SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board / Screenwriting Class / Fade In / Fade Out
Posted by: SwapJack, October 2nd, 2006, 5:11pm
There's been much talk about not putting in "Cut to's", "We see", and camera angles in our spec scripts.
What about Fade in and Fade out? are those considered no-no's too? FADE TO BLACK as well?
Posted by: dogglebe (Guest), October 2nd, 2006, 9:50pm; Reply: 1
A script starts with FADE IN ON:
It ends with FINAL FADE OUT.
Using FADE IN and FADE OUT is generally something you use when writing a shooting script. Fading out, or cutting out quickly, is up to the director, not the writer.
Phil
Posted by: George Willson, October 11th, 2006, 6:40am; Reply: 2
Quoted from dogglebe
A script starts with FADE IN ON:
It ends with FINAL FADE OUT.
It often does, but it doesn't need to. There are a lot of assumptions when reading a spec script. Movies usually fade in to their first scene. They usually fade out on their final scene. You'd be hard pressed to find one that doesn't.
This means that the inclusion of these directions is yet another redundancy in screenwriting. If it makes you happy to have them there, then no one will give you any grief. For myself, I've stopped using them because that gives me five more lines to use and five to six fewer words to read.