In a couple of threads recently I’ve noticed this No Camera Direction mantra.  Where did it come from?

Scripts in play now are crammed with camera direction.  Camera movement or technical direction is now part of your story.  People use it in a variety of ways.  Sometimes it is used to compress and other times it used to create at tone or feel to a piece.

This is from the first page of a script called The Beaver.  

---
INT. WALTER’S BEDROOM - DAY

WALTER, mid 40’s, vacant, lies in bed fully dressed in a suit and tie.

The voice we hear belongs to THE BEAVER. He has a crisp English accent.

THE BEAVER (V.O.)
This is a picture of Walter Black, a hopelessly depressed individual.He wants you to know he’s tried everything.

BEGIN MONTAGE:

CLOSE ON a shelf of SELF HELP TITLES. Walter pulls down DUMPING DEPRESSION.

CLOSE ON a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions. Walter pops some pills.

WALTER CHANTS and pounds as part of a drum circle.
WALTER SOBS on a park bench.
WALTER HITS himself with a belt but refuses to show emotion.
WALTER POPS more pills.
WALTER READS from THE RAINBOW INSIDE.
WALTER LAYS on a couch, speaking to his therapist.
WALTER STARES into a hypnotist’s pocketwatch.
WALTER POPS a whole handful of pills.

CUT TO:

CLOSE ON a night stand where a copy of SIX STEPS TO A NEW YOU lies open. In bed beside it, Walter sleeps.

THE BEAVER (V.O.) (CONT'D)
But, mostly what he does is sleep.
---

The script was written by Kyle Killen, a twenty-eight year old who lives in Arizona.  He has no produced credits.  And the entire script is sculpted like this.  It’s the most extreme example I could find and it just happens to be the script that topped the Black List as the most talked about screenplay of 2008.  It's also probably going to be directed by Jodie Foster and star Jim Carrey.

So, stop telling people what they can and cannot do as far as camera direction or technical direction just because you don’t know how to don’t want to use it.  It’s unfair to writers trying to find their stories when they’re met with these universal proclamations which have nothing to do with reality.

There's a vast difference between what you put up there and people who write "The camera dollies with our character down a long corridor" or something like that.  You shouldn't be telling the director how to direct his film unless you absolutely can't avoid it.

I don't know about you but I identify CLOSE ON as a camera direction.  If it were old school he would have said CU.  

How about these examples from the same script.  He's calling every one of these shots and directing angles.

--


ANGLE ON The Beaver. Walter’s not even in the shot.

or

CLOSE ON both their faces as they fall into what almost look like identical pensive trances. They each begin to tap their chins with their index fingers.

THE BEAVER (V.O.)
This is a picture of Walter Black, a hopelessly depressed individual.

Slowly match pull backs on both until The Beaver becomes visible in Walter’s frame.

or

INT. OFFICE - MORNING

A wide shot shows rows of cubes. No one’s here yet. There’s a small card in the center of each desk.

CLOSE ON a single desk. The card is the same therapeutic caution card Walter gave to Meredith and Porter.

NEW ANGLE inside of a pair of cubes, the card in the center of the desks.

NEW ANGLE inside of an office. The same situation.

or

As he disappears from frame we’re left looking into Porter’s empty room until the camera pulls back and the hole becomes just a pinprick of light in the wall.

And then the lights go out.

FADE TO BLACK.

From what I can tell (like I said before) the passages you are listing are when it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Regardless, I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to litter their screenplays with camera directions (and most anyone will tell you that), and just because one guy (with a pretty mediocre script -yes, I've read it) managed to get away with it (because you seem to be under the impression he does it a lot), I wouldn't advise everyone to.

Quoted from Lakewood So, stop telling people what they can and cannot do as far as camera direction or technical direction just because you don’t know how to don’t want to use it.  It’s unfair to writers trying to find their stories when they’re met with these universal proclamations which have nothing to do with reality.

I don't really get the attitude either.  You seem to be under the impression that everyone here is acting out-of-line.  We're all just trying to offer up advice based on what we know.

So, basically everyone should follow your lead versus someone who is successful and working?  Right.

I'm just saying that giving anyone a hard and fast rule about what they can and cannot do is wrong.  It reflects how you want to write and not how they rest of the world writes.  You have every right to give your opinion about camera angles but in the last few threads that I read it became a group session of bashing.  This is wrong!  Don't!  Save yourself!  

It's ridiculous.

Quoted from Lakewood So, basically everyone should follow your lead versus someone who is successful and working?  Right. I'm just saying that giving anyone a hard and fast rule about what they can and cannot do is wrong.  It reflects how you want to write and not how they rest of the world writes.  You have every right to give your opinion about camera angles but in the last few threads that I read it became a group session of bashing.  This is wrong!  Don't!  Save yourself!   It's ridiculous.

By all means, write your script however you see fit.  I've put in my two cents (and I'm sure others will too), but in the end, it comes down to your personal style.  And if that style includes putting in a bunch of camera shots/angles, go for it.  If you make it, let us know.

Quoted from Lakewood So, basically everyone should follow your lead versus someone who is successful and working?  Right.

The books that I've read say to leave the camera angles out.  In regards to what you say, above, I have no idea who you are, so your statement doesn't carry any weight.

Don't think I'm being snide with this; I honestly have no idea who you are.


Phil

Quoted from dogglebe Don't think I'm being snide with this; I honestly have no idea who you are.

There are some who believe that I am Lakewood.  It's one of those shrouded, unsolved mysteries.

I may also be Escapist, so I've been told.

Truth be told, I've never seen you and Lakewood together.  Then again, no one has seen me and Cindy Keller together, either.


Phil

Lakewood, professionals can afford to make mistakes. Amateurs can't.

I personally don't use camera angles, as I hate reading them in scripts. In my opinion, they interrupt the flow of the script. Plus most of the stuff you wrote can be written without the use of camera shots.

This; "CLOSE ON a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions" could easily be this; "A medicine cabinet full of prescriptions".

I also tend to read scripts from a director's POV, and I can't tell you how much I hate reading how to direct scripts. The writer is the writer, not the director. Unless the director is an idiot, he's going to use a close up shot for the medicine cabinet full of prescriptions.

I agree that camera directions should not be included in spec scripts, especially when they're written by inexprienced writers.  Just no reason for them, IMO.  As Toby just said, they totally take the reader out of the read, and become very annoying when found in abundance.

To take this a step further, I think it's quite obvious that most recent movies have a great amount of CLOSE UP shots, just about everytime there is a conversation between people.  Does it matter to the story whether or not the director decides to use a CU or a wide angle shot?  No, of course it doesn't.  Should a spec writer include such direction in his script?  No, of course not.

Now, I do agree that there are times when there really isn't any other way to do it, and it may be something important to the story, like a reveal of some kind, based on a ariel view shot, or a pan, or whatever.  But these examples should be few and far between.

Writers should stick to writing, and leave the direction up to the director...same goes with over description of clothing and set decoration.

Quoted from Dreamscale Writers should stick to writing, and leave the direction up to the director.

My only wish in life would be for that to be reciprocal, but it's not.

HaHa...funny, Lakew...I mean Shelton.

I'm being kind of serious though.  A lot of directors have no trouble going in and switching things around without the slightest hint of consultation.  That's all well and good when you've got a check in hand, but when you're essentially giving your script up for nothing, it's kind of frustrating.

Of course, this is kind of along the lines of my "Hollywood vs. everything else" theory, where things are not so universally cut and dry, or "textbook", so to speak.

^^ Some things will always need to be changed though, due to filming restrictions, budget, actors etc. However, I think if director's change a significant amount of the script, then it can be pretty crappy.

I'm lucky enough that I co-wrote the short script I plan on filming, so I was able to change whatever needed to be changed.