Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

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  • Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

    I just read a bit of the script "Arrival."

    In it, the writer used MORNING, SUNSET, etc. It has been suggested to me to simply use NIGHT or DAY.

    What do you guys think?

    (I did a quick search and didn't see this in my cursory review.)

  • #2
    Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

    My opinion only is to use MORNING, DAY, AFTERNOON, EVENING, etc. as well as DAY/NIGHT

    but...

    And I struggle with this....

    That specific times of day like SUNSET and DAYBREAK, etc. are so specific that unless it really is part of the descriptive ambiance of the scene, they basically give limited time where those scenes can take place, especially if it's an EXT scene. (INT. you can create whatever time of day you want through lighting or the lack thereof).

    But some scenes do take place at specific times like if you have a runner going out just before the sun comes up or a boy is delivering papers or a milkman is dropping off his deliveries early, etc.

    Use the appropriate time descriptor IF it fits the scene.

    But don't get over descriptive like "7PM" or "EXACTLY 1 MINUTE LATER" (unless you have a bomb timer type countdown or something).

    But I've seen NOON, MIDNIGHT, MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, etc. but less TWILIGHT, DAYBREAK, DAWN, SUNSET but you DO see them.

    I struggle because I want to "paint the scene" so sometimes I have this desire to use more descriptive TIME both in the scene heading and action to illustrate. Not sure it's a good practice I should be engaging in however.
    You know Jill you remind me of my mother. She was the biggest whore in Alameda and the finest woman that ever lived. Whoever my father was, for an hour or for a month, he must have been a happy man.

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    • #3
      Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

      Usual disclaimer: I do not work in the film industry. So all of this is my opinion, which has no basis in professional experience.

      When you use specifics like AFTERNOON, EARLY AFTERNOON, MORNING, NOON, or LATE AFTERNOON, or SUNSET, you are trying to tell the story through the Scene Heading instead of through action and dialogue. The "time" element in the Scene Heading is a production element (NIGHT or DAY).

      Remember that the audience only knows what it sees and hears. When you include AFTERNOON, only a reader will see that. It really serves no purpose except for the narrative. An AFTERNOON is a DAY scene. Whether AFTERNOON, MORNING, or NOON, the audience will never know unless you introduce that information through action (which includes visuals) or dialogue.

      So if you feel that you really need to establish that it is AFTERNOON, even though the audience may never become aware of it, you might as well put that information into the action as something that only the reader will ever know.

      "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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      • #4
        Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

        Thanks Uneducated and Comicbent!

        It's a bit of a question for me if I'm writing for my reader [or someone else] at this point in the game. I may as well make it clear and easy for the reader and go from there, I suppose.

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        • #5
          Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

          I personally use MORNING and EVENING in addition to DAY and NIGHT just to establish time-of-day/mood/sky-color etc from a narrative standpoint and saves me going into detail in the description. But this is in my selling draft.

          From my experience, when your script goes into production, some directors and ADs might want this changed to just NIGHT or DAY to make it clear to the crew what kind of lighting the scene has. It helps with scheduling and people seem to have different interpretations on whether EVENING is dark or still daylight.

          But save those worries for when your script goes into production and you're asked about it.

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          • #6
            Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

            My understanding is that the day or night designation is intended primarily to let the (hopefully eventual) film crew know how to light the scene. Secondarily, it is used to orient the reader as to what can be seen in terms of available light in a given scene while he/she reads the script and plays the movie out in his/her head.

            While time of day in film scripts is ordinarily reduced to the binary day/night, there is such a thing as "magic hour": the time just after sunrise or just before sunset when the sun is just above the horizon and the sky (assuming no overcast) is mostly red rather than blue or black. While beautiful to look at, this time of day can present its own particular technical challenges in terms of lighting, particularly for exterior shots.

            My own feeling on this would be to limit oneself to day/night and possibly magic hour, unless there is a particular atmospheric effect that you are going for. In that case, there is a whole range of daylight indicators (just make sure you use them correctly and not as interchangeable synonyms): Dawn / Twilight (A.M.) / Sunrise / Magic Hour (A.M.) / Morning (sometimes considered to include the previous four) / Noon / Afternoon / Evening (begins before, but also overlaps with the next four) / Magic Hour (P.M.) / Sunset / Twilight (P.M.) / Dusk / Night.
            Last edited by Paul Varjak; 01-17-2017, 12:13 PM.

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            • #7
              Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

              Originally posted by SBdeb View Post
              I just read a bit of the script "Arrival."

              In it, the writer used MORNING, SUNSET, etc. It has been suggested to me to simply use NIGHT or DAY.

              What do you guys think?

              (I did a quick search and didn't see this in my cursory review.)
              I (personally) think DAWN, TWILIGHT, NOON, etc., are fine. They immediately set the mood and saves you from having to describe it in action. But I'm probably in the minority and I'm definitely not a pro.
              STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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              • #8
                Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

                Generally it's better to use only DAY or NIGHT unless there is a specific narrative reason that a specific time of day is needed. If the story specifically requires dawn or sunset or twilight sequence then use it, but otherwise just stick with DAY or NIGHT and let the story set the mood.
                "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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                • #9
                  Re: Slugline--MORNING, AFTERNOON, SUNSET?

                  Please write whatever you can to make your screenplay as engaging as possible.

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