Hey, just curious about something...

My main character has shell shock from the first world war, and often times he falls intp a sort of daze where he's re-living the war and the fighting and so-forth. How would I break to one of his flashbacks, and then break back?

Hey there, I have a simple answer for you.

Do something like this (Remember to correctly set these margins, this forum messes them up).

EXAMPLE

INT. MARK'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT

Mark is lying on his bed starring at the ceiling. He is in deep thought.

FLASHBACK TO:

EXT. BATTLEFIELD - 14 YEARS EARLIER - EVENING

Description goes here.

Add dialogue if needed. You can also do a montage here or a series of shots, if you need help with any of that I'm more than happy to help. When doing battle scenes, keep it simple, directors like playing with them. For examples just look at a piece from Lord of the Rings during one of their battles, they are pretty simple.

BACK TO PRESENT

Mark begins to cry, he turns over and falls asleep.

Elle Viane Sonnet
www.SonnetFilms.com

There are a number of ways of doing it.

One is simply to put it in the slug lines.

EXT. STREET - DAY
Blah blah blah
Jason stares into the shop window, blank.

EXT. TRENCH - FLASHBACK - MORNING
Mud-soaked. Soldiers asleep. Or dead.
Jason wakes up, still gripping his rifle.
He gets to his knees.

A mortar shell screams.

Jason ducks.
SMASH CUT TO:
PRESENT
Brakes squealing, a car just misses a old man crossing the road.

Jason smacks his hands on the window.

As long as you make the in clear with FLASHBACK and the out clear with either PRESENT or a whole new slug line that returns you to the previous location, it's easy to understand.

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SF08: Gethsemane - Thriller
SF08: Shooting - Comedy

Good luck to you all.