Unit 22: Scripting for Media

Fiction and non-fiction media products can have differing pre production requirements that can impact the planning and writing of the script, to achieve an affordable, appropriate and successful product. Fiction Scripts: The Dark Knight Little Miss Sunshine The Hangover The Fugitive Heat Non-Fiction Scripts: Clarkson's Farm Planet Earth 2 Formula 1: Drive to Survive The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping Free Solo General Challenges of Fiction Scripts: - Need to know plot beforehand - Usually can't base it off something  - Don't always know characters or actors General Challenges of Non-Fiction Scripts: - Can't be over or under scripted - If VoiceOver is needed then footage needs to be collected beforehand The Hangover - New Script (Adult Comedy Film): - Script - needs to have compelling story as well as being funny with jokes - Hiring cast - likely to hire actors that typically act in comedic films - Find location and do risk assessments, scouting etc. -...

  Comparison of same news story but different new channels: Key Terms:

  Choose and analyse a film structure: The Dark Knight: Act 1: A gang of masked criminals rob a mafia-owned bank in Gotham City, betraying and killing each other until the sole survivor, the Joker, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. The vigilante Batman, district attorney Harvey Dent, and police lieutenant Jim Gordon ally to eliminate Gotham's organized crime. Batman's true identity, the billionaire Bruce Wayne, publicly supports Dent as Gotham's legitimate protector, as Wayne believes Dent's success will allow Batman to retire, allowing him to romantically pursue his childhood friend Rachel Dawes, despite her relationship with Dent. Gotham's mafia bosses gather to discuss protecting their organizations from the Joker, the police, and Batman. The Joker interrupts the meeting and offers to kill Batman for half of the fortune their accountant, Lau, concealed before fleeing to Hong Kong to avoid extradition. Explanatio...

  'Perfect' Version Change it to black and white Change font (courier) Title and 'by' centred and on different page Characters in caps and indented close to centre Drop dialogue below character and indent not as far Remove colons after characters' names. Use 'O.S' correctly as abbreviation for 'off screen'. Capitalise names when they first appear Add slug line (location) Remove camerawork instructions Different Formatting Layouts: Film: Location, character actions, emotions, dialogue, transitions TV: Audio column, dialogue, character actions, emotions, locations Radio: Dialogue, sound effects, emotions Video game: cutscene dialogue, character action options, choices for dialogues

Modes of Address: Modes of address can be defined as  the ways in which relations between addresser and addressee are constructed in a text.  In order to communicate, a producer of any text must make some assumptions about an intended audience; reflections of such assumptions may be discerned in the text (advertisements offer particularly clear examples of this). Mode  of address This looks at how the media product ‘speaks’ to the audience. This can be categorised in two ways:  informal mode of address  – this is when the language used is informal and chatty (for example, dialogue between characters of the same age or who are equal in status);  formal mode of address  – this is where the language is formal and instructional based. This is used to educate the audience. This could be used in a non-fiction based media product: for example, current affairs programmes.  • Modes of address:  Point of view •As well as formal/informal, ther...

Which media products use scripts? TV programmes - Fiction, News, Scripted reality, Advertising, Unscripted programmes often have scripted elements Films - all types Video Games - Varying types (single player etc) Radio Drama - Continuity announcers, as per television, above Predicting Script Layout: First Thoughts: Assessment Grading Criteria: Analysing and explaining media scripts: Key Terms: