SCRIPTWRITING ELEMENTS AND STRUCTURE

1. SCRIPTWRITING ELEMENTS AND STRUCTURE

2. BROADCAST STYLE CORRELATE AUDIO AND VIDEO • Short, concise and direct sentences • Involves and delicate balancing act That is why TV scripts are usually divided into audio and video columns • All the shots designations in the left video column

3. COMMONLY USED SCRIPT TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Anumber of terms and abbreviations are used in scriptwriting. Some describe camera movements. • DOLLY – When the entire camera is moved toward or away from the subject • ZOOM – an optical version of a dolly, achieves somewhat the same effect. Sample script notation : Camera zooms in for close-up of John” or Camera zooms out to show John is not alone • TRUCK – is a lateral move

4. Some terms designate shots • CUTS or TAKES – are instant transitions from one video source to another • COVER SHOT or • ESTABLISHING SHOT – are designated on a script by ‘ wide-shot’ (WS) or ‘long-shot’ (LS) • XLS – extreme long shot • VLS – very long shot

5. You'll find the following shot designations relating to people: An LS (long shot) or FS (full shot) is a shot from the top of the head to the feet. An MS (medium shot) is normally a shot from the waist up. (To save space, we've used a vertical rather than a horizontal format in this illustration.) An MCU (medium close-up) is a shot cropped between the shoulders and the belt line, rather than at the waist.

6. You'll find the following shot designations relating to people: A relatively straight-on CU (close-up) is the most desirable for interviews. Changing facial expressions, which are important to understanding a conversation, can easily be seen. XCUs are extreme close-ups. This type of shot is reserved for dramatic impact. The XCU may show just the eyes of an individual. With objects, an XCU is often necessary to reveal important detail.

7. You'll find the following shot designations relating to people: Atwo-shot or three-shot (2-S or 3-S) designates a shot of two or three people in one scene. The term subjective shot indicates that the audience (camera) will see what the character sees. It often indicates a handheld camera that follows a subject by walking or running. Subjective camera shots can add drama and frenzy to chase scenes.

8. We sometimes indicate camera angles, such as bird's eye view, high angle, eye level, and low angle on scripts.  A canted shot or  Dutch angle shot (note photo on right) is tilted 25 to 45 degrees to one side, causing horizontal lines to run up or down hill. Although scriptwriters occasionally feel it necessary to indicate camera shots and angles on a script, this is an area that's best left to the director to decide.

9. We use a number of other abbreviations: • EXT and INT :  exterior and interior settings • SOT (sound-on-tape) : The voice, music, or background sound is from the audio track of a videotape. • SOF (sound-on-film): This is not much used anymore.  Even if a production starts out on film, it's converted into a video recording before being "rolled into" a production. • VTR: videotape, videotape recording. Video and audiotape have now been largely replaced by computer disks and solid-state memory. • VO (voice over): narration heard at higher volume than music or background sound. • OSV (off-screen voice): voice from a person not visible to the audience 

10. We use a number of other abbreviations: • MIC: microphone (pronounced "mike") • POV (point of view). Dramatic scripts may indicate that a shot will be seen from the point of view of a particular actor. • OS (over-the-shoulder shot): The picture shows the back of a person's head and possibly one shoulder with the main subject in the distance facing the camera. This is also designated as O/S and X/S.  • ANNCR: announcer • KEY: electronic overlay of titles, credits or other video sources over background video • SFX or F/X (special effects/visual effects): audio special effects (audio FX) or video special effects; altering normal audio and video, generally to achieve some dramatic effect.