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.
