LO1: Analysis of Scripts

a) Style and Content

This section of my analysis will look at the style and content of different genres of script, and what the similarities and differences are between the genres. First of all, looking at language, three of my chosen scripts are very formal (short film, documentary and news broadcast), while two of them are much more informal (radio drama and video game).

It makes sense that the documentary "Triumph of the Will" and the BBC news broadcast are formal because they are about serious topics - the documentary is about the Nazi Party and the news broadcast speaks of terrorism and robberies.  For example, the documentary's script is made up of mainly actions - "a young female child and her mother are captured in the next scene smiling" - and speech - "truth is the basis on which the power of the press stands and falls". All of this type of language is formal. Also, the BBC news broadcast is very factual and therefore formal, containing sentences like "Lancashire Police say a shopkeeper will not face prosecution over the death of an armed robber who attacked him near his store in Skelmersdale." Short films can potentially use formal or informal language, depending on their genre, but the one I chose, "Fogg's Millions", was written in a formal way - this can be seen with language like "they sit down beside each other, talking earnestly."

In one of my more informal scripts, the radio drama entitled "The Dead Duck Caper", the characters use very informal language when speaking to each other - for example "'You have no nerves! You're just a cold, callous--' 'Shut up!'" This type of language would be expected from a "drama" because they are written to be exciting and gripping for the viewer/listener.

Finally, the other informal script is the one for the multiplayer Star Wars video game. This script is quite different from all of the other four in the way that it is written more in note form (for example "enemies won't kill player", and "player chases"), and done in a flow chart. This is because there is a wide range of possibilities of character action and dialogue depending on what the player does in the game, so everything needs to be jotted down in a clear and concise way. This is one way in which the script is quite informal, but another is the use of some language like "witty banter", seen between boxes on the flow chart. Since the purpose of video games is to have fun, there is no need for their scripts to be formal and serious - they can use slang terms and be written in note form.

Therefore, from the different levels of formality seen in my five chosen scripts, it can be concluded that there are great differences in the style of language used in different scripts. It depends on the genre and type of media product they are written for.

Moving on to house style, I would say that my first four scripts (not including the video game) are fairly similar. One key similarity is that they are all written in the Courier New font, size 12, which is a convention in script writing. Therefore, at first glance, they all appear the same. In terms of layout, individual scenes are always numbered, numbers justified to the left. Also, stage directions are always justified left and written in non-capitals, location information is justified to the left, and when a character speaks, their name is always capitalised in order to show clearly when a new section of dialogue begins. These are all conventions of layout in scriptwriting, followed by my chosen scripts. Some examples of stage directions will be looked at in a later paragraph.

However, while my chosen scripts do have a similar house style overall and follow most conventions, they don't follow all of the possible scriptwriting conventions. Interestingly, justifying dialogue centrally under the capitalised speaker's name - in its own clear block of text - is something else which is normally always done in scriptwriting, but it is seldom seen in my chosen scripts. Only the documentary "Triumph of the Will" does this consistently, with the short film, news report and radio drama unusually either grouping dialogue with character descriptions or justifying dialogue to the left. Another example of a convention which is not followed is that of intonation - normally, a word is placed in brackets before a section of dialogue to describe how a character is speaking, for example "polite", or "self-conscious". However, intonation is only seen in the script for "The Dead Duck Caper", the radio drama. While intonation is very important for a radio programme because the listener cannot see facial expressions, it is still surprising that this information is not explicitly clear in the other scripts for television and film.

Obviously, since the video game script is written in the form of a flow chart (for reasons explained earlier), it has a completely different house style and layout to the other four scripts, meaning it looks very different. It doesn't use the Courier New font and it is essentially just a series of connected boxes with notes in and around them. So while the first four television and radio scripts I analysed have a similar house style (despite a few unfollowed conventions), the video game script understandably doesn't. It has its own house style which is useful for the software developers of that specific type of media product.

Moving on to the actual content of the scripts, the topic of stage directions is important. Stage directions are seen in three of my scripts (except for the Star Wars multiplayer game) and they indicate positions and movements of the characters, as well as what the sound and lighting should be like at a given time. For example, in "Fogg's Millions", there is the stage direction "Jim shakes hands with the nurse", in "Triumph of the Will", there is the stage direction "they pass under the bridge", and in "The Dead Duck Caper", there is the stage direction "sound: Mrs Perine claps her hands". These stage directions are important because it lets the actors/characters know exactly how to act and what to do in order to convey the story to the audience. They leave nothing to improvisation so that a production can go perfectly to plan. The reason that the news report script doesn't contain any stage directions is because they are not always necessary; news reports in some cases are simply someone sitting at a desk reading the headlines. However, stage directions would certainly be used in some live broadcasts (of news or otherwise), so that the camera workers would know where to stand and how to frame shots of the newsreader or interviewee.

Next, mode of address will be analysed. "Mode of address" means the way in which the characters in the script/production speak to each other, or perhaps the way the production speaks to the audience, in the case of a documentary. For example, a "teacher-to-pupil" mode of address would be formal and respectful because there is no very personal relationship involved and one of them is learning something from the other.

I would say that three of my chosen scripts have a "peer-to-peer" mode of address, while the other two have a "teacher-to-pupil". A "peer-to-peer" mode of address is when the two people in question have the same status and speak in an informal or chatty way to one another, often using slang terms. I think "The Dead Duck Caper" and the Star Wars multiplayer game use the peer-to-peer mode of address very obviously, with phrases like "you're gonna sit still", "shut up!" and "witty banter" being used between the two scripts. These are things that a child would never say to a teacher, for example and could only happen in a comfortable, similar-status relationship. The other script that I think uses the "peer-to-peer" mode of address is "Fogg's Millions", but in a less obvious way. This is an example sentence from the script: "She is delighted to see him again and they shake hands heartily." Even though this is narrated in a formal way, you can tell the two people in question are friendly with each other and so would interact in a peer-to-peer way.

The two "teacher-to-pupil" scripts are "Triumph of the Will", the documentary, and the BBC news report, I believe. These scripts clearly use the "teacher-to-pupil" mode of address, because they use phrases like "Alfred Rosenberg, Reich Leader of the Foreign Policy Office speaks" and "It's called 'SIGNIT' - Signals Intelligence" which help the viewer/listener to learn about something that has happened. The programme is the "teacher" and the viewer is the "pupil" - these programmes engage directly with the audience.

It is worth noting that one difference the documentary "Triumph of the Will" has to the others is that it is a "shooting script", not just a script, because camerawork and editing decisions are included on the paper. For example, things like "close-up angle at Hitler's expression" and "title dissolves out of focus" are written, which show how the documentary should be put together in post-production. The other scripts do not include this information so they can't be classed as shooting scripts. Conventionally, camerawork and editing information in a shooting script is justified to the right of the page in capital letters. "Triumph of the Will" does follow the capital letters convention, however it does not justify text to the right - it justifies the information to the left instead. This is somewhat unusual for a shooting script.

In addition, there is something about the Star Wars multiplayer game script that makes it further different to the rest. Its content is predominantly synopsis (a brief summary of what is happening) and character actions, seen in the flow chart boxes, rather than dialogue. A couple of examples of this are "players fight enemies while droid opens office" and "Jarvis and Maison awake in the middle of a large arena." This is done because there are many different scenarios which can happen in video games depending what the player chooses to do, meaning that setting the scene and gameplay takes priority over dialogue.

So, from looking at the content in each of my five scripts, it is apparent that there are once again great differences depending on the genre of the production, just like with language and formality. As a conclusion to this style and content section, I would say that scripts appear similar in terms of appearance because they mainly adhere to scriptwriting conventions (with the exception of video games), but their content and language can differ in a big way.

b) Narrative Structure

Single-stranded
If a production is "single-stranded", it means that it only has one key character whom all of the action revolves around. If a production uses a single-stranded structure, its benefits are that it engages the audience and means they empathise more with the main character. Two of my chosen scripts use a single-stranded structure: "Fogg's Millions", the short film, and "The Dead Duck Caper", the radio drama.

"Fogg's Millions" has its main character as Peter Fogg, an elderly man who has a fortune of over one million pounds. The story revolves around him and how he interacts with the people around him, including Grace Marvin, who only wants to get to know him for his money. This script is single-stranded because Peter Fogg is consistently mentioned throughout the script - examples include "Peter Fogg slowly approaches car" and "Peter Fogg, with the aid of his stick, hobbles into scene". As I mentioned before, the single-stranded nature of this short film means the audience can follow what is happening easily and they can empathise with Peter Fogg as they get to know his character.

"The Dead Duck Caper" is the radio drama that I chose, and it too has a single-stranded nature. The key character in this production is Sam Spade, a detective who investigates a variety of cases. He is a constant in this radio series, called "The Adventures of Sam Spade" - therefore it makes sense that he is the main character. You can see in the script that he is constantly a part of the dialogue and plays a part in every situation, meaning the audience quickly connect with him and feel empathy for him.

Multi-stranded
The opposite of single-stranded, a "multi-stranded" production is one which has multiple main characters/protagonists - in this case, you have what is known as a "band of protagonists". While the audience's empathy for one character may not be as strong in this case, it creates excitement and often spectacle for them when multiple characters are involved, such as in a soap opera like Coronation Street. Two of my chosen scripts use a multi-stranded structure - the documentary "Triumph of the Will", and the multiplayer Star Wars video game.

The documentary "Triumph of the Will" has a multi-stranded structure in the way that it follows many different members of the Nazi party during their political campaign. There are many different speakers throughout the script such as "Rosenberg", "Dietrich" and "Hess", all of whom are given fairly equal weighting - no one stands out as a main character. Since this is a rather haunting topic, the audience wouldn't feel "excited" as such, but they would feel engaged with the programme because there are always new people doing or saying things.

The reason I say that the video game script is multi-stranded is because it is for a multiplayer game. Right at the beginning of the flow chart, it says "player 1 enters station" and "player 2 enters station", and from there onwards, all of the action involves two people - therefore there are two main characters throughout. This obviously engages two people with the game rather than one, meaning there is more happening at one time, creating fun and excitement, which is the purpose of the game.

The news broadcast programme that I have chosen doesn't have a single-stranded or multi-stranded narrative structure, which would be true of any news programme whatsoever. This is because it has a running order instead, which means that different stories are selected to run at different times in the programme, based on their importance and relevance. The breaking news always comes first and is then usually referred to throughout the rest of the programme. You can see examples of decreasing seriousness in my chosen news broadcast - first it begins mentioning international attacks and terrorism, before moving on to a robbery, and then to oil prices. This is all down to the running order, and it means the viewers/listeners get the most important and relevant news stories straight away.

So from all of this, it can be concluded that my five scripts have a range of narrative structures and they differ from each other.

Linear
If a production is said to have a linear structure, it means that it uses a conventional "equilibrium - disequilibrium - resolution" structure. Tzvetan Todorov came up with a "narrative theory" in 1977 - he said that almost all narratives follow this three-part structure. He basically said that there is a happy part, a problematic part, and then a return to the happy part. It doesn't necessarily have to be in that order, but that is what is often seen in films and dramas.

Two of my chosen scripts have a linear structure - "Fogg's Millions" and "The Dead Duck Caper". This is because they both involve a problem which gets solved by the end of the film. They do not quite use the classic "equilibrium - disequilibrium - resolution", however, because in both cases there is a disequilibrium at the start of the film, instead of there being an equilibrium stage first. The disequilibrium is there right away and is resolved by the end - this is probably more common in short films and dramas like these so they can keep to a shorter time frame. In a full-length film there would be time to fit more background in on the characters and story. Another possible reason for these two scripts to begin straight away with disequilibrium could be that they want to engage the audience as soon as they begin.

Non-linear
A non-linear production is one which does not follow the linear structure - anything could happen at any time. This can be good because it creates excitement and anticipation for the audience - they don't know what is going to happen next because of the more complex structure. In some films which are structured in a linear way, the audience may be able to tell what is going to happen next, therefore reducing enjoyment.

One example of a well-known non-linear production is "The Social Network", the 2010 film about the creation of Facebook. This film starts with a disequilibrium (as Mark Zuckerberg is dumped by his girlfriend) and then constantly changes from equilibrium to disequilibrium, never settling, as Mark's fortunes rapidly go from good to bad on his journey to fame. This was engrossing for the viewers of the film because it kept them on-edge and excited about what the next twist in the tale would be.

The documentary, the news broadcast and the multiplayer video game have neither a linear nor a non-linear structure. The documentary and news broadcast are intended to inform and educate the audience, instead of having them watch a film which is intended to make them feel a certain way with a fixed structure. As I mentioned before, the news broadcast in particular will have a running order which prioritises important and international events. Finally, my chosen Star Wars multiplayer script does not have a particular structure because the outcome depends on what the two players decide to do - it is not totally on-rails. There could be a positive ending, a negative ending, or the players could do nothing at all.

So you can see here that none of my scripts have a non-linear structure - they are either linear or do not conform to either of the categories. Non-linear is a less common type of structure in films in general, as many blockbuster films use the classic linear structure which audiences are familiar with and generally enjoy.

c) Genre

In 1995, Barry Keith Grant defined the word "genre" as meaning "type or kind". In this section, fiction and non-fiction types of script will be looked at, and what they mean for the production. Three of my scripts are fiction, meaning that they are made-up stories, while two are non-fiction, meaning that they give facts or tell a story about something that has really happened.

My three fiction scripts are "Fogg's Millions", "The Dead Duck Caper" and the multiplayer Star Wars video game. These three productions all use a made-up storyline, for the sole purpose of entertaining the audience. The creators would have wanted to take the audience to a new place, to help them escape from the stresses and worries of their day-to-day life. The video game would be especially good for this, because the player actually interacts with a different universe through a gaming setup. In addition, the main characters in the short film and radio drama, such as Peter Fogg and Sam Spade, would have been created to be ideal selves (people who the viewers aspire to be like) and ideal partners (people who the viewers find attractive and aspire to be with), depending on who the viewer is. "Ideal self" and "ideal partner" is a key part of media theory created by Carl Rogers in 1980, and these ideas can be seen in most media products.

My two non-fiction scripts are the documentary "Triumph of the Will" and the BBC news broadcast, genres which you would expect to be factual and non-fiction. These programmes would have been created to inform and educate the viewer on a particular topic (the Nazi Party in the case of the documentary) or on general current national and international issues (in the case of the news broadcast, terrorism, robbery and oil prices). Instead of being created just to entertain the audience, there is a more serious but necessary motive behind the programmes. The viewers would learn about real things which are happening or have happened, building up their knowledge of world events.

d) Target Audience

In this section, the target audience will be looked at for each of my chosen five scripts individually, explaining who would be interested in which scripts and the reasons for that.

First of all, there is the short film "Fogg's Millions". Based on the National Readership Survey's (NRS) demographic categories, I would say that the audience for this film would fall into the categories A and B - upper middle class and middle class. This is because the storyline revolves around someone's one-million pound fortune and the characters who are tied up with it. It also seems to be a very traditional and old-style story on the whole, relating to the higher middle classes best, because of the relationships involved and the type of language that is used - for example, "she is impressed with this fine-looking man of the world", and "Grace is now on very good terms with old Peter Fogg. He proposes to her. She consents and marries him." Finally, I think that this film is not particularly aimed at one gender, but I do think it is aimed towards older people of ages 50+, because of the old-style story and language I mentioned before.  They would use it as a form of "escapism", one of a few "uses and gratifications" of media products theorised by Denis McQuail in 1972. This means the audience would watch the short film to escape from their day-to-day life for a while.

Next, there is the documentary "Triumph of the Will", which is about the Nazi Party. I would say that the audience for this production would be of the NRS categories B, C1 and C2 (middle class, lower middle class and skilled working class), and the documentary would also be aimed at both genders aged 40+. I think that the people in these NRS categories would be most interested in learning about a historic event because they would be educated and have time to watch a TV programme in the evening. Also, it is mainly older and more mature people who would watch this documentary because they would take more of an interest in the past, hence why I believe it is aimed at people aged 40+. For some of the audience who are much older, a documentary of this kind may even bring back memories (albeit bad ones) of a time gone by. Coming back to Denis McQuail's "uses and gratifications" of media products, for this documentary one would be "surveillance", meaning the audience learn about other people through watching real actions that have taken place.

Now I will move on to look at the BBC News broadcast. A programme like this is unique because it has a wide target audience - the NRS categories the audience falls into range from A to D (upper middle class to working class), because most people in the country want to know about current affairs. The reason I don't include NRS category E in that range (those at the lowest level of subsistence) is that they may not have a television/radio of their own to tune into the news on. In addition, the wide target audience trend continues with age and gender - both genders are equally likely to view the news, and anyone of age 18+ is probably going to watch the news on a fairly regular basis. The content concerns everyone. Similar to the documentary, this news programme has the "use and gratification" to the audience of "surveillance", as they learn about things real people have done recently. Finally, this news report has a "geographic" aspect to its target audience, meaning whereabouts they live. News broadcasts can target the national population or smaller local populations depending on the stories that are running - in the case of the report I have on my blog, it mainly has a national target audience. For example, it runs stories like "Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have given the country's mobile phone companies until tomorrow to suspend all their services at night" and "two Palestinian teenagers are among a number of people who've died in a day of attacks". These stories are about world affairs and therefore concern the whole of the UK, not just a smaller area.

Next is the target audience for the radio drama "The Dead Duck Caper". I believe that the NRS categories its audience falls into are B, C1 and C2 (middle class, lower middle class and skilled working class). This is because it is a radio drama which people in these categories would be likely to listen to while they work or do things in the house. People who fall into categories above or below these would probably not be interested in the story - it is a classic detective story, Sherlock Holmes-esque, which relates best to an audience around the middle-class level. I think this drama is also aimed at a male audience of ages 40+, because females would stereotypically not be as interested in a classic detective tale, while a younger audience would stereotypically not find the story entertaining. In terms of Denis McQuail's "uses and gratifications", "The Dead Duck Caper" is a form of "escapism" for its target audience because it takes them to a different place away from their day-to-day life.

Finally, there is the target audience for the multiplayer Star Wars video game. Unlike my other four scripts, I think this script has an audience of lower NRS categories; I think they would fall into categories C1, C2 and D (lower middle class, skilled working class and working class). This is because video games are not something which middle class people and upwards would stereotypically play - people around the working class band and slightly upwards would get the most enjoyment out of this game after a long day at work. This definitely relates to the fact that young people (around ages 13-25) are the most likely age group to play this (and video games in general), and they would not have the income to be middle-class yet. In addition, this Star Wars game would have a majority male audience, because men are stereotypically more interested in Star Wars and video games than females. They are stereotypically more male interests. The "use and gratification" of this media product is once again "escapism", as the players of it can take part in a different world away from their own for a little while.