Creation Phases | Idea to Script

The very first step a film takes, is becoming an idea in someone's head. I have yet to study the field of neurobiology, and will therefore skip the gory details relevant to this part of the creation process.

This idea however now begins an arduous process of becoming a script. This usually involves three stages:


The Treatment - a summary of the characters that are involved in the script, with an in depth analysis of nature, and motive.

The Synopsis - a short summary of what the film is about, (this is what producers like to reject the most...) and

The Script itself - Usually drafted to a standard set of format rules that looks something like this:

Scene 1 - Day, Lawn outside (hero's name) house. The sun is shining. (hero) is mowing the lawn, while his son (hero's son's name), a blond young boy of 8 is driving his motorized van around the driveway. (hero) (hero's son's name), come see here! (hero's son) looks up from the dashboard, winces against the sun and dismounts. Then runs to his father. (etc. etc..)

As you can see the script is in essence the complete film put to text. It includes information about the dialogue, the location of where the scene is happening, descriptions of the characters and just about everything you can inclding of course what is going on in the characters minds.
As you can see the script is a major part of any film. It is usually re-written anywhere between three (uncommon) and two dozen times (more likely), and is usually eventually misinterpreted and thrown away.

Someone once said for every film made there are actually three films being created - One in the scriptwriters mind, the second, what the writer puts to paper, and third the film as it is seen by us in the cinema.

I won't go into what a good script is (and risk grave bodily damage by van Damme fans) - It is of course a very subjective issue, but I do recommend reading Hal Hartley's - Trust, a beautiful script powered on by Hartley's amazing directing skill and the fresh photographic ideas brought to life.