Documentary How to Write a Script – Part 3 - Script Elements – Visual and Sound

Script Elements Story Visuals Sound

The eye of the camera makes reality manageable for the learner. The lens can be a time-machine or a telescope; a magnet or a microscope. Erikson, Carlton and Curl, David (1972). Fundamentals of teaching with Audiovisual Technology. Second Edition. The Macmillan Company. USA. Chapters 1 and 5

Only through visual media may we see what happens to a driver’s body when his car is in collision; or observe the internal workings of a jet aircraft engine. P21 Erikson, Carlton and Curl, David (1972). Fundamentals of teaching with Audiovisual Technology. Second Edition. The Macmillan Company. USA. Chapters 1 and 5

VISUAL ELEMENTS

Visual Elements The Shot The shot is a single ‘take’ on a image.

Visual Elements

The Shot What the image contains is most important - something needs to be happening.

Visual Elements The Shot Action, Action, Action! But not random action. It must have meaning.

Visual Elements The Shot Action, Action, Action! Sometimes the action is through the camera angles, cuts, transitions, etc.

Visual Elements The Sequence The sequence is a collection of shots put together to tell a story.

Visual Elements The Sequence 2 categories: 1. Continuity Sequence - continuing action that ends in a break in time.

Visual Elements The Sequence 2. Compilation Sequence - often called a ‘newsreel sequence’. The shots are tied together by subject, not time.

Visual Elements Every cut is a lie. It’s never that way. Those two shots were never next to each other in time that way. But you’re telling a lie in order to tell the truth. --Wolf Koenig

Visual Elements The Sequence Documentary sequences, for the most part, are observational.

Visual Elements The Documentary Sequence If the film did not record the event, it would still take place.

Visual Elements The Documentary Sequence Sometimes sequences are organized: IE: a filmmaker might organize activists to have a rally and film it. The rally is real, so it is authentic.

Visual Elements Other Visual Elements: The Montage - combining a number of small shots and weaving them together. Odessa stairs scene from Potemkin was first montage.

Visual Elements Other Visual Elements: Talking Heads - includes interviews or people talking directly to the audience on camera. Often experts, people involved in the subject in some form.

Visual Elements Other Visual Elements: Colors, textures & lines - color can be used as symbolism; “grainy” film represents the past; a man walking through lines of columns might appear powerful, while lying down might be submissive or passive.

Visual Elements Other Visual Elements: Archival film footage or photographs. Use of stock news footage or photographs, inserts parts of TV shows or other films

Visual Elements Other Visual Elements: Re-enactment - actors re-enact a scene from real life.

Visual Elements Other Visual Elements: Graphics - Title pages to announce new scenes or ideas, titles that animate onto image

Watch how this short film, Fear Factor, informs the audience while remaining interesting through use of story, visuals, and sound.

The process of creating the soundtrack for the visuals of a film. Since silent films began to talk, filmmakers have been looking to improve the post production of their film. It has become a whole new creative world as people like George Lucas proclaim that "It is 50% of a film.” "Sound Design, Sound Designer, Sound design, Post Production, Audio Design." WILDsound Filmmaking Feedback Events, Film festivals, watch movies, movie review. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan

Sound Elements Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo. - Mary Pickford, silent film star

Sound Elements Sound is as important as the image.

Sound Elements Sound can be manipulated effectively to enhance a film.

Sound Elements Sound, sometimes, can be far more effective than image.

Sound Elements Christian Metz identified 5 channels of information in film, 3 of which are auditory: 1) Visual image 2) Print & other graphics 3) Speech 4) Music 5) Noise

Sound Elements Six types of sound in film: 1) Narrative commentary / Voice over 2) Talking heads 3) Music 4) Ambiance sound 5) Sound effects 6) Silence

Sound Elements Narrative commentary / Voice over Soundtrack commentary that sometimes accompanies a visual

Sound Elements Narrative commentary / Voice over Can be spoken by one or more off-screen commentators (voice over the image)

Sound Elements Narrative commentary / Voice over Easy and effective way to communicate information in a documentary in absence of dialogue between 2 actors

Sound Elements Narrative commentary / Voice over Not the same as talking heads!

Sound Elements Talking Heads Interviews replace narration Comes across as more credible Keeps that “non-fiction” feel

Sound Elements Talking Heads Audience can identify who is talking Filmmaker can cut to visual images while talking head continues talking Audience “knows” the voice and has more empathy

Sound Elements Music Feature films rely heavily on soundtracks - audiences identify with a soundtrack

Sound Elements Music Can enhance moments, create moods, and create cultural flavor. Appeals on an emotional level, creates empathy with event on the screen.

Sound Elements Music Establishes a particular geographical location - think images of rice field with Indian folk music = location is India.

Sound Elements Ambiance - Ambient Sound Naturally present in atmosphere surrounding visual Recorded simultaneously with the visual

Sound Elements Ambiance – Ambient Sound Traditionally was called “noise” Essential to creation of a location atmosphere Gives visual reality and realization of space and time

Sound Elements Ambiance -Ambient Sound Normally used continuously throughout documentary

Sound Elements Sound Effects Any sound that is not speech, music, or ambiance that is artificially injected into the soundtrack Can be a natural sound digitally created or distorted (bird chirping)

Sound Elements Sound Effects Used to enhance subject or mood where ambiance sounds would be at odds with visuals  IE: horses galloping, swords clashing to simulate battle in history while visual shows battlefield today  Helicopter sound when actual helicopter was too far away to record sound  Remember the sound of horses’ hooves clip-clopping at the beginning of The Devil’s Playground?

Sound Elements Silence In the world of film, where everything is deliberate, silence means the filmmaker has chosen to put it there. Lack of sound forces the audience to focus on the visual Can be used to make audience hone in on a visual to the extent that it takes them to suspended or unnatural reality Use this effect VERY sparingly, if at all.