I'm working on a screenplay and there's on scene that I really want but am not sure how to do it without saying how to shoot it. I want a scene where the camera goes deep into a labyrinth of underground tunnels revealing as it goes these strange creatures and plants. As the shot goes through the tunnels there's a voiceover of the main character. The end of the scene and voiceover reveals a very large underground city. How can go about putting this down without specifically saying the camera angles and such?

Is the character whose V.O. we hear going into the labyrinth?

No, it's giving a taste of what to expect later on in the story. He goes into the tunnel system later in the story, about halfway through I believe. Thinking about the scen gets me excited, i just don't know how to put it down.

Then I would do something like this:

EXT. LABYRINTH

and describe it...

INT. LABYRINTH

Wild flowers dot the opening ... then strange plants... then weird vines...

Further down from the vines...

Other stuff...

You get the picture - the ellipses will sort of help with the "passage of time", so to speak, and give the impression that our vision is to travel down this path, and we see things here and there.

Just avoid "we see" at all costs...

Hope this helps -

AJR

Thanks AJR, appreciate it. Ok back to working on my screenplay

How does this sound to y'all? (Note: some names have been removed until I complete the screenplay).

EXT. THE DARK TUNNELS

Strange looking mushrooms give off a green glow in the tunnels, revealing different types of plants and creatures. Further down in the tunnels is a much brighter light from the green mushrooms. Fiery torches reveal a large group of gnomes digging into the stone. GNOME NAME, an older gnome, is examining a large chunk of stone they dug out. Deeper in the tunnels after the torch light fades to black, another light is revealed. A bright pink light glows from enormous gates adorned with spiders. Beyond the gates is the great underground city of CITY NAME.

                                                 CHARACTER NAME (V.O.)
he gives his spiel on how he was born in this dark world but doesn't feel like he belongs. That there's more out there for him to discover.

"Strange looking mushrooms glow luminescent green, revealing mutant plants and odd little creatures.

Further down, a much brighter light from the green mushrooms.

Fiery torches reveal a large group of gnomes. They dig furiously into the stone.

GNOME NAME, an older gnome, examines a large chunk of stone.

Deeper still, the torch light fades to black... yet another light shines.

Bright pink glows from enormous gates adorned with spiders. Beyond the gates is the great underground city of CITY NAME."

Sorry, couldn't resist... (o:

Ok, so should the scene all be in one large lump (like what I posted above) or should it be split into small sections with some voiceover in between?
Like so:

EXT. THE DARK TUNNELS
Strange looking mushrooms glow luminescent green, revealing strange plants and odd little creatures.

CHARACTER NAME (V.O.)
blah, blah, blah.....

EXT. THE DARK TUNNELS
Further down, a much brighter light from the green mushrooms.

CHARACTER NAME (V.O.)
Blah, blah, blah.....

EXT. THE DARK TUNNELS
Fiery torches reveal a large group of gnomes. They dig furiously into the stone.

Right, I forgot that you have V.O. that you need to intercut. It should definitely NOT be a block of description and a block of voice-over. How you have it there looks right, except you don't need to keep repeating the slug because you didn't change the location (and aren't we inside the tunnels?  s/b INT. then not EXT.)

AJR

The entire setting of the story is underground (except for the very end). Alot of it takes place within the buildings in the underground city, so i figured I'd say the buildings are INT whereas outside of the buildings is EXT. Thanks again for the help