Writing non linear

E

Evans

Member
Hey all,

So I'm looking to find out whats the correct way to incorportate non liner time in my script so that the readers can understand between days, is it as simple as writing "FRIDAY" or "SATURDAY" besides "EXT. KANE'S BEDROOM - DAY" ?

Goggled it with no luck and sussed scripts like Memento but they've just used - "INT. MOTEL ROOM 21 - DAY ##BLACK AND WHITE SEQUENCE##"

Wanting to get it right so I don't seem like such a newcomer with simple formatting errors when handing it out for feedback...

Thanks in advance!
 
I'd just hide it in the action. If the story is strong and clear with its plot progressions and you embed none too forceful clues, the time should be apparent. If not, you can always go the (500) Days of Summer route and indicate the dates as inserts (I have no idea if that's actually in the script; I didn't like the film very much and didn't bother to read it). Write 'FRIDAY' or 'SATURDAY' before or after your sluglines with a line space. It shouldn't really matter. I'd probably do it after the sluglines, but that's just more logical to me. No one will arrest you.
 
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EXT. KANE'S BEDROOM - SATURDAY THE 14TH - DAY

EXT. KANE'S BEDROOM - FRIDAY THE 13TH - NIGHT

or, if the scene physically changes noticeably from date-to-date,

SATURDAY THE 14th

EXT. KANE'S BEDROOM - DAY


FRIDAY THE 13TH

EXT. KANE'S BEDROOM - DAY

Just be consistent.
And forget how they'll do it on screen--
A spec script is a poem; it must please the eye as well as the brain.
Most readers WILL NOT go back to a previous page to clarify a point.
 
geckopelli said:
Just be consistent.
And forget how they'll do it on screen--
A spec script is a poem; it must please the eye as well as the brain.
Most readers WILL NOT go back to a previous page to clarify a point.
Click to expand...

Great advice (which is hard to come by).
 
Most important of all is to remember how the viewer (who won't get to see all those helpful date descriptions, unless they end up as onscreen subtitles) will keep track of the time shifts. I truly hate badly done flashbacks (in films or books) where I'm not even sure which timeline I'm on.
 
clang said:
Most important of all is to remember how the viewer (who won't get to see all those helpful date descriptions, unless they end up as onscreen subtitles) will keep track of the time shifts. I truly hate badly done flashbacks (in films or books) where I'm not even sure which timeline I'm on.
Click to expand...

IMHO 21 Grams is an excellent example of how to handle flashbacks in a timeline.
 
clang said:
Most important of all is to remember how the viewer (who won't get to see all those helpful date descriptions, unless they end up as onscreen subtitles) will keep track of the time shifts. I truly hate badly done flashbacks (in films or books) where I'm not even sure which timeline I'm on.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more with you...

I haven't chosen the technique to create an obvious change in time, in fact, exactly the opposite. I'm not wanting the audience to realise that the film actually spans over two days until the final scene. When we see the young protagonist back where he started from even after all the effort and change he's made within himself, he's still bound by he's mothers choices and weaknesses.

So instead of writing through linear, I've come up with mixing the two days into what looks like one cruisey day, but when we revisit one of the earlier scenes after the climax I'm hoping the audience should realise the above.

Would love to post a snipit of my script for further feedback, but with this new approach at the moment everythings scattered and it might only confuse you further :grin:

Hope I don't come off like some young buck reinventing this art form ahahah
 
Ok, so you're deliberately misleading the audience for a while before revealing the truth to them? Then for script formatting, I think you need to pull the same trick, so the script reader realises the deception at the same moment the audience would.

It absolutely can work, I've seen some fabulous films which deliberately mislead the audience like this, but it has to be done 'fairly' so the audience doesn't feel cheated. Usually it works best when the POV character is similarly fooled - the audience realises the truth at the same time that character does.
 
Good point, after rewriting the day in each logline it starts looking a little confusing even to myself, and don't want the script to loose readers interest when trying to make sense of things.
And what would make it even more confusing is that the location, time of day and character position doesn't change. The only change is that it's the following day...

What would these fabulous films be?

And thanks again, you've been of great help.
 
As far as fairly 'deceiving' the audience, some classics would be The Sixth Sense, The Machinist, Memento, The Usual Suspects. Offhand I can't think of any which deceive re the timeline (well, Memento's whole reverse timeline does, but not in the way that your script needs to). In all cases, the audience is never lied to, as such, they make certain reasonable assumptions just like the POV character does, which turn out to be very wrong. The Sixth Sense is probably the best I've seen do this - even after knowing the Big Twist, you can watch the movie again and still marvel at how well the misdirection is done.

Re your own script, yeah, if even you are getting confused, then chances are that a bored/tired/busy producer reading the script will also get confused and/or miss the timeline twists and turns. One thought: you may be able to make use of 'time passing' background props (could be as simple as a calendar with days crossed off, to something more elaborate like a building being built/demolished) - for most of the film, this prop merely indicates the current/flashback timeline, but is then used in your deception/reveal moments to gently (or not so gently) point out to the character and/or audience what has happened timewise.
 
"I'm not wanting the audience to realise that the film actually spans over two days..."

This can backfire and annoy the audience sometimes. If they're not in on it, and it is important to understand what's happening, they may reject it. It's dangerous.

As for formatting, I used to be more subtle. Now I just come right out and put a:

FLASHBACK TO:
​

INT. COMPUTER STATION - DAY

I make it pretty clear so that we all know this is a different time frame.
RETURN:
​

INT. DVXUSER - DAY

The thread continues.
 
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