(For Sound Design)

What is a Script Breakdown?

We all know that sound accounts for 50% of what we take in from a film. When something is even a little bit off with the sound, we notice it right away. This is why it’s so important to make sure that the audio not only supports the visuals, but actually enhances the overall atmosphere of the scene to create a more immersive viewing experience.

Typically when we talk about a script breakdown in the context of film, it is in a very general sense. If you are a filmmaker, you likely already know that there are script breakdowns for each individual department. In the case of this article, we’re referring to a script breakdown as it relates to the intricacies of sound design.

From a sound design perspective, a script breakdown is the process of “breaking down” the important components of your film script. This includes documenting early-stage sound design ideas, and the location sound’s important notes, such as any issues that could be present in certain environments, like noisy spaces or special onsite sound effects that must be captured during production.

This allows the director and sound crew to address and prepare for each scene adequately, giving them the chance to make changes early on so they can best capture the sound material during filming, and thus, helping them smooth out the production and the post-production processes too.

Screenshot image of a digital script breakdown of the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" — *Script Breakdown of the Film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”*

How to Break Down a Script for Sound

There are many different ways to conduct a script breakdown. What we’re sharing here is our tried and tested method; in other words, what works best for us, but you might have a slightly different way already to do this, which you can adapt alongside the tips we are about to give you. Do what is best for you, and feel free to modify these ideas to best suit yourself!

When breaking down our script, there are three areas we like to focus on. These are: Technical, Artistic and what we will call, “Further Categorisation.” This is used to help us simplify the process for the film crew and visualise how a scene will play out first.

Let’s begin.

Laptop and notepad for conducting a script breakdown for sound design

Technical Notes for your Script Breakdown

No matter where the film is based, working in different locations and for different scenes requires a lot of planning and forethought. So, when identifying the location, the way that visuals and sound interconnect and support each other must make sense.

Let’s look at an example. If we are filming a continuous shot down a busy street with a group of characters who are all engaged in dialogue, we might ask the following questions:

How can the mic navigate and capture each person clearly?
Is there traffic on this street at all times of the day?
How does this busy environment play into the scene?

Noisy street with lots of busy traffic — *Image Credit: Andra C Taylor Jr, Sourced from Unsplash*

Each part of the script should be annotated in a manner that either asks the questions we do not know the answer to or, that offers potential solutions to already identified problems.

Notes can be added to the scene header if they relate to it in general. Think again about potential unwanted noises in location, such as the noises you might hear from cars passing by. If you have a scene with a lot of dialogue, you might want to do as much as possible to avoid traffic noise. So, your note can mention this along with giving potential solutions to this issue, e.g. can we stop the traffic for a couple of hours in this street?

As you can see, some questions may lead to even more questions which must also be considered.

Now let’s talk about RECCES.

What is a RECCE?

RECCE [which is borrowed from the military term "reconnaissance"] is a film production concept which refers to the visits the production crew does to potential locations to determine their suitability. In some parts of the world, this is also known as scouting. Usually the Director of Photography attends these visits, but it is super important for the Director of Sound to attend too. In these RECCEs, potential issues of a location can be identified. Paying these visits while in the process of creating a script breakdown is crucial to make sure these identified issues can be addressed and fixed or, if unable to fix them, so that locations can be changed before the first day of filming comes. One of the worst experiences you can have as a filmmaker is falling in love with a location because of how it looks, only to find out too late that you won’t be able to record any usable audio footage from it.

Artistic Notes for your Script Breakdown

Adding artistic notes to your breakdown includes, among many things, the visualisation of important objects in a scene that have the potential to add new elements to the narrative. Sometimes, these are things that either the director or the scriptwriter might have thought of already, but at other times, they might have not. Imagine you are reading a script, and several mentions of ‘time’ are made throughout, “It was just after midnight” or “the clock struck nine”, you might wonder, what clock will be used for the scene? Perhaps you wish to discuss this both with the director and the art department. You might ask yourself, how important is the passing of time for the narrative, and could this be used to create tension? Or the opposite, boredom?

Black and white image of giant clock — *Image Credit: Murray Campbell, Sourced from Unsplash*

This is just an example, but there can be countless details like these that you might want to create artistic notes on. Furthermore, any ideas coming for your breakdown can result in new picture inserts or even new scenes added to the shooting script.

We know what objects sound like in different situations, such as a pen falling onto a hard surface or glass breaking. Overall, artistic notes involve planning ahead, so you can use these visuals and sounds to bring more depth and tone to a scene.

It should be noted that at this point, it is also a good idea to bring the person in charge of the sound post-production, as there may be things that the sound designer requires to be recorded during filming that neither the director nor the sound mixer have considered yet.

Further Categorisation

Now, we’ve included a wildcard in our breakdown method, which gives us the option to further divide our notes by type of sound, or any other organisational scheme we prefer. This could even be prop sounds, like a radio in the background of a scene with dialogue. Generally, further categorisation refers to other sounds that can be captured, such as machinery that may be heard in the background of a room, or anything else that does not accurately fit the bill of purely artistic or technical note. One last thing to add here is that, the script breakdown should not be confused with the SFXs spot sheet, which is something that is normally done in post-production but that can also be done alongside filming.

The SFX spot sheet tells us exactly what sound effects need to be created and synced to the image. If done during post-production, then they will contain time codes to match the action on the screen as per the picture lock. But sometimes, and more often in bigger size productions, this sheet can be done even before filming begins, like when the sound work is massive, or when sound effects or soundscapes need to be created in order to influence the editing of the picture, or even the film production itself.

Where can I learn more?

If you are interested in learning more about Pre-Production Sound for Film, and the process of breaking down a script, then check out our “An Introduction to Pre-Production Sound for Film” course on Black Goblin’s Skillshare channel where we go in depth on the subject and where you get the chance to practice this skill with an original script by the amazing scriptwriter Enni Red. You can even gain 30-day access through our referral link, here.

How to Do a Script Breakdown?