Screenplay –The Visual Writing.

Screenplay –The Visual Writing

A screenplay is basically ‘visual writing.’ It’s the theoretical part of what exactly will be done practically during the shoot. A screenplay is a combination of the script where the dialogues will be involved, and also the shots which will be taken place during the shoot, the locations and time, and also the action of the characters. With the help of a screenplay, it makes the task easier as whatever we want to attribute it practically is already written, and planned as well. There are different kinds of rules to follow during writing a ‘screenplay’. The first and most important rule is to write it in ‘present tense’, and only what the audience can hear and see.  In this type of writing, there are many elements which are considered as well. The first one is the ‘slug line’ where we establish a few things such as if our shoot is indoor then it’s termed as ‘INT.’, and if we shoot it outdoor it’s ‘EXT’. After that we add our location with the description of what the current time is, for example, day or night. It basically looks like this; EXT-HOUSE-DAY.  Extra detail like ‘travelling’ can be added just beside it the same way as well.  One more important thing is that the ‘slug line’ is always written in capital as well. The second element is the action; where we write the exact description of what our character is doing. This is also one of the most straight forward parts of the screenplay writing wise. A character’s name is always written in capital when we write the dialogues which are in the central.  The parenthetical also plays a very important role in the screenplay as it can be used as describing the current emotions of the character while he/she will deliver the dialogue. In my point of view, this also makes it very clear for the actor for what to do in that current situation.  

As far as I have learnt about screenplay one more definition I can give it is the ‘visualization of a director’. In practical terms it’s very obvious that we cannot make the other person think ‘exactly’ what you want, and the way you want it to be done. Well, this job is also done by the help of a screenplay. A director puts all of his imagination into the piece of paper with the help of a ‘screen writer’ to make the impact come out just exactly he/she wants it to be done.  Recently I had read the screenplay of ‘Good will hunting’, and it helped me a lot to improvise as a beginner. Well, this part of film making is actually very tricky but interesting as well, as through this we can look into the mind of the director’s imagination as well, and also it helps the output of the film to come out really well.