Title
By Your Name Here
Script for __ pages
Characters:
CHARACTER NAME ALL CAPS: A brief description of the character
should follow.
ANOTHER CHARACTER: should be listed here, along with a brief
description.
LIST ANY OTHER MAJOR CHARACTERS, along with their descriptions.
Because your story is short though, only focus on two or three major
characters.
In this space, list other minor characters as needed.
Below the characters, list key design items:
For example, consider how Artie is typically shown smoking in Maus, and Vladek has
glasses. Easily drawn, design items clearly signify characters.
SAMPLE TEMPLATE
PAGE ONE
IDENTIFY THE SHOT (Medium, close-up, establishing, etc.): Briefly describe
what we see in the shot. For a list of types of shots, see the end of this handout.
Narrative block (if you are using one) says:
Speech bubbles and/or thought bubbles:
List each character who appears in this panel.
Number each speech/thought bubble accordingly in whatever order each will
appear.
For example:
1 CHARACTER A: THIS IS WHAT THE CHARACTER IS SAYING IN THE
FIRST WORD BALLOON.
2 CHARACTER A: THE SAME CHARACTER IS TALKING, BUT THIS IS THE
SPEECH IN THE SECOND WORD BALLOON ON THE PAGE.
1
CHARACTER B: (IF ANOTHER CHARACTER APPEARS ON PAGE) THIS
IS WHAT THAT CHARACTER WOULD SAY OR THINK.
So essentially, you are plotting the dialogue and thoughts of your characters and
keeping track of in what order they will appear.
You need to repeat this process for each page of your graphic short story. Each
page needs to contain all elements!
Remember, it will be around 8-10 pages, no more than 12!
For your edification, please refer to the following types of shots and, where
necessary, camera angles. Information is taken from Drawing Words and Writing
Pictures, by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden.
Types of shots:
1. Establishing shot—often the opening panel of a piece, the establishing shot
offers a relatively detailed setting.
2. Close up—this type of panel focuses on the head of a character.
3. Extreme close up—This panel focuses tightly on some portion of an object or
character: the eyes, for example.
4. Medium shot—This shot focuses on half of a character’s body.
5. Long shot—This panel shows the character fully, along with the background.
6. Over-the-shoulder shot—This shot uses the shoulder and rear profile of the
character who’s near to our point of view.
7. Point of view Shot—We see the panel through a character’s eyes.
Camera angles
1. Canted angle or dutch tilt—The point of view is tilted; the horizon line runs
diagonally through a panel.
2. Focus—with deep focus, the objects in the foreground, middle ground, and
back ground are rendered with clear detail. In soft or shallow focus, the
objects in the background are simplified or blurred.
3. High angle shot—The viewer is looking down at an object, as if from a bird’s
eye view.
4. Low angle shot—The viewer is looking up at an object, as if from a worm’s
eye view.