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  • Show forum text on screen

    Hi I'm not sure, I searched the forum and maybe I didn't put in the right keywords.
    If I write a scene where the character is reading from a forum. I think I want reader/viewer to see what's on screen and maybe also have the main character read it also.

    ON SCREEN

    Hitman96: I'm looking to join a fantasy league

    TonyHomo: Too late bro, we had our draft last night.

  • #2
    Re: Show forum text on screen

    Works for me. There's no 'correct' style answer here, as far as I know - just whatever makes it clear to the reader with the least explanation.
    Patrick Sweeney

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Show forum text on screen

      Originally posted by Hitman View Post
      Hi I'm not sure, I searched the forum and maybe I didn't put in the right keywords.
      If I write a scene where the character is reading from a forum. I think I want reader/viewer to see what's on screen and maybe also have the main character read it also.

      ON SCREEN

      Hitman96: I'm looking to join a fantasy league

      TonyHomo: Too late bro, we had our draft last night.
      If you look at the way things like instant messaging and e-mails and stuff like that are handled now, it's most common to have them supered over the image rather than cutting away and showing the screen or the phone.

      It has the advantage of keeping the person who's looking at it on screen while we see what he's looking at.

      So whatever it is either pops on screen or scrolls up or appears as he types it and pops off -- the variations are endless.

      NMS

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Show forum text on screen

        Originally posted by nmstevens View Post
        If you look at the way things like instant messaging and e-mails and stuff like that are handled now, it's most common to have them supered over the image rather than cutting away and showing the screen or the phone.

        It has the advantage of keeping the person who's looking at it on screen while we see what he's looking at.

        So whatever it is either pops on screen or scrolls up or appears as he types it and pops off -- the variations are endless.

        NMS
        Can you give me an example.

        Do you mean like this

        INT. HITMAN HOME - NIGHT

        Hitman on his computer, looks at internet forum.

        SUPER

        Hitman: Hey guys who plays fantasy

        TonyHomo: Our last draft was yesterday bro.

        Hitman types.

        Hitman: Oh ****bags.

        Is that what you mean NMS?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Show forum text on screen

          Originally posted by Hitman View Post
          Can you give me an example.

          Do you mean like this

          INT. HITMAN HOME - NIGHT

          Hitman on his computer, looks at internet forum.

          SUPER

          Hitman: Hey guys who plays fantasy

          TonyHomo: Our last draft was yesterday bro.

          Hitman types.

          Hitman: Oh ****bags.

          Is that what you mean NMS?
          You can be much more specific than that -- you can describe what we're seeing -- what the superimposed text looks like.

          Depending on how they're communicating with one another, this stuff formats differently -- sometimes, depending on who's talking one party will come up in one color and the other in a different color -- they'll pop up in sort of cartoon-like speech bubbles.

          Or else the dialogue might scroll up the side of the screen.

          Everyone gets the idea that you have to write this stuff as sparsely as possible, but the result is that someone reading it has no idea what they're supposed to be seeing on the screen.

          Oh, heavens to Betsy. Can't do that. That'd be directing on the page.

          No one wants to read shot lists. But what they do want is to read the script and have a sense of what the movie's going to look like.

          And generally, movies about people sitting at computer terminals where they look at stuff on a terminal and it cuts to the terminal and the audience reads what's there and cuts back as he types and cuts to the terminal and we read what's there -- and it sort of goes on like that -- is just not that interesting.

          That's why most movies these days don't do it that way.

          There's a brief episode of "every frame a painting" that addresses this question.

          Here's the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFfq2zblGXw

          Hope it's helpful.

          NMS

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Show forum text on screen

            Originally posted by nmstevens View Post
            You can be much more specific than that -- you can describe what we're seeing -- what the superimposed text looks like.

            Depending on how they're communicating with one another, this stuff formats differently -- sometimes, depending on who's talking one party will come up in one color and the other in a different color -- they'll pop up in sort of cartoon-like speech bubbles.

            Or else the dialogue might scroll up the side of the screen.

            Everyone gets the idea that you have to write this stuff as sparsely as possible, but the result is that someone reading it has no idea what they're supposed to be seeing on the screen.

            Oh, heavens to Betsy. Can't do that. That'd be directing on the page.

            No one wants to read shot lists. But what they do want is to read the script and have a sense of what the movie's going to look like.

            And generally, movies about people sitting at computer terminals where they look at stuff on a terminal and it cuts to the terminal and the audience reads what's there and cuts back as he types and cuts to the terminal and we read what's there -- and it sort of goes on like that -- is just not that interesting.

            That's why most movies these days don't do it that way.

            There's a brief episode of "every frame a painting" that addresses this question.

            Here's the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFfq2zblGXw

            Hope it's helpful.

            NMS
            Yes Thank you.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Show forum text on screen

              That last recommendation was very helpful. The trick would be to put it succinctly and in an easy-to-read manner. Also, I would try to somehow make the style recommendations be part of the total vision of the movie, not just a clever design for this specific problem - only because if it's part of a whole, it would guarantee to remain in the final product. I do sympathize though - because the problem you're stating is the reason why people rarely tried (or tried unsuccessfully) to incorporate texting in movies. In fact, I interpret your question as proof that movies have not exactly 'found' a way to portray texting onscreen that is generally satisfying (or maybe someone did but it hasn't been popularized yet)

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