As we were playing around with the order of the screenwriting process in class – writing for film/filming for writing and even writing from film/filming from writing – I thought I’d have a play around for myself and scribe a script from an existing film. I chose High School Musical as it’s a bit of fun, I can shamelessly quote it, and figured the script wouldn’t be too complex. I chose a short scene (which turned out to be a page and half of script) to mimic the length we’ve been attempting in class, which unintentionally enabled myself to visualise what the type of scripts we’ve been working with would translate to on the big screen.
The scene, set in the basketball locker room at East High School, revolves around the exchange between father and son, Coach Bolton (Bart Johnson) and Troy (Zac Efron), before a big basketball game.
I was pretty chuffed with the final product, which garnered a script almost identical to those developed in class. It made me wonder the extent to which my script looked like the original – I would love to compare the two against each other. This task dispelled any notions of complication I had towards scriptwriting, as the result was relatively straightforward. In a future post I intend to complete the same task with a more complicated film; I look forward to finding out whether my findings will retain their simplicity.
In addition to scribing the script, I took note of the shots and cuts utilised in the scene. This is what I noted:
Tracking mid shot of Coach Bolton into wide shot.
Mid shot Coach Bolton.
Wide shot.
Tracking close up Coach Bolton.
Close up Troy.
Close up Coach Bolton.
Close up Troy.
Close up Coach Bolton.
Close up Troy.
Close up Coach Bolton.
Close up Troy.
Close up Coach Bolton.
Close up Troy.
Close up Coach Bolton.
Close up Troy.
Close up Coach Bolton.
Two shot.
Close up Troy.
I found that the shot progression of the scene was straightforward and repetitive as it followed the conversation between Troy and Coach Bolton. It flowed well, relying heavily on reaction shots from Troy. The heavy use of the close up as opposed to – potentially – a mid shot, insinuated the intimacy and intensity involved in the bond between father and son. Funnily enough, I found that the scene made use of six shots overall, like we did for exercise 2b.
In future initiative posts I’d like to perform the same sort of analysis task upon an ‘unscripted’ reality show as well as a more complex film and then compare them all against each other.
On a final note; Writing For Film/Filming For Writing: we’re all in this together.
