Quote: Marc P @ October 23 2010, 10:01 PM BSTWell I am for one more confused?
Go take a shower. That'll clear everything up.
Scripting a daydream sequence Page 4
Quote: Tim Azure @ October 22 2010, 11:29 PM BST1)Did the script say 'DREAM SEQUENCE' just before he got killed in "Dallas"? 2)Writers mislead their audience all the time, why should a script be any different?
1)Probably and 2) because scripts ARE different.
RE: the dream sequence - a large group of writers would have discussed what was going to happen for about a month beforehand - at no stage would anyone have been suprised or mislead - apart from when one crazy bloke said - " What if it was all a dream?".
The ONLY people who should be suprised are the eventual audience.
[A group of people you as a screenwriter never speak directly to]
Everyone else should know exactly what's going on.
When you pitch an idea to someone, you tell them everything - what happens, how it ends, what the 'twist is - spoilers galore.
Go in there and say " If you want to know what happens, you'll have to make it" and see how far you get.
Sorry to bang on - but people come here for information/advice and you are just plain wrong on this.
You are NOT writing for your eventual audience.
A script is not a novel - it's a piece of technical writing aimed at an industry professional.
It's an incredibly important difference.
Surely a dream sequence means a new location, in which case it's a new scene.
I'd treat it similar to a flashback sequence, i.e. cutting to a new scene. Or perhaps DISSOLVE TO:
So it might be something along the lines of:
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. LOCATION - DAY (DREAM SEQUENCE)
Scene action here blah blah.
Quote: Lazzard @ October 24 2010, 9:51 AM BST1)Probably (that the script said DREAM SEQUENCE in it).
You're probably younger than you look, Lazzard (you're probably also not a typewriter) but Bobby Ewing remained dead for about a year before they decided that it was all a dream, and they only did that because they felt killing him was a big mistake-so it is extremely unlikely the words 'DREAM SEQUENCE' featured in the script.
Quote: Tim Azure @ October 24 2010, 3:14 PM BSTYou're probably younger than you look, Lazzard (you're probably also not a typewriter) but Bobby Ewing remained dead for about a year before they decided that it was all a dream, and they only did that because they felt killing him was a big mistake-so it is extremely unlikely the words 'DREAM SEQUENCE' featured in the script.
Well yes, because that was a decision made later, at the time they just killed him.
Quote: Tim Azure @ October 24 2010, 3:14 PM BSTYou're probably younger than you look, Lazzard (you're probably also not a typewriter) but Bobby Ewing remained dead for about a year before they decided that it was all a dream, and they only did that because they felt killing him was a big mistake-so it is extremely unlikely the words 'DREAM SEQUENCE' featured in the script.
Sadly plenty old enough to have been around - just wasn't into soaps, so forgive my ignorance!
If what you say is true, then the reason it didn't say DREAM SEQUENCE is because it wasn't.
Sort of proving my point for me , there.
@Mickey - not always, though - hence need for indication in the script. Plenty of times you see a character 'imagining' doing something (usually bold or out of character) in a scene, only to come back to 'reality' to see that he did no such thing.
Some sort of indication in the SP (DEAM SEQUENCE/FANTASY SEQUENCE etc)would be vital, I should have thought.
EDIT
@Mickey again. 'dissolve to, can be tricky!
Technically it's a camera direction ie your telling the director how you want that bit to 'look'.
I'm quite guilty of this bit it's one of those things that we're 'meant' to go a bit easy on.
DREAM SEQUENCE, though, like FLASHBACK and MONTAGE describes action - part of the writers remit.
Ah, I see. Never realised that the "dissolve to" bit was a no-no.
So how would one write, say, a piece where you see barely a few seconds of a flashback/though/whatever, e.g. a memory returning, where we see a tiny snippet?
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ October 24 2010, 7:39 PM BSTAh, I see. Never realised that the "dissolve to" bit was a no-no.
So how would one write, say, a piece where you see barely a few seconds of a flashback/though/whatever, e.g. a memory returning, where we see a tiny snippet?
No-no might be a bit strong - I think the Yanks get crosser than us Brits
It's a bit like describing cuts or fades - it's deemed more of an aesthetic/directorial choice.
If it's a flash-back ie something that has happened in the past, however short, FLASHBACK, followed by END FLASHBACK is the way forward.
As to how you'd do the kind of Reggie Perrin 'Mother-in-Law as Hippo' sort of flash-frame, I don't know.(Are the original scripts available? The after-the-event ones are generally useless.)
Tempted to go with FLASHFRAME - but it is sort of straying into stylistic
choices again...
It's really hard sometimes - when you know exactly how you want it shot - not to dictate it in the SP.
If you can avoid it though, do.
Personally, I'm a devil for suggesting soundtrack/songs.
This REALLy winds some people up.
It's a bloody tightrope, I tell you.
Quote: Tim Azure @ October 24 2010, 3:14 PM BSTYou're probably younger than you look, Lazzard (you're probably also not a typewriter) but Bobby Ewing remained dead for about a year before they decided that it was all a dream, and they only did that because they felt killing him was a big mistake-so it is extremely unlikely the words 'DREAM SEQUENCE' featured in the script.
Yes, good point Tim.
I'm writing a sequence where a character dreamily remembers that optimistic night in 1997 when New Labour came to power. Is it OK to syntax it as a 'D:REAM SEQUENCE'...?
Thank you and goodnight!
(Ingrates. 
)
Certainly after that last post things can only get better.
Whatever happened to D:Ream?
Quote: chipolata @ October 25 2010, 10:28 AM BSTWhatever happened to D:Ream?
They probably split up due to being a one hit 'wonder' fifteen years ago. And one of them went on to being that young scientist guy who's on TV these days presenting sciencey shows.
Quote: chipolata @ October 25 2010, 10:28 AM BSTWhatever happened to D:Ream?
The lead singer is a respected scientist. I read a recent Guardian article with him and Stephen Hawking having a chat about the cosmos. For real.
Fair play to D:Ream, that's the only song I can think of that is so closely connected with a General Election victory. And by extension a chunk of history.