I have an opening scene that occurs around 3 weeks prior to present day. I then jump back in time to show something from the past. From there I time jump one year later. What is the proper way to format these time jumps?
Screenwriting : Time jumps by Les Collins
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I'm pretty sure you could use DISSOLVE TO: or simply use SUPERIMPOSE: 3 weeks later.
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Think of how you want to do it visually.
If you want to Supers or white text over a black screen. There is no format as such. Just visual clues you leave.
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What do you want your audience to know and when. An audience can't read your script, so what you make clear for a reader, make equally clear for the audience.
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Take a look at the information that is being communicated to the audience in the time jumps and ask yourself if the jumping around is necessary to convey this. If there is a lot of jumping around in the movie it could just become confusing.
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I would use "SUPERIMPOSE: _______ (one year later, two weeks after, etc.)" to show the time jumps.
I would limit the use of time jumps. A lot of jumping around could confuse readers/the audience (like Ewan said).
Thanks for the feedback everyone. The specifics are these: I open with a scene to grab the audience. From there I switch the tone with a prologue of the main character. At the end of the prologue a super of 13 months later. Shortly after another character references the opening scene as being 3 weeks ago. I’m thinking the only clarification I need is the 13 months later. What do you guys think ?