Thread: Screenplay transition question

I have one scene which ends with a telephone ringing. I'd like the next scene to start with the sound of the same phone ringing, but a cut to a new slug line. In other words, the phone keeps ringing, it's just now a new scene.

Thanks in advance.

LOCATION - CONTINUOUS

Then explain the phone is still ringing, of course.

NO, Jesus...do you just blurt out whatever comes into your head, or are you getting this stuff from some weird secret source.

Try to go as simple as you can in these things. There's nothing wrong with just saying.

A telephone starts ringing in another room.

INT. BILL'S HOUSE -- DAY

The phone is still ringing.


But a question...why slug a new scene if it's the same location and within the same time frame?

Originally Posted by lin

NO, Jesus...do you just blurt out whatever comes into your head, or are you getting this stuff from some weird secret source.

Try to go as simple as you can in these things. There's nothing wrong with just saying.

A telephone starts ringing in another room.

INT. BILL'S HOUSE -- DAY

The phone is still ringing.



But a question...why slug a new scene if it's the same location and within the same time frame?

It's not a continuous time frame. It's just a little transition I thought of. One of those little things you see from time to time in a movie. New location, different day. Here's how I did it. The character is sitting on the couch and the phone rings.


INT. FIRST LOCATION - NIGHT


The phone rings. She ignores it.

INT. OTHER LOCATION - DAY

The sound of the phone from the previous scene is ringing continuously. The woman at the reception desk picks up her phone.

__________________________________________________ ______________


It's not important for the audience to know who is on the phone with the receptionist. That becomes obvious very soon. After what I put here, the receptionist has a one-sided conversation with someone on the phone.


Something just occurred to me. How would I do it if the actual phone in the first location doesn't ring at all, but before that scene ends, you can start to hear the phone ringing in the next location, before you actually "get" there.

Originally posted by Mklangelo:
Something just occurred to me. How would I do it if the actual phone in the first location doesn't ring at all, but before that scene ends, you can start to hear the phone ringing in the next location, before you actually "get" there.

You wouldn't. What you're referring to is called a "J-cut," and is strictly an editorial decision. In fact, transitions in general are strictly editorial decisions. You should leave those to the Director and the Editor.

The only time it might be acceptable to tell the Director / Cinematographer / Editor what to do is if it is absoulutely, transparently essential to the plot that it be filmed / edited in such a way. And even then: you don't do it. You write the piece in such a way that it is absoulutely, transparently essential to the plot that it be filmed / edited in such a way, and the Director will see that, and do it that way anyway.

In fact, that's probably a good rule to apply to the scene as you have it now. Don't worry about it being the same phone sound or whatever; if that's a good idea, the Director or Editor will see it anyway. Just have a phone ringing in each location.

Ah....I thought you'd said it was the same ringing.

Okay then.

Again, keep it simple and straight up as possible.

One thing, your continuity of the phone ringing has problem because how are we going to know the ringing is not coming from the same scene?

Obviously if they are out on a beach naked or something, the the ring is OVER but if you're in a building or something, who would know?

If it matters.

Again, just say theres a phone ringing and in the second scene

Telephone rings insistently OVER

In secibd scene "Ringing phone CONTINUES OVER"

(Caps at your discretion according to how you are using them)

Don't get caught up in all this film school stuff. Who cares if it's a "J-Cut" (and on a screenwriting board there'd be three people telling you it's called something else)

Don't worry about this "tell the director" stuff, either. Just lay our your story. Camera angles and cuts and terminology is exactly the sort of thing you want to avoid.

Incidentally, if you're not talking about a sound effect, but speech, the easiest way I've found to do this is to go out of the first scene with the speech as VO, then in the next scene it continues as normal speech.

Seems to me you saw a LOT of that 5 years ago and less recently.

Yea, I avoid all the film school stuff. I don't even put in "Angle" if I have some item of exposition that needs a camera on it, I just add the item in the action.

And yes, I don't think you could get all posters on this board to agree on the difference between (O.S) and (V.O.).

No way, dude.

Another REALLY fun one is What's the difference between "montage" and "series of shots"?

Originally Posted by lin

No way, dude.

Another REALLY fun one is What's the difference between "montage" and "series of shots"?

Umm...none? lol


I think I have it figured out for (V.O.) and (O.S.)


If the voice is coming from a phone, radio, intercom, television or really anything but a person, then it's a Voice Over. If it's someone physically in the scene but off camera, it's Off Screen. I've seen that one confused quite often.

Even then, I doubt you could get people to agree on that.

It's hard. I have a few books on screen writing that are highly recommended by people that know allot more than me. Do you use "More" at the bottom of a page and "Continued" at the top of the next one? Well, some say always. And another will say if the person who is reading your script doesn't know to turn the page and keep reading, he/she is an imbecile and wouldn't know a good script if it had William Goldman's name on the title page. I personally have opted for the latter.

I find (Continued) on each page a thing of the past. Though I don't discriminate if I see it. Really, there are no definite RULES and each person in the business will argue it differently. Immitate the format of professional scripts you admire as well as keep the sensibility in format the books are showing you. You will run into someone who declares you must have a (cont'd) at the end of everypage and all (VO) and no (OS) and they will feel very correct and if they are paying you, you can go back and add those (Cont'd) and a format to their specifications. And if not, thank them for the advice and move on.

Again, read more scripts. You'll techniques in practice and how people really use the format.

I doubt you could get people to agree on that.

I disagree.


Just kidding. I think that's the common acceptance of OS (or OC) and VO, but you would definitely get a detractor somewhere.


Exactly, that "CONTINUED" and "MORE" stuff is an artifact. Kept alive mostly by scriptwriting programs.

There is still some vestigial stuff around (FADE OUT, EXT/IN NIGHT/DAY) but the spec script has fought free of most of the stuff that a lot of books glory in telling you about.
Without all the jazz on camera angles, it's hard to fill up a howto book.

As she says, read scripts.
One problem is that many of the scripts you download free from sites are "transcripts" that aren't really formatted like the orginal. And you run into shooting scripts or scripts written by the director himself without any need to conform.

So where can you get properly-formatted spec scripts to look at?
Some contests post their winners.

Also, Zoetrope screenplay area has a "Top 3" each month, which tend to be pretty good examples and not a total drag to read. You can click, download the pdfs.

Wallmaker and lin,



Good points. I haven't even completed my first spec. (page 17 and I'm happy) But I have understood that allot of that film school crap is put into Spec Scripts and it has no business being there. The job of the Spec Script writer is to make a smooth read. Keep the pages turning.

Just about everything you can put in as far as "Angle" or anything else, is going to be someone else's job.

Let the Director direct. Let the Editor edit. Let the Actor act. KISS.