Scripting gunfire?

E

Evan Sherlock

Member
So there are couple of scenes that involve gun fire in this script I'm writing. Now, usually I would just say "He fired his gun" or something like that, but since I am dealing with an un-introduced character who is firing the gun, how should I script the gunfire. I mean, since this is going to be a bit of a surprise to the reader, I dont want to say right off the bat "And this stranger in the shadows fired his gun". I was thinking more along the lines of "BAM, BAM!". What do you think, how do you script gunfire?
 
I do that.

BAM or POW or KABAFF or however you want to describe it. Waldo Salt used that style as well.

ex:

He holds the rifle steady, staring down the scope. His finger sits, statuesque, on the trigger.

His shot arrives. His breathing skips for but a moment and he squeezes the trigger.

BOOM

A low rumble echoes between the buildings and crackles as it fades out.
Click to expand...

You can determine the style of the shot by the way you describe the action. In what I wrote above, you could probably see around 5 different shots, the descriptions being used to determine the shot. There would be an establishing of him on the roof w/ the rifle, looking through the scope, a CU on the finger on the trigger, perhaps a shot of what he's looking at, a shot of him actually firing and then a much wider shot of the SOUND of the shot echoing through the buildings.

If you do a "BAM! BAM!" style writing, that typically makes people visualise the guns CU, looking at the barrel of them as they fire, unless you immediately follow it with the description of the people being shot.
 
Ka-Powee! Zoom-gilk-padoo!

Ha!

I kid. I wrote a Western and a few thrillers involving a lot of gun fire. After a while you learn to work around it a little. Take a creative approach.

For instance you can do something like;

"The tip of a Winchester rifle slips through the red curtain. The light reflects off the barell. Mary spots it from across the room. Her eyes widen. The sound cracks through the office and spills into the street. A thin trail of blood pours from the exit wound on Mary's neck. The smoking barell retracts into the curtain."

Granted, I just made that up, far from the best example but you get the idea.

Good luck!
 
Just change it up, be as stylistic as possible. If you want the audience to see the stranger, then tell them its a stranger firing a bullet. Otherwise tell them there's gunfire from an unknown location. Or a random bullet hits.
 
Several different ways:

A GUN SHOT.

A SHOT rings out.

He FIRED his gun.

I never use BANG, BANG because it is a bit cartoonish and doesn't quite sound like a gun shot.
 
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