There will be times in the writing of your screenplay when it becomes absolutely essential to include specific camera directions because you want to convey some effect or moment that cannot be communicated any other way.

Go ahead but be aware that it is nearly always more involving to convey a sense of the effect through your use of language than by baldly stating what the camera is doing. Read a well written script and you'll be struck by the way the writer manages to paint pictures with words that are clear, filmic and yet still leave room for the reader's imagination to interpret them.

"A kitchen extends off the living room. But much worse. The living room doesn't have a sink. This room does and it looks like it's vomited. The unwashed and the unwashable are stacked to the height of the taps. Every horizontal surface is covered in naso-visual horrors . . ."

Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I)

"Alabama's laying flat. She actually blacks out for a moment, but the salty taste of blood in her mouth wakes her up. She opens her eyes and sees Virgil standing there, smiling. She closes them, hoping it's a dream. . ."

(Quentin Tarantino, "True Romance"

What's interesting about these extracts is that they break the rule which says: never put anything on paper that the camera cant film. You can – but it's a matter of judgement. Too much "colour" and your script can start to read like a novel. Too little and the reader might miss the subtleties you intended.

Your aim is display the potential of your script as it would translate to the screen. Here are a few basic tips to help lift your writing off the page:

The dynamic pace of a scene can be given a textual emphasis by splitting up chunks of action/description to suggest a style of editing. For example: short sentences on separate lines convey a sense of urgency – with corresponding sharp cuts between shots.

Close Ups (the moment when you want one image to fill the screen) can sometimes be simply conveyed through the use of CAPITALS which "zoom" the eye of a reader like a camera lens. This effect should not be over-used though.

It is often effective to begin a new scene or cut-away with an action or event taking place. This draws the reader straight into the scene and helps maintain the momentum of your narrative. Directors will often add this in themselves if it's not in the script.

You can exploit visual or sound links both within scenes and between them. Although this can be a clichéd device at times ( i.e. a cut from a coal fire at the end of one scene to a glowing cigarette at the start of the next) cleverly used it strengthens the sense of a narrative line.