Chapter 6
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 2 ] [ Chapter 3 ] [ Chapter 4 ] [ Chapter 5 ] [ Chapter 6 ] [ Chapter 7 ] [ Chapter 8 ] [ Chapter 9 ]

Screen Play Writing 

K.Ramanathan   

CHAPTER      6         THE VISUALS

The most popular and most effective audio visual medium is no doubt the film. One may argue that TV is viewed more often than a film and so should be classified as the most effective of the media.  But the truth is that while one watches TV, it is likely that his attention may be distracted , while the film, viewed in a darkened cinema hall, has the viewers so engrossed that it has far better impact on the viewers than any other medium, including the TV.  The reason why a reference to this is made here, in a course on screen play writing is that while writing for such an effective audio visual medium, the writer  has to think of how, what he has written will be presented by the director and how it will be perceived by the viewer. It is important to remember that it is the director, who is in charge of transforming the screen play into a film and he will think in terms of both the audio and the visuals, that he can use, even as he reads the screen play. If the writer also thinks in that way, it will be easy for the director to appreciate the screen play.  A screen play writer, who is director friendly, is sure to be successful      

As said earlier film, can be loosely defined as a compilation of shots, of course padded with visual and audio effects, apart from the acting and the dialogue that will be spoken by the artists.  Obviously the dialogues are to be written by the screen play writer and while doing so he must remember what will be the shot in which the artist will deliver the dialogue.  This of course is not a necessity, but definitely an advantage for a good screen play writer, as it will make the job of a director and the artist easier.    

It is assumed that you, an aspiring screen play writer would have seen a number of films and even if you may not be very conversant with all the types of shots used in a film you will be, surely aware of them, as seen in many films.

The shots are generally categorised into three distinct groups, known as the close up, the mid shot and the long shot.  Many of them are known to many people today.  Of course there are other types of shots also, but almost all of them can be broadly classified into one of these categories

The CLOSE UP       :This can be defined as a shot that reveals a person in close up, but It also means that the visual will be of a person, only upto the bust, as in a bust size photograph. Understandably it will not have any other thing, that can be easily seen or understood, like the background.  The viewer may not even know where the person is, with reference to the back ground or the scene.  But since either earlier or later the scene would have been or will be revealed to the viewer, he will have no difficulty in understanding where the artist is.

The close up is used mostly to emphasise the expression of the artist.  By now you must have formed an idea as to where this shot will be used and how much of the dialogue is to be spoken by the artist in this shot.  Make a note of what you have guessed and check up with what will be said later, to ascertain whether you are able to ,understand the guide lines for writing a screen play. You can try to visulaise the shots with reference to the screen play, that was an example earlier in the chapter.

THE LONG SHOT   : As the name suggests it will show the scene in a long shot, which   could be construed to mean that it will be a panoramic shot, like   as normally seen in a film, when an outdoor location like a hill range or garden is shown.  But it is not necessarily to be used in outdoor only.  The long shot can be said to be the one, where you as a viewer are able to get a complete picture of the location, which could be even a living room , as in the case of the screen play, we are referring to.  This is primarily used to establish the location, at some point of telling the story.  The other purpose of using the long shot is to reveal the number of characters who may be in the scene. , and when it becomes necessary to let the viewer know that all of them are in the same location.  If to show about five characters sitting and talking in a room the director uses only different close ups or a number of close ups of the various characters, then it is likely that the viewer will not be able to place them in the same room.  On the other hand, a long shot can be used, even when just one character is in a particular location and is seen as talking to some one who is not in the same room.  Unless this is shown atleast once, the viewer is very likely to think that both the characters are in the same location.  It can also be used to show the loneliness of the person, when he/she is alone in the room.  Or as in the case of our screen play, a long shot can be used to show Nirmala sitting on the sofa and staring at the ceiling, just at the time we hear the voice of Suguna, before she enters the room.  It will also be effective, to show Suguna slowly opening the door and looking in and finding Nirmala on the sofa. 

Now to give an example that will make it easy for you to understand the difference between the close up and the long shot, not just in terms of the sizes of the images, you get to see, but the impact each of them have, on you as a viewer  just observe these shots, in any cricket coverage on TV.  Obviously in a long shot you do not get to easily identify the players, including the batsman, (at this point of the game the camera is generally behind the bowler and fairly away from him also).  When the shot is changed to the close up, you are able to see the batsman.  But when the batsman lofts the ball high and everyone wants to know whether it is a six or a catch, you would prefer it to be a long shot and enjoy it too,  though you may have difficulty in identifying the fielder, who may be trying to catch it.

If the same shot is shown in a close up of the ball travelling in air, you may not appreciate it much.  If the fielder had caught the ball and the shot is repeated in a close up, you would enjoy the shot, particularly the action repeated in a close up.     

In this example you might have felt that while it is true that the long shot showing the ball going high up on the air when everyone was anxious to know whether it will be a six or a catch, is enjoyable, the close up of the fielder catching the ball is not very effective, even though it was a replay or repeat of the action in a different range of shot.

If this is what you think, then you are dead right.  Because the action of a fielder taking the catch is not enjoyable in close up; but then the long shot is also not effective.  So what do we do?.  Well we use something in between and that is      

THE MID SHOT       : In this kind of shot, we can show atleast two or three or even   more persons in the scene and it will also have some parts      of the location, where the action is taking place.  As described earlier this is used where and when we want to show more than what we can in a close up and less than in a long shot.  The effectiveness of this shot can be understood,  if you recall the difference between the close up, long shot and this, as seen in the cricket coverage on TV. For instance this will be f use to show Suguna walking upto the door, while Nirmala opens the cupboard and Suguna stops near the door and turns towards Nirmala. (Refer to the screen play and visualise.)  This is also effective when we want to show the actions/reactions of two or three characters at the same time.   

By now it must be clear to you that a mid shot is somewhere between the close up and the long shot, as far as the content and effectiveness are concerned.  Actually it is wrong to call it as effectiveness, as the effectiveness depends on what we want to emphasise on.  Each and every shot is effective, when it is used properly and in the right place.  For the time being, it is enough to know the difference between the shots, as we have seen just now.               

THE OTHER SHOTS          : In addition to these three types of shots, there are a number of shots that are being used in a film.  Some of them are the Two shot, over the shoulder shot, zoom shot and tracking shot.  The names are self explanatory, for you to understand what you can expect in these shots.  The two shot will have two characters in the shot, while  in the over the shoulder shot, the camera will be placed behind one person, whose shoulder will be in the foreground, while the second person will be facing the camera.  This is used  mainly when we have two characters sitting opposite to each other and talking. Of course they can be standing as well.  But the important thing is that they must be facing each other. The advantage of this shot is that we can alternately show each person direct to the viewers and at the same time remind them that there is another person sitting in front.           

As you can visualise and might have seen in many films, the zoom shot is the one that will begin as a long shot and go to the close up or vice versa.  The action will be continuous and the shot will not change as such, but the image size will change continuously.  Almost the same effect can be obtained by the tracking shot, in which the camera will move towards or away from the character, changing the shot from a long shot to a close up or vice versa.  You may wonder if the result obtained is the same in both the types of the shots, then what is the need for two different types of shots.  The result, that you observe is only apparent, as actually there is a difference in the  perspective of the images in both the shots.

 In the zoom shot there is no change in the perspective ( the one that gives you the feeling of depth and the third dimension in an otherwise two dimensional picture) while there is a change in the perspective in a tracking shot.  In other words while the image size changes in both the shots, in the zoom shot the ratio of the image sizes between the foreground and background objects remains the same, while in the tracking shot, this ratio also varies giving you a better feeling of the perspective.  You may then ask why should anyone use a zoom shot at all.                                                                                                                                          

Zoom shot is generally resorted for two reasons.  One is when it is not possible to lay a track on which the camera is to be mounted to move it forward or backwards, the zoom shot comes in handy, as it is only the manipulation of the lens that gives the effect of the zoom.  Another reason is that if the effectiveness of forward or backward movement has to be very fast, this can be achieved only with the help of the zoom lens.  A tracking shot does take time as the camera is to be physically moved from point to point.

The tracking shot is not always a shot with a forward or backward movement of the camera.  The camera can be taken parallel to the artiste as he walks along and now it can also be a circular movement of the camera.  These are not possible to be achieved with a zoom lens. (Zoom lens is the one that is needed for the zoom shot)               

In addition to these shots, explained here, you may hear words like subjective or point of view shot.  This is nothing but a shot taken from the point of view of a character; that is to say that the camera takes the place of the character in observing the scene         

In short when we talk of a shot, we actually refer to the size of the image that will be used in the film.   Of course you have to know that in a close up the image appears to be bigger, while in the long shot it appears to be smaller. All these words are only comparative and do not have any definite dimension.  It is only for easy reference that the shots are classified as close up, long shot, and shot etc.                            

POINTS TO REMEMBER            

1.         The main job of the screen play writer is to write the dialogues. But the director, who is in charge of transforming the screen play into a film will think in terms of the visuals he can use, even as he reads the screen play.  Therefore it is better   for the screen play writer to think of the possible visuals as he writes the screen play  A successful screen play writer has to be director friendly.                                                                 

2.         Film can also be loosely defined as a compilation of shots.     

3.         There  are a number of types of shots used in a film.  They are broadly the close up, long shot, mid shot, zoom shot, tracking shot etc.                                              

4.         Classification of the shot is generally based on the composition, that is the size of the image that will be presented through the shot.                                    

5.         To know the effects of the shots, see films and sports coverage on TV.