Hi all,

What about Lights changes in Sluglines ?
Here is some situations make me problems. How to format when :

A) Noah's in his bedroom. He sleeps IN THE DARK. He hears a noise. HE TURNS ON THE LIGHT...

B) Noah's running in a HALF-DARKNESS corridor.

C) Noah works in a little place only lightened by a RED-LIGHT (as a photographic lab).

D) It's DUSK. Noah's looking at the SUNSET besides a river.

E) CAMERA is in the DARK ABYSS and goes up progressively in the water surface of the SEA where the suns rises. In the same sequence, CAMERA arrives on a beach in the middle of the day (Here, we have a change location and light).

Thx from France (and sorry for my poor english level)

1.If Noah is sleeping and he turns the light on, it is obvious that the light was turned off in the first place. Give your reader some credit.

2.This has nothing to do with formatting. Just be creative and find a way to describe that briefly. Or better yet, don't even write it. You're a screenwriter, not the lighting man.

3.Same as 2 -- just describe it briefly

4.No need to mention it's dusk (it's not wrong though). Day will suffice. Just describe the sunset  

5. You are not the director. You're not in charge of anY camera directions. Just describe your scene.

--Julio

Quoted from ReaperCreeper You're a screenwriter, not the lighting man.

Hey Julio, just be nice with French people, ok?

Ok Julio, thx for the 1 and 4 answers. For the rest, you don't help me at all. So, to be more accurate, is it an amateurism to write :

- INT. A PHOTOGRAPHIC LAB - RED LIGHT

and

- INT. A CORRIDOR - HALF-NIGHT

For the last situation (5), director or not, it is the first scene of my script as travelling sequence from DARK ABYSS to a BEACH in the middle of the day, and there is not a free effect of my imagination. Things happened during this travelling IN ONE SEQUENCE so, what do i have to write in the slugline ?

- EXT. ABYSS / BEACH - NIGHT/DAY ?

or

- EXT. ABYSS - NIGHT

CAMERA starts from Abyss and goes up to the surface of the sea and the light grows....

UNCUT TO:

- EXT. SEA - DAY

CAMERA passes the sea to the beach...


Really, i don't have idea to formalize that correctly...

Myself, I'd write it that way:

- THE ABYSS

We start from the bottom of the ocean and go up to the surface of the sea as the light grows....


- EXT. SEA - DAY

We pass the sea to the beach...

- INT. DARK ROOM

Only lighted by a dim red light...

and

- INT. A CORRIDOR - NIGHT

then, you describe your scene and indicate it's dark, night-dark or anuthing you want

^ Michel's example is okay.

Just don't describe "RED- LIGHT" in your slugline, but describe it later.