Real World Digital Video, Second Edition

Script Elements and Formats

A script is a written plan for shooting and editing a movie or video. Fiction films, sitcoms, and television spots all follow scripts. Even game and variety shows have scripts for everything but the spontaneous responses of participants.

Generally, any presentation or show longer than a few minutes must be constructed as a sequence of scenes. For each scene, a script must describe four essential elements: setting (the location and time of the scene), characters (actors or interview subjects), action (what the audience will see), and dialogue (what the characters will say).

SETTING: In a script, the description of a location, including whether action takes place exterior (outdoors) or interior (indoors), and whether ...