With the transition to sound the form and contents of the screenplay changed. A text
that was written in prose before, (the so-called continuity script) developed into the
format we know today, which is commonly referred to as master scene script.
This transformation happened during a relatively short time and has not been
examined in detail so far. The objectives of my project are to analyse the impact of
sound, music, and speech (dialogue) on the screenplay. These acoustic elements,
added to film by the new technology of sound film, also led to a new screenplay
format as well as a stronger rhythmisation of it.
The inclusion of acoustic elements in film production brought new problems that the
screenplay had to contend with and for which the old format offered no solutions.
New forms and formats were created, some of them turning to the legitimate stage as
a possible model. At the end of this development stands the screenplay format we
know today, with differences according to the different modes of production in
different countries. These differences are significant, which is why this project
examines them with case studies from the United States, France, Germany and
Austria.
Besides (and sometimes related to) the question of the screenplay format, the issue
of rhythm in screenplays is at the centre of this project.
Sound film made rhythm a crucial element on all levels (dialogue, editing, music),
which can be detected in the screenplay, even if it does not have an explicit effect on
the rhythm of the editing. The screenplay gains its own rhythm on different levels
from dialogue to the pace of narration. Detecting, contextualising and discussing
these forms of rhythm in the screenplays of the early sound era are crucial objectives
of this project, aiming to build the case for the importance of this overlooked aesthetic
quality of screenplays.