Nuova versione per Celtx che arriva alla release 2.5.1. Questo software vi aiuta nella stesura di un copione, sia esso teatrale che cinematografico (Licenza: GPL2 , OS: Karmic Koala 32/64bits, Formato: Repository).

Fonte/Download: Getdeb – HomePage: Celtx

Celtx er oppdatert til versjon 2.5.1 Ei rekkje feil er retta.  Versjonsnotatet finn du her.

Celtx er det første programmet laga for før-produksjon (pre-production) i media. Programmet inneheld alt det du treng for å gå frå konsept til produksjon. Meir informasjon om programmet finn du på CeltxWiki.

Last ned Celtx

Celtx 2.5.1

Celtx 2.5.1

Celtx 2.5.1

Aktuelle artiklar
Celtx point release, version 2.5.1! (The Celtx Blog)
Announcing Celtx v.2.5! – Now Available for free download. (The Celtx Blog)

Celtx er oppdatert til versjon 2.5.1 Ei rekkje feil er retta.  Versjonsnotatet finn du her.

Celtx er det første programmet laga for før-produksjon (pre-production) i media. Programmet inneheld alt det du treng for å gå frå konsept til produksjon. Meir informasjon om programmet finn du på CeltxWiki.

Last ned Celtx

Celtx 2.5.1

Celtx 2.5.1

Celtx 2.5.1

Aktuelle artiklar
Celtx point release, version 2.5.1! (The Celtx Blog)
Announcing Celtx v.2.5! – Now Available for free download. (The Celtx Blog)

I have been sorely lacking in my contributions to this blog in the recent while. This has been due to a serious dose of an ailment which was not Swine Flu, as the aforementioned virus does not exist and is simply a pseudonym for influenza, a virus which kills which drug and sanitary companies want to make an extra buck on by making it appear to be a brand new epidemic.

It has been a busy week for two applications which I regularly use. An email I got earlier today told me about a feature in one of my favourite storage service of which I wasn’t aware. Last week, my favourite scriptwriting application underwent a major update. Quite a busy week for testing, not that I got much done.

Firstly, plugging Dropbox will be the topic of the first part of this post.

Dropbox is free. Well, it’s almost free. It’s free for 2GB (that’s Gigabytes and I’m not going to go into bits) of storage. You can get up to a maximum of another 3GB of storage by referring friends to Dropbox (referring link for me – if you are getting it, use that link, I’ll get 250MB extra and so will you!). Now, 2GB is nice enough for any writer – you’re not going to have a hope of filling it up with all your scripts or novels unless you use one hell of a revisioning system.

Did I mention revisioning systems? YES?! OMG, like oh my God, cross my heart ladies! Delete SVN, cause you don’t need it anymore. As long as your internet connection is active, anything in the specially assigned Dropbox folder on your computer will sync with a Dropbox server under your account and password somewhere random in the world where natural disasters don’t happen. As long as your Dropbox has synced with your account online, the files in your Dropbox folder are safe no matter what happens to your computer (all I can say is, like Harrison Ford, never trust a one-armed man with your precious goods).

Not only that, but Dropbox revisions! Revisions? REVISIONS!!! Everytime you upload a file of the same name onto your Dropbox, it backs up the previous version allowing you to download previous versions of your Dropbox file if you do something stupid in the present version!

So, if you’re like me, you’re thinking, “why don’t I save my file to my Dropbox folder and then, every time my editor auto-saves or I save manually, my work is automatically uploaded onto a off-site server over the internet and kept safe, plus I can make a mistake, like saving after completely erasing the document and still go back to what I had before!”

Now, Dropbox also has another feature of which I was made recently aware. It is possible to share files with other, specified Dropbox account holders. So, if you’re collaborating on a script, when your partner edits the file, you can get the new file instantly! Isn’t that great?

Now, enough plugging of Dropbox for the moment. Moving onto the divinely incredible, free and easy-to-use Celtx.

Celtx writes scripts. No bullshit. Scripts – that is screenplays, stageplays, A/V scripts, radioplays and comic book scripts. It also happens to have a storyboard feature, a scheduler and an all around kick-ass pre-production management feature, which handles everything from shot lists and time sheets to prop lists and crew management. Plus a pretty neat plug-in facility.

Now, they’re just the bog-standard features. They were all in the previous version. But last week, Celtx brought out version 2.5.

And it’s awesome.

The thing about Celtx developers is that they never do things in halves. When there’s a major update, which happens on average about twice a year, it’s not just stupid bug changes and extra support for random symbology nobody uses or cares about. They have double point releases for that (like 2.5.1). No, when a major release of Celtx comes out, it’s guaranteed to have a swanky, extravagantly amazing new feature, if not a number of them. And 2.5 is no different.

Best on the list is Revision mode. I’m not sure yet if it’s SVN, but you can now create a repository for your celtx script file which will allow you to go back in time as it revisions everything you need it to.

Then, there’s Celtx chat. A highly requested feature for the last year. It’s a tiny bit buggy and not too cosmetically pleasing, but it’s functional to chat to your Celtx collaborators. It will need some slight improvement though.

Sketch is their, in my opinion strongest new tool. Scene layout planning and camera setup is basically Sketch’s function. There is a small artwork package included with the program and there are add-on packages available for a very reasonable price on the Celtx website. These have more artwork for props and the like. Sketch is extremely easy to get used to as shown by my quick sketch. Two minutes.

Overall, the release is very nice and perfectly functional. Obviously there may be a few bugs that need ironing out, but don’t worry, they will be. And when they are, you just download the latest version because the best thing about the Celtx program itself is that it’s free! Quite simply, perfectly and without any other way of saying it, free.

Yes, there are a few extras like Celtx Studios and the Art Packs for Sketch that are paid for, but the prices are negligible and the extras are optional – they simply enhance the totally free, easy to use scriptwriting and pre-production tool that is Celtx.

Why not try sticking your working .celtx file into your Dropbox folder? Now look at why I love this combination so very much. Revisioning on two counts, powerful local revisioning with colour coded changes and off-site server revisioning with Dropbox allowing for timely backups of the file.

Incredible combination, isn’t it?

Now, get writing.

www.getdropbox.com
www.celtx.com

Celtx, the free screenplay and preproduction software has been updated to version 2.5.1, hot on the heels of 2.5, which was released 5 days ago. As the quick turnaround time suggests, this is a bug fix release. Here are the fixes:

Windows crashes when canceling add image dialog. If you cancel the add image dialog when adding an image using the media sidebar or a catalog form Celtx crashes. (Windows only)

Using Print Preview disables all subtabs. Once you have select print preview the subtabs are no longer responsive. You have to close and re-open the application to fix this problem. (Windows and Linux)

Windows registry not updated correctly for NEW Celtx installations. The windows installer doesn’t correctly register the celtxs protocol for new installs. This would prevent first time Celtx user from installing addons and open projects from the studio. (Windows only)

Download Links

• Celtx

Celtx Forums Might Be Worth Checking Out

William Goldman famously said about Hollywood “Nobody knows anything” and I think online screenwriting forums are good evidence of this. I have always tried to avoid them, convinced that they are, well, a waste of time. If I am going to be a screenwriter, I better spend more time writing for the screen than writing for other screenwriters. The best thing I have done for my screenwriting career is to start this blog and seek out other bloggers. Instead of spending time in the local pub—the “forums,” I have my own castle “the blog,” where I can express myself free of charge and without threat of flamers or dullards. It’s nice here, huh?

But is this the right move? Are there screenwriting forums I have missed? I decided  to check out three to make sure I’m not missing out. I was a bit surprised by what I found—I even enjoyed some of them!

In the comments, let me know other screenwriting forums I should be checking out.

The Artful Forum
http://www.artfulwriter.com/forum/index.php

This one may be the first I was directed to as a young screenwriter all of five months ago. Connected to Craig Mazin and Ted Elliot’s blog, it features lively, moderated discussion, mostly about the craft of screenwriting. The “Ask a Pro” section of the forum seems like the coolest part of the site. I sifted through a thread with Ted Elliot and he did provide some decent replies to questions from members, who mostly asked about Pirates of the Caribbean. As much as he may have preferred to talk about something else, he did answer those questions.

The worst part are the judgmental, mean people who if you have a question, will look down on you and sort of make fun of you. For example, The Alameda Writers Group announced an event the other day on the blog. Instead of taking the poster seriously, the forum spent two days debating the grammar of the entry. Perhaps the Group posted in the wrong part of the forum, perhaps no one wants to go to the event, but still, not OK to be mean.

Opinion: I would look through this for information but think twice before posting. It’s not worth the effort to just be dissed or called a noob.

Wordplay Forums
http://www.wordplayer.com/forums/scripts/index.cgi

The Wordplay Forums are run by the prolific Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. Unlike the Artful Forum, there are no categories for posts so it is one long line of topics. That written, the conversations I read this morning seem rather focused and helpful. I checked out one on contests that gave some good feedback on which to apply to; this is needful information for me as I just finished my first feature-length last month.  It’s much less snarky than other screenwriting forums and may be worth checking out.

The downside: the threads are difficult to follow and not being powered by vBulletin like the Artful (or Celtx) Forums, they are simply a collection of links that take a bit of time to load. Before I subscribe to this one, I would like an improvement in readability. There are helpful links/advice on this board, you just have to search for it.

Celtx Forums
http://forums.celtx.com/

This is a hidden gem for me. Maybe it’s because I like Celtx so much, I just think that the people who use this free screenwriting software program must be pretty agreeable people. At its best, the Celtx Forums are a big party; threads include titles such as “The Original Skype Conference Call Thread (now UPDATED!)” and “How many people will jump in Celtx IRC chat?” It’s as if the members can’t get enough of each other on the board and need more outlets to talk and chill.

I am interested but a little afraid of the “Script Reviews & Collaboration” section. While seemingly very Web 2.0, I am not ready to put my script out there for strangers to read. This is strange, because ultimately I would like thousands of people to see it. Yet I do not think I can get the best sort of criticism online; I would have to know someone and trust that person before I could simply write him or her with my script. I have been burned too many times before. I like that this option exists and I have seen this on other forums, but I just don’t know. I’m not ready.

OK, time to share your experiences in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Contrary to the title of this blog post, I am not going to tell you how to write a screenplay. Robert McKee and Syd Field already have that covered.

What I am going to tell you is what to install on your computer to ensure your screenplay conforms to the very precise formatting and layout required for these documents. As far as skill, story ideas, etc., you’re on your own.

Pay Options

In the beginning, screenplays were written on typewriters. As computers evolved, many writers began using them instead of typewriters to assist in the revision process and formatting. There are those who still use typewriters as their primary writing instrument, but I’d guess most have moved on to some sort of software. Here, there are 2 main choices:

1. Use a standard word processor and a template designed to correctly format the various screenplay elements; or
2. Use a dedicated screenwriting program.

It goes without saying that Microsoft Word is the most popular word processor out there, and so it’s no surprise that there are a lot of template options available for free, even in Microsoft’s template library (this one, or this one, for example). The only catch is that you have to by Microsoft Office first. That’ll set you back at least $150.

On the dedicated program front, the most popular is probably Final Draft, which offers a lot of features specific to screenwriting, but unfortunately also offers a $250 price tag.

Free Option 1: OpenOffice.org templates

I’ll be writing a lot more about OpenOffice.org throughout the life of this blog, but for now let me just say that it is the only free office suite that can challenge Microsoft in terms of features and functionality. The OpenOffice.org Writer program has a very familiar look and feel to Word 2003 (i.e. no ribbon as in Office 2007), and it also has a great screenplay template package called Screenwright that you can download for free. Screenwright is actually codeveloped Alan C. Baird, who wrote for cult TV show Max Headroom, so you pretty much know it has to be good.

Free Option 2: Celtx

Perhaps a more intriguing option is the free, dedicated screenwriting program, Celtx, which is actually a lot more than a screenplay formatter. It has features and modes to assist not only in story development and writing, but also in other activities such as storyboarding, scheduling, reporting, production breakdowns and managing props and locations. Not that I care per se, but another nice feature is that Celtx will run on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and is available in 30 languages, something you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a commercial application, let alone a free one. Celtx is actually built using the Mozilla application framework and XULRunner, like Firefox and Thunderbird.

Seize The Day

There’s never been a better time to try out either Screenwright or Celtx, since brand new versions of both have recently been released. All you have to supply is the talent.

Download Links

• OpenOffice.org
• Screenwright OpenOffice.org template
• Celtx

Celtx er oppdatert til versjon 2.5. Ei rekkje forbetringar er gjort.  Versjonsnotatet finn du her.

Celtx er det første programmet laga for før-produksjon (pre-production) i media. Programmet inneheld alt det du treng for å gå frå konsept til produksjon. Meir informasjon om programmet finn du på CeltxWiki.

Last ned Celtx

Celtx 2.5

Celtx 2.5

Celtx 2.5

Aktuell artikkel:
Announcing Celtx v.2.5! – Now Available for free download. (The Celtx Blog)

If you read my first blog post about the free application Celtx, I was hoping that it would get feature parity with Final Draft within a year, sadly that never happened, and a few years later Final Draft (and Movie Magic) are still slightly ahead in features. Though you have to take into account Celtx does way more than simply script formatting, acting as a one stop pre-production suite, so to bemoan the slow development of the screenwriting aspect is perhaps a little unfair. Either way, slowly but surely Celtx is getting there, and I’m sure it will eventually get there, when you consider how many years it was between new versions of FD and MM.

The newest version of Celtx is out, with the biggest new feature for screenwriters probably being revision tracking.

Revision Mode can be used to lock scene numbers while editing a script. You can also track changes using colour coded edits.

• Toolbar – a new toolbar will appear when you are in the Revision Mode
• R+ Increments – ability to increment revisions with one click
• Rev Label – you can assign any name to the Revision
• Colour Edits – edits in Revision Mode can be colour coded
• Scene Numbers – nested Locked Scene numbering that supports Hollywood (A/B), Numeric (1.2.1), or create your own template.
• Scene Fixer – provides an easy way to manually fix any scene numbers
• Display Marks – choose between ‘All Marks’, ‘Current’, or ‘Hide’ to track colour edits
• Omit Scenes – omit any scene
• Reset – resets the script back to standard editing mode

Celtx might not yet be the best screenwriting application money can buy, but when you consider it is free and gets the job done just fine, it’s hard to knock it for anyone who doesn’t wanna invest £165 in an application just to write scripts.

You can read about all the new features in 2.5 here.

I have looked all over the place for software designed to help write a comic book script. All I have been able to find is program after program designed to help write movie scripts, plays, and television. The thing about this problem, is that it isn’t really a problem. I began to think that even though a comic book script is different then a movie script, just having help with the script format may be enough. I haven’t tested this theory yet but I thought I would give it a try. With a little effort and some serious searching, I ran into “Celtx”. The Celtx script writing software is free, so there is no harm in trying it out. I just downloaded it tonight, so I can’t really review it at this time, but I will let you all know. If anyone has ever tried this type of software to script comics, please let me know. leave a comment, I’d love to get some thoughts.

“Celtx”
http://celtx.com

Celtx is the world’s first all-in-one media pre-production software. It has everything you need to take your story from concept to production. Celtx replaces ‘paper, pen & binder’ pre-production with a digital approach that’s more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.

I’m glad you asked. A screenplay is a highly stylized document and formatting is everything since a movie typically lasts under 2 hours. If you’re not using 12 point courier, then you’re not in the game. Development execs and readers have piles (of scripts to read). Until they find out a  better way to determine if a script is good, they will continue to have to read them.

Readers I spoke to typically read 10-15 scripts a week. I once spoke to a former Paramount exec who read 14 scripts during her weekends. Unless they specifically request your script as urgent, it ends up on the pile. Readers develop a sight strategy to determine their order of read, much like a wild animal deciding how to attack it’s prey. Bigger is not better. I have used this mantra in a variety of contexts.

• Firstly, overly long scripts end up at the bottom of the pile. So keep them around 90 pages for comedy and horror and up to around 110 for everything else. Don’t widen the margins, reduce the font or apply any type of girdle to attempt to disguise an overly long script. It will go to the bottom of the pile.
• Blank white spaces are good. Less is more. Walls of  text are bad. I was once moved to tears reading a script describing a man’s touch on his wife with the softness of a Rembrandt brushstroke. And it went on and on. After drying my eyes, I told the writer to save that for her novel or poem, and reduce the description to bare bones.
• Dialogue should be scaled back. This is not Medea reciting a monologue. Anything more than about eight lines should be scaled back, or the editor will do it for you.

Now back to my topic of formatting. I use Final Draft. I have used word. Screenwriting software does not create good scripts, it simply aids the formatting process and does a few nifty things like count the number of times a character speaks, scene numbering and breakdowns, ‘mores and continueds’, index cards so you can see an outline of all your scenes, tells you the longest scene and longest dialogue, character interaction statistics, dialogue to action ratio (ideally around 35:65), profanity count (I like this one) and global change in case you want to change a character’s name in the entire script.

Don’t use a lack of funds to deter you from writing. There are a number of free screenwriting software available to download online for free.

Celtx is one I’ve used. It’s highly functional and has a great script report function.

Scripped is another popular package I’ve heard is good, although I’ve never used it.

Plotbot is the newest one which allows you to write your script in your browser. How cool is that? You can write on your iphone or cell phone. At first I thought plotbot was malicious software that ruined your plot.

So what are you waiting for?

Go forth and format!

I am in the process of performing a rewrite of one scene which I feel is utterly thin, dull, and boring. That scene (the first one in the visual novel) needs an entire rewrite. I have to play down the minor character (the conductor) to get to the heart of the matter.

But that is not the main focus of this post: I have come across a free tool for screenwriters called Celtx. I simply text dumped my script that I had written in MS Word via Notepad and it automatically formatted the majority of the document for me. It also prints out a great script automatically for me, and it has a number of beneficial features for young filmmakers and VN Writers.

I managed to put down five pages today, though I’m not too happy with them. The pinch of Act Two B is a bank heist. Specifically, a con job that gets the protagonist into a vault to steal a painting. And that’s the sequence I wrote today.

Mechanically there isn’t anything wrong with the sequence. But for whatever reason I’m just not satisfied with it, and it’s enough of a feeling that I don’t think it’s something that can wait until my first revision to address. So I’ll likely tinker with it tomorrow.

It’s weird though because I don’t feel like it’s bad, it’s just not right, if that makes any sense. It certainly reads okay. Nothing brilliant, but I’ve written far worse. Its just… I don’t really know how to explain it. Maybe after getting some rest and coming back to it tomorrow I’ll have figured out what’s eating me.

I’m sitting at a solid 20 pages right now in Act Two B. I’d like to have been at maybe page 15 right now, but it is what it is, and I can deal with the length later. There are plenty of things I can trim and scenes and sequences I can make more efficient.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I posted the video I was talking about yesterday. It’s a brief introduction to the Final Draft and Celtx screenwriting software. I figured there might have been people out there who wanted to see what they’re like, how they look, and how they might operate, so with the aid of OS 10.6’s new screen-casting feature, I decided to make a video to do just that.

You can find my progress for the day in PDF format down below.

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

Served Cold Challenge – Day 15

This video goes over, in extremely brief detail, two pieces of screenwriting software. The first is Final Draft, pretty much the industry standard in screenwriting software. The second is Celtx, a freeware piece of software that you can use to write screenplays, as well as several other types of documents.

This is by no means a tutorial video, but instead just an introduction to what the pieces of software look like, how they operate, and how much I like using them.

You can find more information on Final Draft, as well as download a demo, at the Final Draft website.

You can find more information on Celtx, as well as download the program, at the Celtx website.

So take both of them for a whirl, and as always, keep writing!
-Steve

Many of us are increasingly working with multimedia online, including video and audio applications for everything from podcasts to video tutorials. While well-known tools such as Audacity and Blender can help you deliver slickly produced online audio and video content, really good producers make use of pre-production tools before they even start recording. Celtx is a free, open-source multimedia pre-production application that is very popular for organizing and scripting everything from screenplays, to audio/visual tutorials, to webcasts. You can download it here for Windows (s msft), Mac (s aapl) and Linux, and take advantage of an accompanying online Studios environment to collaborate with others on multimedia pre-production.

When you first begin with Celtx, you’re presented with several types of pre-built project templates for filmed content, audio-visual content, and more, as seen below:

Once you’ve chosen what type of content you want to produce, Celtx lets you build a Project Library, where you can house scripted materials, graphics, video and audio content, and more. If you click on the “My Studio” icon seen at right below, the application will take you to Celtx Studios, an online environment where you can collaborate on your pre-production with other people online.

Using Celtx Studios, you can track who you’re working with, and point each other to shared projects:

As you build your pre-production in the Celtx application, you’re gradually building the components in your Project Library on the upper-left of a multi-pane screen, a collection of scenes just below that (with your current scene on the right), and pop-up dialogs for adding materials to all of these repositories. The multi-pane view is seen below:

Celtx has an excellent reputation among professional storyboarders, screenwriters and producers of commercials. Many of us who have been thrown hurly-burly into producing multimedia online don’t have academic pre-production and production backgrounds. Celtx is a good, free way to get help with the pre-production part, which is important. If it interests you, I recommend beginning with these video walkthroughs.

What tools do you use to assist with storyboarding and pre-production?

Below is a two part video on how to get started with screenwriting. I wanted to show people how easy (and potentially cheap) it is to get started with screenwriting. The videos won’t help you write a candidate for Best Original Screenplay, but it will show you some of the tools that can help start you down that path.

Part One:

Part Two:

Books:
“Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting” by Syd Field
“The Screenwriter’s Workbook” by Syd Field
“Screenplay: Writing the Picture” by Robin U. Russin and William Missouri Downs
“How NOT to Write a Screenplay” by Denny Martin Flinn

Software:
Final Draft
Movie Magic Screenwriter
Montage
Celtx

I know it’s not even the Autumn yet, but I’m already thinking about NaNoWriMo.

For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, although it occurs all over the world. It’s like a writing marathon; the idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in just one month; that’s 1667 words a day, although many people do try and go over that.

Taken from the NaNoWriMo website:

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, as you can see, it’s popular to say the very least. I participated last year after someone on a forum I use suggested I give it a go, and I managed to complete it a day early. This year I’ll be aiming for 60k words rather than 50k, and I’m gonna be forcing myself to write even more.

As an incentive, I might try and persuade my mum to let me buy my netbook in time for November instead of having it as a birthday present. I’ll be able to put £100 or so towards it, and it’ll mean I can go off somewhere and write without the distracting properties of the internet.

For those of you who aren’t into novel writing, there’s always Script Frenzy. It’s run by the same people and next year will be its 4th, if I remember correctly. Instead of a 50k word novel, you have to write a 100-page script. It can be for anything; a TV show, a movie, a stage play, even a radio play. It’s in April, so you’ve got a fair bit of waiting to do, but it’s just as fun as NaNo and you don’t even need any experience in script writing to give it a go; I managed to get by, despite knowing absolutely nothing about how to write a script. There are plenty of free script writing programs around (my favourite being Celtx, although there are some more proffessional programs you have to pay for, and some online options if writing on the go is your thing), and they make it a hell of a lot easier. Additionally, Script Frenzy allows you to write with a partner, meaning you only really have to do half the work.

To take part in either of the events, you have to be 13 or over, although there are young writer’s versions of both programs for kids 12 and under, or for use by people taking part as a part of school lessons.

As you can see, I’ve stuck a NaNo participant badge on the left hand side, which will link to the NaNo website. I’ll probably post again about it nearer the time, and to any Wrimos planning on taking part this year, feel free to drop me a note – I’m writing as Icklepenguin this year, trying to stay in line with my blog and deviantART account names.

NaNoWriMo: Nanowrimo.org

Script Frenzy: Scriptfrenzy.org

Celtx: www.celtx.com

Celtx es una herramienta Open Source que nos ayudará en todo el proceso de preproducción para cualquier medio de comunicación: cine, vídeo, teatro, cómic, radio, podcasts, videocasts, etc. Escritura de guiones, secuencias y escenas, desarrollo de personajes, distribuir y etiquetar elementos, calendario de producción y emisión de informes detallados sobre la evolución de un determinado proyecto. Está disponible en más de treinta idiomas, entre ellos el español. A mediados de junio apareció esta actualización que mejora el proceso de recuperación después de un cierre inesperado SO.

Storyboard

Guión

Programa

Puedes encontrar un sencillo manual en http://observatorio.cnice.mec.es/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=631

Das Programm “Celtx” ist gewissermaßen ein Produktionsmanager für Nachwuchsregisseure

Da ich nicht einfach den Text dazu kopieren kann, hab ich einfach den Link zur entsprechenden Page gesetzt, wo man dieses Programm auch kostenlos herunterladen kann.

HIER KLICKEN

Movie Magic 6—Write Brothers, Inc. A

Final Draft 8—Final Draft Inc. B-

Celtx—http://celtx.com/ A-

Before we begin, I should admit that this post is very subjective. I only used the free trials and did not in fact buy any of the products listed (small budget). For those not in the know, formatting software helps screenwriters take their Word document and shape it into a screenplay. There are varying degrees of automation, but generally the user presses tab and enter in varying ways, a tab to make Jon a “character name”—JON, centered, and an enter for dialogue to also appear in the center of the page. Enough explanation, let’s get right down to it—while Final Draft may be the industry standard, it’s also rather expensive. Movie Magic 6.0 is good—but again, it’s not cheap, and Celtx is free and also pretty sturdy. Let’s hit these three in a bit more depth.

Final Draft 8 reminds me of a really ritzy spa. They’re over generous and almost cloying when you pay membership but if you’re on a freebie account they could care less about you. For example, unlike Movie Magic, which offers a five day trial—Final Draft only allows you to save fifteen pages or less documents. So, if you really wanted to use FD on a trial, think again. I did get to glance at a few cool gizmos. There are dozens of templates, whether traditional screenplay, stage play, or even “BBC Three-Camera Show” format, in case you have a Judi Dench vehicle coming up.

The templates work well, but are a little strict, if you make a mistake while formatting, as I often do, the program does not help correct. It is generally a matter of “Ctrl + Z” and starting over. In fact, the text often gloms together and will not come apart. Maybe with a more complete trial I could figure out how to work this, but with only fifteen pages to save, my hands are tied. Final Draft also offers other gizmos; you can register your script online with the Writers Guild. There is also collaboration software, if you want to go down that route, although how that works, being a solo screenwriter, is beyond me. It also offers notes and index card programs, in case you haven’t been to Staples in years.

So, on to Movie Magic 6. I found this program both less expensive and a lot more fun to use. For example, while you have many templates, sans BBC, you can mess around with those templates to fit your own specifications. Want the dialogue double-spaced? It’s a format change away. Movie Magic also comes with the index cards and really good breakdown software (breakdown is the next step in screenwriting, after the script is approved, a line producer goes through each scene and decides what props, actors, animal trainers, and other things he or she needs). On top of that, the formatting is easier to accomplish. Again, there are less “bells and whistles” but a much better value and for the beginning screenwriter with a budget, and a much more sensible buy.

Finally we come to Celtx, my screenwriting software. Anyone can download this, it’s free, you don’t need to be rich. The downside is that the formatting is only for screenplays, stage plays, and a few other types, so TV writers may have to invest a bit more. It also has breakdown features, a very usable format, and a PDF converter. Plus, Celtx has a strong online community that is wildly loyal to the software and can answer any questions on their forum. I would recommend this to the screenwriter starting out (ala me) who doesn’t want to invest too much (read: any) because that person is still looking for work. I would graduate to Movie Magic 6, and then once a studio hires you, make them buy you Final Draft 8, although we may be on version 32 by the time you make it up there.

I hope this post wasn’t too long, but you do have choices. Be aware that there are more people making money from screenwriters than screenwriters making money. People who write need to realize that their investment should be their writing and not their tools. Programs come and go, and to be honest, who cares what the screenplay looks like. What matters is it is good. I would much rather read an amazing screenplay written in Word than another boring genre potboiler with five hundred special effects and robots who act human, and actors who act like robots. Which is just to say, be careful and don’t overpay.