ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 9 months ago - Marlom Tander

It's your story, you tell it how you see it, in general terms. I have one that started "it's a lego animation...".

What you should avoid is "close up here", "camera pans out and away".

You are entitled to say things that help get your point across, but should avoid technical details or dogamatism. For example I think that when you say "animation or puppetry" you are trying to say that "the visual style changes to show that we are in a non real world". Be prepared for a producer to say "not in the budget" and the director to say "I can do that with filters".

8 years, 9 months ago - Andrew X. Fleming

I'm no expert but I think when you're just at the writing phase you have to just approach it as you telling someone about a really great story. Don't let anything get in the way of making the story clear, fun and enjoyable. If someone then wants to make it and the wording etc needs to be changed then so be it. Just my two cents.

8 years, 9 months ago - David Roberts

I think I just have this idea of puppetry/stop-motion in may head connected with fairy tales and story telling, but I just want to be clear I'm not trying to dictate to someone who has a potential vision for it. I'll probably change to something like Marlom suggested. Thank you both.

8 years, 9 months ago - Nicholas Horwood

I think "ANIMATED SEQUENCE:" is the usual way of introducing a scene like that. It's less vague than "Authour's note: etc", but still doesn't dictate whether it should be 2D, 2D animation, stop-motion etc.

8 years, 9 months ago - Adam Ethan Crow

Never ever; unless you are mates with the director. Smacks of amateur.

8 years, 9 months ago - Paul W Franklin

I disagree with Adam ^^

It's unusual, but you get the odd thing like this in films, e.g. Kill Bill (i think) switches to a Japanese-style animation for a scene.
My advice would be this:

Don't 'suggest' it. Just write it.
It's YOUR script, you're writing it. If you want a puppet scene or animation then just put it in (like Nicholas advises). You're the boss. The reader can picture it how they like in their head, maybe the director will offer another idea... Just be positive. Putting an 'author's note' takes the reader's attention away from the story, and suggests you're not really sure what you're writing.

P.

8 years, 9 months ago - David Roberts

Thank you all for your advice. Most helpful.

8 years, 9 months ago - Andy Conway

Let's be clear about this. There's a big difference between writing camera directions in your script and writing in a technical feature that is crucial to the telling of the story.

You are the writer. You are the author. A director is merely the hired hand who is there to interpret the story you have written and deliver the film that everyone involved in the collaboration agrees upon. A dozen different directors will have a dozen different takes on any story. But if this story demands to be a mix of live action and animation then you are the one to say so.

Any director could walk onto the Pleasantville set and say, 'Nah, it's going to be all colour, guys.' But they'd be a fool, and totally going beyond their remit, which is to realise the vision of the writer.