Making story-time clear when cutting back/forth between US and Australia

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  • Making story-time clear when cutting back/forth between US and Australia

    In simplified form, here's what I now have in my script:
    A. US night scene - A couple out at a restaurant for a late dinner, discuss a family problem. (Cut to a different nighttime scene in the same city, then back to...) The couple realizes the restaurant is now empty, it's closing.

    B. CUT TO: Aussie day scene - Two established bad guys finish wiring explosives, blow up a small house on a farm as a test for their evil plan. (it's a 1 1/2 page scene)

    C. CUT TO: US night scene - The couple's kids are hanging out at home. The couple enters, tells the kids, "Uh, the trip to Disney World is off." There's some back and forth. One kid says, "Well, this new place better be just as great."

    D. CUT TO: US day scene - The family is on a plane as it takes off, "We're going to Australia."
    It's important to the story that the reader understands that Scene C is a continuation of Scene A - i.e., that it's same night. (FYI, for other reasons, Scene A needs to end with the restaurant being empty/closing for the night.)

    Yeh, when we stop to think about it, we understand that while it's daytime here, it's nighttime elsewhere. Still, I wonder if that sort of cutting back and forth will interrupt the reader because it is - night, then day, then back to the same night.

    In a movie, it may be easier to make clear because the parents will be in the same clothes, etc., in Scenes A and C. But now, it's all just on the page.

    Thoughts? Have you tried this sort of thing and found that readers are/aren't confused?
    Last edited by Manchester; 01-13-2013, 11:15 AM.

  • #2
    Re: Making story-time clear when cutting back/forth between US and Australia

    Don't worry about it. Just write it. It's fine. If someone claims that this doesn't make sense to them (or, even worse, says "Well, *I* get it but you have to change this because I know that *other* people won't get it") you should ignore them.

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    • #3
      Re: Making story-time clear when cutting back/forth between US and Australia

      Film the Australian scenes upside down.
      TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

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      • #4
        Re: Making story-time clear when cutting back/forth between US and Australia

        How about ending scene 1, then:

        2 EXT. AUSTRALIA - DAY - SAME TIME

        Wires & explosion.

        3 INT HOUSE IN AMERICA - NIGHT - SAME TIME

        Parents come home...

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