The document provides summaries of four scripts from different media: a radio drama script, a TV show script for Sherlock, a film script for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and a video game script for an Overwatch animated short. Each summary describes the style, content, narrative structure, genre, and target audience of the respective script.
1. Radio Script: The Things We Never Said
Style: This script was made for a radio drama,
and the difference between this and the script
for a TV show episode or a film is clear in the
small snippet seen here. Instead of describing
what actions the actors/actresses need to take
ina scene like afilm or TV show script, the radio
drama’s script instead describes the music and
sound effects required for a scene, in order to
add atmosphere tothe moment: due to the lack
of visualsinradiodramas,the sound effects and
music take the place of the sets and lighting.
Content: The Things We Never Said is about the
relationship between a mother and her
daughter, and how the mum’s dementia causes
that relationship to slowly fall apart as the
daughtertriesto help her remember who she is
and their life up until this point.
Narrative: Unlike a typical TV episode or film,
there isn’t really a 3-act narrative to the radio
drama, nor are there many narrative theories
that can be applied to it: the only one I can
consider applying to this script and the radio
drama tiedto itis Claude Levi-Strauss’sBinary
Oppositionstheory,withthe opposites being
the dementia-ridden, elderly, confused
mother and the healthy, middle-aged and
distressed daughter.
Genre: The genre for The Things We Never
Said is Drama (as implied by it being called a
radio drama). There’s no theories that can
really tie into this one either, aside from the
“Sick Parent” trope that TV soap operas like
to use (E.G Val Pollard from Emmerdale, and
Stan Carter and Sylvie Carter from
EastEnders).
Target Audience: The TA for the radio drama
this script is written for would probably be
adults of both genders, in the range of 30 to
50 yearsold,meaningthey’dbe (presumably)
between a C1/C2 to B on the NRS Scale. This
isbecause not only is the radio drama on BBC
Radio4 (whichis aimed at older audiences), but because the content of the radio drama is about a
topic which is somewhat mature, and more understood by adults who may be experiencing the
same sort of unfortunate circumstances.
2. TV Show Script: Sherlock: The Great Game
Style: This script was made for a TV show, evident by the
typical style of which scripts for this sort of media is
written in. This is the standard style that’s been made
well known and gets used by everyone who has to write
a script in (film and TV shows use it the most), although
some script writers may change some aspects of the
style in such as the alignment of the text.
Content: The script is for episode 3 of season 1 for the TV
show Sherlock, which is based off the book series by Sir
Arthur Conon Doyle. In this particular episode, Sherlock
Holmes’ nemesis Jim Moriarty sets him different puzzles
with a time limit (through holding a random person
hostage with explosives and talking through them via
either a pager or an earpiece), and if Sherlock and his
companion John Watson don’t solve them in time then
the person currently being held hostage (as well as
anyone around them) dies.
Narrative: This episode does have a 3 part structure to it:
though the beginning is short we see Sherlock dealing
with the lack of a case in different ways, before quickly
being thrown into the action-packed middle as
explosions go off and puzzles get solved. The ending is a
cliffhanger, but Sherlock DOES find and meet Moriarty
after solving all the other cases. Vladimir Propp’s theory
can be applied to this episode, as we have: The Villain
(Moriarty), The Hero (Sherlock), The Helper (John), and
The Donor (Lestrade, though the objects and evidence he
gives Sherlock isn’t magical). You can also apply Tzvetan
Todorov’s theory since with every equilibrium in the
episode it gets disrupted before being solved only to then
have another problem arise, as well as Roland Barthes’
theory since the episode can be split into 5 rules,
especially the Action Code and the Enigma Code.
Genre: The Great Game can be considered a mix of 3 key
genres: Mystery, Drama, and Action. Mystery because of
the puzzles and crime solving that Sherlock and John do
within the episode, Drama because of that same crime
solving (and the potential deaths of various people if they
fail), and Action because of some of the gunfights during a
few scenes.
Target Audience: The TA for the TV show I think is British
16 to 40 years old, of both genders. By 16 years old, both
girls and boys would be able to figure things out along
with Sherlock as well as enjoy the action without freaking out too much over the deaths that can occur.
Older than 40 years old can still enjoy Sherlock though, they just may not appreciate the action as much.
3. Film Script: The Force Awakens
Style: The style this script is written in is the standard style that’s
been established by TV shows and movies which has been used and
adapted for years now. For The Force Awakens, it seems that they’ve
not only put names of characters and set changes in capitals, but
also vital movements made by the characters as well as any special
effects.
Content: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is “episode” 7 of the Star
Wars franchise, introducing an entirely new cast of characters such
as Rey, Fin and Poe, with some returning faces from the original films
such as Princess Leia, R2-D2 and Han Solo. In it, the Resistance is
fighting against the evil First Order, led by Supreme General Snoke
and with Kylo Ren (Han and Leia’s son) leading the attacks against
the innocent and resistance fighters.
Narrative: The Force Awakens does have a 3-Act style to it: in the
beginning, we’re introduced to the main characters and the main
conflict of the story. When we get to the middle part of the film, the
conflict is in full force as fights commence to gain a map that leads to
the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. And finally, the end, as the
conflict dies down and the heroes are victorious, with the final shot
of Rey handing Luke his lightsabre hinting at what’s to come for the
next movie. Vladimir Propp’s theory also holds true to The Force
Awakens: there’s The Villain (All of The First Order, though especially
Snoke and Kylo), The Hero (Rey), The Helper (Poe, Fin, Leia and Han
Solo), and The Donor (BB-8 and Maz Katana). Tzvetan Todorov’s
Equilibrium Theory can also be applied to the movie, as can Roland
Barthes’ Five Codes Theory.
Genre: The genre for The Force Awakens is very clearly Sci-Fi and
Action. Throughout the middle of the film, there is various forms of
action including aircrafts shooting at each other and lightsabre
battles. The various aliens that the characters meet and come across
also add to the Sci-Fi elements of the movie. These could be
considered Iconographies which theorist Ryall spoke about in 1978.
Target Audience: Star Wars has always been a family franchise, and
The Force Awakens is no exception to this. Despite some of the
violence with lightsabres, kids can still enjoy all the fighting and what
parts of the story they understand. The film is primarily focused at
those who have been Star Wars fans for a long time, however, so the
main target audience for the movie is between 20 to 40 year olds who
may have grown up with some of the old Star Wars movies and could
now be passing down that love to their children.
4. Video Game Script: Shooting Star
Style: The style of this script is similar to a standard TV and Film
script, though it has a few differences such as the alignment of the
text (typically character text is in the centre of the page, but here it’s
aligned to the left). It does however, still have a lot of the key
aspects such as stating where a scene takes place every time it cuts
to a different location and stating whether someone talking is a
voice over or talking from elsewhere (for example when Dae-Hyun is
talking over the radio).
Content: This script was written for an animated short made by
Blizzard Entertainment for their video game Overwatch. The focus of
the short is the character from the game D.Va (her real name is
Hana Song), a Korean 19 year old MEKA soldier who fights in a
custom made mech to protect her city from robots who come to
attack and destroy the city. In the animated short, D.Va learns the
value of asking someone for help and that you can’t fight every
battle on your own, as she required Dae-Hyun’s help to beat the
robots that surprise attack the city when the rest of her team is busy
recovering from the last attack.
Narrative: The animated short definitely has that strong 3-part
structure, as does every Overwatch animated short released by
Blizzard: in the beginning we get to see more of D.Va’s character as a
PTSD-suffering young adult who wants to protect her city as best as
she can with her team of friends. In the middle part, the conflict
escalates as the robots attack and D.Va fights them with some help
from Dae-Hyun around halfway through the climax. And there’s an
end, where everything gets tied up nearly: D.Va survives the mech
explosion and starts recovering (despite her arm and leg being in
casts), and the city is shown to be safe. Vladimir Propp’s theory does
technically play a part in the short, since D.Va is The Hero, Dae-Hyun
is The Helper, and the robots are The Villains, but apart from that
there’s no other character types present.
Genre: The genre for Shooting Star, I think, is Action. This is due to
the fact that similar to The Force Awakens, where the middle takes
up most of the short film and is full of fighting and attacking. There is,
however, an element of Sci-Fi to Shooting Star: Because Overwatch
takes place in the future, the technology we see is similar to what we
see in other Sci-Fi futuristic movies: holograms and holotapes, the
mechs made by MEKA, and sentient evil robots are all strong
examples of the animated short being in the Sci-Fi genre.
Target Audience: The TA for Shooting Star is definitely those who have played Overwatch, which has a
large player base consisting of males and females of varying ages: the people you come across while
playing the game can be as young as 10 or 12 years old, or as old as 30. The game is really aimed at
everyone who plays the game, and the animated shorts reflect that since some of the knowledge about
the character in the game is required to understand some parts of the animated short (though not all of
it, it’s entirely possible for someone who’s never played Overwatch to watch the animated short,
understand what’s going on, and enjoy it).