Screenplay Directions!!!

Screenplay Directions!!! Lets learn what those little abbreviations mean

What is a Screenplay Anyway? • A script or a text written for a film production. Specific scenes are prescribed. The camera shots and angles as well as the dialogue and actions of the characters are provided.

INT—interior The scene takes place inside a building EXT—exterior. The scene takes place outside Tell Me Where the Scene Takes Place!

Fade In a gradual change in the intensity of an image or sound usually at the beginning of a scene. The image goes from black to full exposure or the sound goes from silent to full sound.

Fade Out • A gradual change in the intensity of an image or sound usually at the end of a scene. The image goes from full exposure to black or the sound goes from loud to silent

Cut To: an abrupt or sudden change or jump in camera angle, location, placement, or time, from one shot to another

Voice Over • V.O. refers to recorded dialogue, usually narration, that comes from an unseen, off-screen voice, character or narrator that can be heard by the audience but not by the film characters themselves;

Long Shot • (LS) a camera view of an object or character from a considerable distance so that it appears relatively small in the frame

Close Up • (CL) ). a shot taken from a close distance in which the scale of the object is magnified, appears relatively large and fills the entire frame to focus attention and emphasize its importance

Medium Shot • (MS) refers to a conventional camera shot filmed from a medium distance

P.O.V. Shot • a subjective shot made from the perspective of one of the characters to show the audience the scene as it would look through the character's eyes. This shot is often used to show a character’s reaction

Pan • abbreviation for panorama shot; refers to the horizontal scan, movement, rotation or turning of the camera in one direction

Screenplay Directions!!!