Just finished writing out the descriptions for the key locations in the screenplay. It’s nothing that I HAD to do, but I wanted to get it out of the way while they were fresh in my mind, and it was good practice. Of course the setting descriptions for a screenplay are different from what would be in a novel. You have to cut back a lot.
I really didn’t describe the settings/locations in the first draft of the script and well, it was hard to picture or get a feel for where the characters were. So, here in the second draft, I’m adding a few descriptions.
I had to remember that if I must describe a setting, for not every location needs to be described, make it at most one or two lines. That’s an art form all of its own, lol. Those one or two lines must capture the visual look and feel, personality, and essence of the location. It’s supposed to help set the mood for the scene. Well, here are two examples of what I’ve come up with for a few of my locations.
This is for a night club called Legacy that some of my character’s visit early on in the script:
The Legacy is a dark and sinfully seductive hall of temptation laced with strobe lights and trance music, where model-breed women and top shelf alcohol are competitively priced for societies upper-crust and posing wanna-bes.
Here’s one for a room in clinic:
Stark white walls, gray fixtures, cold, sterile, lifeless, about as welcoming as an ice bath.
I had fun coming up with the descriptions. It’s was definitely an exercise in discipline.
What do you think?
scribereglyph 