Getting rid of day and night without using subheadings.

What does everyone think of this? I've seen it done a few times. At first, I thought it was jarring then I figured it's good for short scenes and saves from cluttering the page.

I saw…
EXT. PARK - DAY
INT. JOHN’S HOME
EXT. PARK

Do any professionals do this?

I think it would great for quickly switching between inside and outside scenes.

It makes sense. Just depends on how it’s written. I will probably add before the scene heading that the following scenes will be in the day?

Gabe

I used to only change the time when the time actually changed, but on set the first AD always wants the scene numbers and scenes set as Day or Night for scheduling, so I don't bother anymore and put Day or Night on every scene.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I used to only change the time when the time actually changed, but on set the first AD always wants the scene numbers and scenes set as Day or Night for scheduling, so I don't bother anymore and put Day or Night on every scene.

This is a good point in that you should not assume your scenes will be shot in order, but that's more of a shotting script issue than a spec script issue.

So long as the time of each scene is clear to a reader, it should probably be fine to drop time references in a spec script.

Don’t like it - reader might think it’s the next evening - in headings they should always be used - in sub headings not so much (continuous, moments later, etc.)

I might use it for short scenes.

I have a scene where a guy is chased over rooftops and we quickly cut to inside the house.

EXT. ROOFTOP - DAY
INT. HOUSE
EXT. ROOFTOP

I'll probably use it for that.

Not a fan of doing this. What possible point could it serve?

DAY and NIGHT are important to Directors

You save no space by not putting them on your slug.

If you're suing full Slugs, you need a time element - EVERY SINGLE TIME.

If you're using Mini Slugs (correctly), you don't need the time element, because Mini Slugs take place "continuously" within a certain structure...or if it's EXT, a certain place that has multiple locations to it, that the action moves into.

Quoted from Dreamscale If you're suing full Slugs, you need a time element - EVERY SINGLE TIME. If you're using Mini Slugs (correctly), you don't need the time element, because Mini Slugs take place "continuously" within a certain structure...or if it's EXT, a certain place that has multiple locations to it, that the action moves into.

My response based on the example listed which were full slugs
Minis could not have been used because he is going from into to ext

Day and Night are important for production and should be used for the most part, but there are exceptions that the pros use.

One example is an intense, fast chase sequence where the scene changes frequently. Instead of saying DAY in several headings, in this instance you could use DAY in the first scene heading then cut it from the rest until the chase concludes. This also helps to reflect the pace. Maybe though these are classed as mini-slugs? Not sure.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw Day and Night are important for production and should be used for the most part, but there are exceptions that the pros use. One example is an intense, fast chase sequence where the scene changes frequently. Instead of saying DAY in several headings, in this instance you could use DAY in the first scene heading then cut it from the rest until the chase concludes. This also helps to reflect the pace. Maybe though these are classed as mini-slugs? Not sure.

I would call them mini-slugs is the action is taken place in the same general exterior location. e.g..,

EXT. 405 FREEWAY - NIGHT

A car speeds - blah blah, then enters a

EXIT RAMP

Nearly missing blah blah

ON THE STREET

Pedestrians jump as the car, blah blah

I would use full slugs if I was changing from INT to EXT or vice versa

Quoted from eldave1 I would call them mini-slugs is the action is taken place in the same general exterior location

Yep.  Agreed.

EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT
INT. COFFEE SHOP
People amazed.
EXT. FREEWAY
Car still speeding along..

Would that not be alright, then?

And yeah, admittedly, I did see this technique used in a script that had a quick back and forth between an outside car and a house. And the second one was a western that was more or less outside.

Quoted from The Dark Horse EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT INT. COFFEE SHOP People amazed. EXT. FREEWAY Car still speeding along.. Would that not be alright, then? And yeah, admittedly, I did see this technique used in a script that had a quick back and forth between an outside car and a house. And the second one was a western that was more or less outside.

IMO No

If what’s going on in the two locations affect each other (two people talking on a phone, two cars involved in a chase, two ships firing cannons at one another) then the traditional solution is to use an INTERCUT, which is basically a compound main header followed by action in two or more places. You can specify the location jumps with shot headers (mini-slugs) or leave it up to the director.

If what’s happening at each location is basically independent, it would require full scene changes for each jump.

There’s a middle ground where someone describes something, and we cut to that something in real time, but the speaker isn’t affecting the something. This could be formatted either way depending on what seems more consistent with the surrounding script. Examples include the little girl in Waterworld saying her captors are in trouble as the hero is making his way to her, and the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2 singing “I need a hero” while the hero is breaking into the castle.

Haven’t read either of those scripts, so not sure how they did it, and it’s unlikely you’d find the spec script version of either.

Quoted from The Dark Horse EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT INT. COFFEE SHOP People amazed. EXT. FREEWAY Car still speeding along.. Would that not be alright, then? And yeah, admittedly, I did see this technique used in a script that had a quick back and forth between an outside car and a house. And the second one was a western that was more or less outside.

No...definitely not!!!

Hmm.

I'm thinking perhaps just go with...
EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT
INT. COFFEE SHOP - NIGHT
EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT

INT. CABIN - NIGHT
EXT. CABIN - NIGHT
INT. CABIN - NIGHT

It seems like the safest option ha
Or as clear as it gets at least.

The only time I would get rid of the time references is if everything was in a single day or single night, and even then you might want to keep it around anyway to distinguish between CONTINUOUS, MOMENTS LATER and normal time jumps.

https://www.keepwriting.com/tsc/slugsandbeats.htm?utm_source=Biggest+error+2&utm_campaign=Biggest+error+2&utm_medium=email

Great resource - touches this in. Detail

Quoted from JohnI https://www.keepwriting.com/tsc/slugsandbeats.htm?utm_source=Biggest+error+2&utm_campaign=Biggest+error+2&utm_medium=email Great resource - touches this in. Detail

Yes - read that long ago - a nice simple article