his face.
• Son – Michael, a young delicate boy, he is more academic than his father and Marcel sees a future for him outside of boxing.

Plot points (e.g. incident, lock-in, first culmination, main culmination, twist)

ACT I

• The first scene is the two fighters touching gloves before the fight. We don’t know anything about the two fighters but their demeanour and body shape is enough, we know who is there to win.
• With every significant blow to the protagonist we get a flashback to a moment leading up to the fight.
• The first flashback is to the protagonist wining a silver medal at the Olympics. He looks in considerably better shape and his hair is a lot more tidy.
• Throughout the fight there is flashbacks to Marcel giving life lessons to his son.
• We see him fighting in a title eliminator on HBO PPV, this is his big moment. He wins the fight by knockout. He celebrates with his wife and son.
• When the protagonist is first knocked down we see his son lying in a hospital bed, he is clearly very ill. The doctor is talking about how much the medical bills will cost.

ACT II

• We see the protagonist heroically rise to his feet, flashback to him walking out to fight for the title fight, he is clearly distracted and not in shape. He is knocked out early.
• He is struggling to pay for his son’s treatment and is losing more and more fights. He goes to the mob boss to ask for help.
• He is told to lose on purpose so the mob can bet on his fights.
• When he finally feels as if he has enough money we see him at a funeral.
• After the death of his son he is still offered money to fix the fight, he takes the money. He is told to go down in the eighth.
• The eighth round starts and he is very quickly knocked down. As the ref counts to ten he has a quick succession of flashbacks about his son, he rises to his feet with a second left, inspired by his child.

ACT III

• After standing he is a new fighter. He is landing crisp combinations and barely being hit. As he is landing we hear voice over from his son. He finished the fight with a huge overhand right, there is no need for a count.
• We see the mob boss looking angry and telling a henchmen to sort this out, the final shot is Marcel on his knees celebrating and visibly crying.

Parenthetical (e.g. try to accent a character’s speech – as in Bob (wryly) – an inflection to a speech noted by a writer)

• Trainer speaks in a heavy accent, he is frantic and screaming.
• Mob boss is Italian, he speaks very slowly and calmly.
• Marcel’s voice changes from very cool and confident to deep and emotional as the story goes on.
• O’Hara uses very short sentences with a lot of anger and passion in his voice.

Extensions (e.g. a technical note placed directly to the right of the character’s name that denotes how their voice is heard)

• The corners are almost constantly shouting. Marcel’s corner is louder and more frequent, they are telling him to jab, put his hands up etc. O’Hara’s are much less consistent and only say things like good job or keep it going.
• In the hospital scene there is an extreme close up on Marcel while the doctor is talking very calmly and smoothly off screen
• During the part where he rises to his feet we hear voice over of his son.

Transition (e.g. notation denoting an editing transition)

• When he is knocked down it will fade to a flashback to symbolize him losing consciousness.
• When a punch triggers a flashback it will be a cut to symbolize the snap of the punch.
• During the fight scenes the camera never cuts, it helps maintain the tension and shows the brutality of a real fight.
• Fade back into the fight.
• A lot of shot reverse shot during conversations.
• Point of view shot during the fight to create an intimate atmosphere.

Shot what the camera sees, (e.g. wide)

• Wide shots of the arenas he fights in to show how enthusiastic the crowd is for each fight and how many people showed up.
• Close ups of him and his son in the ring celebrating his fight.
• Medium shots of the mob boss so we don’t get too much detail, which keeps him mysterious.
• Medium longshots of him in the corner between rounds. Allows you to see the team working on him like a race car in the pit lane.
• Extreme close up of Marcel in the hospital.

Synopsis

Marcel Quinn is a down on his luck ageing boxer, he never reached the potential that so many people ascribed to him. He now fights in small half filled theatres against fighters looking to make a name of  a faded boxer. After the death of his child, Quinn started talking bribes to fix fights and now in his retirement fight he decides to try and go out on a win. Throughout the fight we see the series of events that led him to where he is now and how the dark underworld of boxing affected him.

2.3 Conventions of a short film

Title page

The script has the title of the movie centralised using iconography from the film. The writers are featured on the first page in the font courier in pt.12, which is standard for all scripts.

Formatting

Font – Courier font is used for the sake of timing, every page of a text in courier font is roughly a minute of on screen time.

Margin –

The margin of the page should be 1.5 inches from the left of the page. This will help the timing of the script so that every page reaches roughly a minute.

The page number will be formatted so that it is placed in the top right of every page

Breaks –

During Shaun of the dead there is a page break just before the montage. This is done as the text now has to be split into to columns due to the complexity of the montage.

Slug lines –

Fade in – The very first item on the first page should be these words.

Scene Heading – A one line description of the location and time of day of the scene.

Characters first appearance – A description of the character name is CAPPED.

Character  – A character’s name always appear above the dialogue.

Transition – Film editing instructions

Dialogue – Lines of speech for each character

Sub header – For when a full scene heading is not necessary

Parenthetical – Action or attitude direction for a character

Extension – A note placed after the characters name to indicate how the voice will be heard on screen.

Mores and Cont’d – Used between pages to indicate the same character is still speaking.

 

 

LO1: Understand scripted elements for a range of media products

It is important to research and understand the structure and conventions of scripts, in different medias, before I start planning an idea for my own script.

1.1

I need to show an understanding of what to look for when analysing a script. This will help me understand the conventions of the genre I want to work in.

Language

Elaborated code – A formal style of language, that is verbally flexible. All details are explicit. It targets a general, non-specific audience.

Restricted code – An informal style of language where context is assumed and concepts are rarely explained. Makes heavy use of gestures and facial expressions.

Mode of address – Different types of ways to speak to the audience that all create different relationship with the viewer.

Parenthetical – An instruction in the script that tells the actor how a line should be delivered e.g. “angry”, “jokingly”.

Format and layout

Mise en scene – Everything you see in the frame, e.g. lighting, props, framing, sound etc.

Pagination – The amount of pages in the script.

Three act script

Act I: Major characters introduced, establishing genre, present hook, inciting incident.

Act II: The longest, creation of subplots, foreshadow ending, midpoint of script, catapult story to third act.

Act III: Shortest part, main character comes face to face with villain, fulfils a promise made in the first act.

Angle

What point of view you take on the issue you are presenting.

Style

Exposition – Giving the audience information about the characters or the world they live in that happened before the movie started.

Linear – All scenes are placed in chronological order.

Non-Linear – Narrative jumps around in time, using flashbacks, flash-forwards etc.

Single-stranded – Follows one story the entire narrative.

Multi-stranded – Splits of into different smaller stories that all tie in to the same ending.

Type

Fiction – All events are staged and planned before hand.

Non-Fiction – Everything seen or described is a real event that took place.

Genre – The codes and conventions of a product categorise it into a group of other similar products.

1.2

Film

UK film

This script is following a single stranded, linear narrative. The phrase “SPOOKY NOISES” is a key moment in the stage direction and is capitalised to show it’s importance. “INT” shows that the scene is taking place indoors and tells the crew that a set is needed. “O.S” stands for off screen this may show that an actor is not needed for that part. The script uses the courier font at 12pt, this fits the industry standard and means every page translate to roughly a minute of screen time. “SHAUN” is capitalised as it is the introduction of a new character. Liz uses an elaborated code to show she is intelligent, this is contrasted with the character ED and he is restricted code “S’alright”. The script shows the way Liz should move with (She looks of to the right). The “FRUIT MACHINE” is capitalised as it is the introduction of a key prop. 

This is the start of act II, it contains the inciting incident. It shows the two main characters seeing their first zombie and fighting her off. The scene starts with restricted code to show the two characters relaxed and joking but at the end it is used to show their fear and anger.

This is the start of act III, it is the final confrontation with the main antagonists of the story. Later we see the resolution of the conflict when the zombies are defeated and two of the main characters escape.

European film

The European script uses the courier font with a size of twelve, this is exactly the same as the UK script, however it only uses the courier font for the character names and location. For the rest of the text it uses times new roman. The main difference is that the European script always capitalises the name of characters, not just when they are being introduced. Another difference is that the script numbers every scene, for example this is scene 23. The European script includes a lot more detail in how the actors should perform the lines, it uses timing and internation in brackets to showcase this. This scene is early in act one as the characters are introducing themselves to each other. The script seems to be following a single stranded linear narrative. Both characters use elaborated language to convey they are new to each other and are making formal introductions.

Foreign film

This is a script for the American fil Pulp fiction. Unlike the start of the European or British ones it starts with the definition of the title. This is to give the audience an idea of what to expect from the movie. It uses the exact same formatting as the British movie, it uses courier point 12, capitalises in the same areas and uses the same structure. The characters are using restricted code to emphasise they are criminals and are not rich people.

TV

TV drama

The TV script contains a lot more  description of the characters and how they are acting, this may be because the main characters of the show are children and may need more guidance. The main characters are capitalised when they are introduced. The “CONTINUED” shows that they are finished describing the scene and are continuing from the previous dialogue.  The “SIX WING MINIATURES” is capitalised as it is the introduction of a key prop. Both LUCAS and DUSTIN use restricted code which shows their age and immaturity. This is showing the first act as the characters are being introduced. This script is also following single stranded linear narrative.

Documentary

Documentary – A documentary would be different to other forms of TV shows as their is a very small amount of scripted dialogue. The only scripted elements of a documentary would be the narration. This would be scripted by splitting the narration and imagery into two separate columns so the narrator can easily follow what is happening. On the left side of the script it shows the image or video that will be seen on the screen, the right side of the screen tells the narrator what they should say, however it does not include any internation like the other scripts.

TV news

The news script does not follow conventions and use courier, instead it uses Arial, this may be because it needs to be as easy as possible for the anchors to read.  It includes acronyms which are not seen in other scripts, this may be because there are many different elements in this type of broadcast like voice over or sound on tape.

TV soap

The TV soap script is extremely similar to the TV drama, as the presentation of the two genres are very similar except soaps must produce a higher amount of content. They both use the courier font in point 12 to make the script equate to roughly one minute per page. They both use a large amount of stage directions, the soap includes a lot of detail about the set, this may be to give the production team as much guidance as possible. A difference is that the soap script uses colour to differentiate meanings in different parts of the text.

Radio

Radio news

The radio news script doesn’t have the speakers name before the text, this is because in small news bulletins like this their is only one speaker so there is no need for it to show who’s turn it is to speak. The main function of the courier font it timing, this script does not use the courier font because it gives the time in seconds of how long each clip is. It also includes the “out words” of each clip so that the speaker knows when the clip has ended and it is their turn to speak.

Current affairs

The radio current affairs show is similar to the the radio news, it does not used courier, however it does not show how long each segment should last. Unlike the radio news it does have the speakers name above the text, this is because there is more than one person speaking.

Radio drama

The radio drama is structured very differently from the TV and movie scripts, as there is no visual imagery their is almost no scene direction, if there are scene directions then they are only there to indicate that a sound must be played. As there is no scene direction their is a lot more dialogue per page meaning it would probably be more than a minute per page, despite this they still use courier pt. 12.

 

Computer Games

Despite a different form the video game script still uses courier pt. 12. There is no evidence of internation, this may be because the primary function of a video game is not to tell a story so the script may not have had as much time spent on it as other features of a game. There is a fair amount of stage direction this may be to give the animation team detailed descriptions on what they should be working on.