Elements of a Screenplay - Lowerated
- Lower Rated
- Jun 6
- 6 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Introduction
Most people think a script is just about the story. And that’s fair if you’re only writing to tell a story, that’s true. But when you’re writing a script to shoot a film, that script becomes something else: it becomes a production document. And every scene you write has real-world consequences locations to secure, props to gather, people to hire.
This is where element tagging comes in.
What Is Element Tagging?
Element tagging is the process of scanning a script to identify and highlight everything that has a production implication. Think about all the things that are silently hiding inside a single line of action:
"She walks through the alley, wearing her red dress, holding a photo of her father, as the storm rages in the background."
That one line includes:
A location (alley)
A costume (red dress)
A prop (photo)
A weather effect (storm might need sound or VFX)
If you’re producing this scene, every one of those elements needs to be logged, sourced, and managed. That’s where tagging comes in someone (usually an assistant producer or script supervisor) goes through the script and marks all these production elements.
They do it so the production team can plan ahead.
Who Usually Tags Elements?
In traditional film workflows, this job is done by:
Assistant Producers
Line Producers
Script Supervisors
Production Managers
Or sometimes even the writer (if you're indie and you're wearing all the hats)
They read through the entire script, scene by scene, and manually pull out every relevant detail.
That’s hours of work. And it gets repeated every time the script changes.
Why Tagging Matters
Element tagging helps answer questions like:
How many extras do we need for this scene?
What vehicles are showing up in Act 2?
Are there any stunts or special effects that require insurance?
Do we need to budget for makeup, livestock, or greenery?
What’s the total prop count across the film?
Without tagging, you're guessing. With tagging, you're planning.
How Lowerated Handles Element Tagging
Instead of you or your producer having to tag things manually, LOWERATED Scriptwriter does this automatically using AI.
We trained it to read your script and pull out 21 types of production elements. Once your script is uploaded or generated, the tagging happens in the background. You can see all tags in context, review them, and edit or add your own.
Each tag is clickable, filterable, and connected to the part of the script where it appears.
You can also export this data later when you're moving into production.
The 21 Elements Lowerated Tags
Here’s the full list of what Lowerated currently tags for you:
1. Cast Members
This tag identifies any characters mentioned by name in your script. These are typically the people delivering dialogue or appearing in specific scenes. Whether it’s a major character or a named one-liner, Lowerated catches it. It helps in managing roles, casting, and also measuring dialogue volume across characters. Useful for script analytics and early casting breakdowns.
2. Optical Effects
Any mention of visual effects that are added in post-production. This includes green screen setups, CGI creatures or landscapes, motion capture, holograms, digital weather effects, and other synthetic elements. Tagging these early helps your VFX team estimate workload and budget requirements right from the script.
3. Scene Notes
Scene notes are typically written in parentheses and include instructions or ideas from the writer or director like emotional cues, pacing, blocking, or tone. These are not for the audience; they are there to guide the production team. Lowerated detects these notes and flags them so they’re not lost during revisions or formatting.
4. Miscellaneous
This is a flexible tag that catches anything that doesn’t neatly fall into another category. That could be product placements, visual disclaimers, or on-screen legal notices. Useful for catching things that may require legal review, licensing, or sponsor attention.
5. Sound
Identifies specific sound effects, ambient audio, or environmental noises mentioned in the script. This includes footsteps, gunshots, background music, traffic noise, or even subtle sounds like the hum of a refrigerator. These notes are critical for your sound design and mixing team, and also during the shoot for on-set sound planning.
6. Additional Labor
Any part of the script that implies a need for specialized crew or skills. For example, underwater scenes will require diving professionals, while aerial shots might call for drone operators or pilots. Tagging these helps plan the right hires and scheduling early on.
7. Vehicles
Covers any car, bike, truck, plane, boat, or vehicle mentioned in the script whether it’s central to the scene or just background detail. Useful for transportation planning, logistics, and insurance-related documentation. Also helps the assistant director and production coordinator figure out rentals, parking, and timing.
8. Props
Flags any object that a character physically interacts with. This includes everything from weapons and tools to phones, books, suitcases, or even a cup of coffee. Props need to be tracked by the art department and sometimes duplicated for continuity or stunts.
9. Music
Spots any songs, background tracks, or musical cues that appear in your script. This includes source music (heard by the characters), score notes, or even lyrics. These are important for post-production, licensing, and working with a composer or music supervisor.
10. Special Effects (SFX)
Covers all on-set physical effects that happen live during filming. Think explosions, squibs, simulated fire, breakaway glass, rain machines, wind rigs, or fog. These are coordinated by the SFX department and usually require permits, safety reviews, and rehearsals.
11. Security
Tags references to guards, bouncers, locked gates, or any mention of security measures. Useful not just from a narrative perspective but also for planning background roles, uniforms, props (like radios or batons), and even staging high-risk or restricted scenes.
12. Greenery
Spots mentions of trees, plants, grass, flowers, or other types of vegetation. Helps the art and set design teams prep environments, especially if greenery needs to be brought in or managed on set (for continuity, seasonal accuracy, or aesthetics).
13. Set Dressing
Tags background visual elements that complete a scene visually but aren’t directly interacted with. This includes furniture, framed pictures, wallpaper, decorative items, clutter on desks, or anything that creates the "lived-in" look of a space. Key for production designers and set decorators.
14. Mechanical FX
This tag picks up any effect that happens mechanically during a scene without the need for post. For example, a door that slams shut automatically, rigged furniture that collapses, moving walls, retractable props. These often require engineering support and testing on set.
15. Stunts
Flags any moment in the script that involves risk fights, falls, jumps, high-speed driving, fire work, or choreographed action scenes. These lines need stunt performers or coordinators and are subject to safety planning, rehearsals, and sometimes insurance-specific clauses.
16. Special Equipment
Covers the use or implied use of non-standard film gear like GoPros, drones, crane cameras, helmet cams, underwater rigs, or 360° capture. These can affect crew composition, shot setup time, and post-production workflows.
17. Costumes
Tags all specific clothing references uniforms, period outfits, fantasy costumes, or outfits that reveal something important about the character (e.g., bloodstains, worn shoes, disguises). Helpful for costume designers to keep track of character wardrobe across scenes and time jumps.
18. Livestock
Flags any animals written into the scene whether foreground or background. This includes domestic pets, farm animals, birds, or exotic creatures. Working with animals affects scheduling, permits, and requires animal handlers or safety monitors.
19. Makeup
Identifies script lines that call for scars, bruises, prosthetics, aging effects, fantasy looks, or other makeup-related notes. These are passed to the makeup and special effects teams. Especially important for scenes that involve continuity-heavy transformations or injuries.
20. Extras
Background characters that populate your world but don’t have significant dialogue. This includes party guests, crowd members, pedestrians, office workers, soldiers, protestors any non-featured roles that still need to be cast, placed, and costumed.
21. Locations
Mentions of any real or fictional place names where a scene takes place rooftops, hotels, train stations, alleyways, apartments. This tag helps with location scouting, budgeting, and deciding what can be built on set versus shot on location.
Tagging Quality
Our system doesn’t just match words. It checks the context. This helps avoid tagging the wrong thing just because a keyword was present. You can still review and manually fix anything.
Final Thoughts
Tagging isn’t just a technical feature it’s part of the core workflow of real filmmaking. If you're serious about turning your script into something shootable, you need a system that helps you think like a producer, not just a writer.
With Lowerated, you get that tagging system built in, right from the start.
Try it now: https://platform.lowerated.com
Yorumlar