Hello screenwriters

I've been writing shorts for a while now and know the basic format of a script but explaining things in the action lines can get tedious or huge sometimes. I know you're supposed to avoid that. I've managed to do fine in regular scripts meaning taking place in our world but how would you write script in a different one that's never been seen before?

Like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Fifth Element perhaps. You all know how these worlds look because you've seen the movies but how would you write them if no one has a clue how it would be. To the music around and the cloths they wear. The technology used and different species walking around. How the society works.

Anything would be helpful, even some scripts to read for examples would be great :)

Hello Zander.

You should probably add the word 'wannabe' before 'screenwriters'.

They shouldn't get huge. Your action lines, that is.

If you read the scripts you mention you'll see how they do it. Focus on what's important. You only have to mention what's relevant to the plot and what can be seen. You can do a lot with a little - like - A huge futuristic city comes into view as the starship lands. You just cue up someone's imagination to do most of the hard work.

People aren't that interested in the minutia of a world, they're interested in the people in it. Read 1984 to see how a strange oppressive world can be created with very few words. It's always about characters and what happens to them, no matter where they are.

R

It's not science Zander. It's all in your imagination and your ability as a writer to convince us this world exists. Descriptions. Characters. Environments. It comes from you. Your god when it comes to writing. The same you write a script in this world is the same way you write it in a different world. The only difference is what you include.

Your not going to get everybody convinced, so don't even try. Write the world for you and I'm sure there are going to be people who see it as you envisioned it.

Hope this helps,
Gabe

Minority Report and Bladerunner come to mind instantly and AI, Alien, Gattaca, Elysium, Game Of Thrones,... even Avatar. Download the screenplays - you should be able to get a few of these, and you'll probably be inspired. Use your words to create the magic of the world that is in your head.

I think this is something I can answer with ease.

Imagination. Age of Shadows (in the action/adventure) section is there if you need some help. I don't go into immense detail, just enough to let you know where you are.

I create worlds all the time. Grounded in reality proves boring to me. I like to craft new worlds. Civilizations. Folklore. Races. Mysticism (with the Jack Sparrow hand gesture).

Google some images of Mayan Architecture. Rich and vibrant expanses ripe with wildlife. Godlike mountains. Fantastical images on DeviantART often help stir the pot.

Sci-Fi is easy too. I enveloped an ENTIRE CITY within a steel construct. Proceeding over 5 intricate levels each designed to house the correct class, 5 being high, 1 being vagrant.

What you want most is to create a map. Some outline in Paint or something. Visualize the size and scope of your world. Islands, a massive land-mass, the ocean, etc. Then come up with names. Throw things together, like:

Carvenhall, Dragonfall, etc. Mesh the names of two things into one.  Stonerift, for example. Or use words you know: Elysium, which sounds like a mystical place just by its name.

If you're good at 3D design in photoshop, you can even build the city yourself. Which is something I'm doing for Age of Shadows. Town, village and city at a time.

It's always good to have a visual map. So that's first on your list. Design a map of your world. Simple enough, just section it for locations, use dots and squares to differentiate towns and capitol cities, use triangles for forests, maybe mountains.

Once I figure out how to share images on SS I'll show you my own map to give you something to go with.

Other than what I've mentioned, your imagination is the key really. Just mesh a whole bunch of stuff together.

Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars. Imagine what the White City of Gondor would look like on Tatooine.  Or the Jedi Citadel in Mordor.

I do the map thing too sometimes. Depends on the size of the story. You see similar in all the good fantasy books.