Screenwriting: What Is a Shooting Script?
A shooting script differs in several ways compared to a theatrical film script. A shooting script is used during the production process of your movie to help communicate the filming process to all crew members and actors involved. The following factors make up a shooting script for the production portion of a film or television project.
The first distinctive quality of a shooting script is to create, revise and update a script in a way that will help your crew members notice the changes consistently and effectively. This ensures that everyone involved will be on the same level once the filming process begins. Revisions are made distinctively by implementing eye-grabbing techniques such using different colored sheets of paper and revision symbols.
Another physical reference and way to inform your crew members of script revisions is to place a symbol in the corrected area. Most film studios implement asterisks and place them in the left hand side of the script page. This will help anyone searching for the newest revisions made on your script.
Once your revisions have been updated, the next procedure is to clearly state the revision date on the header of the script page. During the production of a film, several revisions will be created and handed out to crew members. With this revision date, it will keep all crew members on the same revision without any mess or confusion during the filming production.
The fourth quality of a shooting script is to organize the order of your script to be filmed. Many scripts enforce this form of organization by incorporating numbered scenes on the left hand margin of the script page. This is particularly helpful for crew members that set up equipment during the scene. In many shooting scripts, a detailed description of camera angles are also listed. By creating a film order, the technical crew members are now able to determine and estimate the time to assemble and disassemble equipment on the set. As a result, this keeps everyone on set involved in the filming process informed and updated.
Another quality that makes up your shooting script involves and affects the dialogue for your actors. For instance, if the dialogue from one character in a particular scene does not fit in one page, the rest will carry on to the next page. Between each page will bridge the characters name along with the word 'cont.' standing for continued. This is used because it helps ensure readers of this script that the character is still talking onto the next page. Another example of continuation involves the scene where the location and action takes place. This method also serves a link to fill in the gap from one page to the next.
By implementing this type of script, you will save time, money and avoid a lot of confusion along the way towards the completion of filming. This organized manner helps keep your crew members on the same page along with knowing the updates and revisions for scenes. With an organized shooting script comes a happy set free of confusion, worry and errors.