Question: What about capitalizing sounds in spect scripts?
Open Forum question from Trevor Mayes at scriptwrecked.com:
Hi Scott,
My question: What rules do you follow with regard to capitalizing sounds in spec scripts?
Most screenplay formatting books will advise you to capitalize all sounds and the objects that created the sounds. The exception being onscreen sounds made by human actors.
John August breaks a few rules in this tutorial: http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/writing-better-action. For example he only capitalizes the sound itself (“Windows BLOW OUT”) and has an onscreen actor sound in uppercase (“PEDESTRIANS SCREAM”). He also relaxes the rules of capitalization if it’s not a new sound.
Adding to the confusion, many professional script readers will tell you not to capitalize sounds in a spec script, saying that they are distracting. However I’ve also read that it’s important to utilize correct sound capitalization in spec scripts in order to demonstrate your command of solid screen craft (for potential Open Writing Assignments).
What’s your take?
I’ve gotten into the subject of capitlization here and here, but once more into the breech!
Confession: I used to use a lot of caps, a stylistic choice to make scene description ‘pop’ to a reader. For example, here is an excerpt from Trojan War:
BRAD’S CAR
Tires SHREDDED in a firestorm of BURNING SMOKE! Brakes
GRINDING! Front end SWERVING! The car HYDROPLANES in
circles… SMASHES into a LAMPPOST whacking the front end of
BRAD’S CAR! The lamppost slowly TOPPLES over and CRUNCHES
the CAR’S ROOF.
At one time, I thought that made for a good read, thinking that if a busy exec only had time to skim scene description, by picking up the capped words — SHREDDED, BURNING SMOKE, GRINDING, SWERVING, HYDROPLANES, SMASHES, LAMPPOST, BRAD’S CAR, TOPPLES, CRUNCHES, CAR’S ROOF — they could get a pretty good sense of the action.
But now some 15 years later, I don’t like how that looks. Too many caps. So I’ll stand by my previous advice on GITS which is to use caps:
* Whenever you introduce a new character (but do not cap their name in scene description throughout the script as that reduces the impact of more important capped words)
* Whenever you have a sound that you want to make sure the reader ‘hears’
* Whenever you have an object you want to make sure the reader ‘sees’
Now I will grant you that from a script reader’s standpoint, an established professional screenwriter will be granted more leeway re stylistic choices than an aspiring screenwriter. And it’s wise for a pre-pro writer to know the guidelines before deciding to bend them. But the bottom line — in my view — is that these are, indeed, guidelines, not rules. A writer’s style is an individual thing and you should feel free to experiment to find what works for you. Hell, years ago, I read a script by then unknown screenwriter Justin Zackham which he wrote in the 2nd person ala:
INT. BEDROOM — NIGHT
You open your eyes. You slap your feet on the ground. You peer
through the darkness. And with your first waking moment, you
know you are screwed.
That script generated a lot of buzz for Justin who later went on to sell The Bucket List. 2nd person, an interesting stylistic choice. But the buzz wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it weren’t for the fact that the story was a good one.
So a really long-winded way of recommending that you cap sounds that you think are important for a reader to ‘hear’ — but on the bigger front, it raises a more important issue about screenwriting style, something that evolves over a writer’s life (especially early on).
Script readers, how about you? What’s your view on style as rules vs. guidelines? Are there any stylistic choices you see made by writers which drive you crazy? Do you care how / when writers use caps in scene description?
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