Understanding script work
- 1. Radio Script: The Things We Never Said Style: This script was made for a radio drama, and the difference between this and the script for a TV show episode or a film is clear in the small snippet seen here. Instead of describing what actions the actors/actresses need to take ina scene like afilm or TV show script, the radio drama’s script instead describes the music and sound effects required for a scene, in order to add atmosphere tothe moment: due to the lack of visualsinradiodramas,the sound effects and music take the place of the sets and lighting. Content: The Things We Never Said is about the relationship between a mother and her daughter, and how the mum’s dementia causes that relationship to slowly fall apart as the daughtertriesto help her remember who she is and their life up until this point. Narrative: Unlike a typical TV episode or film, there isn’t really a 3-act narrative to the radio drama, nor are there many narrative theories that can be applied to it: the only one I can consider applying to this script and the radio drama tiedto itis Claude Levi-Strauss’sBinary Oppositionstheory,withthe opposites being the dementia-ridden, elderly, confused mother and the healthy, middle-aged and distressed daughter. Genre: The genre for The Things We Never Said is Drama (as implied by it being called a radio drama). There’s no theories that can really tie into this one either, aside from the “Sick Parent” trope that TV soap operas like to use (E.G Val Pollard from Emmerdale, and Stan Carter and Sylvie Carter from EastEnders). Target Audience: The TA for the radio drama this script is written for would probably be adults of both genders, in the range of 30 to 50 yearsold,meaningthey’dbe (presumably) between a C1/C2 to B on the NRS Scale. This isbecause not only is the radio drama on BBC Radio4 (whichis aimed at older audiences), but because the content of the radio drama is about a topic which is somewhat mature, and more understood by adults who may be experiencing the same sort of unfortunate circumstances.
- 2. TV Show Script: Sherlock: The Great Game Style: This script was made for a TV show, evident by the typical style of which scripts for this sort of media is written in. This is the standard style that’s been made well known and gets used by everyone who has to write a script in (film and TV shows use it the most), although some script writers may change some aspects of the style in such as the alignment of the text. Content: The script is for episode 3 of season 1 for the TV show Sherlock, which is based off the book series by Sir Arthur Conon Doyle. In this particular episode, Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Jim Moriarty sets him different puzzles with a time limit (through holding a random person hostage with explosives and talking through them via either a pager or an earpiece), and if Sherlock and his companion John Watson don’t solve them in time then the person currently being held hostage (as well as anyone around them) dies. Narrative: This episode does have a 3 part structure to it: though the beginning is short we see Sherlock dealing with the lack of a case in different ways, before quickly being thrown into the action-packed middle as explosions go off and puzzles get solved. The ending is a cliffhanger, but Sherlock DOES find and meet Moriarty after solving all the other cases. Vladimir Propp’s theory can be applied to this episode, as we have: The Villain (Moriarty), The Hero (Sherlock), The Helper (John), and The Donor (Lestrade, though the objects and evidence he gives Sherlock isn’t magical). You can also apply Tzvetan Todorov’s theory since with every equilibrium in the episode it gets disrupted before being solved only to then have another problem arise, as well as Roland Barthes’ theory since the episode can be split into 5 rules, especially the Action Code and the Enigma Code. Genre: The Great Game can be considered a mix of 3 key genres: Mystery, Drama, and Action. Mystery because of the puzzles and crime solving that Sherlock and John do within the episode, Drama because of that same crime solving (and the potential deaths of various people if they fail), and Action because of some of the gunfights during a few scenes. Target Audience: The TA for the TV show I think is British 16 to 40 years old, of both genders. By 16 years old, both girls and boys would be able to figure things out along with Sherlock as well as enjoy the action without freaking out too much over the deaths that can occur. Older than 40 years old can still enjoy Sherlock though, they just may not appreciate the action as much.
- 3. Film Script: The Force Awakens Style: The style this script is written in is the standard style that’s been established by TV shows and movies which has been used and adapted for years now. For The Force Awakens, it seems that they’ve not only put names of characters and set changes in capitals, but also vital movements made by the characters as well as any special effects. Content: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is “episode” 7 of the Star Wars franchise, introducing an entirely new cast of characters such as Rey, Fin and Poe, with some returning faces from the original films such as Princess Leia, R2-D2 and Han Solo. In it, the Resistance is fighting against the evil First Order, led by Supreme General Snoke and with Kylo Ren (Han and Leia’s son) leading the attacks against the innocent and resistance fighters. Narrative: The Force Awakens does have a 3-Act style to it: in the beginning, we’re introduced to the main characters and the main conflict of the story. When we get to the middle part of the film, the conflict is in full force as fights commence to gain a map that leads to the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. And finally, the end, as the conflict dies down and the heroes are victorious, with the final shot of Rey handing Luke his lightsabre hinting at what’s to come for the next movie. Vladimir Propp’s theory also holds true to The Force Awakens: there’s The Villain (All of The First Order, though especially Snoke and Kylo), The Hero (Rey), The Helper (Poe, Fin, Leia and Han Solo), and The Donor (BB-8 and Maz Katana). Tzvetan Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory can also be applied to the movie, as can Roland Barthes’ Five Codes Theory. Genre: The genre for The Force Awakens is very clearly Sci-Fi and Action. Throughout the middle of the film, there is various forms of action including aircrafts shooting at each other and lightsabre battles. The various aliens that the characters meet and come across also add to the Sci-Fi elements of the movie. These could be considered Iconographies which theorist Ryall spoke about in 1978. Target Audience: Star Wars has always been a family franchise, and The Force Awakens is no exception to this. Despite some of the violence with lightsabres, kids can still enjoy all the fighting and what parts of the story they understand. The film is primarily focused at those who have been Star Wars fans for a long time, however, so the main target audience for the movie is between 20 to 40 year olds who may have grown up with some of the old Star Wars movies and could now be passing down that love to their children.
- 4. Video Game Script: Shooting Star Style: The style of this script is similar to a standard TV and Film script, though it has a few differences such as the alignment of the text (typically character text is in the centre of the page, but here it’s aligned to the left). It does however, still have a lot of the key aspects such as stating where a scene takes place every time it cuts to a different location and stating whether someone talking is a voice over or talking from elsewhere (for example when Dae-Hyun is talking over the radio). Content: This script was written for an animated short made by Blizzard Entertainment for their video game Overwatch. The focus of the short is the character from the game D.Va (her real name is Hana Song), a Korean 19 year old MEKA soldier who fights in a custom made mech to protect her city from robots who come to attack and destroy the city. In the animated short, D.Va learns the value of asking someone for help and that you can’t fight every battle on your own, as she required Dae-Hyun’s help to beat the robots that surprise attack the city when the rest of her team is busy recovering from the last attack. Narrative: The animated short definitely has that strong 3-part structure, as does every Overwatch animated short released by Blizzard: in the beginning we get to see more of D.Va’s character as a PTSD-suffering young adult who wants to protect her city as best as she can with her team of friends. In the middle part, the conflict escalates as the robots attack and D.Va fights them with some help from Dae-Hyun around halfway through the climax. And there’s an end, where everything gets tied up nearly: D.Va survives the mech explosion and starts recovering (despite her arm and leg being in casts), and the city is shown to be safe. Vladimir Propp’s theory does technically play a part in the short, since D.Va is The Hero, Dae-Hyun is The Helper, and the robots are The Villains, but apart from that there’s no other character types present. Genre: The genre for Shooting Star, I think, is Action. This is due to the fact that similar to The Force Awakens, where the middle takes up most of the short film and is full of fighting and attacking. There is, however, an element of Sci-Fi to Shooting Star: Because Overwatch takes place in the future, the technology we see is similar to what we see in other Sci-Fi futuristic movies: holograms and holotapes, the mechs made by MEKA, and sentient evil robots are all strong examples of the animated short being in the Sci-Fi genre. Target Audience: The TA for Shooting Star is definitely those who have played Overwatch, which has a large player base consisting of males and females of varying ages: the people you come across while playing the game can be as young as 10 or 12 years old, or as old as 30. The game is really aimed at everyone who plays the game, and the animated shorts reflect that since some of the knowledge about the character in the game is required to understand some parts of the animated short (though not all of it, it’s entirely possible for someone who’s never played Overwatch to watch the animated short, understand what’s going on, and enjoy it).