Questions and Answers, Part 1
Several questions from the last open forum here. Tomorrow I’ll answer the rest:
From Lalithra Fernando:
Do you have any tips/suggestions/advice regarding writing short film scripts? Any particular distinctions from a feature length script aside from length? I’m going to define short as something from 1–30 minutes long, though if there’s a better definition, please let me know!
As a student, most of my work is with short films. Hopefully I’ll be transitioning to feature length works in the coming years, but for the moment, I’m working on shorts.
I have never written a script for a short film, so I have zero experience in that area. However common sense alone would indicate several similarities as well as distinctions between a short film and a full-length movie.
Similarities:
* A structure consisting of a beginning, middle, and ending acts or movements (this would still hold even if the story was told in a non-linear fashion).
* A Protagonist character / characters around which the story is focused and/or through whose perspective the story is told.
* A central conflict / issue.
* Something happens.
Or as this London Times article suggests, the three elements you need to make a short film are:
A world. A character. A problem.
Differences:
* Fitting the story within shorter time constraints.
* Zeroing in quickly on the central problem or conflict.
* Compressing whatever personal transformation a character / characters may go through.
One suggestion is to read scripts for short movies. SimplyScripts.com has several of them here.
Another idea: View lots of short films. I Googled “short films Cannes 2008” and got this link which features dozens of short films.
By reading short movie scripts and viewing short films, you can analyze them per the above considerations and see how other filmmakers have crafted their short films.
I have a colleague at UNC who is teaching a course on short films this semester. I’ll ask him for his advice on the subject. Hopefully I’ll have more information in the near future.
From E.C. Henry
I’ve heard that character introductions are VERY important in a script. So I was wondering what you consider to be the best character introduction you’ve ever written, and what makes it good?
Why listen to me when you’ve got screenwriter William Goldman around and his fantastic first book on screenwriting “Adventures in the Screen Trade”. Read the chapter about how Goldman approaches character introductions not only with the story in mind, but also with an eye toward attracting a movie star — a key in getting a script turned into a movie. With that in mind, here is my favorite character introduction. From William Goldman’s spec script “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”:
A MAN
Idly walking around a corner of the building. He is
BUTCH CASSIDY and hard to pin down. Thirty-five and bright,
he has brown hair, but most people, if asked to describe him,
would remember him blond. He speaks well and quickly and
has been all his life a leader of men; but if you asked him,
he would be damned if he could tell you why.
I remember reading Goldman’s memoir when it first came out back in 1983 and that always stuck with me — how a screenwriter has an opportunity when introducing a character to provide a description of the character’s essence or core persona.
From Piotr P.:
I was just wondering: I’m writing a story which takes place in a closed, albeit large facility. Do I need to “worry” about the logic of characters getting from one place to the next if scenes already show them being in the place where a given scene takes place? Essentially, the characters are moving from the bottom of the facility to the top, where the climax takes place. I’m also kind of stuck with location names in the screenplay — I mean, how many times can you write “INT. CORRIDOR”? Cheers!
It sounds like you’re talking about two things: Actual scenes with a beginning, middle, and end; and how to specify locations (regardless of whether you’re changing scenes or not).
My first piece of advice is to look at scripts of movies which take place in one primary location such as Die Hard and Air Force One. See how those screenwriters handled shifts in location within a greater primary location.
That said, generally speaking I like to use Primary Sluglines to designate the beginning of scenes and Secondary Sluglines (Shots) to specify moves to sub-locations within the primary locale. Yes, that may mean you have to write INT. NAKATOMI BUILDING — NIGHT dozens of times, but only at the beginning of new scenes. And all your other shifts in location you specify with Secondary Slugs: 36TH FLOOR — HALLWAY, LOBBY, 38TH FLOOR — OFFICE, ROOFTOP, and so on.
Comment Archive