We all know that film scripts have a very standardized format, and for a good reason. Yet stumbling upon works of writers who bend the rules to visually communicate tone, rhythm, and emotion on the page is fascinating. Fun! That’s what I felt when I first encountered the mind-blowing writing of “The Substance.” How can the form of a screenplay express its content and style? When is unconventional script formatting particularly powerful? This is an interesting topic to discuss. It’s also a controversial one. A few threads that I found on “Reddit” (like this one, for example) show that there are at least two sides in this battle. The first one is strongly against unconventional script formatting. They believe that it could annoy the reader, and no one would volunteer to make such a film (unless you are famous – but even then, you can’t take all the liberty in the world). Also, in their opinion, it is better to stick to the words and leave the visuals to the director. On the other hand, some see screenwriting as an art form on its own, so why don’t we make scripts fun to read? Personally, I’m somewhere in between. I think we should mostly stick to convention, yet there should also be a place for creative exploration. If it serves the story, go for it! For the sake of inspiration, let’s look at several powerful examples below. Regular script formatting – why? Before we discuss unconventional script formatting, let’s first...
Published By: CineD - 2 days ago