I teach Introduction to Screenwriting at Delta College in Michigan, and when I have students who get the screenwriting bug, they often ask, “What course should I take next?”
You might think my answer would be our Advanced Screenwriting course.
Actually, I tell them they should take our Introduction to Cinematography course, even if they have no interest in learning the technical/physical side of filmmaking.
Many of my students just want to write and not learn or have the expense of camera operation, editing, equipment rental/acquisition.
But, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t learn to write like a cinematographer. They need to learn to see their script through the eyes of the folks that will be shooting from the script.
They should be involved in at least one film project so they see what’s involved as the thing goes from page to screen. Those words on the page for a filmmaker aren’t words: they are a blueprint for moviemaking.
And, as a screenwriter, you can learn to write like a cinematographer, which will only help someone reading your script see its potential as a movie. Your script will feel more like a movie if it’s written from the POV of someone who understands pre-production, production, and post-production.
When someone has decided to adapt your screenplay into a film, they look at your scenes differently than you probably looked at them.
For a filmmaker, your scenes become a series of shots. You might write a one-page scene, but on a shot-list that might end up being 4 to 10 shots.
In screenwriting, it’s time for a new scene any time you have a change in location or time. But a shot is any time the camera is moved. For instance, your characters are talking. One shot is over the shoulder of a character talking. The cinematographer wants to focus on the reaction of the person hearing the dialogue. In the next shot, we are over the shoulder of the other character, as she responds, and then we get the reaction of the first character. (Audiences respond more to how a character is taking in the dialogue of another character, rather than focusing on the speaker). Finally, because the character in the second shot is saying something shocking, the cinematographer chooses a closeup to show the reaction of the first character.
JAKE
It’s been rough, but I think we should
stay together.
Lisa listens, frowning.
LISA
I’ve already moved on. I’m seeing someone…
a couple someones.
Jake stares at her, wide-eyed, his face paling.
That brief exchange on the page is comprised of three different camera setups. Two over-the-shoulders and a closeup. But, that also includes moving lights, etc.
JAKE
It’s been rough, but I think we should
stay together.
Lisa listens, frowning.
LISA
I’ve already moved on. I’m seeing someone…
a couple someones.
Jake stares at her, wide-eyed, his face paling.
In this instance, the yellow is over Jake’s shoulder, showing Lisa’s increasing frown as he speaks.
The green cuts to over Lisa’s shoulder, showing his increasing dejection, which climaxes in the blue section… a closeup of his dejected face.
So, as a screenwriter, you can learn to look at your scenes like shots. Now, a cinematographer won’t necessarily use the shots implied by your screenplay, but it will make your screenplay read more like a movie and less like a page of prose.
How do you imply shots? Well, you never reference the camera as a screenwriter (e.g. The camera pushes in on his face.) … I want to emphasize, DON’T DO THAT. (Oh, a push-in is a type of camera movement, where the camera operator slowly moves the camera toward the subject. The blue above might include a closeup that is also a slow push in… the movement of the camera suggesting Jake’s realization that she has already dumped him.)
Your lines can imply camera, however. For instance, in the blue section above, the description “wide-eyed” suggests we are in close on the eyes. It implies a closeup without ever referencing the camera. Again, it will feel more like a movie when someone reads it. A reader of a screenplay should almost feel what this thing is going to be like on the screen.
What’s your ally in this process? White space.
White space in between lines of description implies camera angles. Maybe an example would work best.
INT. CAR – DAY
Lisa drives while Jake looks out the window.
Jake rubs his forehead.
The landscape outside his window is flat and stretches to the horizon.
JAKE
I just don’t understand. We said we
were going to talk about this.
Lisa’s hands squeeze the steering wheel.
Jake touches the windshield where a bug died in a green stain against the glass.
JAKE
We always said we’d work on things
if things got bad.
Lisa touches her fingers along the clasp of her seatbelt.
JAKE
We promised.
Lisa closes her eyes and shakes her head. She opens them again, staring out into the road ahead of her.
LISA
Fine. We can try.
A smile grows on Jake’s face.
His finger is still on stain of the dead bug. Water leaps up onto the glass and then the wipers smear the bug.
Jake startles and sits back in his seat.
LISA
(looking at bug)
Gross.
Jake watches as the wipers and water vanish the bug’s remains.
Notice the shots implied by the scene… especially the white space. Let’s look more closely. Notice how the different colored sections imply shots/camera angles.
INT. CAR – DAY
Lisa drives while Jake looks out the window.
Jake rubs his forehead.
The landscape outside his window is flat and stretches to the horizon.
JAKE
I just don’t understand. We said we
were going to talk about this.
Lisa’s hands squeeze the steering wheel.
Jake touches the windshield where a bug died in a green stain against the glass.
JAKE
We always said we’d work on things
if things got bad.
Lisa touches her fingers along the clasp of her seatbelt.
JAKE
We promised.
Lisa closes her eyes and shakes her head. She opens them again, staring out into the road ahead of her.
LISA
Fine. We can try.
A smile grows on Jake’s face.
His finger is still on stain of the dead bug. Water leaps up onto the glass and then the wipers smear the bug.
Jake startles and sits back in his seat.
LISA
(looking at bug)
Gross.
Jake watches as the wipers and water vanish the bug’s remains.
For instance, the first yellow section implies a two-shot, where we see both characters in the car… kinda getting the geography of the scene.
The first green section implies a closer shot on Jake, so we see his face and the forehead rubbing.
The first blue section implies a much wider shot of the passing landscape. (The landscape in this instance also works symbolically, showing how wide open and uncharted Jake’s present/future feels)
I would imagine the first blue section showing Jake in the foreground speaking, but maybe using a rack focus to show Lisa’s reaction to what he’s saying. (A rack focus moves, often, from something in the foreground being in focus to something in the background being in focus)… now, again, you wouldn’t write anything about a rack focus in your screenplay, but the words open up the shot to being interpreted this way by a cinematographer.
The second yellow section would be a closeup of Lisa’s hands on the steering wheel. (The audience feels her consternation in the squeezing)… you don’t imply shots or use white space because you can… you do it to keep your screenplay feeling like a movie rather than words on a page.
I won’t go through the rest of the color sections, but each one implies an angle of the camera. And some, you can see, already imply closeups, etc.
So, yes, screenwriters, I advise you to think about your scenes like a cinematographer. Your screenplay will demonstrate more its potential to be a movie. It will likely make it much easier for someone to break down your script too when it comes to shooting.
Of course, you can write your scene as it naturally comes to you and then, with white space in between sentences, imply shots later.
In a future blog post, I will talk about how novelists can use this knowledge and think of their sentences as “shots”… is your prose doing enough to move your reader’s imagination through wide shots, medium shots, closeups, etc? Do you overly favor a “shot type” in your sentences? How often do you move us in on some closeup detail.
For example,
Jenna looked at her fingernails, the half-moon of paler nail nearer the skin. So much surprising beauty in the world, she thought, if one looks for it.
Thinking of your visual sentences like a camera could really step up how your reader reacts to your prose.
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