Television Production 2

Principles of Script Writing:

You'd think script-writing was complicated.  It isn't.  But first, this is what you don’t need to know:

1. Anything your friends tell you about your script
2. Anything an agent tells you about your script
3. Anything similar being written by someone else which you’ve been advised to emulate
4. Anything you might read in a book about script-writing
5. Anything you don't know how to write
6. Anything that doesn’t propel you out of bed in the morning

What you do need to feel, however, is:

1. You don’t care if your script never made, it’s a beautiful story, beautifully told
2. Only you can tell it this way
3. You’ll always cherish the version of yourself it made you become
4. You want to do another one immediately afterwards
5. Strangers love it when they read it
6. You’ll smile to yourself when summarizing the story
7. Strangers stare at you with baited breath while you tell them the story
8. You feel genuinely moved by the story, each time you tell it

That is what a good script feels like.

So, what are the SIX PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING A GOOD SCRIPT?

1. Never write a script without knowing who your characters are in depth and caring about them all
2. Never write sloppily about any of these characters
3. Always have your characters be affected by one another’s deeds and words
4. Always have more than one truth operating between people at any one time
5. Always remember that people rarely get what they want but often get what they’ve earned
6. Always tell the truth about your characters

Storyboard:

Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

The storyboarding process, in the form it is known today, was developed at the Walt Disney Studio during the early 1930s, after several years of similar processes being in use at Walt Disney and other animation studios.

Benefits of storyboard

One advantage of using storyboards is that it allows (in film and business) the user to experiment with changes in the storyline to evoke stronger reaction or interest. Flashbacks, for instance, are often the result of sorting storyboards out of chronological order to help build suspense and interest.

The process of visual thinking and planning allows a group of people to brainstorm together, placing their ideas on storyboards and then arranging the storyboards on the wall. This fosters more ideas and generates consensus inside the group.

Create a storyboard

Storyboards for films are created in a multiple step process. They can be created by hand drawing or digitally on the computer.

If drawing by hand, the first step is to create or download a storyboard template. These look much like a blank comic strip, with space for comments and dialogue. Then sketch a "thumbnail" storyboard. Some directors sketch thumbnails directly in the script margins. These storyboards get their name because they are rough sketches not bigger than a thumbnail. For some motion pictures, thumbnail storyboards are sufficient.

However, some filmmakers rely heavily on the storyboarding process. If a director or producer wishes, more detailed and elaborate storyboard images are created. These can be created by professional storyboard artists by hand on paper or digitally by using 2D storyboarding programs. Some software applications even supply a stable of storyboard-specific images making it possible to quickly create shots which express the director's intent for the story. These boards tend to contain more detailed information than thumbnail storyboards and convey more of the mood for the scene. These are then presented to the project's cinematographer who achieves the director's vision.

Finally, if needed, 3D storyboards are created (called 'technical previsualization'). The advantage of 3D storyboards is they show exactly what the film camera will see using the lenses the film camera will use. The disadvantage of 3D is the amount of time it takes to build and construct the shots. 3D storyboards can be constructed using 3D animation programs or digital puppets within 3D programs. Some programs have a collection of low resolution 3D figures which can aid in the process. Some 3D applications allow cinematographers to create "technical" storyboards which are optically-correct shots and frames.

While technical storyboards can be helpful, optically-correct storyboards may limit the director's creativity. In classic motion pictures such as Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, the director created storyboards that were initially thought by cinematographers as to be impossible to film[citation needed]. Such innovative and dramatic shots had "impossible" depth of field and angles where there was "no room for the camera" - at least not until creative solutions were found to achieve the ground-breaking shots that the director had envisioned.

Screenplay :

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. Here, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated. A play for television is known as a teleplay.

Format and style of Screenplay

The format is structured in a way that one page usually equates to one minute of screen time. In a "shooting script", each scene is numbered, and technical direction may be given. In a "spec" or a "draft" in various stages of development, the scenes are not numbered, and technical direction is at a minimum. The standard font for a screenplay is 12 point, 10 pitchCourier.

The major components are action and dialogue. The "action" is written in the present tense. The "dialogue" are the lines the characters speak. Unique to the screenplay (as opposed to a stage play) is the use of slug lines.

The format consists of two aspects:

1. The interplay between typeface/font, line spacing and type area, from which the standard of one page of text per one minute of screen time is derived. Unlike in the United States where letter size and Courier 12 point are mandatory, Europe uniformly uses A4 as the standard paper size format (but without a uniform font requirement).
2. The tab settings of the scene elements (dialogue, scenes headings, transitions, parentheticals, etc.), which constitute the screenplay's layout.

The style consists of a grammar that is specific to screenplays. This grammar also consists of two aspects:

1. A prose that is manifestation-oriented, i.e. focuses largely on what is audible and what is visible on screen. This prose may only supply interpretations and explanation (deviate from the manifestation-oriented prose) if clarity would otherwise be adversely affected.
2. Codified notation of certain technical or dramatic elements, such as scene transitions, changes in narrative perspective, sound effects, emphasis of dramatically relevant objects and characters speaking from outside a scene.

Dialogue Writing:

Writing dialogue — realistic dialogue, anyway — does not come easily to everyone. Done well, dialogue advances the story and fleshes out the characters while providing a break from straight exposition.

However, just as realistic dialogue is one of the most powerful tools at a writer's disposal, nothing pulls the reader out of a story faster than bad dialogue. It takes time to develop a good ear, but noting these simple rules and obvious pitfalls can make a huge difference.

1. Listen to How People Talk.

Having a sense of natural speech patterns is essential to good dialogue. Start to pay attention to the expressions that people use and the music of everyday conversation. This exercise asks you to do this more formally, but generally speaking it's helpful to develop your ear by paying attention to the way people talk.

2. Not Exactly like Real Speech.

But dialogue should read like real speech. How do you accomplish that? Alfred Hitchcock said that a good story was "life, with the dull parts taken out." This very much applies to dialogue. A transcription of a conversation would be completely boring to read. Edit out the filler words and unessential dialogue — that is, the dialogue that doesn't contribute to the plot in some way.

3. Don't Provide Too Much Info at Once.

It should not be obvious to the reader that they're being fed important facts. Let the story unfold naturally. You don't have to tell the reader everything up front, and you can trust him or her to remember details from earlier in the story.

4. Break Up Dialogue with Action.

Remind your reader that your characters are physical human beings by grounding their dialogue in the physical world. Physical details also help break up the words on the page: long periods of dialogue are easier for the reader's eye when broken up by description. (And vice versa, for that matter.) See the link above for examples of how this can work.

5. Don't Overdo Dialogue Tags.

Veering too much beyond "he said/she said" only draws attention to the tags — and you want the reader's attention centered on your brilliant dialogue, not your ability to think of synonyms for "said."

6. Stereotypes, Profanity, and Slang.

Be aware of falling back on stereotypes, and use profanity and slang sparingly. All of these risk distracting or alienating your reader. Anything that takes the reader out of the fictional world you're working so hard to create is not your friend. Read some examples of how to achieve the tone you want without stereotypes, profanity, and slang.

7. Read Widely.

Pay attention to why things work or don't work. Where are you taken out of the story's action? Where did you stop believing in a character? Or, alternatively, when did the character really jump off the page, and how did dialogue help accomplish that? You can start reading like a writer with the link above, or pick up an anthology and start your own list of writers to learn from.

8. Punctuate Dialogue Correctly.

The rules for punctuating dialogue can be confusing: many writers need help getting them right in the beginning. Take some time to learn the basics. A reader should get lost in your prose — not feel lost trying to follow your dialogue.

Costume selection:

The Costume Department is responsible for the design, fitting, hire, purchase, manufacture, continuity and care of all costume items on feature films. The term 'Costume' refers to the clothes that the Actors wear, and these differ enormously from production to production, ranging from contemporary urban fashion to period ball-gowns, and even wetsuits.

The Costume Department is also responsible for jewellery, footwear, corsetry, hosiery, millinery and sometimes wig-work. Costume is integral in defining the overall 'look' of the film. It provides the audience with information about the period, culture and society the Actors inhabit and, on a more subtle level, the underlying themes of the film itself.

Locations in film:

A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studiobacklot or soundstage. For example, the television series 24 is filmed primarily on location except for some scenes which are always filmed on the same sets.

Onlocation is a term used to describe the filming on such a real site. The term is often mistakenly believed to mean that the production is being filmed on the actual location in which its story is set, but this is not necessarily the case.

Pros and Cons in Locations:

Location filming has several advantages over filming on a studio set:

• It can be cheaper than constructing large sets
• The illusion of reality can be stronger - it is hard to replicate real-world wear-and-tear, and architectural details
• It sometimes allows the use of cheaper non-union labor or to bypass a work stoppage in the US. Canadian locations such as Vancouver and Toronto are known for this.
• It sometimes allows "frozen" currency to be used. The 1968 movie Kelly's Heroeswas filmed in Yugoslavia using profits that had been made on movie exhibitions in that country but couldn't be exported.

Its disadvantages include:

• A lack of control over the environment - passing aircraft, traffic, pedestrians, bad weather, city regulations, etc.
• Finding a real-world location which exactly matches the requirements of the script
• Members of the audience may be familiar with a real-world location used to double as a fictional location (such as Rumble in the Bronx inexplicably showing the mountains outside Vancouver in the background of an urban Bronx-set scene)
• Taking a whole film crew to film on location can be extremely expensive

Location filming can provide significant economic development benefit to an area because local cast and crew use facilities such as catering and accommodation.

Blue Matte (Chroma Key):

Chroma key compositing (or chroma keying) is a technique for compositing (layering) two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production. This technique is also referred to as color keying, color-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC), greenscreen, and bluescreen. It is commonly used for weather forecast broadcasts, wherein the news presenter appears to be standing in front of a large map during live televisionnewscasts, but in a television studio it is actually a large blue or green background. The meteorologist stands in front of a bluescreen, and then different weather maps are added on those parts in the image where the color is blue. If the meteorologist wears blue clothes, his clothes will be replaced with the background video. This also works for greenscreens, since blue and green are considered the colors least like skin tone.[3] This technique is also used in the entertainment industry, for example for special effects. Software is available today, such as Pinnacle Studio, which makes it possible and relatively easy for the average home computer user, to create videos using the Chromakey function and greenscreeens.