Film+Scripts

LS - Long Shot. With people, this is a shot from the top of their heads to at least their feet. MS - Medium Shot. A medium shot is normally a shot from the waist up. MCU - Medium Close Up. A medium close-up is a shot cropped between the shoulders and the belt line. CU - Close Up. A close-up is the most desirable to catch changing facial expressions, which are important to following a conversation. XCU - Extreme Close-Up. Extreme close-ups are reserved for dramatic impact. The XCU shot may show just the eyes of an individual. EXT - Exterior setting. Indicate exterior settings for scene. INT - Interior setting. This scene takes place indoors. This is mostly for producers to figure out the probable cost of a film project. VO - Voice over. This is the abbreviation sometimes seen next to the CHARACTER'S name before certain bits of dialog. This means the character voices that dialog but his or her moving lips are not present in the scene. POV – Point of View or particular actor. Screenplays will sometimes note that a shot will be seen from the point of view of a particular actor. OS – Over the shoulder shot. The scene shows the back of one person's head and possibly one shoulder. SFX – Special effects.These may be audio special effects or visual effects—effects that alter reality and are created in the postproduction and editing phases.
 * Acronyms used in film scripts:**

CUT: The cutting apart of 2 shots at the frameline, or the point where the shots have been cut apart. **3.:** In the different stages, or at the completion of editing the edited film itself can be referred to as “the cut” or “the edit.”
 * Terms used in Film Scripts:**

DISSOLVE A transition between two shots, where one shot fades away and simultaneously another shot fades in. Dissolves are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of the two shots into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do dissolves in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.

FADE-IN and FADE-OUT: A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a **Fade Out**; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a **Fade In**. Fades are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of black into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do fades in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.

CUTAWAY: A shot, usually a closeup of some detail, or landscape, that is used break up a matching action sequence, and is often very helpful in editing to rescue you from an impossible break in continuity or coverage. A cutaway, as the name implies, is a shot that does not focus on some detail of the shot before or after it but cuts away from the action at hand, unlike an [|**Insert Shot**]. However, the two terms are sometimes used vaguely or interchangeably, although this is not always a useful practice. The best cutaways are the ones that have some logic to them, that relate to the scene.

ZOOM: A variable focal length lens. A zoom lens will have a third ring, besides ones controlling focus and iris, that will allow you to change the focal length within a range of wide to long.

DOLLY: A dolly shot is one where the camera is placed on a dolly and is moved while filmming. Also known as a tracking shot.

Average script is between 100 to 120 pages. Each page usually represent about a minute of screen time.
 * How long is the average feature film script?**