Screenplay (also called script and scenario)

The written text upon which a film production is based. Unlike a stage play, which is generally produced and performed the way, or close to the way, it was originally written, the screenplay is wide open to interpretation and change and seldom reaches the screen intact. While the playwright communicates with his audience almost as directly as a novelist, the screenwriter communicates through intermediaries. His work is an essential element—but only one element—in a collaborative enterprise that is presided over by the director. Scenes may undergo changes of content, motivation, emphasis, or dialogue at several pre-production stages and even as the filming progresses, at the discretion of the director.
As literature, few screenplays stand on their own, nor are they meant to. A good script is not judged by the way it reads but by its effectiveness as a blueprint for a film. To be successful, it must be conceived in visual terms and should sustain a pace of action and dialogue in keeping with the requirements of a motion picture. Its dialogue must integrate well with other elements of the sound track, such as music and effects.
Screen-writing is a multi-stage process that begins with an original idea or an acquired published property, such as a novel, short story, or play. Usually, it is first presented to a producer as a brief synopsis that outlines the story, dramatic highlights, and main characters. Variably known as a concept, or an outline, the synopsis usually runs only a few pages in length. The next step is the treatment, an extensive, detailed elaboration of the ideas contained in the synopsis. A good treatment is presented in well-developed narrative form and covers every event and all the major action in the proposed film in proper, though tentative, continuity. The treatment is followed by a first-draft screenplay, written in script form and containing full dialogue. A rewrite or several rewrites may follow before the script is polished into a final screenplay, or shooting script, a fully approved, scene-by-scene document with full dialogue and detailed camera setups.

In the US, screenplays for feature films are usually presented in a format similar to that of a stage play, with dialogue and directions alternating. On the other hand, documentary and industrial films are presented in a two-column format, with the left column containing camera directions and the right column dialogue, narration, music, and sound effects. The latter format is preferred by most European filmmakers for feature films as well as for documentaries.

treatment

The intermediate stage in the development of a script; it occurs between the synopsis (or step outline) and the screenplay, or shooting script. It consists of a fully developed narrative covering all the principal situations and may include certain key passages of dialogue.

props

1. An abbreviated term for properties: furnishings, fixtures, decorations, or any other movable items that are seen or used on a motion picture (or stage) set but that are not structurally parts of the set. The property department of a motion picture studio stores and catalogues an enormous variety of props, from standard pistols to huge, mechanized, custom-made contraptions of great complexity.

2. An abbreviated term for "prop man."

set

A construction representing an interior or exterior locale in which the action of a motion picture takes place. Over the years the task of set design and erection has progressed from the crude painting of backdrops in the tradition of the stage to a complex art requiring the collaboration of many skilled artists and craftsmen. Sets have become not only more lavish but also more realistic and detailed. They may range from a simple interior to an amazingly accurate mock-up of the interior of a jetliner or a ship, and from the standard main street of a Western town to a highly complicated reproduction of a medieval city, complete with castles and authentic props. Many studios have on their grounds permanent built-up areas representing various locales. Although the facade of the buildings is usually a false front with nothing behind it, the illusion of reality may be perfectly achieved through the rudimentary principles of editing.

The person responsible for the overall look of a film, and for each and every set is the art director. He works in close collaboration with the set designer, whose job it is to translate the art director's ideas into actual drawn plans and construction specifications. Other artists and craftsmen involved in the building of sets in the US (they are all members of IATSE, the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees) are set decorators, mold makers, property craftsmen (prop master, upholsterer, greensman, etc.), set painters, scenic and title artists, ornamental plasterers, and grips.

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