Prefabricated scripts for home movies

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

Do you still remember those prefabricated scripts that you could get for free at your local photo shop? At least Agfa and Bauer produced them here in Germany. But I have heard of „Kodak scripts“ in the USA, too. Does anyone have any of those scanned?

[Ed Gordon]

Joerg, I am not aware of any sample scripts being produced by Kodak. I did come across a video produced by Kodak on "basic movie making".
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[Joerg Polzfusz]

Kodak published scripts and ideas for scripts e.g. in their movie news:
https://archive.org/details/kodak-mo...ge/n1/mode/1up

[Ken Finch]

Since the start of the pandemic I have been reading quite a number of fiction books and with some of them, in my mind I am converting them to a scene by scene shooting script of a film adaptation. I learned so much about all aspects of film making from Amateur Cine World magazine. It was always written in an understandable way, unlike some of the airy fairy language that some of the so called experts use today! There does not seem to be anything really compatible available today. Maybe this is because there is too much accent on using the latest bit of digital technology. I have been a member of 3 or 4 amateur film making clubs over the years and it is quite amazing the number of fellow members who had hardly ever been to a cinema or even watched a film on TV. Ken Finch.😏

[Chip Gelmini]

It's not just in home movies.

Johnny Carson liked Bob Hope - but not as much when he was a guest. Mr. Hope often came on with everything planned in advance. I've seen on youtube Carson was not a fan of that................

[Douglas Meltzer]

Google kindly translated Joerg's scans. They show a script provided by Agfa about how we need to capture the present in "Our Little World" so that we can take a look back at it in the future.



Two Kodak prefab scripts:

[Graham Ritchie]

Joerg

If you are looking at script writing this book that I bought back in the 70s is a must read. Ivan Watson was one of the contributors to Movie Maker magazine many moons ago

If you can find a second hand copy somewhere grab it. Chapter 8 in it is called "how to construct a movie script" Ivan Watson was brilliant as a writer. Its been years since I read it, but beware, every time you watch a movie afterwards, you will keep seeing the three things that are written into every script from Star Wars to The Island and he talks at length about each of them. They are problem, conflict, solution. Those three are in everything you could think of after reading his book the problem, conflict, solution will keep popping into your head as you watch your program. His book is written in such a way, that is simple to read and understand as to how you can do it

So remember if you are writing a script, its.... problem, conflict, solution in that order .

[Brian Fretwell]

And now almost every TV show uses those three things even if it is one about House building (Grand Designs), cooking etc. No project goes to plan, there is always danger that it won't get finished or go too far over budget.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

I’m mainly interested in those old pre-fabricated scripts as they usually work with a single cartridge. And they usually deny the „problem - conflict - solution“-scheme as they’re more „diary style“.
Another point is that they usually have instructions for the camera (medium shots, close-up, …). Even when the scripts are completely outdated, you can still learn how to make your films less boring by varying the shots.

Jörg
P.S.: Thanks, Graham, I have already read „What shall I film?“. :-) It’s indeed a great book. I even managed to find some of mentioned films on YouTube/Vimeo. But I guess that this would be worth a separate thread.

[Osi Osgood]

It's kind of funny, as I don't remember a single home movie, whether others or my own, that actually went by any script. More likely, a "train of thought" style of film-making.

[Douglas Meltzer]

If you're looking for the AI themed replies that were here, they've been moved to a new thread:
AI & Screenwriting

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Osi, there are „home movies“ and „home movies“. When you only film(ed) your vacations and birthdays, then you never needed any script. But filming your own sci-fi-movies (with models, stop motion animation, …), film-noir-look-alikes, …, requires a script.