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Advise to the director

Panos

Panos

I would like to ask if there is a way to write that you don't want the camera to show something. I know it is director's job and I know they will get it but I ask in case there is any such advise. Like sometimes you write CU when it is very important for the story, is there the opposite like "don't show" when it is very important for the story.
example:
Two friends are looking at a wall and there is a drawing and below the drawing an ancient phrase. I want the audience in cinema to see the drawing but not the phrase, because the drawing is important for the rest of the story and the phrase is the surprise at the end of the movie. Can I advise the director to show only the drawing and not the phrase?
 
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Your story has no audience :huh:
One of the very first things you should do while writing is decide who your audience is.

You have to know your audience. It's very important.

Panos said:
sfoster I'm curious why you think it's not direction advice.
Click to expand...

because i listed no method of omission...

If i said "the words are blocked by a plant" that is direction advice
if I said "the camera is close up so we can't see the words under the picture" that's direction advice

I'm not telling the director how to do his job I'm just stating a fact... those words are omitted from audience view in order for your story to function properly.
 
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:shocked: :shocked: When I say my story has no audience I mean that there is not any audience in my story, for example when I write a story about a war, there are the soldiers, the field, the weapons.. there is nowhere any audience inside the story. That means that when I write: "Words beneath the poster are omitted from audience view" I'm referring to the audience that sit in the cinema sits. That means that for a while, I stop the flow of my story, the progressive development of my story and I talk to the director. And what I'm saying to him, is of course an advise on what to show with his camera, since from how I set the scene, there are no objects to block the view.
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"One of the very first things you should do while writing is decide who your audience is." This is not true. Your story, that burns you from the top to the bottom and force you to write, decides your audience, not you.
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I see how you think about direction advises, but in my opinion it's not correct.
If you said "the words are blocked by a plant" that is not a direction advice (I guess you missed the "not")
But if you say "Words beneath the poster are omitted from audience view" and it is clear from how you made the set that there is not any thing that blocks these words, then it is obvious that you advise the director to use his camera in such a way so the words beneath the poster will be omitted from audience view.

We play with the words here. That phrase: "Words beneath the poster are omitted from audience view" is considered as a direction advise. You can do a research on that. The gurus might be wrong, but until this moment it is considered as a direction advise.
 
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Dude, all you have to do is say they approach a cave drawing and describe the drawing only...

Then the dialog is about the letters but since you did not describe them they cannot be shown.

They are revealed LATER in the script.

You are overthinking this. It would be one thing if this was a famous statue like the Statue of Liberty and he asked what some words were... because they are known.

You have an irrational fear that because they are revealed later, that the director will show them earlier, even though they were never revealed.

A reader will read through this and wonder what the words were, get to the end and say a ha! If that is vital to the ending, why in the world would a director put them earlier? And why should you worry over that as the writer?
 
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I also agree that mentioning the audience is direction. There is no audience in the cave so you can only be making a directoral note and cheating a bit by not mentioning a camera angle or technique.

IF you are going to use direction just use it. If you are that worried. Trying to skate around it is worse.

They approach a cave drawing with what appears to be an ancient scrawl below.

SCRAWL IS OUT OF FOCUS AND ILLEGIBLE FOR ENTIRE SCENE

TIMMY
What are those letters?

Using direction once should be fine. Just don't make it a habit. But here it works.
 
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I have a feeling the "ancient language" may be English or Greek or something and that is the twist or something to this doomsday type script set in the future. That's why he is so worried. It's not hieroglyphs.
 
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Indietalk I'm not overthinking it, we just discuss a specific issue!
The story is taking place in the far future and the words are English language. These words is the last scene, explaining everything and eliminates completely any remained mystery or misunderstanding. I love that in movies, when everything is explained.
 
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Only a student director on drugs with a shitty crew would show that in the wrong place of a movie.
YES you are overthinking it.
That is your ending! And it is not mentioned earlier in the script.
 
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I think we can agree that I was overthinking it, although I always had in mind that truth, that the director must be stupid not to get it. But it was right decision to ask here, I learn something every time.
 
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The question was great it's always good to know how to write something in. And there were multiple options. Which will you go with?

But by overthinking it I mean, get it in there and stop worrying about what the director will do. ;)
 
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I'll go with mlesemann's advise: "Below the drawing is the top edge of what appears to be writing." It just describes exactly and perfectly what the audience see! It is the way I also think. I try to describe exactly the scene not giving directions, but my mind stuck on that part.
 
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Cool man. To ease your paranoia, when you sell the script for millions, just call up the director and let him know that he can't show the letters. :lol:
 
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