Conventions of scripts across multiple sectors
Film script
Style
The script is written in the perspective of the narrator; therefore, this script reads more akin to a story that the audience is being told, however since this is through the perspective of a character this means the audience cannot fully trust the narrator, who is in fact never named throughout the film, however in the script he is referred to as jack, this could be symbolic as to the phrase ‘jack of all trades’ which implies that he is skilled in multiple different jobs however not solidified in one which foreshadows later on in the film which is an interesting easter egg, the fact that the narrator is Tyler Durden in hinted in the capitalization of his name compared to jacks making him seem less significant.
The juxtaposition between the character descriptions,’ Tyler is blond, handsome’ and ‘Jack, brunette, is appealing in a dry sort of way’ the disparity between the two characters is further solidified by the point I had made earlier regarding to the capitalization of Tyler's name making him seem more important within the first line, since there is a conflict occurring in the first few lines it further shows that Tyler has the power in this scene compared to jack who isn't granted his strength and masculinity.
I find it interesting that throughout the script Tyler and jack have the same amount of dialogue however the things that Tyler says are very meaningful and impactful these speeches often have very stoic undertones.
Content
The basic elements of the script are all there, we see as the scene begins with a transition and we are introduced to the character ‘jack’ as he narrates his current situation, I do think the fact we are not instantly introduced to an action line is a very unique choice since we are usually used to seeing an introduction as to what will happen as it is important for the actors and the rest of the crew so I do think this was done so Edward Norton had more creative liberty during the scene.
The scripts action lines tend to be very descriptive towards the look of the actors rather than the actions in which they are supposed to carry out which implies the action appearance of the film holds more meaning than how they act something out; I do know that for a few scenes a lot of improv was used so this supports that further.
This film structure is very interesting as it is non-linear, it opens on a flash forward and then leads up to the events that occur later on, and then at the end we get insight into what had happened during the narrative in order to get to the final scene which keeps the audience attentive, this film is very unique in the way it is structured as we start at the end of the film and then slowly work our way into how jack has gotten into this predicament ,this allows us as an audience to stay interested in the narrative.
Narrative structure
This film still follows a 3-point structure in the exposition we are introduced to the main character jack who is suffering from insomnia, he commonly attends support groups to relieve himself on this insomnia.
The inciting incident is Marla singer arriving and this means that jack can no longer sleep therefore this sets the conflict for the film.
The first plot point is set when Tyler Durden arrives, soon after jacks building can be seen exploding, this sets up the adventure jack/the narrator and his alter ego Tyler are about to embark on, the following scene includes Tyler and jack fighting outside of a bar and it is there they decide to start fight club
The rising action of fight club is when Tyler and jack decide to move into a house on paper street, and so fight club officially begins. Jack has a fight with Marla in their kitchen, and jack gets a call from the police explaining that it was blown up with dynamite rather than a faulty pilot jet.
The midpoint occurs when Tyler chooses to take control of people's lives and he holds a store clerk at gunpoint, telling him to pursue his dreams otherwise he will be killed however it can be argued another midpoint is when Tyler burns jacks' hand, and he officially hits rock bottom.
Plot point two starts when Tyler has now curated fight club into project mayhem, a terrorist organization, here Tyler pays his boss in turn for his silence.
Build up is when jack realises he's been left out of the loop on project mayhem this causes him to get upset. Meanwhile the organization sets out to create terror by breaking property to kickstart their plan. Bob is then killed when a security guard shoots him in the back of the head.
The climax consists of jack's realisation that he is in fact Tyler Durden. He also realises that project mayhem's goal is to blow up all credit card companies to destroy society as we know it.
Finale consists of jack and Tyler waiting for the bombs to go off, jack realises that because he's responsible he is also in control. Jack shoots himself to get rid of Tyler Durden and watches the buildings burn with Marla.
Genre
This film is a collection of action, thriller, drama, dark comedy and crime. This film beautifully meshes each element and curates them into a well written and unique take on all these genres.
Meaning
The reason I love this film so much is because of the extreme polysemic nature of it, at basis the film is a clever commentary on the masculinity of men during 1990 and fight club is about reclaiming this masculinity while being able to create a new identity for yourself through this, Tyler Durden is not only the personification of the narrators need to recreate himself in order to reclaim his power but he also has a very stoic and self-destructive view on life itself, therefore at its most surface level Tyler displays absurdist, nihilistic and stoicist views ,he is the embodiment of choosing to live life at its fullest, this can be seen in the scene that he olds the store manager at gunpoint telling him to pursue his dreams as a veterinarian ,here we see him playing god and we see his egotistical nature in full force, the whole overarching idea is the idea of letting go being independent of your material possessions as they could go at any moment (we see this when he burns his house down)therefore he perpetuates this by turning the fight club which originally was created in order to liberate men into something corrupt and more so in order to feed into his ego(project mayhem)in which he now was a sort of cult leader and god, which now deterioration the whole reason why fight club was created, this now represents the narrators lack of security and ownership of his life.
It is argued that fight club celebrates men's violence however I do not think this is the case, I more so think it commentates on how when men feel lost, they have no choice but to resort to a very primitive and aggressive state as stereotypes typically expect them to be and I think the point of this element was to tell men that they need to find healthy ways to cope, as at the end we can see that jacks ego had finally caught up to him and in turn destroyed his life Tyler Durden believes that ‘it's only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything’ which mirrors when jack/the narrator says ‘I found freedom, losing all hope was freedom.’ which kind of shows how the narrator has always had this ideology and shows that he was purely just afraid of expressing this as he was still holding on to his material items, he had mostly however emotionally detached himself, Tyler's whole philosophy was on destroying ego in order to reach true freedom.
Many people dislike the film because of its misogynistic undertones such as Tyler saying, ‘we don’t need another woman’ and is highlighted with his mistreatment of Marla however later we see the narrator's caring nature towards Marla which more so tells us he is afraid of his femininity or more so fails to understand himself, bob also shows this as he not only is a personification of his support groups but also a commentary on jacks confusion about his gender as the juxtaposition of bobs body builder past versus his very soft and weak emotional nature heightened by his feminine breasts shows how jack battles with the preservation of his self-identity while still feeling all of these emotions.
This leads on to another commonly missed part of fight club which is Tyler's fear and coping of his testicular cancer, I believe this is why bob is the only one who jack could cry with and therefore cure his insomnia, this could symbolise the comfort he finds in his discomfort, this would also explain the seemingly random cancer references and the scene in the police station.
Target audience
The target audience seems to be predominantly male; these are for the escapists and those who want to break out of their boring corporate lifestyles therefore aimed towards middle aged men looking to rebel and ‘stick it to the man’ this would appeal to the struggler, who is looking for a means to improve their life and find their self-identity through the film.
Script format breakdown
Second film script
Style
This script opens differently, as it directs the film to start with a blank screen and text, this would be carried out by the editing department, the script is very straight forward and the movie doesn’t seem to deviate from this as we get a voice over from Brian which is carried out exactly the same within the movie, Brian seems to have the narrative voice within this script in the beginning and I think this was the writers way of conveying Brian’s need for perfection, through opening the story through his eyes, we are inclined to trust him, he has control, which is reflected in his personality and his need for perfection however it can also be argued that this is also a moment of control as he doesn’t complete the essay properly and deviates what the principle had wanted, showing his personal growth, this script opens backwards, as we are introduced to the end of the movie and work backwards.(much like fight club)we have the preconceived notions of who we are going to meet ‘ a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal.’ However, we know not to judge them from their titles. The script follows a very neat and traditional script style, it is simplistic and has all of the elements of a typical script including action lines, slug lines and so forth.
Content
As I've mentioned the script starts from the end and works up to the beginning, therefore the script is non-linear, it gives us a rough idea of what to expect while still not giving us a lot of details about what will happen in between, the basic elements of a script are there, however this script includes the transitions which is typical but is usually seen within the storyboards.
Narrative structure
The exposition of the script introduces to a high school where 5 students are in detention and the following stereotypes are addressed:
‘’the brain’’-brain Jhonson
‘’the athlete’’ Andrew Clark
‘’the basket case’’ Allison Sheedy
‘’the princess’’ Claire standish
‘’the criminal’’ Jhon Bender
The inciting incident is when they arrive in detention and their principle makes them write an essay on who they are, what they did wrong and why they did that.
The first plot point occurs when personalities clash and nobody gets along, john is constantly trying to taunt each of them, especially Claire, they all therefore build a gross opinion of john, he then tries to unscrew something and the principle comes back because of the noise however everybody still covers for john, showing unity.
The rising action consists of john continuing to taunt his classmates, Andrew sticks up for them wrestling john to the ground, john however reminds them why he is the ‘’criminal’’ and pulls out a switchblade later in that scene john makes fun of Brian’s meal, mocking what he imagines to be his perfect life at home. Andrew sticks up for Brian and forces John to imitate his own family. John does and reveals how abusive his father is. Andrew doesn’t believe him, so John shows him a burn mark on his arm.
The midpoint is when the students leave the library and go to john's locker, he grabs pot while the group is unaware, they attempt to sneak back into their detention without the principle knowing, john distracts the principle while the rest of them escape.
The second plot point consists of the principle brining john back and embarrassing him, attacking his character by saying he will probably be imprisoned in 5 years, continuing to scream in his face and then locking him in a closet for the rest of his detention, the principle even attempts to fight john, but john is aware of what he is trying to do so he does not fight back.
The build-up consists of john escaping by climbing through a vent, loudly falling through the ceiling however he hides under Claire's table, and nobody gives him up, they proceed to smoke together.
The climax involves the students confiding in each other of their deepest and darkest secrets, Brian admits about his growing want to commit suicide due to mounting pressure. They all then discuss the mounting pressure they feel by their parents and then they discuss how they don't want to end up like them.
The finale closes with the students discovering how much they have in common with each other and all initial judgment is gone, Claire and john, Andrew and Allison each couple together and they leave detention with a better understanding of themselves and each other.
Genre
Coming of age, drama
Meaning
At surface level the breakfast club is a commentary about how children are labelled by certain characteristics and the first impression they make among peers and students however when you delve deeper you discover that these children have more going on than what meets the eye, this is also presented through their caricatures of these common prejudices and stereotypes, I also believe the message is that children are confused about who they should be and therefore that may cause them to act in a brash Mannor, as we can see a key example of this would be Brian as he is seen as ‘nerdy’ and sensible however when offered drugs he is the first one to actually go through with this, showing how his self-identity isn't solidified and if it is, the effects are quite often negative, as the whole reason why Brian was in detention in the first place was because he had a flare gun in his locker that went off however what they didn't know is that he was planning on committing suicide, showing how authority figures can quite commonly overlook issues with students and assume it's because for a negative reason, I would also like to point out the fact that Brian being named that in the script was to show how his label of ‘the brain’ is his self-prophesised personality as Brian rearranged is brain further delving into the negative stereotypes caused by labelling.
The fact that all these characters find unlikely friends within each other can symbolise how cliques within school can often pit people against each other, however at the end of the day we are all the same and therefore in reality there is no reason for all of the hostility and aggression and as the script states at the end, we can find each one of these characters within us.
Target audience
School students who are still discovering who they are, or troubled youth in general.
Tv script
Fifteen million merits (black mirror) DOWNLOAD PDF
Style
This script is broken down into a teleplay and transcript, the way Charlie Brooker writes is quite comedic but very specific when giving action lines, such as saying ‘I'm not kidding about this being a tiny room', suggesting to the props team that this is mandatory to create the point that he needed to portray his message, in this case it was done to reflect the inhumane living conditions that the lower classes are subjected to, teleplays are very different from traditional scripts in the sense that they are structured more vigorously and go into detail about the scene, while still helpful for the actors it more caters to the directors and the prop, lighting crew, this tv show is more like an anthology therefore there will not be much continuity however the black screen start with the logo is a consistency within all seasons and episodes, however they do reference other episodes such as symbols or props from them as easter eggs for avid fans,
as you can see Charlie Brooker has specific directions for the logo therefore this is helpful for the editing team as it gives them specific information on how to edit the scene and this is also helpful for the director as it allows them to know what the scene should look like.
Compared to the teleplay the dialogue script is much more concise it more so details the time stamps everything is said, and the music that will play at these times, the dialogue transcript does not detail any characters, action lines or slug lines.
Content
This type of script is unique and therefore I would refrain from saying all the basic elements of the script are there, I would say this script is more constructed for the editors and those constructing the film and less for the actors even though there are elements that do include them such as the specifics in how they interact with the scene.
The dialogue lines have been followed very exactly and this also applies to the directions specifying the camera work and so has the set that Charlie Brooker has described, showing his very clear vision for how this show should play out, in the dialogue script there are numbers indicating every single scene cut.
As you can observe the teleplay ends up reading more akin to a story as there is very specific and detailed, Charlie Brooker is very tedious, he often directs every episode himself and he only allows one other person Joel Collins take charge of his ideas therefore this explains his very specific nature when it comes to his scripts.
Narrative structure
The episode follows a traditional 3-point structure, in the exposition we can see Bing in a tightly enclosed space with screens plastered all around the room, we learn that they have currency called merits that are very important to their society.
The inciting incident is when he notices Abi during his exercise, and he is quick to encourage her to encourage her to go on the x-factor style called hot shots.
The first plot point sets in when Bing decides to purchase tickets for her which are worth 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 merits. After some consideration he decides to spend this money on her which takes almost all his merits.
The second major plot point arises when Bing decides to accompany Abi to her audition, she impresses the judges however they say she is simply above average and suggest to her that she would be better off as an adult star, she reluctantly agrees.
The buildup consists of Bing finally getting tired of this system and so he decides to work harder in order get more merits in order to claim justice over the way that people in this dystopia are treated.
The climax consists of Bing threatening to kill himself on stage while performing an unplanned speech to the judges on shot hot, expressing his hate for the judges and the system he's apart of, instead of listening to him, they applaud and offer him his own show where he can rant about the system.
The finale consists of Bing accepting the offer, turning his speech into a gimmick and a commodity. He now lives in a penthouse like cell much bigger than his last one.
Genre
The genre of this episode is a dystopian fiction, SCI-FI and drama which talks about the capitalist nature of society and the negative effects that it can bring.
Meaning
At its core black mirror is an anthology on how media and technology can easily be corrupted if humans were to take it far enough and chose to play god, and the interesting thing about this show is that scarily a lot of these theories have already started to come about in the real world, however this episode talks about the exploitation of the lower classes by the upper class and how the media can further perpetuate this happening doing nothing but support this concept, it talks about the functionalist views of meritocracy and explains perfectly why this is unrealistic and how society often overlooks other sectors of people such as minorities and how gender impacts success ,the lower classes in this show are reflected by the ‘fat cleaners’ who are treated badly and talked down to by the working class, they very much in the same situation the working class still find ways to feed off of the misery of those lower than, this commentates the very ‘dog eat dog’ nature of the class system, the year this episode is based in 2023-2025 and it was written in 2011,this is a very impressive prediction of this and unfortunately this is definitely still continuing.
Throughout the episode we are told about the character Selma, she exists as a beacon of hope that the lower class idolise, as she is marketed as somebody who was just like them however she had broken through the struggles of being lower class and found a way to be successful despite this however she is the only one who is shown to have succeeded ,this was a deceitful way to keep the lower class working in a state of false class consciousness, believing that they could be gifted the chance of success however we know that it is definitely a false promise as only one person is representation for this, this mirrors how the media feeds us people just like us who made it big in society in order to keep us working for a system that barely gives anything back to us
A key theme in this episode is how the media can corrupt people and how easy it is for them to trade something pure, innocent and meaningful for something evil and evil, just for the pursuit of gaining popularity and fame, most usually to appear more grandiose than others, an example of this would be Bing’s speech, he claims ‘and the faker the fodder is the more you love it because fake fodders the only thing that works anymore, fake fodder is all that we can stomach.’ which means essentially that people consume things that do nothing but they are given fake meanings so it feels more meaningful, suggesting that in society we need to stop participating in consumerism.
Target audience
The target audience would be the reformer and the aspirer, this would originally attract them because it aligned with their way of thinking however Charlie Brooker attracts this audience to chastise them and make them realise how destructive their ideologies are. This is targeted towards who work and feel tired of the repetitive structure of it.
Second tv script example
Style
This script is only slightly conventional as it carries the basic elements of a script however having a single character speak is not usually how scripts, the style of writing is seemingly comedic and slow paced, this is somewhat informal, showing how comfortable he feels while talking about his mother. However, a lot of punctuation is used so the voice actor knows to break it down when delivering the lines.
Content
The script contains the basic elements of a script, we have parts which would include sounds to be inserted and slug lines, this is an animated tv show so I would assume the script is more detailed.
Narrative structure
The exposition is a flashback of a younger BoJack waiting outside his football club, obviously waiting for a while his father arrives late and continues to talk badly about his mother.
The inciting incident is BoJack's description of getting a free churro in the morning after telling a worker his mum died after she asks how his day was, he continues to make surface level commentary about her.
The first plot point takes place when he starts to unpack himself and his mother's relationship, he creates fake stories about her to make her seem like a great person and then reveals it was untrue showing her neglectful nature.
The second plot point is him unpacking the phrase ‘’ I see you’’ in her last moments which drives the main conflict for the episode as he searches for the meaning behind that, delving into his abusive father's relationship with him.
The build-up is when he talks about how his whole family was messed up and therefore, they all understood each other and eh concludes that this is what his mother must have meant.
The climax is when he realises that she was reading ‘’intensive care unit’’ because that's where they were, and now he states that his mum is dead, and everything is worst now as he will never get to discover what she truly meant.
The finale is when BoJack realises he isn't even giving the eulogy at the right funeral, which to me personally didn't matter because the whole episode was more so about BoJack getting closure for himself.
Genre
Dark comedy, psychological drama
Meaning
This episode is absolutely beautiful, it is a perfect commentary on loss and how unresolved relationships can cause you to look for closure wherever you can get it, I think this whole episode being a soliloquy on BoJack's thoughts and feelings is masterful and raw and gives further insight to BoJack's dynamic between him and Beatrice, we get to see how hurt he is by his mother while also seeing how dependent that has made him toward her, looking for validation from her in order to prove to himself that he is worth something, I think this episode was masterful in the way they explained the complexities of family. We open with a scene of BoJack's relatively absent father grumbling about Beatrice in a very obviously misogynistic and demeaning tone, telling BoJack that he ultimately cannot rely on women, as he proclaims “it’s just that you can’t depend on women. You can’t depend on anyone. Sooner or later, you need to learn that no one else is going to take care of you. That’s what I learned when I had to make my own sandwich. You can’t rely on other people, BoJack.”, which gives us show of the patriarchal expectations of butterscotch, a woman is expected to be a housewife, and when that isn’t fulfilled they are devalued and seen as useless, while butterscotch views himself as some sort of hero showing the warped principles being instilled into BoJack, while he also tends to pity Beatrice, creating further self-conflict to BoJack. As we delve into the eulogy BoJack describes their relationship, he coats his words with humour as he speaks on a very surface level about his mother although as viewers of the show we know we are aware that their relationship is complicated and messy, this can be mirrored through the script itself as it is a continuous stream of thoughts from BoJack attempting to unpack their relationship, however I think this represents how BoJack wishes to repress the actual nature of their relationship as it is unpleasant and hard to talk about, I would also like to talk about how the eulogy was less about Beatrice and more about BoJack unpacking the complexity of their relationship, as he states “All three of us were drowning, and we didn’t know how to save each other, but there was an understanding that we were all drowning together” showing he felt comfort in knowing that they were all suffering together, this show has many references to water and the idea of drowning as in season 3 episode 11 Ana spanakopita had said “there are going to be times when you’ll see someone in trouble. You’re going to want to rush in there and do whatever to save them, but you have to stop yourself. Because there are some people you can’t save. Cause people will thrash and struggle and try to take you down with them” and this show is very intentional so I feel that this was a wider commentary on how broken homes can really effect an individual and how broken individuals can then go on to feed off of each other’s sadness therefore they feel less alone, in other words the abused becomes the abusers and I’d also like to link this to a quote where BoJack states “sometimes I feel like I was born with a leak, and any goodness I started with spilled out of me, and now it’s all gone. And I’ll never get it back in me” which is more water or liquid imagery discussing how hopelessness can consume you, water carries so much symbolism, from being something mandatory that people need to survive, to symbolising overbearing sadness and or transformation which I just think is so clever and beautiful as it really symbolises the whole shows foundation on the realities of Hollywood as i feel that in a lot of aspects of the show there happens to be a semantic field of drowning in Hollywood, I feel like it also represents feeling lost or consumed by fame, symbolising once you're too deep in there is no getting out however it is also a metaphor for BoJack's trauma, and this is why in this one episode of BoJack horseman when he had to go to the undersea movie premier for Philbert he can be seen as uneasy at the beginning but he eases into finding some kind of hope or ‘redemption’ it can also symbolise baptism and that there is a way to bounce back. In regard to the script the length of the characters soliloquy represents the complex thoughts that people can have and how unpacking those difficult relationships like that can take a lot of time.
Target audience
The whole show I would say is targeted towards everyone, I guess we could more so say troubled middle-aged men or those with mental health issues as the representation is very cleverly done, however I would say that it perfectly accommodates a 15+ audience.
Radio script
Style
Radio scripts are different as there are no visuals therefore this script focuses on adding sounds and dialogue, therefore it does not have all the conventional parts of a script as there is no need for slug lines and action lines, because this is a radio script it is also drastically shorter than a traditional script.
As you can see compared to a traditional script the text is not centred, perhaps because it a radio script it doesn’t need to be very concise detailing towards different departments unlike film or tv this would mostly be helpful to the editing department.
Content
This script mostly just has audio cues for the editing team suggested by the effects slug line, this script reads like a story since it is radio, the story follows somebody who discovers somebody in their cabin explained by the narrator.
Narrative structure
The exposition is the narrator introducing himself as he is quickly disrupted by something.
The inciting incident point consists of the character finding somebody in the cabins bunk that he doesn't know, and the person won't wake up, so the scared narrator decides to leave the cabin immediately.
The first plot point is the guy deciding that he needs to leave and so he has caught a train and called the police.
The second plot point consists of the police arriving and finding out that there is nobody at the cabin and nobody in the top bunk, therefore he goes back to the cabin and sleeps.
The buildup is when there is repetition of the start and the invader seems to be back, however it is revealed this time he is six years old, and it is revealed the person is his dead dad that he is trying to wake up.
The finale concludes with him crying as we seem to cut back to the present and being arrested as he has disturbed the polices time after he tries to attack them after they've said they can't find anyone.
Genre
This is a drama, comedy, tragedy and a fiction.
Meaning
This radio script was so confusing however the meaning couple probably be that dealing with grief at times is confusing and non sensical and hard to process as could somehow be mirrored by the non-linear structure.
Target audience
People who like to escape through media.
EVALUATION
The formats all mostly have a title and the basic elements, but some scripts tend to include the time stamps for when things are said and when music needs to be introduced, this is more commonly seen in tv shows as opposed to film, I would assume it's because tv series need to be more thought out and organised in order to maximise the amount of time for production.
I found that radio tends to have a different format vs television for example, usually a script will have a centred text however radio has a typical left-handed format looking more like a story and tv also seems to be more detailed,especially when in regard to slug lines, many of the scripts tend to look akin to paragraphs.
I think the most effective scripts are film, this is because they don't typically stray from a different structure and give just enough description for the team to know what they are doing every time while tv scripts can be very versatile depending on what the idea is, I especially like the fight club script as it was very descriptive and direct but also easy if the actors decided they wanted to give their own flare as it is easy to work roughly around,this script also describes what the visuals for certain characters should include.
I think the least effective script was radio as it seemed kind of confusing and could easily be improvised.
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