Getting started with ScriptMaker - a brief tutorial
Tutorial version: 2 Author: Ian Pegler Date: 8 May 2002
Get started by running ScriptMaker. At this point you can do one of three things:
• • •
Start a new script (.OOS file) Open an existing script (.OOS file) Import a ScriptMaker XML script
The example used in this tutorial is based on the example script you'll find in directory where you installed ScriptMaker. The file is called Ons.OOS and the text is from the third scene. For the purposes of this tutorial we'll start a new script, so click the New Script button (the first on the left on the toolbar). A dialog box will appear which should now look like this:
This is where you type in the details about your new script. The title, author, version and registration will all appear on the title page of the script when it is printed. Don't worry about the storyboard project file for now. Type in the details as given above and click on OK. You can change these details at any stage by selecting Edit script synopsis from the Script settings menu.
Before we begin editing, let's set the Auto-update mode to "Always". Do this by selecting the Auto-update menu on the main form and selecting Always. This feature will be explained later on. At this point, you have two items in your script, a transition ('FADE IN') and a scene. To edit the transition you would double click on it, but let's begin by editing the scene-heading, so RIGHT-click on the scene. A new form appears which allows you to edit the scene-heading and also the scene's synopsis. Try typing in the following scene-heading in the top part of the form:
This is the normal way of editing the heading at the top of a scene. Note that it doesn't matter if the location/time information is entered in lower case. ScriptMaker puts it in upper case when it is displayed/printed. We won't enter the scene synopsis here, the reasons for this will become clear later (actually, if you try you'll find that you CAN'T). Click on OK, and this time DOUBLE-CLICK on the scene. The main form should now look like this:
You will notice that we now have a scene which has a heading. Now a new concept. A scene is divided into one or more "chunks". When you add a new scene to your script you are always given one chunk. It is up to you to divide up your scenes into chunks as you see fit, bearing in mind that chunks can be swapped around, by dragging and dropping. Each chunk has its own minisynopsis and a portion of script. Let's edit the chunk synopsis now. RIGHTCLICK on the chunk, and type in some text:
You will note that the auto-update check-box at the bottom of the form is checked. This will cause the scene's synopsis to be updated automatically. Since the scene only has one chunk, the synopsis text will be the same as the above. If it had two chunks, the scene synopsis text would be the same as the combined text of both chunk synopses. This is basically what the auto-update does for you. It enables you to plan your script without having to type in the same text twice (i.e. at both levels). The auto-update checkbox is disabled because the Auto-update mode is set to "Always". You will remember that the main text-window for editing the scenesynopsis was disabled. This is because when you use Auto-update, the scene synopsis text gets cleared and over-written by the chunk-synopses text. Since the Auto-update mode is set to "Always" this means that you will never need to edit the scene-synopsis directly, so the program disables the text-window to prevent you from doing so accidentally. Click on OK and now DOUBLE-CLICK on the chunk, to begin editing it. Alternatively, select the chunk and click on the Lower level button. Since this is the first chunk in the script, you can just click on Lower level without highlighting anything as this will always take you to the first chunk in the script. If you select a scene and then click on Lower level, this will take you to the first chunk of that scene. So there are four ways to get to the lower level from here.
You are now at the lower level, at which the contents of a chunk are displayed and edited. You can navigate through the entire script from here using the Previous and Next buttons, but sometimes it's easier to go back to the upper level. You can go back and forth by chunk or by scene. The scene navigation buttons always take you to the start of the next/previous scene. You will notice the scene-heading appears towards the bottom, as does some text from the chunk's synopsis. Let's add a new direction by clicking on the Add direction button (the one with the image of the director's chair).
Click on the button marked "View chunk synopsis". This expands the form and shows you the text you typed in earlier. Note that you can edit the chunk synopsis from here. You can also use CTRL-X, CTRL-C and CTRL-V to cut, copy and paste text around between any of these text-windows. Once you typed in the direction into the uppermost text box the form should look like the above. You can now click on the button marked "Hide chunk synopsis". You will notice this form has two main boxes for entering text (not including the chunk synopsis). The upper box contains the direction which is displayed when you are in master-scene script mode. The lower box contains the direction that is displayed when you are in shooting-script mode. When you are in shooting-script mode, the master-scene direction is displayed by default if the shooting script box is left empty. This avoids you having to enter the same text twice. This, in essence, is how the "2 scripts in 1" concept works. Click on OK to return to the main form. It might be a good idea at this point to maximise the main form so that you can see more of the script. You can adjust the Scale factor if your screen is too small to see the whole thing. Now let's add a piece of dialog. First, click on the button marked "Edit character list". Type in the name of the character in the box at the bottom and hit Return, or click on the button marked Add character named below to list.
ScriptMaker maintains a list of the characters This information is stored when you save the matter about using upper case here. Now let's Close to go back to the main form, and click on with a speech-bubble).
that appear in your script. file. Once again it doesn't add the dialog, so click on the Add Dialog button (marked
In this form, select the character-name from the drop-down list, then type in the text for the dialog. You will notice you can also access the character list from here too. DON'T type in brackets '(' ')' anywhere here, and DON'T type in CONT'D either. ScriptMaker takes care of this for you. To make it easier to enter the dialog for this example, you may copy (CTRL-C) and paste (CTRL-V) the text from here: ...well you know it's not a bad old place really. We come here for jollies quite often. Not bad. A bit pricey but we don't mind if it's on the firm. We come here for our Christmas do. It's a drunken orgy, of course but the lads work hard and they deserve it. The women too. True we've had a bit of a slump in the market in recent months and it's really hit us. We've been lucky not to have any redundancies. There'll be no pay increase this year. Now click on OK to return to the main form, which should look something like this:
Now try clicking on the Upper level button to take you back to the upper level. You will notice that the chunk you were just editing is highlighted in grey. If you click once on that chunk and wait, a blue hint-box appears containing the chunk synopsis. Now click on the scene - and wait - the scene synopsis appears in a blue hint box. Now click on the "View scenes as index cards" button on the toolbar and try double-clicking and right-clicking on an index card. There's more on the use of sluglines in the FAQs. That should get you started.
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