Screenwriting
What is Celtx?
Celtx is a online website designed for creating and organising media projects such as screenplays, films, videos, stage plays, audio plays, documentaries, machinima, comics, games and podcasts. Celtx is a very easy and useful website to use as the website gives you templates of how you should set out the project you want to create.
Once you sign up and make an account on Celtx, you then choose what project you want to make. I clicked on Film and TV then a script. You could also create Index cards, storyboards, breakdowns, shot lists, catalogues, budgets, schedules and media. I found Celtx extremely useful when creating my own script as it gives you the template all ready set out. It also gives you options to change from when writing your script such as, the scene heading which is the title information, action which is what's happening in the script, characters, dialogue, transition from one scene to another, shot of scene, text and parenthetical.
This means that Celtx covers a very wide range of different opportunities and projects that you can do.
For my project, I created a script from the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I slightly changed some of the dialogue for the story to make sense but kept it mostly the same. I added a few shots and transitions between scenes and added in new features such as a magical blanket. The book is always very different from the film as the film can only go on for a certain amount of time, Whereas the book has a lot more detail and added features in. I decided to change the story up quite a bit by changing some features to make the script my own. The whole purpose of this project was to get a real taste of what scripting is like and how it needs to be done. Celtx really helped me with my script as I know it has to be written and produced in a certain way.
As Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Chapter 1 was my first script, I thought that I created it very well. If I were to create another script again then I would definitely use Celtx but perhaps add a little more detail to my script in order for it to stand out and look more professional. I did not do the whole of Chapter 1 as the chapter of the book was very long, therefore I had to shorten it a little bit.
What is a script and what is it used for?
A script is something that is written before the play, movie or book is made. The script tells the story in a short form, this means the script shows all the dialogue of the characters, the action of what is happening but cut down in shorter terms, transitions and shots which is what happens in the movie, headlines of each scene and where it is set and other important information. The script is given to all the actors that are on set so that they know the story, their lines and when they will be saying their lines. The script also helps the actors feel the character as the script tells you what the characters are like.
A script is mainly used for movies, books and plays, it is usually given to the director, actors and production team before the book or movie takes place.
How will Celtx help me in the near future?
I believe that Celtx will help me in the near future as I now understand how to create a script professionally. Celtx helps you plan your movie, shorts, reels and plenty other projects and productions that I will be able to show on my website.
From using Celtx, I learnt how scripts are set out. Scripts have to be set and presented in a certain way or it is not a script. Professionals and team productions will not take a beginner looking script, they will just say no to your project. This website has taught me that the first thing on your script is the scene headline. The scene headline should first include either EXT which means exterior (outside) or INT which means interior (inside) which should then be followed by a full stop. Next you should say where the scene is set, for example inside a house or outside in a park.
You should then say what time range the scene is set in, for example, day, night, dawn and so on. The numbers on the left hand side of your script page is the number of the scenes that are in each chapter of your script. Scripts have to have a certain typewriter font in order to be official and each characters name has to be in capitals. When changing the options on your script such as changing the action paragraph to dialogue, the centre alignment automatically changes.
I know find that writing scripts is not too difficult to do as I wrote a script from a book so I did not necessarily have to add transitions or shots in if I did not want to. The main part you will need to understand before writing a script is that the action is what is happening and going on in that scene so that when it comes to typing the dialogue, the story will make sense as the action explains what is going on and sets the scene for the audience to imagine. I kept the dialogue of the book, exactly the same and just changed the action of what was going on slightly as the script, book and film has different content in them anyway.
