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Screenplay

A screenplay is the complete outline of the story for making a movie or TV show. It's the story written down in a special way so that everyone knows what happens in each scene, what the characters say, and what they do.

A well-written screenplay is critical for the success of an animated film or TV show. It must be engaging, entertaining and have a clear plot that captures the attention of the audience. The characters must be relatable, with distinct personalities that make them memorable. The dialogue must be convincing, and the action sequences should be thrilling.

How do screenplays and scripts differ?

Both screenplays and scripts have a similar purpose of describing the story, characters, and setting of an animated project. Nonetheless, there are significant differences between the two. The primary difference lies in the level of detail provided. Screenplays tend to be simpler as they are primarily used to pitch the project to movie studios. On the other hand, scripts are more complex and serve as a blueprint for the production team to bring the final product to life.

How do you write a screenplay for animation?

Screenplays for animated productions are often more complex than those for live-action films because animators have to create everything from scratch. Each character and setting must be designed, and every movement and detail must be thought out and planned. Therefore, screenwriters for animation must have a strong understanding of visual storytelling and how to bring characters to life through animation.

The process of writing a screenplay for animation typically involves many stages. Initially, the writer may create a treatment, which is a brief overview of the story and its main characters. Afterward, the writer will begin working on the first draft of the screenplay. This draft is usually more detailed than the treatment and includes dialogue, action sequences, and descriptions of settings.

Once the first draft is complete, it goes through several rounds of revisions. During this stage, feedback is given by producers and other members of the production team. The writer then makes changes based on this feedback until a final version is approved.

Screenplays are integral to the success of animated productions. They provide guidance and direction for all members of the production team while ensuring that the final product stays true to the vision of its creators. A well-written screenplay can make all the difference between a mediocre production and one that captivates audiences worldwide. Therefore, screenwriters for animation must possess strong visual storytelling skills along with excellent writing abilities to create compelling stories that resonate with viewers long after they’ve watched them on screen.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Claymation

Clean-up

Color Correction

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Distributed Rendering

Dope Sheet

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

M

Matte painting

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Z

Z-depth

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