Xander
You Can Call Me Ash
Though I would post this here first, before we show it to our writers. I will put all the different script writing guides here, but at the moment I only have the one I have just done. I decided on using the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie.
By the way, in a real script everything would be more in the middle of the page so there is a white border around it, but the boards dont allow that. And the title of the film and writer would appear on a seperate page. In a tv series it would say, something like: http://pluh.com/members/slashwhore/1.jpg
------------------------------------------------
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
by
Joss Whedon
FADE IN:
EXT. MEDIEVAL VILLAGE - JUST BEFORE SUNSET
We see an Italian village at the height of the plague. Funeral
processions, decrepit houses with their windows boarded up...
the stench of death all around.
TITLE: EUROPE. THE DARK AGES
Through the filth a KNIGHT walks his horse. He is weary but
not so dingy as his surrounding; a stranger in these parts.
He comes to an inn, where a boy takes his horse round back.
He enters the inn.
INT. INN - SAME TIME
The inn is dark and almost empty. A couple of patrons drink
silently at tables. Behind the bar stands a slovenly BARMAID,
dark-haired and lazy. She scratches at her shoulder, on which
we see a birthmark. The knight approaches the bar, throws
money down.
KNIGHT
A tankard of ale, wench.
The barmaid pours him a cup of ale. He drinks deep, stands a
moment.
KNIGHT
(continuing)
Some plague we're having, huh?
CUT TO:
INT. INN - UPSTAIRS HALL/BEDROOM - NIGHT
The barmaid leads the knight, by candlelight, upstairs to his
room. The door opens inward. The knight stands in the doorway,
places a hand on the barmaid's hip. She pauses a moment, then
breaks free of his grasp, starts down the hall. He laughs a
bit, resignedly, and closes the door.
A VAMPIRE stands behind it. Not two feet from the knight,
grinning at him. His eyes are skull-hollow and dancing in his
head, his bloody smile full with teeth. His skin is gray, and
peeling. The knight turns slowly and sees him.
KNIGHT
Oh, my god...
The vampire licks his lips.
He is on the knight in a second, pushing him backwards into
the middle of the small room. The knight struggles but is no
match for the vampire, who buries his face in the knight's
neck. The knight screams.
ANGLE ON DOOR
It suddenly flies open, the lock shattered.
The vampire turns like a frightened animal. In the doorway
stands the barmaid, a SLAYER. In her hand is a wooden stake.
The vampire drops the knight, who crabs backwards into a corner.
The Slayer and the vampire come at each other. The Slayer
spins and kicks; the vampire flies back. Snarling, he comes
back at the slayer. They struggle; he slips free and is out
the door.
For a moment, the Slayer remains still, crouched on the floor.
The knight watches her. She seems to be making a decision --
perhaps even knows what is going to happen.
She runs at the window.
CUT TO:
EXT. IN FRONT OF THE INN - SAME TIME
The vampire comes running out the front door. Before he is a
few feet from the front of the inn, the Slayer SMASHES through
the upstairs window and lands on him. They both hit the ground,
and she plants the stake right in his heart.
After a moment, we hear a voice:
AMILYN (O.S.)
The lord giveth, and the lord taketh
away. Ashes, ashes...
She looks up.
AMILYN
(continuing)
... All fall down
1. Transitions:
In this case the transition is FADE IN, which is always at the start. Other transitions happen between scenes and can be any of the following:
CUT TO :
DISSOLVE TO :
FADE IN :
CUT TO BLACK
The CUT TO BLACK is used at the end of a film. All of these give a different effect and are decided by the writer. Think about examples of these, as they are quite common.
2. Slug Line:
The slug line tells the director, actor etc where the scene will take place. They always start with EXT. or INT., which mean exterior or interior. They are then followed by the location, and the time of day, either DAY or NIGHT normally, but sometimes a specific time is needed, such as JUST BEFORE SUNSET in the example above.
3. Characters
Character names always appear in capitals when they are first introduced. Any other time it is in normal case.
4. Dialogue
The character speaking always has their name centred and in capitals. While dialogue is pretty straight forward, as it is what the character says. Try not to give long speeches or tell everything in words. As film and TV are a medium for telling stories with pictures (even if this isn't going to be filmed).
Occasionally directions are used, and they are put under the character's name. They include (whispering), (shouting) etc. They are laid out like this:
BOB
(whispering)
I'm Scared
If a character has been previously speaking then put (continuing) under their name next time they talk. This is used when you want the character to say something, then have the camera change, or the character to do something etc, and continue talking. It can be seen above. There is also sometimes O/S, which means off screen, or V/O which means voice over. These should be self explanatory.
5. Action
This is the part of the script that tells us what is going on, what we will see. It is written in present tense to give a sense of action, and should not be too long. This is not a story, this is a script. The example highlighted above is probably about as long as one would be.
6. Camera Directions
It is not the scriptwriters job to give camera angles, as it is the director's job. However scriptwriters can put general directions, such as ANGLE ON DOOR as above, to show where the camera should be looking. If the camera was looking on the character instead it would give a different impression. Other directions include:
C/U: (Close Up)
MS: (Medium Shot)
LS: (Long Shot)
Two-Shot: (Shot of two characters in the same picture)
P.O.V.: (Point of view shot)
M.O.S.: (Without sound.) Apparently comes from "Mit out sound" which some German director used to shout. Can be seen in "˜The Gift' when Buffy tells Dawn about what to do after she dies, but there is no sound.
7. Sound
Sound effects are put in capitals, and these are important sound. Not sounds like "Character SWALLOWS drink, PUTS glass down, SCRATCHES head" etc. These are sounds like SMASHES, WHACKS etc that have more action about them.
If OVER is used it means there is a sound over the soundtrack. Like a SMACK being heard during music playing etc.
More of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie script can be found http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/buffy_the_vampire_slayer.html and more movie scripts can be found http://www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml Please note look at scripts, as transcripts are different.
By the way, in a real script everything would be more in the middle of the page so there is a white border around it, but the boards dont allow that. And the title of the film and writer would appear on a seperate page. In a tv series it would say, something like: http://pluh.com/members/slashwhore/1.jpg
------------------------------------------------
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
by
Joss Whedon
FADE IN:
EXT. MEDIEVAL VILLAGE - JUST BEFORE SUNSET
We see an Italian village at the height of the plague. Funeral
processions, decrepit houses with their windows boarded up...
the stench of death all around.
TITLE: EUROPE. THE DARK AGES
Through the filth a KNIGHT walks his horse. He is weary but
not so dingy as his surrounding; a stranger in these parts.
He comes to an inn, where a boy takes his horse round back.
He enters the inn.
INT. INN - SAME TIME
The inn is dark and almost empty. A couple of patrons drink
silently at tables. Behind the bar stands a slovenly BARMAID,
dark-haired and lazy. She scratches at her shoulder, on which
we see a birthmark. The knight approaches the bar, throws
money down.
KNIGHT
A tankard of ale, wench.
The barmaid pours him a cup of ale. He drinks deep, stands a
moment.
KNIGHT
(continuing)
Some plague we're having, huh?
CUT TO:
INT. INN - UPSTAIRS HALL/BEDROOM - NIGHT
The barmaid leads the knight, by candlelight, upstairs to his
room. The door opens inward. The knight stands in the doorway,
places a hand on the barmaid's hip. She pauses a moment, then
breaks free of his grasp, starts down the hall. He laughs a
bit, resignedly, and closes the door.
A VAMPIRE stands behind it. Not two feet from the knight,
grinning at him. His eyes are skull-hollow and dancing in his
head, his bloody smile full with teeth. His skin is gray, and
peeling. The knight turns slowly and sees him.
KNIGHT
Oh, my god...
The vampire licks his lips.
He is on the knight in a second, pushing him backwards into
the middle of the small room. The knight struggles but is no
match for the vampire, who buries his face in the knight's
neck. The knight screams.
ANGLE ON DOOR
It suddenly flies open, the lock shattered.
The vampire turns like a frightened animal. In the doorway
stands the barmaid, a SLAYER. In her hand is a wooden stake.
The vampire drops the knight, who crabs backwards into a corner.
The Slayer and the vampire come at each other. The Slayer
spins and kicks; the vampire flies back. Snarling, he comes
back at the slayer. They struggle; he slips free and is out
the door.
For a moment, the Slayer remains still, crouched on the floor.
The knight watches her. She seems to be making a decision --
perhaps even knows what is going to happen.
She runs at the window.
CUT TO:
EXT. IN FRONT OF THE INN - SAME TIME
The vampire comes running out the front door. Before he is a
few feet from the front of the inn, the Slayer SMASHES through
the upstairs window and lands on him. They both hit the ground,
and she plants the stake right in his heart.
After a moment, we hear a voice:
AMILYN (O.S.)
The lord giveth, and the lord taketh
away. Ashes, ashes...
She looks up.
AMILYN
(continuing)
... All fall down
1. Transitions:
In this case the transition is FADE IN, which is always at the start. Other transitions happen between scenes and can be any of the following:
CUT TO :
DISSOLVE TO :
FADE IN :
CUT TO BLACK
The CUT TO BLACK is used at the end of a film. All of these give a different effect and are decided by the writer. Think about examples of these, as they are quite common.
2. Slug Line:
The slug line tells the director, actor etc where the scene will take place. They always start with EXT. or INT., which mean exterior or interior. They are then followed by the location, and the time of day, either DAY or NIGHT normally, but sometimes a specific time is needed, such as JUST BEFORE SUNSET in the example above.
3. Characters
Character names always appear in capitals when they are first introduced. Any other time it is in normal case.
4. Dialogue
The character speaking always has their name centred and in capitals. While dialogue is pretty straight forward, as it is what the character says. Try not to give long speeches or tell everything in words. As film and TV are a medium for telling stories with pictures (even if this isn't going to be filmed).
Occasionally directions are used, and they are put under the character's name. They include (whispering), (shouting) etc. They are laid out like this:
BOB
(whispering)
I'm Scared
If a character has been previously speaking then put (continuing) under their name next time they talk. This is used when you want the character to say something, then have the camera change, or the character to do something etc, and continue talking. It can be seen above. There is also sometimes O/S, which means off screen, or V/O which means voice over. These should be self explanatory.
5. Action
This is the part of the script that tells us what is going on, what we will see. It is written in present tense to give a sense of action, and should not be too long. This is not a story, this is a script. The example highlighted above is probably about as long as one would be.
6. Camera Directions
It is not the scriptwriters job to give camera angles, as it is the director's job. However scriptwriters can put general directions, such as ANGLE ON DOOR as above, to show where the camera should be looking. If the camera was looking on the character instead it would give a different impression. Other directions include:
C/U: (Close Up)
MS: (Medium Shot)
LS: (Long Shot)
Two-Shot: (Shot of two characters in the same picture)
P.O.V.: (Point of view shot)
M.O.S.: (Without sound.) Apparently comes from "Mit out sound" which some German director used to shout. Can be seen in "˜The Gift' when Buffy tells Dawn about what to do after she dies, but there is no sound.
7. Sound
Sound effects are put in capitals, and these are important sound. Not sounds like "Character SWALLOWS drink, PUTS glass down, SCRATCHES head" etc. These are sounds like SMASHES, WHACKS etc that have more action about them.
If OVER is used it means there is a sound over the soundtrack. Like a SMACK being heard during music playing etc.
More of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie script can be found http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/buffy_the_vampire_slayer.html and more movie scripts can be found http://www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml Please note look at scripts, as transcripts are different.
