Peculiar P.O.V. quandary here. I'm wondering how to format a transition from one person's P.O.V. to another's. I don't mean showing one person's P.O.V. and then switching to another's in the same environment. This is much more a Being John Malkovich situation; a character sees through another character's eyes via a diegetic device/portal. The initial P.O.V. becomes the second P.O.V. A second slug's involved upon transition so it gets a little complicated.

While we're at it, how is one to describe movement and show parts of a character's body (e.g. hands, feet, etc.) in P.O.V.? In the same fashion as regular action; is a reader to presume this is 100% first person given the P.O.V. command? I'd imagine so; I wouldn't ask had someone not told me I'd used P.O.V. wrong in a certain script where I did this exact thing.

Any suggestions?

Please don't tell me I should let the director decide. I've got two reasons why this need not apply, one being a matter of logistics.

Thanks.

JAMES how about this? The no POV solution.

JAMES
Guys, you’re not gonna believe this.

SLUG

A blur of grey shifts the same view to Gary.

SLUG

GARY
I can see it too!

Gary looks around, his view oddly distorted, a passenger in Jame's mind.

Movement of legs and arms appear as dark rhythmic blurs on the corner of the field of vision as if looking out the faceplate of a spacesuit.

Doesn't work. Feels clumsy. And not what I'm going for. There's no dialogue either and I'd rather not use dialogue to clue the audience into anything. That stuff just doesn't translate onscreen.

What happens in my script is pretty much the same as what happens in Being John Malkovich in that you see someone's P.O.V. going into the portal, "flying" down the portal and then "becoming" John Malkovich. It's seemless onscreen but on paper, it's a little more complicated.

Thanks, just the same. "...a passenger in James' mind" reads better than one (namely me) would think.

I might just check out the Kaufman script for reference but I imagine there's a simple way of doing this regardless.

An easy way of making the distinction of switching the POV is to have the character look at their hands and check out their clothes or even catch themself in a mirror after the switch, still in POV. That would clearly show on paper and on screen that a transition has taken place?