I’m not sure if I simply stumbled upon this video one day or If I was searching for it while developing my short film last spring, but as soon as I started watching, I was immediately hooked. There are so many videos about the various processes in writing for a script. But LocalScriptMan and his videos attempt to succinctly and concisely teach valuable writing skills with his entertaining video essays.

The video tackles how in a script, every line of dialogue, every single action or inaction that your characters do, and every reaction that they have should be valued and treated with the utmost care. Every line has the potential to further thrust the story and narrative into something that can be considered works of art. He starts off the video explaining how information is conveyed to the audience through a scene, and how if it isn’t conveyed within the confines of a scene, then it isn’t conveyed at all. That being said. People aren’t robots, and within every scene, people are functioning with a filter. Their wants and desires drive the manner in which they behave, and so we need to examine that in order to accurately and properly depict a scene between characters. He also talks about a concept known as the alleyoop line, and how to avoid it, or place characters in interesting situations where them utilizing the alleyoop line benefits the whole scene.

If you’re interested in scene analysis, or breaking down a scene, LocalScriptMan does a really insightful breakdown of a moment in Arcane. Additionally, the video is really interesting for people that could be interested in psychology- as it allows people to move forward analyzing behavior on the basis of what they could desire, and how having that “filter” might influence themselves, or others.

I think the example of how to properly utilize the filters, alongside the visual example is what works incredibly well in this video. And I think that LocalScriptMan’s explanation and style of teaching is what makes this video worthy of highlight.