Step 1: Mastery 4 with Drama and Fantasy
Topic · 1 minute
Scott Pilgrim (Drama)
This is your fourth day of transcriptions. Things are getting serious.
Screenwriters usually go by the loose adage one page equals one minute.
But how do you achieve this when you have action, dialogue, parentheticals, and a bunch of on-screen prompts, all seemingly happen at the same time?
And how do you even write those on-screen prompts in the script?
Or do you??
These are some of the challenges in today’s clip from SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD.
I won’t give you the easy answer, simply because … there isn’t any.
Later you will find out how Edgar Wright solved the challenge. But don’t look at Wright as the ultimate arbiter; he doesn’t always resort to the most elegant solution. We didn’t use his script for HOT FUZZ as an example of SERIES OF SHOTS – for a reason.
The point is that you will need to find elegant and effective solutions for yourself.
You may come up with something no one has ever tried before.
Pan’s Labyrinth (Fantasy)
When a foreign language film wins big at the Oscars, everyone takes notice: CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, THE ARTIST, PARASITE…
Before most of the discerning audience took him seriously, Guillermo Del Toro gained kudos with Hollywood films such as MIMIC, BLADE II and HELLBOY. At that time he had already created smaller jewels like CRONOS and THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE.
Did you know…
As of 2022, Guillermo Del Toro has 22 directing credits to his name. But he has always considered himself a writer first. As a writer. He has 36 writing credits to his name.
Del Toro’s international critical breakthrough came with PAN’S LABYRINTH. The film cost about $19m to produce, and grossed more than four times that worldwide.
In this early scene of the film, you’ll transcribe as if the dialogue were spoken in English. There is no need to write “in Spanish” anywhere.
The bigger challenge, however, is how you will evoke the magical realistic atmosphere of the clip, and in particular the stick insect.
The characters here are CAPTAIN VIDAL, MERCEDES and OPHELIA.
For the setting, you can refer to the cars, or as in the original script, the gardens of a water mill.