Film Directing 103: Script Analysis

LEVEL 100 blogs are for film students and first-time directors taking on the directing role for a short film. The series is designed to help and guide new filmmakers through the director’s prep duties, pre-production activities, and principle photography dynamics.

Script analysis fundamentals for the beginning director

As a director, your first job is to read and interpret a story - a script written in a screenplay format. This is the whole story - with all of the characters, relationships, settings, and action - and your job is to understand the story and turn the words on the pages into a film.

In order to have a powerful and unique visual interpretation of the screenplay you need to know the story inside out; every character, all the dialogue, the subtext, the conflict, the story arc, the genre — and a thousand more details.

I'm going to provide a strategy here for planning your first script analysis session as a learning director. As you gain greater skills, you’ll develop your own process for understanding a story and building the plan for your visual interpretation.

It’s not wise to start with a feature-length screenplay. It’s just too big. You want to build your directorial muscles with short scripts. Maximum length that I suggest is 20 pages.

Ideally it is a story well told.

*NOTE: If this is a ‘practice’ script analysis or an academic exercise, think about working with a screenplay from a short film that IS finished but that you’ve NOT yet seen. You DO NOT want the ‘manuscript’ of a finished short film. You want the final production draft: the written document that the filmmaking team used in pre-production and principle photography. Ideally you have access to the finished film, too – but don’t look at the film before you do your own analysis! Once you’ve done your analysis, you can do a ‘script to screen’ viewing with your completed notes AND the script in hand. Going forward, this is a great exercise for studying the work of directors you admire.

First order of business, read the script.

But keep in mind: you only get one chance at a ‘first read.’

Read it through in one uninterrupted sitting. Don't hurry. Don't rush. Don’t be distracted. Just sit down and read the script. Every word.

It should take you about as much time to read the script as it would to watch the finished movie. A 20-page script will be close to a 20-minute movie. The general understanding is that one page of a screenplay (properly formatted) equals one minute of finished screen time.  

When you finish the script, reflect on it immediately. Your first notes are your first ideas. They are important. And they may be gold!

There are no real guidelines or parameters here. Dig deep. You’ll be reading the script again, but for now just write, scribble, draw, etc.

Some ideas to get you started --

• What did you like about it?

• Which character did you like? Or dislike?

• Who’s story is it?

• What’s the best line?

• What did the story make you feel?

• Is it an up or down ending?

• What genre is it?

• What would the poster look like?

You might also note any strong images that came across in the words of the script. Is there a great moment? An iconic image in your mind? A weird line of dialogue? A powerful twist that you didn’t expect?

Now that your first read is done and you’ve had the time to reflect, get ready to read the script through again. I recommend keeping your pen and paper nearby to add more details to your initial thoughts.

This second reading is where the director begins to better grasp the story and characters.

Now that you know where the story is going and how the characters make their way from beginning to end, you can focus more on how everything fits together. You can see it as a cohesive whole.

For the second reading, you want to note references, words, or stuff that you need to research. You may also generate strong ideas about a particular scene, a character’s behaviour, an exchange of dialogue, or the dynamics of a location or setting – things like:

• A camera move,

• the sounds of the script,

• lighting ideas,

• specific frames and close-ups

• shocked reactions,

• realizations.

If the script has certain facts, events, and evidence – make note of these, too.

If the script has a mysterious line, something that you’re not sure you fully understand, make a note of it. What could it mean? Why is it in the script? How does it serve the overall story?

In addition to being a good story, a script/screenplay needs to be properly formatted. This is important, but more on that later.

After you have finished the second read, the real work begins.

Organizing your notes on both reads, building further on what you know, flagging stuff you don’t know or what doesn’t make sense to you.

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The director's job is to affect the audience. In addition to the acting, lighting, sets, and costumes, and everything in the frame -- the telling of a good story begins with the script and how the director connects with it.

What are the story elements or characters details that you relate to? What are the themes – the main theme, the sub-themes? What is the driving force of the story? What main actions do the characters take? Who is the hero and what is their goal?

As you begin to build your body of analysis certain essential elements will shine through. Ideas that you can build upon.

To develop your analysis even further:

• Organize the colours: tones, saturation, vibrancy, or dullness, etc.

• the possible sounds,

• the shapes, rhythms and patterns of the environments,

• the light and reflections: the shadows and corners.

As part of your script analysis, I hope you come away with a long list of questions, too. Questions about the characters, their situation, their behaviour.

It’s not important to have all the answers at this stage. The questions are helpful when you begin to work with your actors and co-creators.

Your script analysis is for you, and you alone. These are your ideas. Some might become directorial choices as you move through pre-production. Some might not.

Remember, every person who is creatively contributing to the film will be doing their own script analysis. Yours must be thorough.

This is the time to be creative. To remain open to all of the possibilities of the script. It can be exhausting. That’s why they’re gonna pay you the big bucks!

*Note – we’ll be covering how the director collaborates with the different departments, and particularly with the actors, later on.