noun
noun: screenplay; plural noun: screenplays
- the script of a film,
including acting instructions and scene directions.
Screenplay example:
Notting Hill (1999) movie script
by Richard Curtis.
EXT. VARIOUS DAYS
'She' plays through
the credits.
Exquisite footage of
Anna Scott -- the great movie star of our
time -- an ideal -- the perfect star and woman -- her life full of
glamour and sophistication and mystery.
EXT. STREET - DAY
Mix through to
William, 35, relaxed, pleasant, informal.
We
follow him as he walks down Portobello Road, carrying a load
of
bread. It is spring.
WILLIAM
(V.O.)
Of course, I've seen her films
and
always thought she was, well,
fabulous -- but, you know,
million miles from the world I
live
in.
Which is here -- Notting Hill
-- not a bad place to be...
EXT. PORTOBELLO ROAD
- DAY
It's a full fruit
market day.
WILLIAM
(V.O.)
There's the market on
weekdays,
selling every fruit and
vegetable
known to man...
EXT. PORTOBELLO ROAD
- DAY
A man in denims
exits the tattoo studio.
WILLIAM
(V.O.)
The tattoo parlour -- with a
guy
outside who got drunk and now
can't
remember why he chose 'I Love Ken'...
EXT. PORTOBELLO ROAD
- DAY
WILLIAM
(V.O.)
The racial hair-dressers
where
everyone comes out looking like
the
Cookie Monster, whether they like
it or not...
Sure enough, a girl
exits with a huge threaded blue bouffant.
EXT. PORTOBELLO ROAD
- SATURDAY
The purpose of
a screenplay is to adapt them from original works or for a new piece. In
them, there is a description of the movement, expressions, actions
and dialogues of the characters.
The
challenge with our screenplay was that it was perhaps hard for us to come up
with a script without any dialogue. However, it was a little easier since we
had a novel of which we could base our adaptation of, it was a rather daunting
fact of being able to turn a novel into a moving image. In this way, we had to
come up with movements to compensate for the lack of dialogue, and make sure
the narrative made sense. We also had to make sure that the setting would be
appropriate for a relevant teenage bedroom. In terms of coming up with the
screenplay we found it hard to perhaps pick the right part of the novel to
start the film for our opening since the book initially starts with a letter
about perhaps why events occur later in the book. In this way, we decided that
this would be a good place to start and adapt into a piece of moving image.
Visualising the character in his surrounding was actually not that difficult
but we did have to think carefully about what his room would be like and how
this would apply to the character, in order to portray him in the right way, as
well as not giving away too much about the rest of the film.
However, in the end it was produced:
Nineteen Minutes
INT.
BEDROOM –
MID-DAY
A
typical messy
teenage bedroom in Sterling, New Hampshire. It’s around 1pm in the
afternoon.
The room is very messy, with a bowl of half eaten cereal on the bedside
table,
and dirty socks on the floor.
There
is a young man
sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, whom is named PETER. He is
typing
on a laptop, and the audience can see the screen of his computer, as he
clicks
on an album on his screen, and music begins to play.
At
this point, PETER
continues to type away on his screen, as the audience realises that he is in
fact typing a letter.
PETER
(typing
on screen) By the time you read this,
I hope to be dead.
PETER
continues to type on his keyboard as we
see other areas of his room.
PETER
(typing
on screen) Don’t blame yourself
The
typing continues as we see more of his
room.
PETER
(typing
on screen) That would be a lie.
The
typing continues as we see his cupboards.
PETER
(typing
on screen) You’ll cry at my funeral.
The
typing continues as we see a clock, and
hear it ticking.
PETER
(typing
on screen) Will you miss me?
The
typing continues, and we see a shot of a
gun in the reflection of PETER’S glasses
