Hi Nani! I don’t comment often in general but I love your channel, I’ve been recently watching your old vids to help me along with other research for writing screenplays. But I’m in school right now, not a film school, but I’m talking screenwriting classes and yeah one of my professors told us that it’s preferred to not have emotions and thoughts in descriptions in a screenplay because of the reasons you’ve mentioned and that it’s a visual medium and it’s hard to show these things as well as it “takes up more room on the page”. But he said that you could do it as long as it’s crucial to the scene or it’s so important that maybe, say if I didn’t have it in there, then people could miss what I was trying to interpret. Or if people would be confused if this emotion or what may have you wasn’t clear and specified in the script. Keep up the great work with your experiences and educational content!! 😊
Hi Vanessa, sorry for the late respond as I was traveling. Thank you so much for your kind words and sharing your experience from your school class. I love your teacher’s teaching of “as long as it’s crucial” , this is very reassuring, and I couldn't agree more. I'm very grateful you take the time to comment so we can all learn from your thoughts. I hope you have a creative week!
Hey Nani 😊 when I did my MA in creative writing I mainly focused on fiction but I did explore a bit of scriptwriting. I was also taught you’re not supposed to describe emotions/thoughts, or anything not ‘visual’ for that matter. I think they said some experienced/renowned screenwriters do it but it’s not recommended when you’re just starting out, that screenplays are only meant to describe what’s happening visually on the screen and should leave room for the actors to interpret/play their characters how they want. Personally I don’t have enough experience with scripts to have an opinion on that but it’s an interesting topic 😊
Thank you so much for sharing about this Pauline. It’s very helpful to hear what different professionals have to say. I hope you have a wonderful week 🥰
Hi, Nani. This is a great topic and one I have been working on my own writing. In the first screenplay: The Place Beyond the Pines (Disclaimer: I saw the movie a long time ago and don’t remember it enough, also I haven’t read the screenplay), the descriptions help the little lines of dialog. The scene you used have short lines-because of the weirdness between characters. I think you can imagine been every character in that situation. That feeling of hidding what you want, but trying to be as direct as possible. I think it’s a way of balancing the emotions while explaining the density of the scene. This is my way of writing (for now). Even if we should write only what we can see, I think WE can see it, and we use the “see it” as a form of ‘having a feeling”. Maybe we interchange both. In the screenplay of Manchester by the Sea (Disclaimer: I haven’t seen it or read it), we can see the opposite in this scene. The description is thight because the drama is outside of the characters. I’m not saying there’s no subtext or interior motives, but the characters emotions are going out in the conversation. The way they correct themselves while they talk or how they interrupt each other. The description give us the actions they take in that confusing moment. In the screenplay of La La Land, as you say, there’s a mix of both. Last disclaimer, I haven’t seen it or read it. This is a musical. The “rules” are different here. Audiences need to learn about characters through the spectacle. About this specific scene, where the screenplay asks: “Is this really him…?”, Is she asking because she saw a different him before? Is she seeing a different him now? I think, even if we “can’t see this on screen”, we saw an interaction before (if there’s a scene like that). We-as she’s doing now-are asking the same question. “Is this really him…?” I think the only “correct way” to write a screenplay is the way the audience and the people making the film can understand the characters. Of course, following the most simplistic way of doing it.
Hi Emilio, thank you for the in-depth interpretation of each scene in the video. It’s so interesting to see how you feel by reading the scene with little context, especially “ Manchester by the sea“ I’m surprised with little emotional description, you sense the dynamic through dialogue just like the film presented. that says a lot about how good the writing is and also, you made great point about using dialogue to build the tension. This kind of discussion is so much fun! Thank you for sharing!
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Nani! I don’t comment often in general but I love your channel, I’ve been recently watching your old vids to help me along with other research for writing screenplays. But I’m in school right now, not a film school, but I’m talking screenwriting classes and yeah one of my professors told us that it’s preferred to not have emotions and thoughts in descriptions in a screenplay because of the reasons you’ve mentioned and that it’s a visual medium and it’s hard to show these things as well as it “takes up more room on the page”. But he said that you could do it as long as it’s crucial to the scene or it’s so important that maybe, say if I didn’t have it in there, then people could miss what I was trying to interpret. Or if people would be confused if this emotion or what may have you wasn’t clear and specified in the script.
Keep up the great work with your experiences and educational content!! 😊
Hi Vanessa, sorry for the late respond as I was traveling. Thank you so much for your kind words and sharing your experience from your school class. I love your teacher’s teaching of “as long as it’s crucial” , this is very reassuring, and I couldn't agree more. I'm very grateful you take the time to comment so we can all learn from your thoughts. I hope you have a creative week!
No problems! Thank you and hope you have one too!
Hey Nani 😊 when I did my MA in creative writing I mainly focused on fiction but I did explore a bit of scriptwriting. I was also taught you’re not supposed to describe emotions/thoughts, or anything not ‘visual’ for that matter. I think they said some experienced/renowned screenwriters do it but it’s not recommended when you’re just starting out, that screenplays are only meant to describe what’s happening visually on the screen and should leave room for the actors to interpret/play their characters how they want. Personally I don’t have enough experience with scripts to have an opinion on that but it’s an interesting topic 😊
Thank you so much for sharing about this Pauline. It’s very helpful to hear what different professionals have to say. I hope you have a wonderful week 🥰
Hi Nani! Thank you for everything you do ❤
Thank you so much! 🥰
Hi, Nani. This is a great topic and one I have been working on my own writing.
In the first screenplay: The Place Beyond the Pines (Disclaimer: I saw the movie a long time ago and don’t remember it enough, also I haven’t read the screenplay), the descriptions help the little lines of dialog. The scene you used have short lines-because of the weirdness between characters. I think you can imagine been every character in that situation. That feeling of hidding what you want, but trying to be as direct as possible.
I think it’s a way of balancing the emotions while explaining the density of the scene. This is my way of writing (for now). Even if we should write only what we can see, I think WE can see it, and we use the “see it” as a form of ‘having a feeling”. Maybe we interchange both.
In the screenplay of Manchester by the Sea (Disclaimer: I haven’t seen it or read it), we can see the opposite in this scene. The description is thight because the drama is outside of the characters. I’m not saying there’s no subtext or interior motives, but the characters emotions are going out in the conversation. The way they correct themselves while they talk or how they interrupt each other. The description give us the actions they take in that confusing moment.
In the screenplay of La La Land, as you say, there’s a mix of both. Last disclaimer, I haven’t seen it or read it. This is a musical. The “rules” are different here. Audiences need to learn about characters through the spectacle.
About this specific scene, where the screenplay asks: “Is this really him…?”, Is she asking because she saw a different him before? Is she seeing a different him now? I think, even if we “can’t see this on screen”, we saw an interaction before (if there’s a scene like that). We-as she’s doing now-are asking the same question. “Is this really him…?”
I think the only “correct way” to write a screenplay is the way the audience and the people making the film can understand the characters. Of course, following the most simplistic way of doing it.
Hi Emilio, thank you for the in-depth interpretation of each scene in the video. It’s so interesting to see how you feel by reading the scene with little context, especially “ Manchester by the sea“ I’m surprised with little emotional description, you sense the dynamic through dialogue just like the film presented. that says a lot about how good the writing is and also, you made great point about using dialogue to build the tension. This kind of discussion is so much fun! Thank you for sharing!