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Screenplay Research

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Reverse Key Lighting. I used to work with a cinematographer named Rob Draper (Halloween 5, The Spitfire Grill).

Reverse Key Lighting

He was having me practice one day by shooting a product shot for a whisky bottle. I had set the bottle up in front of a seamless backdrop and put a light in front of the bottle at about a 45 degree angle. Rob came in to see how I was doing. His first comment was “What made you put the light in front of the bottle rather than behind the bottle?” I hadn’t really thought much about it. Reverse Key Lighting is also called “short lighting” or “narrow lighting”. Reverse Key Lighting can be used in closeups And in wider shots Outdoors Indoors It can be used in animation In a two shot With a lot of fill light Or very little fill light One of the strengths of reverse key lighting is the way the shadows falloff across the face. When you place the key light on the other side though, the light rakes across the face and you can see the light falling off into shadow on the side of the face closest to the camera.

25 Ways To Fuck With Your Characters. As storyteller, you are god.

25 Ways To Fuck With Your Characters

And to be frank, you’re not a particularly nice god — at least, not if you want your story to resonate with readers. A good storyteller is a crass and callous deity who treats the characters under his watchful eye like a series of troubled butt-puppets. From this essential conflict — storyteller versus character — a story is born. (After all, that’s what a plot truly is: a character who strives to get above all the shit the storyteller dumps on his fool head.) Put differently, as a storyteller it’s your job to be a dick. It’s your job to fuck endlessly with the characters twisting beneath your thumb. And here’s 25 ways for you to do just that. 1. Gods have avatars, mortal or semi-mortal beings that exist on earth to embody the deity’s agenda. 2.

The audience and the character must know the stakes on the table — “If you don’t win this poker game, your grandmother will lose her beloved pet orangutan, Orange Julius.” 3. 4. 5. 6. This one? 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Screenplay Basics - Scripped. A Scripped Compendium by Johnathan Carr Traditional storytelling recounts past events, whereas screenwriting is locked in the present - thus you may not deviate from PRESENT TENSE.

Screenplay Basics - Scripped

You may also be tempted to describe every inch of the world you're creating - don't! Take comfort in the idea that a screenplay is not meant to have any literary value. As you're writing, be mindful to preserve only the most important details: information that will advance the story. At the beginning of a feature film script, often but not always, the first line will be: FADE IN. While you can write a longer ACTION paragraph, think about keeping it under five lines at a time. In the ACTION line, be sure to capitalize SOUND EFFECTS, CAMERA DIRECTION and the first appearance of a speaking CHARACTER.

Use a PARENTHETICAL to note an action the speaker is performing while speaking or if you want to indicate whom the speaker is addressing such as addressing a new character in mid-DIALOGUE. Think subtext.