Screenwriting Fundamentals

FourThe Visual Component—II

As writers, you are shifting gears from compositional writing to screen-writing throughout these two chapters on The Visual Component. As one of my students remarked, “It’s like turning the sock inside out.” The shift takes getting used to, and you will begin to think differently. Film is primarily a visual medium, a blend of the visual and the spoken word. Which one takes precedent over the other is a subjective, artistic preference most often dictated by the director’s bent. Some films are very wordy, some rely almost exclusively on the visual. The indisputable reality, however, is that in the case of most, the core of the film is rooted in the story, which is the responsibility of the screenwriter. There are variables ...