Directing Help and Assistance From a Purple Ghost For All Your Episode Needs

Okay, thank you so much!

Hi! I was wondering if there was any way that when using an overlay you could have a character stand in front of the overlay? I’m trying to direct two characters, one behind the bar and one in front of it, using an overlay and I just can’t seem to figure it out. Is there any other way to do this?

@evelyn.jaye,

Yes. All you’ll need to do is put the overlay in a layer and then put one character in a layer above and the other below.

Example:
INT. BAR BACKGROUND - NIGHT with BAR TABLE to 1.000 100 100 in zone 1 at layer 0
&CHARACTER1 spot 1.280 150 125 in zone 1 at layer -1 #This character will be behind the bar.
@CHARACTER2 spot 1.280 50 75 in zone 1 at layer 1 #This character will be in front of the bar.

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This helped! Thank you so much!

How do you put one character behind another? I can’t figure it out.

Layers, babygirl.

Example:

@CHAR1 stands screen center in zone 1
@CHAR2 stands screen right in zone 1
@CHAR1 moves to layer 2
@CHAR2 moves to layer 1

So now if CHAR1 decides to walk past CHAR2, CHAR1 will be in front of CHAR2

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THANK YOU!:heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:

image

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Thank you!

I have a question… so in Adrenaline… I think episode one, there are scenes that go fast and I can’t figure out how to do that…

@cateyedgoddess,

What do you mean by scenes that go fast? Do you mean the movements/animations are quicker or like when an author switches quickly between multiple different scenes?

To switch between scenes quickly you can set the scene and characters, then pause the scene before changing it again.
Example:
INT. BG1 - DAY
&CHARACTER stands screen center
@pause for 0.5
INT. BG2 - DAY
&CHARACTER stands screen right
@pause for 0.5
INT. BG3 - DAY
&CHARACTER stands screen left
@pause for 0.5

To make the character’s actions quicker, do this from Alex Light:
hey! the only way to make an action appear faster is to end it faster, if that makes sense. for example, if you want to make them punch faster, you’d have to do use this coding:

&CHAR is punch_jab

@pause for 0.5

&CHAR is punch_jab

@pause for 0.5

and so on! you can replace the action with whatever or change the time to make it work. that’s what i did in Maid for You. hope that helps!:relaxed:

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Hi! My characters won’t show up on the screen. What have I done wrong?

@AUTHOR exits left

EXT. DESERT - DAY

@JAXON DEMON enters from left to screen left AND @LILITH DEMON enters from right to screen right
@JAXON DEMON faces right AND @LILITH DEMON faces left
@JAXON DEMON (idle_punch) AND @LILITH DEMON (idle_punch)

    NARRATOR
You see the girl to the right? That's me.
I am Lilith. I don't really have a last name, I don't need one for people to know who I am.

@amanda.episode152,

Don’t use an @ when you are using another @. You only need and to connect to commands.
Also when you want a character to do an action is a line, use is to make them perform the action.

@JAXON DEMON is idle_punch AND LILITH DEMON is idle_punch

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OK, thanks! But how do I zoom to a character’s face (and reset the zoom/go back to total picture)?

@amanda.episode152,

Use your zoom helper tool in the Directing helper to zoom and focus on the spot you want. Once you have it where you want it, just copy and paste the numbers it gives you into your script.

To zoom out either use @zoom reset or @zoom on 0 0 in #.

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Ok, thank you for all help!

Would you know how to get the camera to follow a character from one zone to another zone in a certain spot?

Let’s say the CHAR is zone 1

Command:

@follow CHAR to screen center in zone 2

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@Nightengale,

To follow from a spot to another spot, use a timed pan.

Example:
@CHARACTER spot 1.280 100 100 in zone 1
&CHARACTER walks to spot 1.200 75 100 in zone 3 in 4
@pan to zone 3 in 3 #You have to play around with the timing of the pan to get it at the rate you want.

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I am working on an episode and from what I’ve seen in the preview, an action isn’t playing out as smoothly as I’d like, due to the characters not being in the right places. But the previewer won’t stay on that scene long enough for me to use Spot Helper to fix it. Help?