Punjab PSEB Matric NSQF Media and Entertainment (Storyboard Artist): Script Reading

Standard screenplay format

A script page carries five elements you must recognise instantly:

• Scene heading / slugline - INT. or EXT., location, then DAY, NIGHT, DUSK or CONTINUOUS.
• Action / description - what we see, written in present tense.
• Character cue - the name in capitals above the line.
• (Parenthetical) - a delivery note, e.g. (whispering).
• Dialogue and transitions (CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO:).

Reading for breakdown

Read once for the story, then again with a pencil. Mark every beat where power, information or emotion shifts. Note props, costumes, time of day and locations, because each creates a continuity obligation. Rule of thumb: one formatted page is about one minute of screen time, so a three-page scene needs roughly 8 to 15 panels.

Worked example

EXT. VILLAGE MAIDAN - DUSK. RANJIT (12) dribbles a worn football past two boys. He shoots; the ball sails over a wall. Silence. Panels: (1) wide, dusk, three boys on the maidan; (2) medium, Ranjit dribbling; (3) low angle on the shot; (4) insert of the ball clearing the wall; (5) close-up of Ranjit's face; (6) wide, the empty maidan and the wall. Reasoning: each panel records a new piece of information, and the DUSK slugline fixes the light for every panel in the sequence.

Traps that cost marks

• Ignoring DUSK or CONTINUOUS and lighting panels inconsistently.
• Boarding dialogue as talking heads instead of as action.
• Missing props named in the action line, then losing them mid-scene.
• Reading only your own scene and not the scenes on either side of it.