The Script Process for Animation

Josue Contreras

@josuerockdrigo

ProcesoOpción 1• Springboard (not

as common)• Premise• Outline• First draft• Second draft• Polish

Opción 2• Lluvia de ideas• Storyline• Outline• First draft• Second draft• Polish• Lectura con actores

Springboard

• No more than a few sentences with just a very basic concept for a story idea.

The Premise

• A premise must contain the beginning, middle, and end of the story in concise form, but with enough detail to sell the idea.

• OUTSIDE PITCHES

• INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT

• THE “A” STORY AND THE “B” STORY

The Outline (escaleta)

• An outline is usually a beat-by-beat description of the script, broken into the necessary number of acts, with the major sluglines (interiors and exteriors) indicated.

• Be sure you cover all the action beats, the essence of what the characters are saying to one another, the humor beats (if any), the emotional beats, and whatever else is crucial to conveying what will be in the script.

The Script Format

• There is no one single, absolute, unvarying script format for either animation or live action. However, there are some basic rules. The key things you need to know are how to lay out the page (margins, spacing, indents) and how to use the five basic elements from which every script is built:

• SLUGLINES / SCENE HEADINGS• ACTION DESCRIPTION• DIALOGUE• PARENTHETICALS• TRANSITIONS

The Differences (Live action-Animation) Difference No. 2: Dialogue and the Lip-Synch Factor

• Call out (specify) every single shot. You’re storyboarding as you write. You decide how to open each scene and what is in every shot in the scene in order to convey your action and dialogue.

• An animation writer must be able to clearly visualize the script as animation.

• This is where watching a lot of animation becomes valuable. Some things that you can do in a fully animated feature you can’t do in a half-hour TV series episode, due to time and budget constraints for TV.

The Differences (Live action-Animation)

Difference No. 1: Calling Out the Shots

Difference No. 2: Dialogue and the Lip-Synch Factor

• The nature of the dialogue.

• Full animation in an animated feature can come closer to this at a greater cost in artist hours, but it won’t equal what a live actor can do.

• Dialogue in animation is expected to be minimal, pithy, concise, strong, and punchy.

• Each piece of dialogue should be kept down to one or two fairly short sentences at most.

Difference No. 3: Script Length

• LIVE ACTION: one minute = one page

• ANIMATION: one minute = one and a half pages

Theoretically, then:

• A twenty-two-minute live-action script would be twenty-two pages.

• A Twenty-two-minute animation script would be thirty-three pages.

• Josue Contreras

• @josuerockdrigo