Jaqaur – Looking Outwards 06

MOVIE SCRIPT CAPS

I chose to write about the bot “Movie Script Caps” by Thrice Dotted. This is a bot that tweets portions of movie scripts that are in all caps.

To me, this bot is more interesting than it is funny. I have researched proper screenplay formatting rules and conventions, and written a few screenplays myself, so I know generally what should and should not be written in all caps, but seeing just those portions without any context makes me want to know more. For example, shot headers and descriptions are always written in caps (like “JACQUI’S POV” or “MED. SHOT”), as are camera movements (“PAN TO:”), first-time character appearances (“We see GOLAN, a middle-aged college professor with a black T-shirt and a beard”), on-screen text (like “SUPERIMPOSE: WRITTEN BY JACQUI FASHIMPAUR” or “A sign says ‘CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY'”) and editing effects (“FADE THROUGH BLACK” or “EERIE MUSIC STARTS”). These are pretty standard and one can find examples of them in the series of tweets above, but there are plenty of more unusual phrases, too. After all, whether or not to capitalize something is really at the screenplay-writer’s discretion, and sometime he or she will just capitalize something that is particularly relevant to him or her. I find it fun to go through the tweets and try to figure out which phrase is which type of thing (shot header, editing effect movement), and try to imagine a context in which many of them could work together.

It’s not the twitter bot that’s going to save the world or anything, but I was particularly entertained by “Movie Script Caps,” and I think it’s a good out-of-the-box example of what this medium can be used for.