Slugline for an open-top jeep?

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  • Slugline for an open-top jeep?

    What slug would you use for people riding around in an open-top military jeep? (Same issue for convertible car etc.)

    They're IN the vehicle, but it's not an enclosed space.

    INT. JEEP?

    EXT. JEEP?

    INT./EXT JEEP?

    EXT. STREET?
    "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

    Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.

  • #2
    Re: slugline for an open-top jeep?

    Originally posted by LauriD View Post
    What slug would you use for people riding around in an open-top military jeep? (Same issue for convertible car etc.)

    They're IN the vehicle, but it's not an enclosed space.
    If they are "in" an open space/vehicle, they are in an exterior location.
    EXT. JEEP - DAY

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    • #3
      Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

      If anything has caused more confusion in screenwriting than EXT. and INT., I do not know what it is.

      Yes, EXT., in any case because it is an open jeep that is supposed to be outside somewhere.

      But for some scenes, like when a couple of soldiers are sitting in the open jeep, which is not even moving, and you can see the buildings of the Army base in the background, it would be better to use something like:

      EXT. ARMY BASE - JEEP - DAY

      But if you are close on the soldiers talking, and the background is racing by, the location could be anywhere. In such a case, it might be better to use:

      EXT. JEEP (MOVING) - DAY

      But even then I might use:

      EXT. HIGHWAY - JEEP (MOVING) - DAY

      I think that the key thing is to be logical and consistent.

      By the way, according to the theory that underlies all of this, the EXT. or INT. designation is based on the location of the camera. So if you have a shot of people in a partial enclosure of some kind, it is interior if the camera is inside the enclosure, but exterior if the camera is clearly recording from outside the enclosure.

      (Usual disclaimer: I do not work in the film business. Everything that I know is gained from reading and common sense.)

      "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 for an open-top jeep?

        Originally posted by TigerFang
        All of the above CB's comments plus "Are we, the unseen, all-seeing audience, outside the jeep?" If so, then "EXT." even if there is Dialogue with the shot. "Are we within the confines of the jeep (or any vehicle, covered or not) as unseen, all-seeing passengers listening in on Action and Dialogue?" If so, then "INT." (IMHO).

        To underscore CB's comments, the camera P.O.V. or position for the screenwriter's intended on-screen image determines whether the screenwriter uses INT. or EXT., and INT. or EXT. determines where the production crew set up the camera P.O.V. or position.
        With all due respect, I don't see how we would ever slug a scene taking place inside an open jeep INT. JEEP - DAY.

        You can first establish where the jeep is, then bring us inside the open jeep.

        EXT. ARMY BASE ROAD

        An open jeep with two soldiers inside comes into view. It moves past the barracks.

        EXT. JEEP ( MOVING) - DAY

        The driver surveys the area and accelerates when Captain Jones appears at the entrance.

        DRIVER
        ****.
        Last edited by jonpiper; 02-10-2017, 09:10 AM. Reason: add: surveys the area

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        • #5
          Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

          INT and EXT are not meant to mean inside or outside the LOCATION.

          INT and EXT is not the camera placement although it happens to work the majority of the time.

          INT and EXT refers to the lighting of the scene - inside (interior) lighting or outside (natural) lighting. Is this 100% clear in every situation? Nope.
          "I am the story itself; its source, its voice, its music."
          - Clive Barker, Galilee

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          • #6
            Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

            "After much research I think I can definitively say it's exactly three... or nearly six... OK I'm going with one... but from a different angle, maybe infinity. Yeah, that's it -- somewhere between zero and infinity, I'm sure. How many angels do you think can dance on the head of a pin?"
            "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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            • #7
              Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

              All of them.
              “Nothing is what rocks dream about” ― Aristotle

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              • #8
                Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                Originally posted by jonpiper View Post

                EXT. ARMY BASE ROAD

                An open jeep with two soldiers inside comes into view. It moves past the barracks.

                EXT. JEEP ( MOVING) - DAY

                The driver surveys the area and accelerates when Captain Jones appears at the entrance to headquarters.

                DRIVER
                ****.
                Originally posted by TigerFang
                Thank you, but also with due respect, the curve ball is that the jeep has no top. That has no effect on whether the POV is from within (INT.) or without (EXT.) the vehicle. Place an imaginary top on the open vehicle and are we riding inside with the passengers (INT.) or viewing them from outside (EXT.)?
                Don’t confuse EXT. and INT. with outside or inside the jeep. EXT. and INT. tells us whether the jeep scene is an exterior or interior setting not if we are outside or inside the jeep.


                Originally posted by TigerFang
                Forgive me, please, but in your example with its series of EXT. shots, I read it and still feel that my POV is looking at the jeep from the outside.
                Remember, EXT. and INT. tells us whether the jeep scene is an exterior or interior setting not if we are outside or inside the setting, in this case a jeep.


                My intention is to – in the reader’s mind - move the action from the army base road to inside the jeep, two different scenes.

                If it were a closed jeep, I would have slugged it INT. JEEP (MOVING) – DAY

                My intention was for you to be inside the jeep with the two soldiers. It's up to the director to film the scene with the camera just outside the jeep or in the back seat.
                Last edited by jonpiper; 02-10-2017, 11:51 PM. Reason: Emphasize what EXT. INT. mean.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                  Thanks for all of the answers... I think.

                  To clarify, we're looking at a number of people in a jeep, and the camera will switch from one face to another as they speak. So at least some of the shots are "in" the jeep with them.

                  Does that help?
                  "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

                  Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                    next post

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                    • #11
                      Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                      Originally posted by LauriD View Post
                      To clarify, we're looking at a number of people in a jeep, and the camera will switch from one face to another as they speak. So at least some of the shots are "in" the jeep with them.

                      Does that help?
                      Originally posted by TigerFang
                      Okay.The Action description would then give clues as to where the camera is positioned - outside peering in or in the back seat "over-the-shoulder" - such as "First Soldier double-clutches and changes gears," "Second Soldier turns off the 2-way radio and hangs up the mic," et cetera.
                      Exactly, Tiger. Which can lead to another solution to this situation.

                      EXT. BASE ROAD - DAY

                      An open jeep loaded with soldiers approaches the main gate.

                      INSIDE THE JEEP

                      HARRIS
                      Open the damn gate.

                      JONES
                      Hey gatekeeper, you heard him.

                      THE GATE remains closed...

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                      • #12
                        Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                        Then there's "INT./EXT.", as exemplified by John August. Problem solved.
                        Last edited by Clint Hill; 02-14-2017, 11:36 AM.
                        “Nothing is what rocks dream about” ― Aristotle

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                        • #13
                          Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                          Originally posted by TigerFang
                          Then David Trottier is incorrect in his book The Screenwriter's Bible? (see alpha reference code I, "Camera Placement")

                          Also, I beg to differ with your statement that INT and EXT refer to the lighting of the scene. I'm certain the lighting of a scene is determined by DAY or NIGHT or other time-of-day descriptors and the description of Action and Dialogue in the scene itself.



                          Thank you, but also with due respect, the curve ball is that the jeep has no top. That has no effect on whether the POV is from within (INT.) or without (EXT.) the vehicle. Place an imaginary top on the open vehicle and are we riding inside with the passengers (INT.) or viewing them from outside (EXT.)? Forgive me, please, but in your example with its series of EXT. shots, I read it and still feel that my POV is looking at the jeep from the outside.

                          My suggestion is just how I would write it if I wanted to be clear about the POV occurring in the reader's mind. Your (pl.) ways of writing this are different, and if it isn't confusing to the reader, then okay.
                          With all due respect, while we always the goal of making things clear to the reader, the contents of the slugline are primarily aimed at production, where the terms, INT. and EXT. have very specific meanings and they are related to where and how a particular scene is going to fit into the production schedule, what equipment is going to be used, etc.

                          A car interior may be shot outside on an actual highway orit may be shot on a sound stage.

                          But if it's an open car, or a jeep, or people riding on the outside of a tank, it's an exterior. That's because the scene is physically happening out of doors.

                          That's where the camera is going to be. That's where the crew is going to be. That's where the scene is going to be scheduled.

                          And that is why, very often, when you have a scene in a car moving down a highway, where we both see the car on the highway and also have action and dialogue within the car, one often writes, INT./EXT. -- because at the point that you're writing, there's no way for you (the writer) to know just how the scene will ultimately be scheduled by production, presuming that it ever gets produced.

                          NMS

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                          • #14
                            Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                            Amen.
                            “Nothing is what rocks dream about” ― Aristotle

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                            • #15
                              Re: Slugline for an open-top jeep?

                              Originally posted by nmstevens View Post
                              A car interior may be shot outside on an actual highway orit may be shot on a sound stage.

                              But if it's an open car, or a jeep, or people riding on the outside of a tank, it's an exterior. That's because the scene is physically happening out of doors.

                              That's where the camera is going to be. That's where the crew is going to be. That's where the scene is going to be scheduled.
                              I don't mean to beat this to death , but to be clear do you also mean the scene is going be acted out and filmed inside the open jeep, which is out of doors ? Therefore, EXT. JEEP - DAY, would be correct?

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