- Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting Beginner's Guide
- Ralph Roberts
- 520字
- 2021-04-09 21:37:51
In this chapter, we explore how Celtx lets us use sketching (drawing a quick thumbnail of a scene), built-in storyboarding techniques (more elaborate visualization), and also attaching media files (pictures or descriptions of costumes, for example, an audio file showing how a bit of dialog should really sound, or even video clips). This lets us plan our production (movies, audio-visual presentations, stage plays, or whatever) before even writing the script. We can save immense amounts of money and effort by knowing what will happen before reaching the time where expensive people and equipment are standing around.
If you just write scripts, you won't need the features in this and the next chapter, Getting Organized. However, Indie (independent) producers, folks actually making movies, putting together audio visual shows, or creating documentaries will find these tools of immense value and here we look at visualizing all this good stuff (pun, as ever, intended).
Besides, even if we are just writing a script, visualization techniques can make that a lot easier as well. Knowing where we are going is wonderful in helping us get there, eh?
In this chapter, we will learn the following:
- Sketching: Sketches let us diagram camera, light, character and prop placement, and the other items that we need to visually plan the setup of a scene for filming.
- Storyboarding: Celtx helps us build storyboards using external clipart or photos and included icons to give a visual representation of our script. We can do storyboards before writing a script, or afterwards, to help turn the script into a film or video.
- Add media files: Media files (photos, graphics, videos) may be attached to any of the thirty-six production categories, including wardrobe, props, and locations.
By the end of this chapter, we'll be well familiar with why and how to use these visualization features in Celtx.
Celtx's Sketch Tool allows us to easily visualize ideas and shot setups by adding our drawings of them to projects. Sketches can be separate items in the Project Library (or in folders within the library) or added to a project's Storyboard (more on that in the next section of this chapter).
The Sketch Tool comes with pre-loaded icons for people, cameras, and lights, which we can drag and drop into our sketches, making them look more polished. The icons are SVG images (Scalable Vector Graphics), which allow us to make them as large as we like without losing any quality in the image. The http://celtx.com site makes additional icons available (Art Packs) at low costs (example: $2.99 for 23 icons).
Also provided in the Sketch tool are tools for drawing lines, arrows, shapes, and for adding text labels. Just to avoid confusion, let me tell you that there is nothing like pens or erasers or other free drawing features. We'll use various drag-and-drop icons and any of us, artistic talent or not, can turn out very professional-looking storyboards in no time at all.