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Describing weird world with "from now on"

J

JotKay

Hi
I am new here.
I logged in because I would like to ask you a question about one technical detail.
I am writing a script in which the world is slightly different than the one we live in. Sligthly is important here. Never mind the details. Let's imagine that all the buildings are normal except for one thing: all they are blue. Or green. Doesn't matter here.

I would like to avoid repeating the same in every scene happening in the city in order to save precious space. I don't want to write in every scene "In this scene the buildings are also blue".

Is it acceptable to write something like this in the first scene?
"Please note: from now on in every scene, except if stated otherwise, all buildings are blue."?

I know of one famous movie, Dances with Wolves, who used this kind of stage directing. There it looked like this:
(PLEASE NOTE: ALL INDIAN DIALOGUE WILL BE IN NATIVE DIALECT AS INDICATED BY TRIBE. SUBTITLES WILL BE USED.)

However I heard that it is generally unadviced to do such things.

What is your opinion? Is it allowed or not do write something like this? Or maybe you have a better way to solve my problem?

Thanks everyone in advance for your reply

Regards
JotKay
 
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I would assume that you would write in the first scene, to establish of course, that the buildings are blue. And in the others for continuation, these buildings are also blue. Maybe even these aswell are blue or these have the same color. Just be creative with your writing. One thing, in your action sequence, for your script, you don't write "In this scene." You just write what is happening like an actual story.
 
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Quality said:
I would assume that you would write in the first scene, to establish of course, that the buildings are blue. And in the others for continuation, these buildings are also blue. Maybe even these aswell are blue or these have the same color. Just be creative with your writing. One thing, in your action sequence, for your script, you don't write "In this scene." You just write what is happening like an actual story.
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Hi
Thank you for your reply

Yes, I know I should NOT write it this way "In this scene." :) Of course :)

So, in your opinion I should not write anything like that in the first scene, that in all subsequent scenes the building are assumed to be blue?

Ok, I understand.
Thank you.
/JK
 
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In the first scene you write that the buildings are blue and if you want to reiterate don't say again the builds are blue, write that the other buildings are also blue. That's what I meant.
 
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If you have a character with an eye patch you do not need to mention it every
time the character is seen.
If a car is a 1965 Mustang that is red you don't mention this every time a character
gets into it: "In this scene the car is still a Red Mustang."
All you need to do is describe the city the first time it is seen. If the next time the city
is seen the buildings haven't changed you do not need remind the reader that nothing
changed.
 
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Check out Batman and Sin City scripts. Maybe that will help. Or The Truman Show, The Matrix.
 
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JotKay said:
Hi
I would like to avoid repeating the same in every scene happening in the city in order to save precious space. I don't want to write in every scene "In this scene the buildings are also blue".
Click to expand...

Rest assured you are over thinking this, and you don't have to add any special or format breaking data.

First thing you may want to do though is make sure you don't have a ridiculous amount of "differing" exterior scenes in the blue city, it should be fairly concise. For example one EXT. CITY should cover the majority of your urban action, with specific exteriors within the city introduced only when crucial to the story/action.

That being said, when you first introduce each EXT scene just put the blue buildings in your slug once and you're done. IOW the first time you introduce EXT. CITY call out the blue buildings, and don't in subsequent returns to EXT. CITY. Now if and when you absolutely must introduce EXT. LIQUOR STORE you would definitely mention its "azure brick" in that slug, the first time, as well.

Thinking beyond the written word here, remember the big picture. Set design will be taken from your first mention of the location. So even though you are worried that its been too long since you wrote about EXT. CITY in your screenplay and people may forget its blue, that specific "set", based on its original description, is still built and awaiting your return. It will still be blue because you said it was way back when, nobody spray painted over it.

You can keep things on track and maintain audience immersion creatively here and there also, by describing say an INT scene as having blue reflections in the window from the cityscape outside, or a characters suit, or eyes, perhaps "blends in with the palette of the local architecture", etc.
 
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I think what they are worried about is scenes in different parts of the city, and what is "blue" is used as and example here as they don't want to give away their story, but it may be bizarre and need to be mentioned when in other parts of the city, that it is still bizarre in that part. So it is understood, that they were not just in a bizarre neighborhood before.

Which can be done with a brief description if the scene is a new location.
 
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indietalk said:
I think what they are worried about is scenes in different parts of the city, and what is "blue" is used as and example here as they don't want to give away their story, but it may be bizarre and need to be mentioned when in other parts of the city, that it is still bizarre in that part. So it is understood, that they were not just in a bizarre neighborhood before.

Which can be done with a brief description if the scene is a new location.
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Hmmm...

I think OP was saying they created a city that is exactly like a contemporary Earthen city in every way except the architecture is blue. And they were worried that they had to remind the reader of the blue buildings, in the otherwise familiar urban setting, at every opportunity. Hence my response.

Apologies if I was way off.
 
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I may have read it wrong! When they said "Let's imagine that all the buildings are normal except for one thing: all they are blue. Or green. Doesn't matter here" I took it as, they're not really telling us what the weird part is.

Maybe they will chime in.
 
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indietalk said:
I may have read it wrong! When they said "Let's imagine that all the buildings are normal except for one thing: all they are blue. Or green. Doesn't matter here" I took it as, they're not really telling us what the weird part is.

Maybe they will chime in.
Click to expand...

That was my reading too.
 
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Let me clarify

Hi guys
Thanks everyone for participating in the discussion. I really appreciate this. And the examples you gave. Thank you.

Let me clarify again what I meant in the first post.

By writing "Doesn't matter here" I wanted to say that I give this blue color here as an example, it is not important in this example how weird the world is, let's just assume I mean that the buildings are blue.

What I was wondering about are these scenes when I jump between DIFFERENT locations in THE WHOLE WORLD. It does not have to be one city. Let's imagine I start with Chicago and I write in the first scene that what we see is a normal city except for the thing that the buildings are blue.

Then my character goes for example to a village and there the buildings are also blue. I have to mention that, don't I?

And after that he/she moves to San Francisco and in this city everything is blue as well. I must add that the buildings in San Francisco are also blue.

Am I right?

Regards
JotKay
 
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JotKay said:
Hi guys
Thanks everyone for participating in the discussion. I really appreciate this. And the examples you gave. Thank you.

Let me clarify again what I meant in the first post.

By writing "Doesn't matter here" I wanted to say that I give this blue color here as an example, it is not important in this example how weird the world is, let's just assume I mean that the buildings are blue.

What I was wondering about are these scenes when I jump between DIFFERENT locations in THE WHOLE WORLD. It does not have to be one city. Let's imagine I start with Chicago and I write in the first scene that what we see is a normal city except for the thing that the buildings are blue.

Then my character goes for example to a village and there the buildings are also blue. I have to mention that, don't I?

And after that he/she moves to San Francisco and in this city everything is blue as well. I must add that the buildings in San Francisco are also blue.

Am I right?

Regards
JotKay
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My first response above addresses what you're asking. The first time you enter EXT. CHICAGO mention the blue. If you ever return to EXT. CHICAGO you don't have to.

Same thing applies if you visit EXT. SAN FRAN. First time blue, subsequent no need. (The SAN FRAN set is already built so to speak)

Now as far as the "village"... Is it a community or neighborhood of Chicago? Like Wrigleyville for example? Then you probably don't need to mention the blue IF your story is clearly describing its relation within the blue-washed vicinity of Chicago proper.

Bear in mind this is no different, and definitely no more extra work, than if you were doing a full bore sci-fi setting. In that case you would describe New Chicago and SanFrantlantis as having whacky futuristic buildings almost every time you were in them or their vicinity, to keep your readers immersed in this foreign world. You want to do exactly the same for your slightly off center world. This is to say the reader will always want to know he is seeing a slightly modified blue city (not through the slugs as much as through the story), just like he'd always want to know he was in a Martian city or a prehistoric village. Now the characters on the other hand wouldn't have to mention the blueness even once, they are the ones that are used to it, not the audience.

And just because you skip blue in your slug on a return to EXT. CHICAGO doesn't mean your story should skip it! Dialog and action are powerful paint brushes in this regard. Just because your character is used to the blue sears tower building doesn't mean he still can't compare it to the blue eyes of his lover.

To be honest, if you shared with us exactly what the weirdness of your concept is, without using "blue" as a placeholder, we may be able to give you even more helpful direction.
 
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Hi

Ok, I understand that going back to the same location I don't think to mention the blueness again :)

And I get it, that there should not be too many EXT locations in my script. And there aren't. Only a few of them, but in different parts of the world. So mentioning the blueness is crucial.

The mystery behind the 'blue' in my story is not big. It is only a background for the movie, just a detail, nothing to write here about. The blue color is quite a good approximation of the detail in my script.
 
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JotKay said:
Hi

Ok, I understand that going back to the same location I don't think to mention the blueness again :)

And I get it, that there should not be too many EXT locations in my script. And there aren't. Only a few of them, but in different parts of the world. So mentioning the blueness is crucial.

The mystery behind the 'blue' in my story is not big. It is only a background for the movie, just a detail, nothing to write here about. The blue color is quite a good approximation of the detail in my script.
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Cool. Now get to work. ;)
 
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Fair enough! You don't want to give away your weird element. Then you'll have to take the advice based on blue. I hope it works. :)
 
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