How to write a movie script?

Reprint teaches you how to write a script.

Script writing basis: the format of the script

First of all, it is obvious that the script is different from any literary form. It is often seen that some friends turn scripts into novels or biographies, which is wrong, at least unprofessional. The script has its own special format, and writing the script is a technical job to some extent.

Writing plays is not a very noble artistic creation. This is just an ordinary job. A playwright is no different from a cleaner. It's a very ordinary job. Everyone can write a script and be a director. Of course, since it is a type of work, it has its own norms. These specifications may not make you an expert soon, but at least they can make you look like an expert. Or, don't let your poor format be the reason for reviewers to shoot your manuscript. Because a reviewer has to read three or four manuscripts every day, if your script format doesn't look very professional, he has every reason to turn over a few pages and put your script in the corner to cool.

Let's look at the common mistakes in script writing:

1: Write the script into a novel.

As mentioned above, it is not impossible for a friend to write a script into a novel, but it is a literary script and can't be used to guide shooting and production at all. For example, you can spend a few pages in a novel to write about a person's life experience, background and family composition, or use a few pages to describe the protagonist's psychological struggle process, but these things can't be shown on the movie screen. Your script is a screen, and what you want to show is what the audience can see and feel directly on the movie screen. Things like psychological activities can't be well expressed. Add narration? Of course, unless you can stand the voice-over of the protagonist, read a few pages of novels in a still life camera. The movie * picture is an expression of emotion, and your script is a movie picture. If you want to write it from the perspective of the lens, it may cause the second problem.

2. Unnecessary camera tags

If you write the script like this: on the No.5 lifting platform, shake it from 8.5m to 2m .................................................................................................................................... with a Panna 70 camera and 60mm lens, and you don't need to teach him how to shoot. It's none of your business. You don't have to worry about the camera when writing a script. But if it's not a script, don't think about the camera? No, what you need to consider is the relationship of the camera, not the position. The script has its own special camera terminology. Using these terms more often can make your scripts professional, or at least look professional.

1. Angle on Angle Alignment: For example, BILL walks out of the convenience store and the camera is aimed at BILL.

2. The main expression of approval is: Bill is in a crowded square, but the main expression is Bill.

Another angle: The lens from another angle shows that Bill is having a good time in the big square.

4. Wider angle: First show Bill drinking coke in the corner of the square, and then reduce the square showing Bill.

5. New Angle New Angle: Show Bill drinking Coke from another angle to enrich the lens.

6.POV point of view: Look at things from Bill's point of view. Is the first-person perspective.

7. Backhand corner: Bill and Sally dance together, first taking pictures of Sally seen by Bill, and then taking pictures of Bill seen by Sally. Usually, their POV is opposite.

8. Angle above the shoulder lens above the shoulder: The camera looks over Bill's shoulder and sees Sally. Bill's shoulder can naturally be divided into pictures, which is a very common type.

9. Moving the lens Moving the lens: including following, translation, following, etc. Anyway, the camera is moving. As for how to move, it is not a question to consider now.

10. Two shots: Bill and Sally are chatting while drinking coke. Don't move the camera of this lens at will to prevent "off-axis". There is a shaft connecting Bill and Sally, and the camera can only move on one side of the shaft. If we cross this axis, the positions of Bill and Sally will be switched left and right on the screen, which will cause visual logic confusion to the audience.

1 1. (Close shot) Close shot: Emphasize Sally's beautiful eyes, but generally use them sparingly.

12. Insert: A close-up of something, such as it's getting late. Sally asked Bill what time it was. Bill raised his hand, and then he could take a close-up of Bill's watch. Of course, you can also use this lens to change the scene. For example, when Bill took off his watch, the camera saw a dance in the evening.

The above is the description format of the shot in the script, just look at an example. This is the specific writing format:

The scene description should be bold, the time and place should be bold and left.

The sound effects appearing in the scene should be marked in bold.

The name of the role should be centered in bold.

The dialogue between characters should be centered, with blank spaces on both sides, and the dialogue between different characters should start on a new line.

Indicate the relationship between cameras

It means scene switching, "cut to" means hard cutting, and "change to" means adding the effect of transition, all on the right.

If special effects are used, they should also be marked in bold.

Introduction to script writing

This is what I learned when I was writing a script in college. I remember the tutor told us at that time: "If you want to write a good script, you must understand the basic knowledge and theory of the script and the laws of the film! 」

Today, as one of them, I am honored to share with you what I know about script theory. If there are any mistakes, please bear with me.

To put it simply, to write a good story, you must first conceive your story direction, character relationship, plot climax, theme, etc ... Hollywood in the United States has a set of screenwriter rules: it is the beginning, setting contradictions, solving contradictions, and then setting contradictions and ending. China also has his own scriptwriting rules: starting, inheriting, turning and combining.

In the following text, I will classify the basic and important elements of scripting in detail and illustrate them with examples.

& lt section 1 >

Basic theory of script: attitude and theme

< lt < attitude)<& lt

The most important thing in writing a story is the attitude towards the story, and different attitudes will produce different effects. To give a simple example, it is also the story of a brothel woman. If the author writes in an obscene and pornographic way, the story naturally focuses on the love part between men and women. On the contrary, if the author writes with sympathy and respect, the story will focus on the description that prostitutes are forced to betray themselves, helpless and helpless. ...

& lt& lt theme) >; & gt

Before writing a story, you must ask yourself: What kind of story do you want to tell? Is it the friendship between friends (such as the movie "Midnight Cowboy"), the love between men and women (Titanic), the story of aliens invading the earth (Dreadwind Earth strikes back), or the story of accusing the war (killing the battlefield-Plato), etc. This is the theme.

The theme must be very clear, consistent and unquestionable. You can't write a set of war fragments, doubt the war for a while and praise it for a while. A theme is like a compass, which will guide you to create a story and the details that run through it. And most importantly, it can prevent you from deviating from the main road in your writing. For example, Yong Zhengdi in Qing Dynasty was an animal who killed his brother, killed his father and seized power and raped his brother and wife in unofficial history. But in the Yongzheng dynasty (an early TV series broadcast by ATV), Yongzheng was a good emperor. Because the author's theme is to write a good emperor, in the story, he will only see scenes such as Yongzheng criticizing the throne all night, inspecting farmers, reducing taxes, and promoting the rule of virtue, but will not see killing his father and brother.

Therefore, a successful script is to let the audience clearly understand the ideas and themes that the author wants to express after reading it.

& lt section 2 >

Create personality conflicts.

Role conflict is the only way to attract the audience. This includes the conflict between characters in the story, the conflict between characters and their own values, etc.

& lt& lt method 1: Portogon Vs Antoine & gt& gt

The character in the story wants to do something, but there is a force against him, and this force is Potogonist /Antogonist.

For example, in the story of Fallen, the protagonist has just finished his painful prison life. After he got out of prison, he wanted to go back to his wife and live a normal life (Bo Togni, something he wanted to pursue). But his wife left him and denied him, and people around him discriminated against him because of his criminal record.

& lt& lt Method 2: Unbreakable Combination) >>

When there is a conflict between characters, there is an inseparable knot that pulls them together, and drama comes. To give a simple example, the hero's wife is a gossip girl, while the hero's mother is a traditional woman and polite. Because of environmental factors, the protagonist and his wife had to move in with their mother. Imagine two completely conflicting people: daughter-in-law and grandmother, tied together by an unbreakable bond.

& lt section 3 >

Create a dramatic tension.

& lt& lt Method 1: Let your audience know something that the characters in the story don't know >>

For example, the protagonist in the story broke into the enemy's base, someone pointed a gun at him in the dark (the audience knew but the protagonist didn't know), the enemy was about to shoot, and the audience was very worried about the protagonist.

& lt& lt Method 2: Make your audience feel that the characters in the story have gone astray >>

The protagonist's mother was ill and there was only 100 yuan at home, so he went to the scene to try his luck. Fortunately, the protagonist keeps winning money, which has been several thousand yuan, enough for medical expenses. But he is too greedy to know how to lose. He went on gambling and lost game after game (the audience knew he was going the wrong way). In the end, he even lost all the 100 yuan in his hand, and even borrowed money from Da Erlong (he tried to achieve his goal in the wrong way).

& lt& lt Method 3: Deadline) >>

If some events in the story have a time limit or a time bomb, it can give the audience a nervous mood, which can last for a long time.

Twelve hours later, the meteorite will hit the earth, and more than half of the creatures on the earth will die. (Movie-Meteorite Hit the Earth)

The bus must keep the speed of 120 axiom, otherwise the bomb on the bus will explode. (Movie-Speed of Life and Death)

& lt& lt Method 4: Turning Point) >>

Using the turning point can create unexpected effects, arouse the audience's expectation psychology, strengthen the plot tension, and thus continue the audience's interest in the story. Turning points most often appear before and after the story. The turning point in the front part of the script is generally used to open the story and show the choices that the protagonist is about to face. As for the turning point in the second half, it points to the protagonist to solve the crisis and end the story.

For example, in the famous movie Born on July 4th, the protagonist faces the first turning point at the beginning of the story: whether to participate in the Vietnam War or not. The protagonist finally chose to go out and go to the battlefield. But it didn't last long. In the war, the protagonist broke his feet and had to sit in a wheelchair for life. Originally a patriotic battle, I changed my mind after many things. It led to an unexpected turn in the ending of the story, and he changed from a hawk to an anti-war faction, thus bringing out the theme of anti-war.

& lt section 4 >

Other skills

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I believe that anyone with a composition will know what the foreshadowing is! Only by laying the groundwork can we attract the audience to follow the plot. For example, in the movie Calculation, the protagonist Tang Mei showed his ability to imitate people's signatures and behaviors in the early morning (hidden lines). After the story developed to the point where he killed the rich Dickie, the audience had estimated that the protagonist would pretend to be Dickie with hidden lines.

& lt& lt payment) >>

The so-called dedication is the object that best symbolizes the whole story. For example, in the movie "Apartment", the key is income. Another example is the famous movie "The List of Sutela", in which the list of Jews was also paid off.

& lt& lt montage)>& gt

There are two pictures, broadcast among plum blossoms. This is a montage. For example, in the film The Godfather, the picture shows the sacred ceremony being held in the church, such as the priest baptizing the children and praying to God. But the other side of this painting shows the evil side of the church. For example, in order to seize power, the church leader went to the residence of people who opposed him and kept killing people.

Montage can also refer to some different but unrelated pictures. When they are spliced together, they have another meaning. To put it simply, for example, in the first picture, one hand is pitching, and in the other picture, the other hand is catching the ball, but the balls are not necessarily the same. But the two pictures are together, one person throws the ball to the other. Note/If you add a picture in the middle, the meaning will be completely complete. ! (Note: The caption of this montage is provided by the netizen "Bego")

& lt section 5 >

Three taboos of the script

& lt& lt Write a play and turn it into a novel >>

Script writing and novel writing are completely different. You should know that the purpose of writing a script is to express a series of pictures in words, so you should let people who read the script see the words, associate them with a picture in real time and bring them into the world of animation. Novels are different. In addition to drawing pictures, it also includes lyrical sentences, rhetorical devices and descriptions of characters' inner world. These shouldn't be in the script. For a simple example, there is a saying in the novel:

"The exam results will be announced today, and the students are nervously waiting for the results. After Xiao Ming said goodbye to his parents, he went to school to get the result notice. The teacher gave out the report card, and Xiao Ming thought that it would be bad if he failed this time.

He is very worried, afraid that he will fail in the exam and he doesn't know how to face his family ... "

Imagine that if you write the above sentence in the script, you are showing the actors how to express it with actions.

If you want to express the same meaning in a script, you can only write it like this:

"In the classroom, students sit in their seats with nervous expressions on their faces and look at the teachers standing outside. The teacher is holding a pile of report cards. She looked at the first one and shouted, "Chen Daxiong! Daxiong immediately went out to get the report card. Xiaoming is in the corner of the classroom, rubbing his hands constantly. He saw outside the classroom, and the picture gradually returned to the scene in the morning. Early in the morning, Xiaoming's parents were sitting in the hall. Xiaoming puts on his school uniform and is ready to go out. He looked at his father and then at his mother. Seeing their serious faces, he didn't know what to say. Xiao Ming's father said, "Will it be there? Xiao Ming said, "Yes ... Yes. 」

"Chen Xiaoming! The teacher's loud voice brought Xiao Ming back to reality from his memory. The teacher looked at him with Xiao Ming's report card in his hand. Xiao Ming stayed for a while before he hurried out to get it ... "

& lt& lt Explain the plot in words >>

There can't be too much dialogue in the script (unless the plot needs it), otherwise the whole story will become incoherent and lack of action, and the audience will look as if they are listening to the script, which is so boring. You should know that what you want to write now is the film language, not the literary language. It is only suitable for reading what is not suitable for reading, not a good script. So, an excellent movie script, the less dialogue, the stronger the picture, rush? The greater the power.

To give a simple example, for example, if you call a person, it is best not to let him sit still by the phone and just talk. If the plot requires, let him stand up, or take a few steps with his mobile phone to avoid the dullness and monotony of the picture.

& lt& lt There are too many details in the story >>

Many people write scripts with too many details. There are many characters and scenes in the details, which makes the story complicated and the audience may not understand and know what the author wants to express. Imagine if a movie has more than a dozen important characters at the same time, and there are many stories among the characters. You can ask the audience to remember each character so clearly in a short time.

In fact, when writing a script, there is a motto: "Simplicity is the best! The simpler the story, the better. Think about all the good movies you have seen, and whether their plots are simple or not. For example, the movie Titanic only tells that a big ship sank and the hero and heroine fell in love during the sinking. The same is true of other movies, as simple as a newspaper short comment and a story outline in just a few dozen words.

However, simplicity is always the hardest: "simplicity is difficult. 」