How Much Directing should be included in a video script? (page 2)
See the Story in your Mind First
Far from decrying directing on paper, I recommend the practice as a sure means for you to become totally involved in the production, of turning all of your creative senses into the look, the feel and the impact of the program. You have to play the program in your head in the writing stage before you play it before cameras. Before you can direct on paper, before you imagine, before you visualize, you have to do your research and not only on the subject matter. Chances are your production will be shot on location. It is of tremendous help if you know the lay of the land for exteriors, the sizes and shapes of building interiors.
Take a Trip
If at all possible, the writer should tour the area, inside and out, where the program will be shot. Once familiar with each locale, you then tailor imagination to reality. Sometimes, site scouting is a problem, especially if the program involves travel to a distant location. The budget may not allow for an in-person visit. Even so, it is important to get some idea of what the place or places will look like Get a detailed description by phone, mail or e-mail. Ask someone with a consumer video camera to scan the areas for you. Even still photography prints will do. Ask for existing photographs, or ask a contact to shoot some for you. You might tell the contact to shoot a panoramic view - the edge of one picture starting where another ends.
Hone Your Skills: Be Part of the Support Staff
One final thought: it is essential for any scriptwriter to know his or her trade. I've directed scripts by other writers, including a very few who obviously didn't know the mechanics of the business. This ends up with the director rewriting the script to make it playable, and that takes a lot of time and effort that rightfully was the responsibility of the writer. A writer doesn't have to be a camera operator, a lighting expert, or a sound or video engineer, but it helps greatly to know what production people do. I think it's a fine idea for a fledgling writer to work on a crew - to help put daylight gel on exterior windows, to log scenes and takes, to help rig lights, to push the dolly - whatever it takes to get the feel of the process of production. Then, when you write your script, call upon that knowledge to incorporate your production experience into the program.
Not everyone will agree to the concept of directing on paper. Naysayers will tell you that a film or video production is a director's medium and screen directions should be indicative rather than specific. I don't entirely agree. To me, the program begins with the writer's vision and especially so if you're also the director.
As you continue your career, you'll learn to adapt your writing style to the situation required by the client and production personnel. While you're getting there, as you learn to think pictorially, putting those images on paper is a great help in training yourself to become a great scriptwriter. Try it - you'll like it.
Jerry S. Drake is a retired writer-director and an author of western novels.
