Hi, I am submitting a script to several contests but have a problem with how to format a tracking shot for the opening and closing sequences. What is the correct format for such a shot? (I use Final Draft 7)

Do I use CAMERA followed by lowercase description of the camera action, or do I state TRACKING SHOT?

Any help gratefully received,

The Looplein

Rule of thumb:

Write your description and action as clearly and simply as you can, in as few words as possible.

So with that in mind, I would go with TRACKING SHOT followed (on the next ds line) by the action/description. It just seems clearer to me. Plus, you want to avoid using the word CAMERA when ever you can.

It's always better if you don't mention anything about shots or references to the camera. The type of shot used is never the writer's decision. I don't really know what you are tracking, but there are many ways to get your point across without saying TRACKING SHOT. You're better off leaving it out completely unless you absolutely feel that the story can't be told without it.

avoid any mention of the camera. This is for the DOP and director only. Not the writers place.

If used very sparingly there's nothing wrong with a few camera specifics here and there.

Saying "tracking shot" is no different than saying CU. They're both directing on the page.

Screenwriting continues to evolve. Rules are broken and rewritten and I, for one, would like to see more writers get away with "directing on the page", especially since a lot of us aspire to direct as well as write.

Stick it to the man! (but sparingly :^D)

Until you sell a script (i.e. become a proven commodity), I'd agree with seanryan... eliminate all mention of camera direction. Once someone is chasing me for a script, I'd begin to lean more towards edsas' infrequent sticking it to the man.

Also, I believe that we are writers. We would expect to be treated as the story professionals by the rest of the production team. (Why doesn't the wife refuse to call off the hitman? Because we KNOW how that would negatively impact the whole story!!!)... Well, I feel the same is true for everyone else. I'm not going to tell the actors how to act, nor the director how to direct. They are professionals who will make better decisions than I would.

(And if I write it the right way, they will "choose" exactly what I envisioned anyway... They get to feel as though it was their bright idea, and I get the tracking shot I always wanted.)

And if not, it better to lose the tracking shot, but sell the script; rather than lose the sale because someone with an overgrown ego got offended with my perceived overstepping of the writer's role.

...if it doesn't get sold, the tracking shot doesn't happen either.

quote:

Originally posted by sirspe:
Until you sell a script (i.e. become a proven commodity), I'd agree with seanryan... eliminate all mention of camera direction. Once someone is chasing me for a script, I'd begin to lean more towards edsas' infrequent sticking it to the man.

How judicious of you! ;^)

sirspe, you make a good point about when is the appropriate time in one's career to start breaking rules. Your "wait til you've sold" suggestion is a good one.

My suggestion (and it may not be for everyone) is not to necessarily wait until you've sold, but wait until you've been "playing the game", so to speak, before you bend and tweak things. Because your contacts and your confidence-level will be such that a few rules here and there won't really matter.

That said, I should be clear that most screenplay rules are not breakable. Using 12 pt. Courier font and appropriate margins, for example.

But there are a few, like this one, that annoy me because I think the original intent of the rule is often lost on new writers (and some old ones), which is that a script that is completely filled up with camera direction (5 or 6 cues per page -- 600 per script) bogs the story down, ruins the 1-minute per page rule and is wholey unprofessional. Whereas, including a handful of camera shots here and there (maybe 5 or 6 per script) can actually speed up and simplify some sequences. Can every shot that you see in your head be written another way so as to not step on any toes? Absolutely. But, in the long run, any producer worth his/her salt is not going to bat an eye at an occasional "tracking shot" here and a "slow motion" there.

But the most important thing about this rule (even though it still annoys me), is that it trains early writers to focus on story, rather than directing in the head. That's clearly a good thing. All I'm suggesting is to not get caught up on technicalities.

One further note on breaking rules. Does anybody remember the pre-Final Draft title page rules? Titles were always supposed to be in 12 pt., all caps, and underlined. In 1999, a friend of mine who was the first Final Draft user I knew used the software's default setting for title pages which printed the titles in 24 pt. courier, bold and no underlining. I looked at his cache of scripts, most of which he'd already been shopping and I said "What are you doing? Agents and producers are going to take one look at your title page and throw your script out!" He said, "Really, because I've already been getting good coverage..." And even with his "wrong" title pages, he was repped and sold in less than a year. Since then, the Final Draft default page has become pretty standard, although I continue to see titles done the old way, too. But when it came right down to it, the old cryptic warning of "do it this way, or else" turned out to be bogus.

INT. FORUM - NIGHT

Alex raises his hand.

ALEX
What's a tracking shot?

TEACHER
Class?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: alex whitmer,

Alex, a TRACKING SHOT is a shot of something moving and the camera moves exactly with the moving subject.

Like someone's feet as they are walking. The camera is low and follows (tracks) the feet.

Troy

Thanks.

Why on earth do you think you need a tracking shot designated in your script?

For example, if you have two characters talking as they walk down a corridor, it goes without saying that it'll be a tracking shot.

If you want the camera to move along, for example, a series of dropped articles of clothing, then just say in the stage directions what we see (shoes, socks, pants, a dress) that lead us to our destination.

As someone who's been a reader for production companies, I urge you not to bother with camera directions or any of this other unnecessary rubbish because it just clutters up the script and is likely to confuse people.

A clean, quick read is what is more likely to get you a recommend (and thus a sale).

You do your job. Let the director (and everyone else) do theirs.

I'm the writer... the *director* decides if it's a tracking shot or a series of shots or whatever. I just write the story.

- Bill