Hi guys.
I haven't been here for a while, had some personal issues that unfortunately put my writing on hold etc., but I finally came back to it a few days ago and I'm currently finishing my first ever spec movie script that, hopefully, I will be able to send out and see it on the big screen one day.
My script is actually finished from beginning to the end, I went through 3 detailed re-reads already and corrected, shaped up and polished what needed correcting, shaping up and polishing. I'm really beating myself up over making this script ''bug-free'', taking my time, but at the same time, trying not to take too much time... I'm sure most, if not all of you understand exactly where I'm coming from.
Pretty much the only thing left for me to do is to take care of the character reaction descriptions which I'm really having a lot of trouble with, I don't know why. I really need your help.
The problem is, I don't really know the right approach to describing my characters' reactions in basically all key scenes. For example, I have a scene in which a guy receives a phone call from an enemy who he thought was dead. His reaction is obviously - shock. So, I wrote:
Peter
Hello?
David (V.O.)
Hello Peter.
Peter recognizes David's voice and is shocked.
But I got an advice a few months ago that it's wrong and how I mustn't use expressions, but gesticulations and such. I didn't get it, I still don't. How can I describe a reaction of a guy's face turning white in shock differently than saying ''he is shocked''? I keep seeing those same scenes in movies where the camera zoomes in on a character's face just staring into nothing which clearly shows that character is shocked. How to describe those kinds of moments in a correct way if the way I'm doing it now is wrong? I don't get it and it's really frustrating being told it's a huge mistake and having no alternative to correct it with.
I have TONS of scenes like that where the characters are surprised, angry, disappointed, shocked, but the thing is, their reaction isn't hyperactive, they don't say anything or do anything, only their face shows disappointment, shock, surprise, anger as the situations they are in don't let them show it externally on a different level... you know what I'm saying? How to describe a shocked face expression if saying ''Peter is shocked'' is wrong? I don't know how to describe reactions that are in itself solely static facial reactions.
How I have it now is that I just wrote ''Peter is petrified'' or ''David's face full of disappointment''. I would really appreciate help with this, there is no way I can finish the script without overcoming the description problem of these scenes.
I haven't been here for a while, had some personal issues that unfortunately put my writing on hold etc., but I finally came back to it a few days ago and I'm currently finishing my first ever spec movie script that, hopefully, I will be able to send out and see it on the big screen one day.
My script is actually finished from beginning to the end, I went through 3 detailed re-reads already and corrected, shaped up and polished what needed correcting, shaping up and polishing. I'm really beating myself up over making this script ''bug-free'', taking my time, but at the same time, trying not to take too much time... I'm sure most, if not all of you understand exactly where I'm coming from.
Pretty much the only thing left for me to do is to take care of the character reaction descriptions which I'm really having a lot of trouble with, I don't know why. I really need your help.
The problem is, I don't really know the right approach to describing my characters' reactions in basically all key scenes. For example, I have a scene in which a guy receives a phone call from an enemy who he thought was dead. His reaction is obviously - shock. So, I wrote:
Peter
Hello?
David (V.O.)
Hello Peter.
Peter recognizes David's voice and is shocked.
But I got an advice a few months ago that it's wrong and how I mustn't use expressions, but gesticulations and such. I didn't get it, I still don't. How can I describe a reaction of a guy's face turning white in shock differently than saying ''he is shocked''? I keep seeing those same scenes in movies where the camera zoomes in on a character's face just staring into nothing which clearly shows that character is shocked. How to describe those kinds of moments in a correct way if the way I'm doing it now is wrong? I don't get it and it's really frustrating being told it's a huge mistake and having no alternative to correct it with.
I have TONS of scenes like that where the characters are surprised, angry, disappointed, shocked, but the thing is, their reaction isn't hyperactive, they don't say anything or do anything, only their face shows disappointment, shock, surprise, anger as the situations they are in don't let them show it externally on a different level... you know what I'm saying? How to describe a shocked face expression if saying ''Peter is shocked'' is wrong? I don't know how to describe reactions that are in itself solely static facial reactions.
How I have it now is that I just wrote ''Peter is petrified'' or ''David's face full of disappointment''. I would really appreciate help with this, there is no way I can finish the script without overcoming the description problem of these scenes.
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