#WriteBetterScripts

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Scriptwriting Basics: Master Visual Storytelling for Film and Video with Expert Dialogue & Scene Formatting

Why Scriptwriting Is Your Secret Weapon for Captivating Audiences

Did you know that 75% of filmmakers attribute a project’s success to a well-structured script? Whether you’re crafting a short film, a YouTube series, or a Hollywood blockbuster, mastering scriptwriting basics is non-negotiable. In 2025, visual storytelling isn’t just an art — it’s a science. This guide will unpack how to format dialogue, write vivid scene descriptions, and leverage SEO-friendly keywords like “visual storytelling techniques” and “scriptwriting software” to boost your content’s visibility. Ready to turn your ideas into cinematic gold? Let’s roll

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Script-Writing - World-Building and Planning - Billboards and Holograms

After reviewing Cyberpunk 2077, I thought I would plan my process looking ahead for the script-writing essay as I didn’t really have a clear plan to what I wanted to write. This lead to me researching online how to write a script itself as I was feeling a bit unconfident from how long it’s been since I’ve last looked at the project from working on other projects. One website that really helped me out was the website ‘WriteBetterScripts’ as they detail what steps you should take before writing up a screenplay. Looking at the website, I felt comfortable with looking further into the history of my location and world much further on from the previous lecture I had on script writing as like the article says, it would help me understand the mechanisms of my world and how my characters react to them all. 

To help establish this for my script, I took the notes from my last lecture with Carla as the whole process of thinking how every exact thing is made influenced me to look into the nitty-gritty details of the world I want to imagine for myself so that the writing process was easier for me. I first looked at one of my earlier mood boards that I had created for both the script-writing and character design projects as this captures the overall tone and feel for what I want going on in my scene with the bright lights illuminating the city whilst a dark vibe happens on the lower parts of the city giving it a false persona. The main focus from the mood board was to see how I could research parts of these images and look into the history of where these sections came from and how I can mentally put together the background and mechanisms of my scene for the essay. Focus points I found from looking at the mood board were the bright lights of the outside city and the slum-like environment that was inside the lower decks of the city. Ideas like Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell immediately springed out to me as these may be films and media I want to look into more as I go through this project.

Working off the previous lecture and mood board, I wanted to look into the history of my area and the makings of some of the things that are set in the world. For example, Led screens and holograms were peak interests of mine from the subject matter I want to go for in this essay being a story of a man obsessed with celebrities and idols that leads him to destroying what he loves most out of pure rage. I started by researching on different websites that detailed what goes into the making of LED billboard and Screens as these would be the main focus of my city area where my characters would walk in and receive different feelings to what they see. Here I learned different things like an LED screen consisting of little lights packed closely together which can’t be seen by the naked eye and how they only emit three colours being - Red,Green and Blue. How these lights are packed together to create one larger thing reminded me a lot about my Jekyll and Hyde characters and how they seen in the world as Jekyll to me is one of those small Red, Green or Blue lights that are packed closely together in the monitor and Hyde being an ad you see on an electronic billboard that you see in Times Square. This is because Jekyll to me is a small individual that doesn’t have any standout details to him compared to the celebrities and idols that dominate the city’s culture which comparing to my Hyde character is a lot more eye-turning since there’s been nothing like him before to exist being this humongous mechanical beast that no-one has seen before as it’s out of the general public’s imagination.

Alongside this, I did a few bit of research on the different types of billboards that are visible in New York where there’s this one website detailing what each billboard is used for in the city from events, ads and celebrations. One thing I really took out of it was the shapes of these screens as they curve and warp around buildings to create unique visuals that you couldn’t make on a traditional sign. Things like animations, placement of the promoted material and how it’s structured all make it as memorable as possible for people to see thus in term making people remember what was on the billboard itself. This lead me to creating a mood board between New York’s Billboard culture to Shibuya’s layout as I wanted to see and realise the differences of how both cities advertise and use colour on their billboards. Looking at New York’s billboards as previously mentioned, use complicated shapes and techniques to advertise their work and promote events with curved and flexible boards as well as different kinds of rectangles and squares. They act very unconventional but somehow work amazingly which is what draws your attention to them as well as giving each board in Times Square room to breathe with a lot of them having their own space to show off what the boards have to offer. Comparing this to Shibuya in Tokyo, the billboards are a lot more clustered together like how LED’s are laid out when you zoom in. There’s so much more colour on offer because of this to the point where it feels overwhelming and feel like they’re all watching you as you walk on the streets. And this is why I love it as it also makes feel like you’ve entered into the future when you step into the city for the first time as you can’t comprehend all the colours that surround you and just wants you to look at them all.

Both of these cities I found have different ways of advertising and how they format it which is why I feel I imagine a mixture of both of these cities in my world for Jekyll and Hyde to explore in and add to the dense city I imagine it to be.

One last bit of my LED screen and Billboard research is that I stumbled across this article which features Tokyo’s famous advertising areas like Shibuya without the advertising, bright colours or 3D text and replaced with just bright blocks instead. These are the works of Graphic Designer Nicolas Damiens and to me, I think it takes away the character out of the areas as it’s very mute looking but however not dull as the white out blocks give ti a new architectural feel to it all. One revelation that I had when looking at these amazing images is that this could be how my Hyde character interprets the city for himself as he despises the culture so much to the point he can even pictured out what’s even being displayed other than just hollowed out people. Comparing this to Jekyll where all he sees are the flashy colours and imagery to the point his dreams have come to life. 

 Overall, I feel really pleased with this first bit of research I’ve done on my world-building for the script as I’m starting to pick up the pieces to how both of my characters visualise the land around them which will definitely be important to my scene as I at least would love to feature it outside which would let me able to express the city fully. I think for the next post, I plan to look at other futuristic details like holograms to help with not only the advertising of the city, but to also play with the humanity of the Hyde character as whilst he’s a giant mechanical beast, he wants to be seen as normal as well despite being made out of rubbish.

Websites

The complete guide to the screenwriting process - https://writebetterscripts.com/how-to-write-a-script/

LED Screens FAQ - https://www.yslv.co.uk/led-faq#:~:text=An%20LED%20Screen%20is%20like,create%20a%20range%20of%20colours.

Digtal Screens and BillBoards - https://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business/promote-partner/advertising-sponsorships/digital-screens-billboards

Tokyo without ads: Japan's capital stripped bare – in pictures - https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/aug/12/tokyo-without-ads-japan-stripped-bare-in-pictures

https://www.kingman.com.au/signage-throughout-the-years-how-the-digital-age-has-changed-signs/

How Do Electronic Billboards Work? - https://www.ledsignsupply.com/electronic-billboards-work/#:~:text=Digital%20billboards%20are%20made%20with,so%20eye%2Dcatching%20and%20unique.&text=If%20you%20are%20looking%20for,maintenance%20way%20to%20create%20buzz.