Über editor: R to S

© 2004 Ginny Lowndes

Reaction shot
A reaction shot is the capture on film of the character's reaction to dialogue or action.

Reader
A reader is an individual, u sually a writer, story or script editor or dramaturge, who reads scripts and writes down the synopsis of the plotline. They offer positive or negative comments during a process called providing coverage that assists a hiring body in assessing if the script is worthwhile or has ‘legs' or the depth, audience interest or writer ability to continue.

Reading period
Reading period is the time between the hiring of a writer to write material and its presentation and the review of it by the hiring body. The hiring body will make suggestions about the material and decide whether to pick up the option to have the writer produce further work.

Realism
Realism states that material could portray ordinary people in ordinary circumstances and the actors portraying the characters should behave, as much as possible, as real people do in real life. See hunter-gatherer; documentary.

Recognition scene
A recognition scene is one in which the protagonist discovers either some fact unknown to her or him or some moral flaw in her or his character.

Release form
A release form is a legal document signed by an individual usually the creator of the document that frees a hiring body or other from any kind of liability.

Requel
A requel describes the remake of a movie but the story is taken in a different direction to that of the original; a do-over. See sequel and prequel.

Residual/run/royalties
Residual is the payment based on a scripting fee. It can also mean additional fees paid to a writer for repeats of a television production.

[Screenrights from http://www.screen.org/ ]

Retcon
A retcon deliberately changes the facts established in a prior work of fiction.

Rewrite
Rewrite is m ore than a polish. It is considered to be the writing of significant changes to plot, storyline, characters or interrelationship of characters in a screenplay or other material. A rewrite should be spelled out in a deal memo or similar.

Rising action
Rising action is where events in a story build upon one another with increasing momentum. In dramatic structure it is the escalating conflict, events and actions that follow an inciting incident.

Sample script/spec script
A sample script is material that a writer has created on their own initiative with the intentions to get a meeting with a hiring body. It is a form of audition. A sample script is used to expose a writer to the entertainment industry. It is written on a speculative basis.

Scale
Scale is the payment on the minimum rates set forth in the Australian Writers Guild Minimum Basic Agreement. Basic rate is scale plus 10 percent in order to include the commission that the writer's agent will receive.

Scene
A scene is a continuous block of units in a drama. It is the basic structural unit of a script and it is the essential building block in the construction of a drama. A scene involves a change of setting or location and it is always indicated as such, that is, a piece of the action giving some further development in a setting different from the last scene. Each scene has a beginning, middle and an end or climax or resolution. Each scene not only contains conflict but also has a crisis that grows out of the conflict in it. A scene advances the plot through conflict and crisis. Each scene must reveal at least one additional element of necessary plot information. Another function of a scene is to reveal character. When you write a scene you must ask and answer the following questions: does the scene advance the plot? does it contain conflict? is it structured with a beginning, middle and an end or resolution. If your scene cannot meet these requirements, cut the scene out. Any scene you remove will tell you what scene needs to be put in, if any. The solution can always be found within the problem itself.

Scènes à faire
Scènes à faire are certain situations that are so typical of a genre that they cannot be copyrighted, e.g. a police drama would show corruption, politics, gangs, and violence; a film in the spy genre would feature assassinations, secret identities and codes, double agents double crossing, and villains drawn from every corner of the globe; a murder mystery would most likely have a murder and a suspect/s. However when substantial similarities are found between works, there is likely to be a claim of plagiarism or copyright infringement. See plagiarism; copyright.

[Arts Law Centre, from http://www.artslaw.asn.au]

Scene cards
Scene cards are a method used by some writers to outline their script by describing each scene on an index card, then arranging and rearranging them to work out the story structure. Some writers work with colour coded scene cards.

Screenplay
Screenplay is a script that is written to be produced as a film. Each page is roughly timed as one minute. Film is usually 90 minutes in length.

Screen story (credit)
Screen story is the credit given to a writer who has written a screenplay based on another writer's work but has used the other writer's work only as a springboard, a characterization, an incident, or some equally limited contribution, creating a story that is substantially new and different from the other writer's work.

Screen story (material)
Screen story is the written narrative material contracted from a writer by a hiring body. It consists of basic narrative, idea or theme and indicates character development and action. In the case of a feature film, the story or screen story is included in the treatment.

Screenwriter
A screenwriter is an individual who either adapts an existing work, such as a novel or play, for production as a film or creates a new work from an original idea.

Scenographer
A scenographer is an individual who develops the design of a production set, a game, a trade fair exhibition, a museum exhibition, digital set design or performance capture from a written work.

[ Howard, P. (2002). What is Scenography? from http://www.wikipedia.com]

Script
A script is a fully written work for a production in screen terms, embodying individual scenes, full dialogue or narration and any other descriptions or details necessary to facilitate production. A script may take the form of a screenplay, shooting script, lined script, continuity script or a spec script (a non-commissioned script).

Script fee
A script fee is the payment of a negotiated fee to a writer.

Script material
Script material is all the scripts or any material covered by an agreement. It includes the bible, continuity, draft scripts, outlines, polishes, rewrites, screen stories, treatments or anything written for the production process. It is held by the production company.

Script editor
A script editor can be hired by a writer to edit their script or they work with a writer for and on behalf of a producer, investment organisation or television network to review or suggest changes or alternatives to a script. Usually with a solid background as a writer themselves, script editors have an extensive knowledge of writing, production, acting, sound and budgets.

Script supervisor
A script supervisor is an i ndividual who tracks the script during production and keeps extensive notes about which parts have been filmed and how the filmed scenes deviated from the script; they also make continuity notes, creating a lined script. Hero , a film directed by Zhang Yimou, used five script supervisors during production.

[Hero. (2002). Writers: Feng Li. Bin Wang]

Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs found in literary works. Semiotics is used in an editing analysis to find all the dramatic ingredients and how they relate to the drama.

Sequel
A sequel is a film that presents the continuation of characters and/or events of a previously filmed movie. See prequel.

Sequence of scenes
A sequence of scenes is the unit of dramatic action held together by one central idea. They have unity of purpose and action as they are sequential and held together by a causal connection. Each sequence of scenes must have a beginning, middle and end together with cause and effect. A sequence of scenes is more commonly used in a chase scene.

Serial
A serial is a televised program where the same characters carry a continuing narrative in half-four segments, five nights per week.

Series
A series is a televised hour-long series of episodes, each complete in itself but held together by the same title or identifying devices, common to all the programs in the series, or in the main characters common to many or all of the episodes. It is usually televised once a week.

Series or serial story editor (television)
Story editors are the key person in a television series as their skills as a senior writer and a seasoned script editor are combined with their experiences as a human being and their spirit, their ethos and their spark are the flesh, blood and backbone of the series or serial.

Series producer (television)
A series producer is an individual who has worked as a story editor and is moving into the role of producer.

Services contract
A services contract is a legal document that a writer signs with an agency for representation in order to receive writing assignments.

Set
A set is an artificial environment that is constructed to make filming easier but still appear natural when viewed from a camera angle. In television the number of sets and what they will be used for is determined by the story editor, eg. a hospital set, corner set and so on. In a series there are usually five permanent and two guest sets. Corner sets are the temporary redressing of permanent sets; i.e. to make a telephone call; dining for one and a waiter or two patrons and no waiter. It is small.

Set designer
A set designer is an i ndividual responsible for translating a production designer's vision of the television or movie's environment into a set, which can be used for filming or television. See scenographer.

Set-up
A set-up is a scripting term that describes the problem posed in the first scenes, which will be resolved by the end of the script. A set-up lays the groundwork for a dramatic or comic situation that will become quite complicated in the middle of the story before it is resolved or ‘paid off'. It has to happen within the first few minutes of a script.

Shooting script
A shooting script contains scene numbers, camera angles, inserts and the director's, cinematographer's, producers' and editors' input.

Shorthand
Shorthand is the use of universal signs or assumed knowledge to cover large periods of time without having to provide a lengthy explanation. In Kubrick's 2001- A Space Odyssey opened with a pre-historic ape throwing a bone in the air that turned into a spacecraft. He ‘shorthanded' 2001 years in a matter of seconds.

[ 2001- A Space Odyssey. (1968). Writers: S. Kubrick. A. C. Clarke]

Short subject/short course/short film
A short subject is a film that is less than 60 minutes in length.

Silent film
A silent film is one that has no soundtrack and no spoken dialogue.

Situation comedy
Situation comedy is a drama used in television in which humour is derived from people being placed in uncomfortable, embarrassing or unfamiliar situations.

Slapstick comedy
Slapstick comedy is one in which the humour is derived from physical interactions, often involving exaggerated but ultimately harmless violence directed towards individuals.

Slow motion
Slow motion is a shot in which time appears to move more slowly than normal.

Slug line/slug
A slug line appears in a script before each scene or shot detailing the location, date and time that the following action is intended to occur.

Source material
Source material is material that becomes the basis for a script or screen story.

Speaking role
A speaking role is a role in which a character speaks scripted dialogue. Go to your national actor's union to find other defined roles for actors plus their cost.

Special effects
Special effects (SFX) are an a rtificial effect used to create an illusion.

Step outline
Step outline is a method used by some writers to outline their story by numbering the major scenes and the order in which they occur.

Stock character
A stock character is one that is recognisable mainly for their conformity to a standard dramatic stereotype, that is, the wily but wise bar tender, the sensitive soldier, the crusty movie agent with the heart of gold, the gossip, the whinger and so on.

Stock situation
A stock situation is one of a number of basic plot situations, such as the lover hiding under the bed, twins mistaken for each other and so on. Used in comedy.

Stock footage
Stock footage is f ootage from other films or locations that are used in a new film or television production. In television serials or series, exterior stock footage is shot of the permanent locations at various times and is used in five second segments to identify that location and to change time.

Story
A story is written material for use in a television production that consists of an idea or theme that indicates character development and action. To see if story works, try breaking it into three acts, once upon a time (Act 1), and then something happened (Act 2) and after that, it was resolved (Act 3) and then they all lived happily ever after and initially write it as a short story. If you can't do this with your idea, then it is probably episodic and unworkable.

Storyboard
A storyboard is used to illustrate a drama. It is also a s equence of pictures used to communicate the desired general visual appearance on camera of a scene or movie. It can be set up on a website specifically designed to pitch a project.

Story consultant
A story consultant is an experienced writer or editor whose duties include analysis, consultation, research and editorial advice about script material for the creative industries.

Story editor (feature film)
A film or feature story editor is an individual who works on a screenplay with a writer. They have a similar role to a dramaturge in theatre.

Storyliner
A storyliner is a new writer or trainee story or script editor who works in a television production house with experienced editors for on-the-job training.

Structure
Structure is about the execution of a quality or high concept idea, the construction of the central character, the major characters and the minor characters, the dialogue, the construction of the central plot and the sub-plots, the dramatic qualities, the visual realisation, suitability of the proposed format and cost in a scene by scene breakdown.

Style
Style is a manner of expression that is unique to the creator of a work. It is also called a writer's voice. It takes a writer approximately seven years to get their authentic voice on the page and with a life of its own. The specific manner in which a script is shaped, as determined by its genre, its historical period, the sort of impact the director wishes to convey to the audience and the skill of the artists involved is also called style.

Stylise
To stylise is to deliberately shape a script in a specifically non-naturalistic manner.

Subplot
Subplot is also called the B Story that must be continued in the script and resolved at the end of the script. A subplot weaves in and out of the main action.

Subtext
The subtext is the subtleties between the lines of a scene, as in ‘reading between the lines'. The action is often as much between the lines as in them.

Summary
Summary is a synopsis of the drama, told in 60 words or under for use in television guides, caption work or promotional material. It is usually written by a television script editor for each serial or series script. See thumbnail.

Suspended disbelief
Suspension of disbelief is an aesthetic theory intended to characterise people's relationships to art. It refers to the alleged willingness of a reader or viewer to accept as true the premises of a work of fiction , even if they are fantastic, impossible, or contradictory. It also refers to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with the acceptance of those premises. According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is a quid pro quo : the audience agrees to provisionally suspend their judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment.

Further, inconsistencies or plot holes that violate the initial premise, established canon , continuity , or common sense, are often viewed as breaking this agreement. For particularly loyal fans, these deal-breakers are usually accompanied by a sense of betrayal. However, the extent to which the suspension can be called compromised is often dependent on the beholder. A physicist, for example, may be more likely to question a fantastical breach of known physics, while an architect's suspension of disbelief may be damaged by being introduced to a building of unrealistic proportions. Similarly, 'common sense' is a relative term, and so the same piece of fiction may stand up or not, depending on the particular audience.

Though, as a theory, suspended disbelief is pervasive amongst critics — particularly film critics — most aesthetic philosophers reject it.

[Wikipedia. 23 May 2007. http://www.wikipedia.coom]

Synopsis
Synopsis is the summary of a story told in present tense. See thumbnail.

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