01DEV – Script Breakdowns

• by garciaone
• in Development VFX Filmmaking
• posted January 9, 2024

introduce the Idea of VFX Assumptions upfront

Introduction

This stage of Project Development is often the fun part, you get to read new scripts and depending on the Project Type, it can either be a fairly quick read for a commercial or a much longer process for a film or episodic project.

A script breakdown can also be referred to VFX breakdown, as it is the act of extracting out all VFX elements that will be required to make the creative objectives of the project possible. This is where we understand the scope of the work invovled.

Who’s Invovled at this stage?
There are usually 4 people involved in this stage of the production.

Vender-side: VFX Supervisor and VFX Producer, sometimes this may be a bidding producer.
Client-side: VFX Supervisor and VFX Producer.

This is most commonly found on episodic and film projects. On smaller projects such as commercials. The client-side team may be the Director, Producer or creative agency.

Workload?
The amount of invovlement and complexity of this task can vary greatly depending on several factors, first and foremost, the complexity of the project and wether you need to start from scratch or only breakdown certain parts of the script such as a sequence, which can be common or larger Film or Episodic projects.

In larger productions, where a production-side VFX supervisor has been emplyoyed. You will often be given an initial VFX breakdown found in the bid document.

This is usually a rough guide that is open to suggestion and alternative approaches, but it can be helpful in giving an idea of what the clients are expecting, which can often give insight into budget expectations when reviewing the approach.

On smaller projects, you are often required to start from scratch and create the script breakdown purely from your own interpretation of the script. This can also happen on larger projects. It really just depends on the stage of the production and the clients you are working with.

Pre-Requsites
The filmmaking process is often an organic , constantly evovling proces especially this very early stage of the production. Even so we want to give ourselfs the best chance of being accurate in this highly subject process of breaking down a script into VFX workflows.

In order to do that, we need to arm ourselfs with the right information to help shape our assumptions and understanding of the project. Here we will cover some of the pre-requesite information that can be vital in order to succesfully breakdown a script. Sometimes we have all the information upfront, often it may come in stages as we work through the script and and time to speak to the clients becomes available to answer certain questions, regardless this covers the most important areas to have a handle on when doing script breakdowns.

• Filmmaking and Filmmakers
• Production Circumstances
• Script Conventions
• Script Breakdown

Filmmaking and Filmmakers

This stage requires a strong understanding of both filmmaking and VFX workflows, as it will require the VFX supervisor to really understand how a film script will likely be interpretated into the rest of the filmmaking stages.

In order to do this, We need to ensure we have a working knowledge of filmmaking such as camera angles , film editorial and common camera equipment and setups.

This will cover filmmaking in general, but each filmmakers have their own approache and style so it is best practise to research the filmmakers who are invovled. Such as the Director & Director of Photography.

You want to try and understand how they typically appraoch filmmaking and looking for information such as:

The Directors Appitite for VFX	Do they like using loads of VFX or are they more inclined to using practical approaches such as Special Effects and In-camera solutions? This can help inform how much VFX may be required.
Editorial Pacing	Do they tend to use long shots with few cuts or do they tend to use a faster style of editing? This can help inform how long the shots may be which can help use estimate shot count.
Camera Angles	Do they prefer using traditional camera angles or are they more experiemental? This can help inform the complexity of each shot and the work that may be required.
Overal Style	Do they tend to go for realism or do they have a stylized approach that is exagerated from reality? This can help determin the complexity of the work that may be required.

The Directors Appitite for VFX
This one can be really important as some directors prefer to use VFX sparrinly and as a result they will opt for shooting on real locations , and prefer to use other departments such as Stunts, Special Effects, Prothetics and Make Up in favour of VFX. Christopher Nolan is well known for this preference.

As a result you will have to ask yourself when breaking down the script, “Are they likely to opt for a non-VFX solution” and include this in your VFX Assumptions.

Alternatively a Director like James Camera or Zack Snyder will likly use VFX heavily in their films and you can use this information to help inform your assumptions.

Editorial Pacing
This is area of filmmaking can be really helpful for understanding shot lengths and how they may change depending on the type of shot and type of scene being analyzed in the script.

The shot length is important as we may have to approach the VFX in different ways, typically longer shots will cost more to execute from a VFX perspective, as they can be more complex to create. It all depends on what VFX workflows are being used.

For example if a shot contains large complex and time-intensive simulations, In this case longer shots can take alot more work and as a result cost your company more to produce. On the other hand, if the shot only requires 2D work such as a DMP background replacement and the camera angle doesn’t have alot of movement or activity in the foreground, then it that case it may not be as much of an issue.

Shot lengths are important to understand and how they may affect the VFX work required.
Lets use a 5 minute sequence from Blade Runner 2049 as an example.

This sequence starts off with the main character, K. Flying peacefully over a junk yard. As the sequence progresses the intensity of the story increases and K’s aircraft gets shot down from the sky and makes a crash landing, before coming under attack by the locals that ends in numurous explosions.

Each bar on the shart represents the shot length in seconds and we can see that the shot lengths start to descrease as the sequences progresses from left to right.

The average shot length for the first 2/3rds of the sequence is 3.3 seconds long and as the intensity increases and we shift from calm/serenity to a fast past action sequence. We can see that the average shot length decreases to 1.7 seconds.

In this example, the shot length basically halves when action is being conveyed on screen.

As rule of thumb the average shot will be between 2-3 seconds long during slower moments but will descease in time to 1-1.5 seconds per shot as the pace of the sequence increases for action or intensity in the narrative. On the other hand wide shots such as an Establishing shot, can easily be mucher longer than this such as 6-10 seconds.

As a side note: Filmmaking over the years changes in terms of trends and if you go back to earlier generations of filmmaking , the average shot length was 10 seconds, then 5 seconds and now its about 3 seconds. So its worth keeping in mind that this may also be something that varies if you are doing a period film.

Long Takes
In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take, continuous shot, or oner) is shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general.

Examples of this are:

• M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable: has an average shot length of 19 seconds.
• Sam Mende’s 1917: Consists of one contineous shot
• Sam Hargrave’s Extraction: Contains a 12 minute contineous car chase shot.

Exceptionally long shots, such as the examples mentioned above can require a huge amount of extra compositing work to make possible.

Shot Form Projects
On shorter form productions such as commercials, the overall shot count is much lower but the average shot length generally will be similar. For example,

• Slow/Medium paced 60 second commercial, which mainly includes dialogue may only have 30 shots total , averaging at 2 seconds per shot.
• Fast paced 60 second commercia, which includes an action chase sequence may have 45 shots total, averaging at 1.5 seconds per shot.

Although the shot count changes, the pacing and shot length can be very similar between the project types.

Camera Angles
When breaking down a script , we need to be thinking about what type of camera angle might be used to convey the story at each particular moment.

This can be one of the most important considerations when breaking down a script, as the camera angle for each shot will determin what that camera needs to be see in each shot and also can have an affect on the shot duration as mentioned above.

Editorial Shot Patterns
How a story point or moment in the film can be betrayed on film will vary from Director to Director. However there are usually patterns that are often used that can be helpful when making assumptions about a script.

For example a typical car chase scene usually will contain a mixture of four types of shots:

• Exterior Car Shot: usually showing the car traveling dangeroussly and often showing how close another car is following persuit.
• Interior Car Shot: Showing the characters emotion.
• Cut away shot: Used to add intensity or demontrate the drivers skill.
• Stunt Shot: a pedestrain nearly being hit or the car flying down some stairs etc

Over a typical 5 minute car chase sequence, you will usually find a combination of the above 4 types of shots used repeatly , often in a predictable way.

Having an understanding of these shot patterns can make it alot easier to help predict how a script may be conveyed with which types of shots.

Camera Equipment

VFX often intersects with filmmaking where its too expensive, dangerous or physically impossible to do so by other means. So in order to make the right assumptions about what will require VFX and what might not when doing a script breakdown. It is really helpful to understand what is physically possible based on current camera equipment and rigging and what is not.

Having a working understanding of the abilities and limitations of camera equipment suchs as Russian Arms or Prob leneses gives you an understanding on how it may be achieved and where VFX may be needed when it is not possible to achieve it practically.

Project Style

The style of the project needs to be taken into account. There are a number of ways to look at this.

It be considered in terms of Genre for example if the project is a drama , a comedy or an action film and depending on this , the project might downplay certain VFX moments. For example a big disaster that occurs in a drama might only be conveyed on screen as a handful of VFX shots, where an action film may really embelish on the moment and draw our the event over 10-20 shots requiring heavy VFX. This can also be derived from the script aswell but any additional information to support your assumptions can be helpful as the script may not be final and can evovle over time.

Another way to look at this is through stylisation. A film based in realism would be executed differently to a film that has a mixture of realism and stylization such as Tom and Jerry or a project that is completly stylized such as Sin City.

Production Circumstances

Each production will come with different circumstances depending on the budget, creative objectives or even the time of year they will need to shoot.

In order to be able to understand what to expect on set, we need to understand these circumstances as they may have a big impact on what VFX will be required. For example if the script descibes huge vistas of the himlayan mountains but the production will be shooting in Italy. We can know that we will have to likely account for this in VFX and add either a CG environment build or DMP asset to our script breakdown, depending on the circumstance.

Another example would be that the script describes a snow storm, This may often require some snow added in VFX as weather is hard to predict and shooting in a real snow storm will likely be too dangerous and difficult.

In general , we all have assumptions about how something will be filmed, but we may learn that is not that case due to budget, timing or even safety issues. The name of the game in the early stages is to get as much information as possible to narrow down how the film will be achieved.

Here are some further examples of what could be worth asking about:

• Weather – Are there any specific weather conditions that we may need to cater for?
• Location – Are there any locations that wont be shoot in principle photogragy and will need recreating or are there any location restrictions that will require VFX support.
• Period – Are we needing to recreate a certain time period. Such as converting present day London back to the 1800s
• Special Effects – Are there any special effects that that will be used instead of VFX or in addition to VFX.
• Actors – Are there any restrictions with the shoot schedule or otherwise that will require some VFX support relating to the actors.
• Budget – The budget is one of the most impactful considerations to know upfront, it will help shape your expectations on what is possible in VFX and where that budget may be used.

Budget
The budget will dictate how you approach the script breakdown and bidding of the project. It will help shape your assumptions about how a story may be conveyed on the screen. For example, lets take the story point of a train crash and look at how it may be brought to screen based on possible budget or even stylistic choices.

• Medium / Large Budget:
  • Lone Ranger: conveyed in 10 shots / VFX heavy.
  • Super 8: conveyed in 28 shots / very VFX heavy.
• Small / Medium Budget
  • Unbreakable: Conveyed 1 or 2 shots / Very low on VFX.

This list isn’t exhasutive, but it gives you an idea of what may arrise that can really affect the projects requirements.

Screenplays aka “scripts”

Screenplays , which are scripts designed for the “screen” are standardized to ensure the most consistant interpretation between readers. The font size and page spacing , along with each page having approximately 55 lines all helps to keep the amount of script per page consistent.

As a result each page will roughly amount to 1 min of screen time and the page is tranditionally divded into eighths.

The number of pages in a screenplays can vary depending on the genre. Comedies are generally 90 pages long which is 90 mins, Drama and Action films tend to be around 120 pages long which is two hours long

Each page will be about 20 shots on average , making each shot rouighly 3 seconds each. This also helps to give a rough idea of how many shots could be in the final film , approximately 2400 shots for an action film.

These numbers are a good guide, however alot can and will change from the screenplay to final picture on screen and as mentioned, the shot count and shot length per page can change depending on the pace of the sequence.

There are alot of conventions that are used in screenplays, but here are some of the basics.

• Character Names will be in uppercase
  • When a new character is introduced, often the chracters age will be referenced such as: TONY (29), it may be writen into the script such as “This is Tony. You’d peg him for 30 if you didn’t know better.”
• Location and Time of day are established for each scene
  • 15 EXT SKIES ABOVE LOS ANGELES – DAY
  • Scene # = 15
  • EXT = Exterior environment (INT= Interior)
  • SKIES ABOVE LOS ANGELES = Location / Set
  • DAY = time of day
• CONTINUOUS may be used when we are continuing in the same time of day
• Big sounds and important objects can be written out in ALL CAPS to emphasize their effect on the story nad their importance
• Dialogue will be set underneath the character to which they are assigned.
• EXTENSIONS
  • These occur when a character says something off-screen (O.S.), or if dialogue is voice-over (V.O.). They can also be used to describe a minor action such as (into the phone)

Script Breakdown

By this stage, you should have a good working knowledge of filmmaking and have done research into the filmmakers that are working on the project.

You often wont have much information about the production circumstances to begin with, but you should have the basics such as rough budget estimates and shoot locations.

It can often be more benificial to organise a meeting with the clients to gain more insight into the production circumstances once you have done a first pass at the breakdown and gathered your own questions about the script.

Ragardless if a VFX breakdown has been provided to you or not, it is recommened to do your own breakdown from scratch as you can often find details may have been missed or overlooked and its worth discovering so to discuss with the clients, as it can be something that can catch everyone out at a later stage.

There multiple ways to approach the breakdown but the methods that seem to be most frequently used are the most simple. Either print out the script and grab a few pens and hilighters or loaded up the scipt into an Ipad with annotation software.

Essentially what you need to do at this stage is two things, understanding the story narrative and identify the VFX elements that are required. It is also a good time to be making notes of any questions you have along the way.

If the script isn’t too long, you may want to do a first pass at reading the whole thing and then doing another pass at writing annatations or notes. Otherwise you can simply do both at once.

The four main things you want to be identifying and understanding when reading the script are the following:

1. The story or narrative of the script.
2. The VFX workflows that will be required
3. The VFX assets that will be required
4. Any questions that will need clarifying with the clients

That is all you need to be doing here.
1) Is necessary to understand what is important and what might not be important in the script
2) Is necessary to understand what VFX workflows will be required to bid and plan for on the project
3) Again, this is necessary to understamd what assets are required to bid and plan for on the project
4) These questions may be necessary to have answered as long as they have potential in affecting both 2) and 3).

You may often need to re-read the script several times and at the end of it your annatations and notes may dominate each page of the script, however when you are finished you should have a thorough understanding of what assets need to be build and how each shot will potentially be executed, otherwise you should know exactly what questions need anwsering by the client in order to achieve a thorough understanding of what will be required to make this project possible.

Once you are happy with the information you have extracted from the script, its time to put it all together into a bid and work out how much this project is going to cost.