Screenplay glossary pdf

When considering writing a flashback in a screenplay, just make sure that the detour ties directly to the plot, characters, or themes of the story. This interior example is taken from the Warrior screenplay:. A monologue is a long speech made by one character, usually in front of an audience. Jackson commands the scene with a solo. MORE is used when a character is speaking but you run out of room before the end of the page. A parenthetical is a character direction that is interwoven into dialogue.

Parentheticals are often used to communicate character emotion, for example if you want to communicate shock, you may write bewildered before a line of dialogue. Parentheticals are also used to communicate quick, decisive actions, such as punches wall. In simplest terms, a slugline is a scene heading.

Sluglines are used on a shot-by-shot basis to communicate location and time of day. They can also be used as sub-headers to indicate an action, shift in perspective, and other creative ways to write sluglines. For example, say a character begins a scene on screen having a conversation with their spouse in the bedroom, then they continue talking while brushing their teeth in the bathroom.

When the character goes offscreen, their dialogue must be marked with O. This O. A script doctor is somebody who specializes in patching up scripts. Many screenwriters serve as script doctors at some point in their careers.

This video from Word Dancer breaks down the differences between shooting scripts and spec scripts in detail:. Most of the time, V. This iconic V. Again, these terms are typically but not always applied during the Pre-Production process to detail camera work, special effects, editing choices that are being planned. A crawl is when text is superimposed onto a moving image, and moved slowly up or down.

Dissolves were popularized by Welles in the s. A FADE is a transition that is almost exclusively used to mark the beginning and end of a script. A montage is a series of shots that are cut together to create tone. Montages are often used to communicate a sense of scale or emotional depth. Not the same as Voice Over V. Camera shot from the word panorama where the camera moves gradually from right to left or left to right, without stopping; to slowly move to another subject or setting without cutting the action.

Camera position that views a scene from the viewpoint of a particular character. Always abbreviated in capital letters with periods after each letter. The effect of showing one image over another. A Character Extension in which a character's voice is heard over a scene, as a narrator. Always abbreviated in capital letters with periods after each letter and enclosed in parentheses next to the Character Name, capitalized and spelled out in the script.

A wide variety of patterned transitions in which images seem to move or push other images off the screen. A quick transition from a long shot to a close shot or the reverse, usually achieved by manipulating the camera's lens. Accept Decline. Skip to Navigation Skip to Main Content. Toggle SideBar. Type in a few words we can search for Final Draft Title. Glossary of Screenwriting Terms. BEAT In a screenplay, this term is used to indicate a pause in a character's speech or action.

Denotes a shot taken outdoors. Denotes a shot taken indoors. JUMP CUT An exaggerated acceleration of natural action achieved by removing from a scene footage that provides continuity of action, camera position or time.

LIGHTS UP Transition used in Stage format, denoting the beginning of a scene or a transition within a scene by the illumination of lights onto a particular area of the stage or the entire stage. SHOT Camera shot often used to describe a shot of character from approximately the waist up. PAN Camera shot from the word panorama where the camera moves gradually from right to left or left to right, without stopping; to slowly move to another subject or setting without cutting the action.

WIPE A wide variety of patterned transitions in which images seem to move or push other images off the screen. Information URL Name. Number of Views 2. Number of Views Number of Views 5K. If we go outside from inside, it's a new scene. If we cut to five minutes later, it's a new scene.

If both, it's a new scene. Scenes can range from one shot to infinity and are distinguished by slug lines. Shooting Script This is the truly final draft used on set by the production people, actors, and director to make the movie from the screenplay. Shot One image. If there's a cut, you've changed shots. Shots can range from split seconds to several minutes. Shots are generally chosen by the director although the writer can use capital letters to suggest where the camera should be.

For example: INT. This style of cut is usually used to convey destruction or quick emotional changes. For example: If you were writing a horror movie but wanted to lighten the gore at the beginning, you might have: EXT. The Girl shakes her head, as if begging for the killer to change his mind. But no, he closes in, a black cloaked arm raising the knife into the air. The knife catches the moonlight for just a moment before it races downwards.

The sudden shift from a dark forest to a bright schoolyard on the first stab would convey the distress of the murder without showing it. Note: this transition is often a director's choice.

As a writer, use this sparingly if at all. Usually the events shown in each section of the split screen are simultaneous. But Split screen can also be used to show flashbacks or other events. For example, two people are talking on the phone. They're in different locations, but you wish to show the reactions of both simultaneously. Split Screen is used prominently in 24 to show simultaneous action and events unfolding.

Steadicam A camera built to remain stable while being moved, usually by human hands. Occasionally, seen in scripts to suggest a handheld shot be used in a scene, although a steadicam is smoother than a regular handheld shot and as such produces a different result.

Basically, anything that's already filmed and you intend to be edited into the movie. For example, the Austin Powers movies use stock footage for comic effect. Some old B films use stock footage to keep their budgets low. The superimposition of one thing over another in the same shot.

Or a face can be superimposed over a stream-of-consciousness montage shot. Swish Pan A quick snap of the camera from one object to another that blurs the frame and is often used as a transition. Cuts are often hidden in swish pans, or they can be used to disorient or shock the audience. A tight frame encloses a subject with very little space surrounding it. Not in common use. For example, if two people walk into a restaurant and their conversation is important at first then veers off into topics not important to your story, then you might want to time cut from the drinks to the main course and then again to paying the check.

Tracking Shot Track, Tracking, Travelling A tracking shot involves a camera following a person or an object. As long as the camera isn't locked down in place by a tripod, for example, and is following tracking a subject, then it's a tracking shot. Trailer In the olden days of cinema, the advertisements for upcoming attractions were usually played after the end of the movie. Hence, they became known as trailers. But, as credits reels have grown in size over the years, audiences would often leave before watching these advertisements and "trailers" became "previews.

A trailer is a theatrical advertisement for an upcoming film attraction. Transition These describe the style in which one scene becomes the next.

Used appropriately, these can be used to convey shifts in character development and emotion. Occasionally a writer will make up his own transition. Back to Top V. Voice Over. This means the character voices that dialogue but his or her moving lips are not present in the scene.

Voice-over is generally used for narration, such as in the beginning of The Mummy. Or a character's inner thoughts said out loud such that only the audience will hear. Imagine Scene A is water and Scene B is the substance underneath. A wipe would look like a squeegee pulling Scene A off of Scene B. These usually suggest a passage of time from one scene to the next. The most common and obvious example of wipes is in the Star Wars franchise.

Back to Top ZOOM: The image seems to close in on a person or object making the person or object appear larger or smaller on screen. Technically, the lens mechanically changes from wide angle to telephoto or vice versa. Notice and recognize the difference between a zoom and a push in camera moves closer to subject. Use zoom only when necessary. Back to Top Download a FREE Demo of Script Studio to see how its powerful screenplay formatting, character development and story structuring tools can help you make a better script!

New Release: Script Studio. Kevin Williamson Screenwriter — Scream If you're looking for a tool to help you nurture your idea for a movie into an actual shooting script I recommend this program without hesitation. Marc Scott Zicree Writer — The Next Generation Movie Outline does a terrific job of helping writers organize their development process from beginning to end and has effectively raised the bar in the screenwriting software arena.

The scene description, character movement, and sounds as described in a screenplay. A type of shot. Many scripts will use the parenthetical beat to interrupt a line of dialogue.

Used to describe anything occuring in a rear plane of action the background as opposed to the main action or attention is focused in the foreground. In a screenplay, the name appears in all caps the first time a character is introduced in the "Action. For Example:. You've been a darling, Morgan.

We move in for a new angle nearer to the subject. The Hitchcock zoom, also known as the contra-zoom or the Vertigo effect is an unsettling in-camera special effect that appears to undermine normal visual perception in a way that is difficult to describe. This is like a "Fade to black then Fade to next scene. The most simple and common transition. The person who visualizes the movie based on the script, creates shots, suggests how the actors should portray their characters, and helps to edit the final cut.

A common transition. A mechanism on which a camera can be moved around a scene or location. A shot, usually from a distance, that shows us where we are. Means the camera is placed a very long distance from the subject or action. A particular character or action is highlighted or "favored" in a shot.

In the olden days of cinema, people watched a series of short films. An extremely brief shot, sometimes as short as one frame, which is nearly subliminal in effect. Sometimes used as a transition or at the start of slugline to denote a sequence that happened in the past.

The picture stops moving, becoming a still photograph, and holds for a period of time. When a writer pictures a certain close-up at a certain moment in the film, he or she may use an insert shot. A transition which denotes a linkage of shots in a scene in which the appearance of real continuous time has been interrupted by omission.

A transition often used to compare two completely unrelated objects. From the French term "to assemble".