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Question: I need help with screenplay writing!?
I'm writing a short screenplay for one of the scenes in the book The Outsiders for school and I am confused about camera pans and how to!.!.well write the whole dialogue!. Please help!Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Don't do camera pans!.!.!.

you need to describe where the scene takes place starting with either INT for interior or EXT for exterior and then where we are and the time of day

INT- Ponyboy's house- Night

then describe what you seen in the shot below that

The house is in shambles with tv dinners left on the coffee table and dirty clothes on the floor!. Ponyboy is sleeping on the couch when his mother enters with her arms full of groceries!.

then you write who is talking in the center of the page
anything descriptive goes below that in parenthesis but don't use that too much
and their dialogue is centered underneath that!.

MOTHER
Ponyboy!? Are you sleeping!?

PONYBOY
(barely audible)
I was, Ma!. You need help!?

Each time you move to a new location, or cut to a new scene, you just start over with INT or EXT and where you are!.

Those are the basics anyway!. There's no need to get too much fancier than that for a short!.

***added note***
I tried to center the dialogue, but it was force justified to the side anyway!. so just center if you can when you write and the Descriptive stuff all should be regular margins across the page!.

You're teacher is wrong on a professional level, I spent 5 years in Hollywood reading and writing screenplays!. But if he just wants to see if you have a vision for the scene on film, I could see how he would want the camera pan stuff in there!. He should have told you where it belongs in the body of the text!.

Camera pans the room, it is messy and disshelved!.
Zoom in on Ponyboy asleep on the couch!.
Pan to Door - Left!.
Ponyboy's Mother enters carrying an armload of groceries!.

MOTHER
Ponyboy!? Are you asleep!?

ECU- Ponyboy [ECU means Extreme Close Up]
His lips barely move!.

PONYBOY
(barely audible)
I was!. You need help!?

Does that help!?

Don't know about cross cuts!.!.!. sorry!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A screenplay should not include camera pans or camera directions at all!. Leave that stuff out!. A description of whether the characters are in a room, or outside, inside, in a car etc, will be just fine!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Ask your teacher what camera pans are and cross cuts!. That is the first thing you do!. Second use one of the dialogs from the movie by looking on the internetWww@QuestionHome@Com