There is a montage at the start of my script meant to be queued to two specific songs as the opening titles play.
My question is if I need to break it down and write every specific scene you see within the montage, or if I can just state that it is a montage and give a generalization as to what it shows and work out the specifics later on, separately?
This is my first post.
Thanks for your help.
Welcome to IndieTalk.
You have several imbedded questions, so I'm going to try to tease them apart. The answer is not really as simple as you might hope. Below are the issues working from least to more detailed.
1. Opening credit shots
2. Rights to Music
3. Montage vs. Series of Shots
4. What goes inside.
1. OPENING CREDITS
Usually, these are not part of the script. A script is the blueprint of the story. Opening credits are often developed by the editor and director from establishing shots and done in post-production. Sometimes the credits are farmed out to independent groups. So unless you're making the movie yourself, your script should simply start with setting up the first scene.
2. RIGHTS TO MUSIC
Unless you have the rights to the songs AND you are the producer, don't write scenes specifically to a piece of music. The music industry is extremely protective of performance rights. As a screenwriter, you can suggest "country western" or "hip hop" or whatever. But if you have a specific song, most producers--unless you have a killer script--will ignore it or worse pass on your script.
3. MONTAGE vs. SERIES OF SHOTS
There are times when you need to convey unrelated scenes or have multiple views on a screen. These call for a montage. These often are not shot during the movie but are put together in post production. When you have events happening which are related but without dialogue, you will see these treated as a series of shots. These are often shot during the actual filming and are used to advance the story quickly.
I've seen changes in how these two have been mixed up and changed over the years. Montage generally refers to a presentation style that is determined by the director. The use of montage has declined and been supplanted as series, even when the scenes are unrelated. Similarly, there is no inherent advantage to using a series of shots when regular sluglines work just as well. And as mentioned, technically there is no dialogue in a series of shots, though a few newer scripts seem to have used it that way. But for new screenwriters I would say don't do it if you want it to pass the reader.
4. WHAT GOES INSIDE
A montage can have a description that is specific yet general. A series of shots is similar but it frequently has more of a slugline.
Code:
MONTAGE - WOODLAND SCENES
A. Deer standing in the forest
B. Hunters walking along the forest
C. Local girl draws water from a well.
D. Dogs barking and racing
E. Animals looking up and racing off.
F. Girl walks down the paved road.
G. Hunter takes aim and shoots.
H. Girl drops her bucket and runs.
I. Girl cradles her grandmother in her arms.
J. Hunters throw the deer carcass on their shoulders.
END OF MONTAGE:
FADE TO:
Dark hut surround by ancient trees in the woods.
INT. OLD MAN'S HUT - NIGHT
An OLD MAN lights his pipe and turns towards his friend.
OLD MAN
At least, that's the way my mother told
me, God rest her soul.
[B][I]compared to:[/I][/B]
SERIES OF SHOTS - HUNTING FORAY (DAY)
A. Deer standing in the forest
B. Hunters walking along the forest
C. Dogs barking and racing
D. Animals looking up and racing off.
E. The HUNTER takes aim and shoots.
F. The HUNTER throws the deer carcass on his shoulders.
END OF SERIES:
INT. HUNTING LODGE - DAY
The HUNTER lights his pipe as he turns towards his friend.
HUNTER
Rather a good day's haul, 15 pointer.
In the former, we are seeing related but unrelated images that the director could present linearly or in different boxes on the screen. The latter is more directly linked to the content. If I were going to have dialogue during those shots in the woods, I'd have to use sluglines.
So if you are not producing this yourself, you should probably not concern yourself with the montage but just jump into your story proper. If you are and it's simply for opening credits, again, that happens in post, so your script should start with the opening scene. If your producing this and that sequence is key to understanding the story, then does it involve any of the major actors and/or does it involve multiple images on the screen? If so, you probably want a montage. If not, is it simply showing a shortened sequence of images that involve the major characters? If so, you probably want a series of images. Will there be dialogue? In that case, you stay with regular sluglines. And, of course, there's the musical performance rights.
Hopefully this doesn't overwhelm you. My suggestion is to start with your first scene. Let the director do his job in coordinating the opening credits. Good luck with your script.
