Using scripts of The Village, by M. Night Shyamalan and Heat, also by Michael Mann, we looked at how to do the formatting. Writing the content of a movie is a whole other matter which we didn't get into. The first step in the door is the actual format of the script. People are very particular that it look a certain way, all the letters are crossed and dotted, headings are just so. Also I pass along some tips for things to avoid when writing for visualization.
Here is a list of items for formatting the page:
- Location
- Action Block
- Character Name
- Parenthetical
- Dialog
- Transitions
Lots of software you can use, Final Draft we're using in class, Movie Magic Screenwriter is another app available. Demos are available. There's a free, opensource screenwriting software called Celtx that I have downloaded, but haven't really looked at.
Books are available, but looking at scripts, which you can download from IMSDB, SciFi Movie Page, Simply Scripts and the Weekly Script. A couple online magazines are Script and Creative Screenwriting.
