Hi, I was talking with a couple of friends yesterday about screenplays (one has done animation and the other has done a little filming work). The subject of 'fade to' came up and what you can represent by the colour we fade to.

An example, I seem to remember is in Jaws;

They go off on their mission and pass through the cardboard cut-out of a shark' mouth. It then fades to red. Foreshadowing what's going to happen and I'm figuring fade to red suggests blood.

I think fade to black, indicates a passage of time and white death?

Anyone more clued up on this. I know it should be used sparingly but it's kinda interesting.

Ste

I wouldn't fade in on a color unless you were concentrating on the color of a particular item.

FADE IN:

Yellow.

Clean and shiny.

Metallic and new.

Brilliant.

A hand slaps a sticker on it.

HILLBORN CAB COMPANY.

The sticker is pressed onto the door of a shiny new cab.


Using colors to show moods isn't a universal thing.



Phil

Yeah Phil, I know what you're saying.

I was meaning more about showing moods and time passages. It's probably more of a directors tool than a writers.

FADE IN

ACTRESS crawls desperately towards the open door.

FOOTSTEPS behind her and a knife rises in the air.

She turns her head and SCREAMS in horror as the knife slashes down at her.

                                                                              FADE TO: RED
FADE IN

Just using that example based on your expressed love of slasher scripts ;o)

Just think it would be a useful tool to know, even if you don't end up using it. If you're wanting maybe to suggest someone has died without actually saying it. Maybe as part of a backstory, I dunno.

Ste

Sparingly, you could use that but, in the example you gave, you can kinda show it.  Even if your victim is stabbed, it doesn't mean she died.  How often have we seen where someone is supposedly killed, only to have them pop up in the end?


Phil