Superimposing??

avid-dreamer

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hi again! Ok, my question:

when you guys want to add locations and dates to a new scene how do you prefer to do it?

here is what I copied from The Mummy screenplay:

SUPERIMPOSED across the SCREEN are the WORDS.

TREBES - 2,134 B.C
 

dpaterso

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SUPER: Trebes - 2,134 B.C.

...is the short version.

Tho' I think maybe they meant Thebes in Upper Egypt.

-Derek
 

Dustry Joe

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I suspect you're right about Thebes.

This makes an interesting case for people who pick on others for posting with errors. Here's a professional, made script with a spelling error in it.

Can happen. Not a cardinal sin.
 

LIVIN

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I"ll take that bet...

This makes an interesting case for people who pick on others for posting with errors. Here's a professional, made script with a spelling error in it.

Can happen. Not a cardinal sin.

I thought to myself, what is more likely... a spelling error in the script or a spelling error in the initial post. So, I went to someone's script o rama page. Lo and behold:

SUPERIMPOSED across the SCREEN are the WORDS:


THEBES - 2,134 B.C

Touche. Although, point taken.
 

clockwork

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I checked the same script at Simply Scripts and the typo was there.

from The Mummy script said:
The UNIVERSAL PICTURES globe spins. Then comes to a stop on the African
continent. A golden papyrus MAP of ANCIENT EGYPT rises up. WE PUSH IN on
it, towards a CITY along the Nile, it's name written in hierarchic. WE KEEP
PUSHING IN until the golden map turns to golden sand and we find ourselves
DESCENDING on this ancient Egyptian city. Only it's not ancient.
SUPERIMPOSED across the SCREEN are the WORDS.

TREBES - 2,134 B.C

Accompanied by a NARRATOR with a very thick Egyptian accent:

Perhaps the one you checked had been corrected by the person who uploaded the script?

Still, a rather embarassing mistake if it's an original.
 

dpaterso

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The jaunty narrative style of the posted sample suits the movie, don'tcha think? The super doesn't seem so wordy now, given context.

Mind you, it's impossible to tell whether anything that's found online is actually an original screenplay, unless perhaps it's a scanned PDF. I'm inclined to think film students interning at prodcos or similar low-level peeps supply most of the softcopy versions we find on the script sites. Lately I've noticed that the number of garbage transcripts (which are pretty useless for aspiring screenwriters to study) is rising.

-Derek
 

clockwork

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Somebody buys my script, I'm not embarrassed.

Great!

The jaunty narrative style of the posted sample suits the movie, don'tcha think? The super doesn't seem so wordy now, given context.

And with all that random capping of words, it's a good example of something I read recently in a David Koepp interview about how he believes reading screenplays is a largely unpleasant experience;

"There's all that white space and the inexplicable capital letters - I still don't understand when I'm supposed to capitalize and when I'm not. I don't get it."


I found that oddly reassuring. :)

dpaterso said:
Mind you, it's impossible to tell whether anything that's found online is actually an original screenplay, unless perhaps it's a scanned PDF. I'm inclined to think film students interning at prodcos or similar low-level peeps supply most of the softcopy versions we find on the script sites. Lately I've noticed that the number of garbage transcripts (which are pretty useless for aspiring screenwriters to study) is rising.

-Derek

Indeed. The origins of this script are obscure to say the least, especially considering it's a text document. I vote for transcribed, accidental typo.

*runs off the check whether the title card on the film says Trebes or Thebes. ;)
 
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nmstevens

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I checked the same script at Simply Scripts and the typo was there.



Perhaps the one you checked had been corrected by the person who uploaded the script?

Still, a rather embarassing mistake if it's an original.


I have a feeling that, at some point along the way, an original copy of the script may have been scanned into a computer by some optical reading software.

Misreading a capital H as a capital R is a very common mistake for an OCR.

NMS
 

small axe

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Certainly, scanning and typo mistakes happen.

That said, if I picked up a spec screenplay about Ancient Egypt, and something that is to APPEAR ON THE FRICKIN' SCREEN said "Trebes" instead of "Thebes" ...

I'd go: "Okay. Strike One. Either this writer knows zero about Egypt, or isn't really paying attention to their own screenplay."

Neither is a good thing. Neither imposing nor very super.

But then I'd go: Well, it's not like the Egyptians called it "Thebes" exactly. Then I'd go Google it and find out, what the heck did they call it, and that one little typo has distracted me from the magic spell the writer meant to weave ...

Typos is bad, I say.
 
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small axe

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There you go, stereotypoing

Nonsense.

If I were stereotypoing, it would look more like this:

stereotypo ........................;)..........................stereotypo