Short Films & Their Making - Part Two

In my previous article, I explained you importance of script and how an idea can be drawn on the sheet of paper. The first step is to write a screenplay. You must have a bounded script in the form of screenplay with you all the time while shooting the script. I know many people who just write the stories and then shoot films. There is no defined way of making films. Any random procedure can work for you, but there is universally accepted way which is followed by major script-writers and film-makers. i.e. screenplay writing and then directing the movie.



Screenplay can be defined as the script written for a film. It has the details added and put sequentially or chronologically. Again, we all know that there are concepts like ‘flashback’ in films. So the script should not necessarily be chronologically, always. It is produced in parts and each part is considered as ‘scene’. A scene can be defined as the situation at a particular time at a particular place. Time and Place are the two parameters. If any one of the two parameters change, the scene changes. If both changes, it is also the change of scene.

Let us consider a situation or scene. I am writing this article now and in your story, this is a situation. It is morning and I am in my bedroom, sitting on my computer table. Let us assume that one of my friends enters my room and then we have a little chat and we both leave the room. This can be show in the screenplay in following manner:

INTERNAL: SHRIKANT’S BEDROOM: MORNING

SHRIKANT is sitting on chair near his computer table. He is using his PC. The sound of typing can be heard. There is a dim light coming through the window which is behind his computer screen, right in front of Shrikant. He hears a sound from back of his door. He turns his head to check what it is. Thinking that it can be his pet dog, he starts working again.

Suddenly, his friend ROHIT opens the door and enters the room. He is having a baseball bat in his hand, seems excited and is sweaty.

ROHIT [swinging his bat]
Let’s go! We got a match!

Shrikant turns around and looks at him. Smiles.

SHRIKANT
No

ROHIT [stops swinging his bat]
Why?

SHRIKANT
Because I’m busy writing.

ROHIT
No! You promised me. Remember?

Shrikant gets up from his chair.

SHRIKANT
All right! Let’s go. Even I was bored of writing.

Rohit again starts swinging his bat and does this till they leave Shrikant’s room. While Shrikant keeps looking at him amusingly.

SHRIKANT
Don’t be so excited.

The door closes.

CUT TO

Now, you should have observed that I have used ‘Courier New’ font. Most people use this font while writing a screenplay. I will explain you the process:

1. On the very top, my first line tells the location and time. This defines the parameters of the scene. If the place remains same but the time changes then the scene change. Considering the example, if in the story, Shrikant comes back to his room in the evening, the scene has changed. New scene should be written separately with defining its parameters in first line itself. It should be written in capitals.

2. Tense: The story is been explained in Present Tense. As if, the scene is happening right now. This is how it should be written.

3. I described the details that I consider important to be included in the scene. For example, the entering of dim light from window or the sound of typing. These details help the director to focus on them, because they are made to make an impact on the viewer.

4. The name of the character when I first introduced to the reader/director, they are written in capitals letters. E.g. SHRIKANT. Even while they are conversing, their names are written in capitals. It helps the reader/director to figure out how many characters are involved in the scene.

5. While the conversation is going on the character’s name is in capital and it should be in the centre. It should be placed about 5 tabs from the left. The character’s dialogue is just below his name and it should be placed about 3 tabs distanced from the left of the page. The spacing is not shown in the example, the name and the dialogue should be in the centre. The character’s actions, if wanted, are written in square bracket just after character’s name. It is not necessary that the actions are of character. It can be anything that is happening around.

6. The writer can include background sound if he wants. So if in above scene the writer wants a background sound is playing, say ‘Back in black’ by ACDC, then he can write it in the scene’s description. Also, if the sound is not decided, but the writer wants to have a genre song playing in the background, say ‘Jazz’ genre, then he can also mention it in the scene’s description (‘Jazz playing in background’)

7. In the end, ‘Cut’ word is placed. It is a video transition. There are many transitions in both video and audio editing sections. E.g. ‘Fade in’ or ‘Fade out’ or ‘Dissolve’, etc. The writer, if he has knowledge about editing, should write the transition in the end, on the right side. If the writer doesn’t know much about editing, which is the case most of the times, and then he can simply write ‘Cut’. However, the real video editor works on transitions, and if he wants, he won’t use the same transitions as described in the screenplay.

So this was screenplay writing. Practice few scenes and then arrange them in the way you want your story to progress. I apologize for using simple situation in my scene, but it is the most basic form of writing. It can be taken as reference to write complicated scenes. A next article is about finding crew and/or co-workers.