The script is a tool of the audiovisual narrative , whose origin is close to that of dramaturgy. In this sense, the screenwriter is at the same time an audiovisual dramatist , who uses images and sounds to tell stories . As a genre close to dramaturgy, the screenwriter has among his ancestors an opera librettist, a writer who, like that one, worked on the rewriting of literary works and adaptation to stage and music.
In principle, a script favors the visualization of the story and, as in the traditional narrative, the visualization process is reinforced by the description of what happens on stage. In short, the art of narrating is the art of describing; thus, the script is an audiovisual narration. However, every screenwriter must have clear rules of the game , and not lose sight of the following fundamental aspects:
- The specificity of the medium;
- The support production process;
- Conform to formats;
- Put yourself in the public place;
- Write thinking about the value of the image.
The script is a text that explains the plot and how the audiovisual work should be done. Therefore, it constitutes the first phase of a work called film . In this sense, it is essential to establish the functions of the screenwriter within the process of creating the film; as well as the relationship between the screenwriter and the director . Both must understand each other very well and work together in a coordinated way.
The screenwriter William Godman said that his work was similar to that of the carpenter, since he had to prepare the framework that others later (that is, the directors) would finish as they wanted. In the words of Carrière and Bonitzer, the script is nothing other than “the dream of a movie”.
So the script is the ” guide” for directors , producers and all members of the production team . It is located on the border between the artistic / literary and the technical / formal: it is a potential filmic text . Like the plans of an architectural project, the script is a sketch , inspiring and guiding , destined to metamorphose and disappear turned into film.
Without being a literary genre in itself, although it could be published; without being the film itself, although it supports and guides it; the script is exactly the idea, the story, and the germ of the possible.
