1. Open MS Word or other word processor that may be able to load the templates.2. In Word, find the dialog box for "AutoCorrect" (Under Options on the "Tools" menu in Word 2000) and unselect "Capitalize first letter of sentences" by clicking on the appropriate box until it is NOT checked.
3. Open the template you want to work with.
4. Immediately use "Save As" from the File menu and give your script a new name. If you forget to do this and save it as the template name, you can download a new blank template from the class Web page, but this is a hassle you can easily avoid.
5. In order to see spacing and carriage returns, make sure that the "Show Formatting" option is selected in your toolbar. It is activated by a button containing an icon that looks like a paragraph symbol. See diagram from Word 2002 below:
6. In order to see the header information, click on the "Print Layout View" button in the lower left hand corner of your Word screen. See diagram from Word 2000 below:
7. To edit the header information, click on "View" in the menu bar and select Header and Footer. This will make the grayed out header information become sharp black and will open a header dialog box. See diagram from Word 2000 below:
8. Place your cursor at the appropriate point in the header and use backspace delete to back up over the generic copy. Then type your own copy. Once you have finished with line one, delete spaces before Writer: and Page: to align the Writer: entry correctly with the next line or table and to place the terminal page number just at the right margin.9. Once the header looks correct, click on the Close button at the right of the Header dialog window.
10. In general you don't want to use the carriage return in any of the templates that contain tables. This is particularly true of the Single-Camera template, which is the one we will use the most this semester. Use the down arrow key to move from the shot number line to the first line where you should type video information. Type as much video information as needed, and the formatting will keep it single spaced and in the correct column.
11. Tab or use the right arrow key to get to the time column. Then simply type the appropriate 4 digit time with colon in the middle.
12. Again tab or use the right arrow key to get to the audio column. Then just type, remembering to capitalize speaker's names and format audio and talent cues correctly. Dialog will be double spaced automatically, and the formatting will not allow a shot (row of cells) to be broken across two pages. End the audio when the video changes, even if it is in the middle of a sentence.
13. Only use a carriage return if the speaker changes within one video shot. See diagram below:
14. Each template that includes a table is set up with 50 rows of cells. This number was chosen because it should provide for about 5 minutes of copy, the maximum allowed in this course. When you reach the end of your script, you will need to delete the remaining cells before you save and print your script. This is done in the following manner:
a. Run your mouse along the left side of the first row of cells to be deleted. A small, black arrow should appear in the margin pointed inward toward the left-hand cell.See diagram below:b. Click on the left margin of that cell.
c. Next hold down the Shift and Control keys and then press the End key. This will select all the remaining cells in the table.
d. Now click on "Table" in the menu bar and select Delete and Rows.
This technique can also be used to delete an individual row of cells anywhere in the script. Just use the right arrow key rather than the End key to select just the row (shot) you want to delete. When using the single-camera template, the shot numbers will automatically adjust, a nice feature if you decide to delete a shot early in the script.With a little trial and error, shots (rows) can be added as well as deleted, but it is easier to delete them.
15. The last thing you should do prior to printing your script is to spell check it. While Spell Check is not infallible, it can help you catch mistakes. Grammar Check is usually a waste of time because the grammatical conventions of scripts are different from those of other documents.
