Totally scripted! Part two.

A point I raised in part one of ‘Totally Scripted’ was that screenplays are generally filled with minimally worded and concise sentences. This is because each sentence in a script describes an image the camera will focus on. There is a mirroring relationship between the length of description of a object in a screenplay and the length of time the shot is shown in the film.

For example, if a screenplay simply said ‘apple’ it would be a one second shot of an apple. But if the screenplay said ‘a single green apple glistens in the sun’, it would be a five or six second shot of the apple. If the screenwriter simply wanted to have a longer shot of the apple, but with nothing special about it, they would write this:

Apple.

BEAT.

In theory, it should take the same amount of time for a reader to read the script as it should to watch the movie.

The often quoted adage “less is more” is very appropriate for screenwriting. Viewers are very familiar with film logic and do not need to have things spelt out or over explained. If there is a close-up on a knife, then the viewer will make the connection that the knife has some relevance. Maybe it is the murder weapon, or it is the key to unleashing a powerful warlock whose life mission is to wreck havoc onto the world. Chances are, unless it is a red herring, if it is written into a script than the image or object has some meaning or relevance to the outcome of the story. It would be cut out in the editing process if there was none. Screenplay audiences are assumed to be intelligent and adept at understanding film logics. Read screenplays if you enjoy not being treated like a person with a low IQ.