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Cartoon Script

The document provides guidance on developing ideas, writing scripts, and storyboarding for animation projects. It suggests finding inspiration from various media and purchasing joke books. The document also outlines a standard script layout and describes different camera angles that can be documented in the script.

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Marie Holgado Carunungan
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6K views

Cartoon Script

The document provides guidance on developing ideas, writing scripts, and storyboarding for animation projects. It suggests finding inspiration from various media and purchasing joke books. The document also outlines a standard script layout and describes different camera angles that can be documented in the script.

Uploaded by

Marie Holgado Carunungan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Before any script can be formed, the writer must have an idea of a story.

If you don’t have an idea yet


and need some ways to find some, try looking at comic books, novels, your favorite cartoon shows, fairy
tales, movies, anime, and so forth. Maybe you want write about superheroes, or cowboys, or aliens, or
detectives.
Here is another idea. Maybe you could animate your favorite joke? Since cartoons should be simplistic, it
wouldn’t be a bad idea. Purchase a joke book online or get one at the library so you can add some good
gags and jokes into your script. Even in serious cartoons like anime, there is usually an element of humor.
Once you have the idea, write it down before it goes away. Make a series of rough notes to flush out the
idea. These notes don’t have to be very detailed just yet, just enough to form a story.

Develop a storyboard, which is basically a series of rough drawings that comprise a story. Some
animators choose to do a storyboard after the script is written, but others find that it helps the animator figure
out the pacing and how it should look on screen. The storyboard could even be a series of stick figures or
even simple shapes designating people or objects. As long as it works for you, anything goes. Take your time
developing a story, because if the animation is crude but the story is well written, it is still a good movie. If
however the animation rocks but the story is terrible, than it is a bad movie.

Start the script. Here is a good example of a good script layout:


Title
Scene (Whenever your characters are in a new locale or a new set of characters are introduced in a new
spot, a new scene begins.)
Description: (Add the characters in the scene, their interactions, and their reactions to what is happening)
Dialogue: (Whatever talk is going on and who is talking)
SFX: (Sound fx you plan on adding later)

Document your desired camera angles: If you want, you can even add in camera angles in your
script. Here are some choices:
Close-up: A close-up shot is when the camera gets really close up on someone or something, like a
person’s face or a telephone on a table.
Long-shot: A long shot is a camera angle that takes in all the characters of the scene and a view of the
scenery. Say your characters are standing in a field or a mountain. This is when you will want to use this
shot.
Overhead (or bird’s eye view): This is a shot from the point of view of a bird or someone up in the air. These
dramatic shots can add a lot to your movie.
Worm’s eye: Also a very dramatic shot. This is a shot from the point of view of a worm. Think about looking
up at a huge building when you are really up close to it. Use these shots for menacing monsters or villains.
Extreme close-up: Use this shot when you want to get up front and personal into a shot. Maybe you want to
focus on the eyes of a person who is glaring or in distress. Maybe you want to focus in on a character’s smile
or frown. Maybe you want to focus in on the violence of a tragic scene.
Pan: This is when the camera moves across the whole scene quickly, from left to right or right to left.
Silhouette: This is where your characters are in shadows and can see their side profiles or shapes of their
bodies. If you are doing say an eerie cartoon or a gritty noir type cartoon, this might be a good type of shot to
use.

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