I'm working on a contracted script editing job where the screenplay has dialogue in 3 different languages (English and two others). All three languages are spoken a lot, and occasionally all 3 in the same scene. Using parentheticals (in French, subtitled) is eating up a ton of white space and makes the page look cluttered. I've read several different approaches to this:
1) In action line, right before dialogue starts write (NOTE: the following dialogue is in French, subititled).
2) The same approach as above, but with (NOTE: Subtitles ended) when finished
3) Making note at beginning of script that all dialogue in italics is in French (for example). In this case, would I specify bold or underline for the 3rd language?
Thoughts on these approaches? Other ways to do this people have seen?
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I would do #1 or #3, Samuel Minier. #3 would save the most space.
"In this case, would I specify bold or underline for the 3rd language?" Yeah, bold or underline.
Here's the opening scene of Everything Everywhere All at Once. I added the yellow highlight.
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Strange question/idea: can a writer have different language dialogue be different colors defined in the header of every page (if there's that much foreign language)? (eg: pink = X, blue = Y, etc...)?
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I've never seen it that way, Matthew Kelcourse, but that's an option.
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Just wondering, Maurice Vaughan - seems a bit easier but don't know if it'd be "allowed".
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I would go with #3 or #1, like Maurice Vaughan said. I've read some scripts with multiple languages in the dialogue and the notation thing is a little bulky and interferes with the flow when you're reading.
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Matthew Kelcourse Final Draft 13 advertises its color PDF options, so something like that could work, but my only worry would be if it wasn't being reviewed or printed in color for some reason.
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Thanks Maurice and Abeeha, I was leaning toward 3 as well. Will wait to see what others say but that's probably the route I'll go.
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You're welcome, Samuel Minier.