Unit 11 Scriptwriting for Media products: March 2015

Style and Content

All scripts are normally in a certain font and style, the font used for professional scripts is "courier" font, which is normally size 12. The reason that people use this font and size is so it is very easy to read and understand and nobody can get confused. For example if someone wrote a script in a calligraphy style font then the actors could get some words mixed up or not read the correct letters properly.

The reason that screen plays have character descriptions is due to how a person would read out a script. For example if one character is supposed to be very shy or timid then they would read their lines very quietly or even stutter some words. Or if a character is made out to be very bold and rude and arrogant then the actor would read their lines out louder than other people or speaking sarcastically.

Gaming scripts normally have a flow chart as well. This is because through out the game depending what the player does, the narrative can change. If there was a point in the game where you had to go down one path or another, there would need to be scripts written for two different scenarios. The flow chart guides you through something if more than one decision is available, and therefore is important to a script with such a wide variety of game play in the game.

The presenters or characters sections would be set out in the middle of the screen. Anything to set the scene such as "EXT" or "INT" would be on the left hand side of the script and in a shooting script when you would see camera directions for filming would be on a right hand side and the presenters or characters lines would be in the centre of the page with there name in bold and capitals above each of their parts. This is so it is very easy to read and understand, so the actors know when and how they need to say it and where it is going to be set and how it is going to be filmed.

Video games will feature a synopsis in there game play because when a player is playing the game the synopsis tells there what they are going to be doing, how they need to be doing it and what it is. These are used to make the game play much more easier to understand and follow, I think that it also makes it more successful to the game so that people can know exactly what the game is about.

Some Scripts involve stage directions. Some examples of the scripts are scripts for a film or play or a script for a TV show. Stage directions are on the script to show what they need to do, for example if an actor was in a play and all of a sudden he/she had to fall to the floor, then it would say how and when he/she had to do it at some point on the script. The stage directions would be found on the left hand side of the script.

Sound effects can be found on each sides of the scripts, if the sound effect would be to interrupt the lines of the actors then it would be on the right hand side. For example an earth quake would stop someone from speaking so therefore be on the right hand side of the script. If the sound effect was to be in the background such as sound of waves and water if people was on a boat then it would be on the left hand side with the all the other information such as the stage directions and scene set as in "EXT ocean on a boat". The sound effect would be shown with the letters "SFX" so if walking on a beach it would be "SFX sand crunching".

The Mode of address in a script determines on how people speak and how the conversation goes. For example if it is peer to peer then it would be friendly and a informal conversation, that would include completely different content to if it was a teacher to student mode of address or parent to child mode of address. The teacher to student mode of address would contain more orders such as "do your work" or stop messing around". You wouldn't expect to hear the order "go to your room" if it was a peer to peer mode of address, this is why it is important to get the correct one for you scripts.

Narrative Structure

Single Stranded - Narrative structure is when the script is written to follow one character throughout the storyline of either a game or film or TV show. A good example of this is stereotypical superhero phone such as superman or spider man when the story follows them and there story.

Multi Stranded - Narrative structure is when the script follows more than one character throughout the storyline such as a group of people such as people all living in the same place or a team. Some examples of this is the TV show Easterners where it follows a group of people all living in a part of London or the film The Avengers where the storyline follows a team of different super heros working together.

Linear - Narrative structure is when the script is written to follow the storyline in order. For example the video game Forza Horizon 2 the script and storyline follows the driver working their way up the leader board to be the best driver in order of time.

Non linear - Narrative structure is when the order of the script and storyline is not chronological order, for example it starts with the ending then flashes back to the start, so the Film or Game or TV show begins with the end. Some example of Non linear scripts and story line are the fast and furious franchise that is set 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 3 in film order and also the film Pulp fiction where the film is carried out with different stories going back and forward in time that all link up in the end.

Genre

Looking at Genres in scripts there is Fiction or none fiction. For example a script for a film would be written differently to how a script would be written for a news interview. Looking back at narrative structure the film could have any type of structure from single to multi stranded or linear and Non linear. But an interview would be single stranded from the interviewer to the interviewee and would be linear in order. The content of the script would also be different for example the Fictional genre would most likely be a film or TV show which could contain inappropriate language whilst the non fictional interview would sound and look completely different.

Target Audience

Looking into the script examples you could start to understand the target audience for each one by the language used in the script, for example if you would see inappropriate language in the script then it would give you a clue straight away that it is not aimed towards children, also if you look further into the content you can tell who it is aimed at. For example if the actors or narrator is speaking about animals and hunting its pray, then you know that it is aimed at adults that would be interested in wildlife. You could also tell the target demographics of the script. If in the script someone is talking about sports cars and where to buy them and the prices of them then you know that it will most likely be wealthy people watching it over the people with less money, which would result in the demographics being ABC1s.

Unit 11 Scriptwriting for Media products

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

LO1 - Task 3: Script Comparison

LO1 - Task 2: Example Scripts

Monday, 9 March 2015

LO1 - Task 1 : Assignment Brief Scenario