Bb

1. Unit 19: ScriptWriting Learning Aim B
A script is written by screenwriters, scripts are used for mostly everything entertainment
and are used in films, tv programmes, radios and even video games.
there are 3 different types of scripts which are; Master Scene Scripts, Shooting Scripts, And
Radio Scripts
Master Screen Scripts (MSS)- is the standard and accept format for film production. It is
designed to offer a simple and easy to follow format for investors to see, and does not
include camera directions so it is not technically used for when they are filming. An MSS, is
split into 3 main parts, Scene headings (slug lines), narrative descriptions, and dialogues
blocks. The script i will be using as an example is the 2013 Romance Film / Her
To start a scene, we are introduced by location which is called a slugline, and is generally
placed at the top of dialogue blocks and always communicates that a new scene has started.

2. a slug line is composed of 3 main parts, which introduces a reader to a new scene and
communicates the basic information of the new scene for a reader to understand the
setting.
Highlighted in Red is wether the scene is interior or exterior which is written as INT./EXT.
for space efficiency.
Highlighted in Orange is location
Highlighted in Green is Time, which is always written as either NIGHT/DAY DAWN/DUSK
or occasionally and in this case EARLY/LATE EVENING which is the equivalent to
DAWK/DUSK
the slug line is always capitalised as this is bold as it is easy to help establish the new scene
as why it is so short aswell. In this Example We are told that we are in the interior of
Theodore's office in the early morning
The next feature which is narrative description, is the telling of the story as it unfolds on
screen, what would be visually telling the viewer, like what a character is wearing or what
he is doing (mise-en-scene) however unlike a narrative in a novel, a narrative description
cannot tell you what a reader is thinking so anything that can't be seen or heard should not
be included.
Narrative description should be positioned directly below the screen heading and the
writing should be lean and straightforward, focusing on the action and progressing the
story further.
Further on Mise-En-Scene, which includes everything told visually, so it excludes dialogue
and internal thoughts, examples of MES are clothing, lighting, sounds non diegetic or
diegetic, characters actions, props, etc.
The mise en scène also translates onto the shooting script as it helps the editors apply or
tweak sounds or lighting that best suit the script, or in big budget examples, add CGI.
In the film industry, it comes with an expectation that with scripts, a page of screenplay is
the equivalent to one minute of screentime, this is helpful to writers as when it comes to the
planning/development of a script, the average feature length film is 120 minutes, so it gives
the writer an expecting of what it should look like. Description paragraphs should take up
as much time as it's expected running time, it should be written to cover one page rather
than a simple description.
Dialogue blocks are composed of three parts; Character Name, wryly, and dialogue.
character names are written in capitals, while wrylies, which are placed in between
parenthesis to indicate a subtext of dialogue that is not already obvious, are written in
lowercase. Dialogue which is just written as normal text. Some rules to dialogue blocks are
that a characters name must always be before something they have spoken and that the
dialogue block itself must be in positioned centre to the page

3. wrylies are used to give extra information about how a line should be said and often
expresses a characters emotions when delivering the line, examples of this would be
"(shyly), and can also be used to show when a character is speaking from another location
within the script which is often wrote as (O.S) which stands for off screen
Conventions of a MSS
 Sluglines and character names in dialogue are in capital letters
 VoiceOvers and OffScreen is Shortened to (V.O. and O.S)
 footers at the bottom right to indicate that a scene is being continued into the next
page is written as (CONTINUED) and (CONT.) at the top left to indicate a page has
been continued
 Font is always size 12 and courier

4. MSS dont's
 scene numbers
 camera directions
 third person use of "we"
 capitals for sound effects
 capitals for character names
HER - MSS EXTRACT ANALYSIS
here is an extract from the master scene script of her (2013). her is a romance/sci-fi film
directed by spike Jonze. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a newly single man hurt
by his previous long term relationship, as he falls in love with an artificial intelligence,
voiced by Scarlet Johansson, in a near future Los Angeles
the extract starts off with a new scene inside Theodore's workplace, from the slugline, us as
a reader get a clear image that it is just another ordinary day at work for Theodore, we
gather this because of spikes use to start off the scene during the day whereas he could've
used time indications such as DUSK. or EARLY MORNING.
Locations are important not only for a reader to follow a story but important for a cast and
crew to understand what is shot and when, because when shooting things are done non-

5. linearly and based more on locations and time, so if there is perhaps an office scene at night
and one at day but are at opposite ends of the story then a production will shoot both of
these scenes on the same day to be more efficient
After the introduction of the scene, the writer uses a narrative description to describe the
scene, and although it's a very straightforward and short sentence it however confirms my
last point of what i was trying to communicate of the normalcy of the day, the writer was
communicating with the slugline.
however it gives us a clear image of what narrative descriptions are there to do, in which it
states in the characters actions so for us as a reader it is easier to follow.
Now after the narrative description, we are given the dialogue blocks, which follows the
typical codes and conventions of a MSS, in this dialogue block we are given the use of a
wryly, which was written as "(laughing to himself)" this helps us as the reader understand
how things are said and also helps an actor how their character has worded it and gives
them an indication on how to deliver the line.
it is also in parentheses meaning that it is position underneath the characters name and
above the dialogue
After that we are given a paragraph of narrative description which leads into the characters
panic as he can't get in touch with samantha. To us as a reader it gives us a clear image of
what the character is doing visually as he frantically tries to get in touch with her.
then we are given a (cont'd) in parentheses after the narrative description, which is
positioned next to the character name in full caps and then followed by dialogue
what is unique for this page in particular is its use in sluglines, overall it uses 3, which
communicates that a lot happens in very little time, which then communicates that's in an
intense scene, the many uses of sluglines helps tell the reader the anxiousness of the main
character by the constant change in scenery and very little dialogue. it shows his
dependence on samantha, sluglines are not only a great way of communicating a change in
location but also can tell a reader the pacing of the scene.
To pair this with the narrative descriptions that follows the change in scenery and what is
given is, an action scene that is written so clearly that it becomes vivid to the reader and can
verbally show them the pacing, action and intensity of a scene.
This also helps cast and crew what to visualise how the scene is going to play out and the
specificity of the wording through the sluglines and narrative descriptions helps them easily
prepare and create a clear and drawn out plan. Not only this but also the use in wrylies
helps communicate how a character is feeling through subtexts such as "(anxiously)" this
will also help both cast and readers, understand the emotion of the scene, and when all this
paired together creates a detailed and nuanced mis-en-scene.
SHOOTING SCRIPT - the shooting script is a version of a screenplay that is used for the
actual production of a film, a shooting script would be used by cast and directors, whereas
it's counterpart a master scene script would be more used to show investors the story, the
shooting script shows a more detailed script as it features, scene numbers, editing
transitions and camera angles etc.
The director and cinematographer will typically sit down and plan what they would like to
shoot for the film. They like the script with the MSS, so that they can decide what shots they
are going to do and camera techniques e.g. wide shots, medium shots, close ups. Then after
it is completed, it will be circulated to the cast and crew, so that everyone knows where they
need to be and what they need to do, when. Any revisions to the script will be marked in

6. asterisks. The Shooting script is only produced after the spec script is bought, the director
and cast then get attached, and the project will go into pre production, in television,
episodes will be sent to a network, given notes, rewritten and approved, then the scene
numbers will be added so they can break it down individually.
Shooting scripts should include:
 scene numbers
 camera angles/movements
 special effects
 detailed narrative descriptions
 mise-en-scene
like the MSS, the shooting script is written with the same font in size 12, as well as sluglines,
narrative description and text blocks but however have more information. the main
difference between the two is their use, the shooting script is used for the actual production
whereas the MSS, is used to sell to investors so therefore having a more story driven view,
once the film is purchased, the script is then developed into a shooting script, which is not
optimal for an audience, but from a technical perspective it is much more effective as it
features more specific directions for cast and crew e.g. mise-en-scene (props, lighting, etc) ,
camera directions, editing.
as we can see here, a shooting script uses relatively the same features as a MSS, however the
MSS may be easy to follow for an audience however to a cast and crew this is more
practical, as it has the shot numbers, picture, time, and audio
the audio section serves as a place where a shortened dialogue block takes place, this could
be argued that a script like this wouldn't be as appealing to an audience because of its
favour in practicality rather than its use for entertainment value, however in this script
there are still small pieces of emotive language that a reader could follow in the audio box,
this shooting script definitely follows the conventions of a typical script with its obvious
uses of scene numbers, narrative description and dialogue and mise en scene.

7. overall this script would be effective for a production as it is straight forward and clear for a
production crew.
The grey box is used to identify where revisions have taken place, in this case it will have
happened to compliment other scenes or tweaked to create a better continuity.
Radio Scripts - radio scripts differ greatly from film productions as nothing can be
communicated visually and purely relies on sound/audio
examples of terminology used in this formatting follow:
the script i will be looking at is from the radio comedy welcome to our village, please invade
carefully by eddie robinson

8. in this scene it is a conversation between two people, from what we can compare to the past
2 scripts it is structured completely different to the other 2, a notable difference however is
it's lack in narrative description and focus on narrative dialogue, in comparison to a MSS
narrative description was written in great detail so that the reader could get an idea of what
would happen on screen but for radio this obviously can't happen so this in the case of a
radio script it is more comparable to a shooting script, and this is because as we can see
next to the description, it reads FX, which is a note to the crew to play a sound effect
We can also notice it features (OFF) meaning that to communicate to an audience that an
actor is off screen they have to be further away from the microphone or have some sort of
effect on to communicate to the listener that the character is off screen meaning that they
are not in the current scene location.
The radio script has obviously a few noticeable differences in structure as well compared to
the MSS and shooting script, the radio one is a much more simpler one and has a particular
balance between the two, in that it's not narrative focused like the MSS nor is it technically
focused like the shooting script, it compliments what it is designed for, it won't be
technically focused because for a radio script there won't be a lot of technicality to it, same
as the MSS, it will tell obvious features that need to be implemented for the reader to get a
better idea of what will happen and tells the crew what sounds need to be implemented
with its uses of FX or (OFF) just like the shooting script and is also the equivalent to the
shooting script and MSS off screen but it is also very similar in the aspect that it is narrative
enough that a reader or investor can smoothly follow along and enjoy it, so it has the
capability of being easy to follow for the cast and audience aswell for any one reading it.
Another feature in which it implements is its use of slug lines which is also featured in the
MSS, which are virtually the same as they appear in an MSS, and are underlined to make it
easy for a reader to follow, they use the same rules of using INT/EXT and the location name,
however a notable difference in this script pacifically is it's missing time "DAY/NIGHT"
which an MSS uses but it is understandable for a radio script to exclude this information, as
they won't be able to properly communicate time to a listener nor does it hold any
relevance to a scene unless previously mentioned, typically the time is communicated
visually anyway and doesn't make a big impact on an MSS, and this choice to not include it
won't make an impact either except to the reader for imagery as we have already
established it is an interior location.
conventionally this radio script differs from typical conventions and challenges these
conventions, typically with its use of terminology, or a lack thereof, it doesn't include any
"(low)" or "(close)" anything that can help deliver lines to create a more immersive
experience the same way mise en scene does for a MSS/shooting script, and the reason for
not using these is as they possibly don't fit into the scripts scene. However the script does
follow conventions with its use of OFF, Sluglines and structure, these features they use to
help enhance a script and make it easier for a listener or reader to follow the story.
Video Game Scripts - compared to all 3 other scripts, a big difference that a video game
script has to take into consideration is that video games have multiple narratives and that a
story for a video game always not as linear as what is in a film in terms of their being a set
path, there are storylines and different routes a character may take. so writers can't write a
truly linear script so the structure must be accompanied with a flow chart to accommodate
the choices and actions a player takes. Along with this complex process writers must also

9. take into consideration what is happening visually with the world they are creating, worlds
are often interactive and detailed, so they have to note these changes along with the script
which leads to a long process.
The script comes in 2 major parts, the script and flowchart, the script is written very similar
to how a script would be written for a film, with a narrative focus that makes it easy for a
reader or investor to follow along and have an understanding of a story,
however a video game script must have repeating plot points, which could be
communicated through dialogue, because a game for players can be paused and left off for a
long period of time so when a player comes back they are reminded of where they left off, a
key feature is having a strong player dynamic, meaning that a character in a game cannot
communicate traits that the player hasn't seen before or speak of moments a player hasn't
seen unless telling a story or have already been told and it is important that a character
must offer opinions and views in everything a player can interact with because a story can
vary on each play through, interactivity is key to a video game script because it is the half
way point between the character and story being told to the world it is set in. It is important
to have this player dynamic because a player must feel like they are in control of what is
happening on screen and has to be able to identify and understand a character, and for not
anything unexpected to happen in a characters actions for a player to have a second thought
about their characters actions and by doing this successfully it helps create not only create
an interesting story but also makes the worlds and characters seem vast and nuanced which
in turn creates replay value.
The second part of a video game script is flowcharts, which tracks and documents every
major decision a character makes. the flowchart consists of text boxes that with arrows
which tells a reader the route or storyline the player has taken and the actions that follow
this route, if the route has multiple options like yes or no it will be noted on the flowchart
and the corresponding route will branch off into separate parts, the more routes and
possibilities a player has available then the bigger and more complex the flowchart will be,
as a result for a demand and the capabilities to create bigger and more diverse worlds and
storylines, this type of scriptwriting is more complex than what it would be for any other
medium previously mentioned due to its complexity, the flowchart part is totally unique for
a video game script compared to the narrative script which would be distributed towards
investors and cast e.g. voice actors, mo cap actors etc, whereas the flowchart would be
distributed to the games designers who make the worlds and characters.
an example of a video game script follows: