Script Analysis

I tried looking for scripts for music videos however I was unable to find any so I used a script from the film 'Almost Famous' from the year 2000. It is a short section containing the first three scenes.










Almost Famous:






1 FADE IN 1
A close-shot of a yellow legal tablet. A young hand comes
into frame, holding a pencil. For a few moments, we hear only
the soft scratching of pencil on paper, as credits are written
in a series of dissolves. The hand carefully erases and
corrects an error or two along the way. And then the sound of
an old friend... the warm crackle of a vinyl record... as we
now hear Alvin and the Chipmunks' "Christmas Song."

2 EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN -- DAY 2

A lone palm tree rises up into a yellow afternoon sky. Behind
it, the sparkling blue of the Pacific Ocean and the city of
San Diego. A dry, hot Southern California day. Even the wind
is lazy, and a little bored.






3 EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING CENTER - DAY 3 Santa Claus wears shorts and sandals, ringing a bell as he collects for the Salvation Army. This is Christmas in the South land. No snow, no winter wonderland. Just a pleasantly thick heat and an unchanging season, as music continues. Turning the corner, walking into frame is ELAINE MILLER, 35. She is a tall woman, consumed by the fevered conversation she's Having with her pale young son WILLIAM, late pre-teens. They stand apart from the other shoppers.










Above is the small section of the script showing the first two scenes in the film. It starts by stating what transition is used at the very beginning of the film which is a fade in. This then leads to the start of the first scene. The scene starts with a close up it then goes on to describe everything within the shot/frame that will be seen/heard on screen for example 'the warm crackle of a vinyl record'.






Moving on to scene two, still no scripted lines for actors yet just more description of what will be seen/heard. Using the script along with the storyboard will help to create the image before it is actually filmed.






Finally in scene three we are introduced to the characters. Scene three contains descriptions of actors movements and how they look. Including this information in the script instead of just lines is helpful for anyone who is involved in the filming. When looking at the script I choose the first three scenes as they included information on transitions and shots and was descriptive of what is in the shot/frame. I didn't think that I needed to pick scenes which contained a lot of dialogue as in the music video there isn't going to be a lot of dialogue.