An INSERT is a technical term whereby a writer documents the vision for a close-up on a prop or special attention to some detail.
The INSERT shot focuses on the one thing and is then followed by a return to the scene.
These are not common in Spec scripts because they’re viewed as unnecessarily technical in nature, provide little/nothing in terms of telling the story and are a type of camera direction. (The exact same thing can be achieved by resourceful use of scene description.)
from “Mission:Impossible” (1996)
INT. SAFE HOUSE - DAY
ETHAN nods.
PHELPS
Beyond Charles Bridge there is our
Embassy. See it? Tomorrow night, if
anything goes wrong, this guy will steal
the names of our agents in every country
all over Eastern Europe. Up for grabs to
the highest bidders -- third world
terrorists, arms dealers, drug lords --
any and everybody who'd love to get rid
of long term coverts like us, and some
very dear friends among them. If they're
exposed, they'll be executed. Come over
here. Take a look at this.
CLAIRE, who is working at a computer, has pulled up a quicktime
video image in a box on her screen. In it, an old edition of the McLaughlin
Report, the PBS news show, is playing.
ETHAN is distracted by it.
INSERT - TELEVISION
SENATOR WALTZER, a bearded, bespectacled man in his forties,
is holding forth:
SENATOR WALTZER
I'll go you one further. I say the CIA
and all its shadow organizations have
become irrelevant at best and
unconstitutional at worst. It's time we
throw a little light on the whole concept
of the Pentagon's "black budget." These
covert agency subgroups have confidential
funding, they report to no one -- who are
these people?! We were living in a
democracy the last time I checked.
BACK TO SCENE
ETHAN looks back at JIM.
ETHAN
You're going to use Walter?
PHELPS
He's our guy.
The INSERT shot focuses on the one thing and is then followed by a return to the scene.
These are not common in Spec scripts because they’re viewed as unnecessarily technical in nature, provide little/nothing in terms of telling the story and are a type of camera direction. (The exact same thing can be achieved by resourceful use of scene description.)
from “Mission:Impossible” (1996)
INT. SAFE HOUSE - DAY
ETHAN nods.
PHELPS
Beyond Charles Bridge there is our
Embassy. See it? Tomorrow night, if
anything goes wrong, this guy will steal
the names of our agents in every country
all over Eastern Europe. Up for grabs to
the highest bidders -- third world
terrorists, arms dealers, drug lords --
any and everybody who'd love to get rid
of long term coverts like us, and some
very dear friends among them. If they're
exposed, they'll be executed. Come over
here. Take a look at this.
CLAIRE, who is working at a computer, has pulled up a quicktime
video image in a box on her screen. In it, an old edition of the McLaughlin
Report, the PBS news show, is playing.
ETHAN is distracted by it.
INSERT - TELEVISION
SENATOR WALTZER, a bearded, bespectacled man in his forties,
is holding forth:
SENATOR WALTZER
I'll go you one further. I say the CIA
and all its shadow organizations have
become irrelevant at best and
unconstitutional at worst. It's time we
throw a little light on the whole concept
of the Pentagon's "black budget." These
covert agency subgroups have confidential
funding, they report to no one -- who are
these people?! We were living in a
democracy the last time I checked.
BACK TO SCENE
ETHAN looks back at JIM.
ETHAN
You're going to use Walter?
PHELPS
He's our guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment