Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting Beginner's Guide
Celtx won't write your script for you, but it will ensure it has the format and features demanded by the film industry. Learn to use Celtx along with insider secrets of screenwriting and script-marketing into the bargain.
1st Edition
Published on 3. February 2025
376 pages
978-1-84951-383-8 (ISBN)
Description
Key FeaturesBook DescriptionThis is a beginner's guide -a hand-holding fun ride with step-by-step instructions and illustrative screenshots. If you want to write a professional script or screenplay using the open source tool Celtx, this book is for you. You need not have any previous knowledge of Celtx or any other writing software.What you will learn - Obtain and install Celtx and get started with it Get acquainted with all the writing features of Celtx Work with tools to organize your writing prowess Learn how to write a brilliant feature movie Write gripping documentaries and other audio-visual projects Learn how to present excellent stage plays, podcasts, comic books, and other great scripts Market your scripts so that they reach the right people and you get due credit
Who this book is for
Who this book is for
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Book
03/2011
Packt Publishing
€56.70
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Content
- Intro
- Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting Beginner's Guide
- Table of Contents
- Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting Beginner's guide
- Credits
- About the Author
- About the Reviewers
- www.PacktPub.com
- Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more
- Why Subscribe?
- Free Access for Packt account holders
- Preface
- What this book covers
- What you need for this book
- Who this book is for
- As this book goes to press
- Conventions
- Time for action - heading
- What just happened?
- Pop quiz-heading
- Have a go hero-heading
- Reader feedback
- Customer support
- Errata
- Piracy
- Questions
- 1. Obtaining and Installing Celtx
- System requirements
- PC
- Mac
- Linux
- eeePC
- Choosing and downloading the right version of Celtx
- Time for action - finding the download choices
- Celtx speaks your language
- The right operating system
- Time for action - downloading Celtx
- Installing Celtx
- Time for action - installing Celtx on a PC
- What just happened?
- Time for action - installing Celtx on Mac OS X
- What just happened?
- Time for action - Linux installation
- What just happened?
- Time for action - installing on a Netbook
- What just happened?
- New iPad and iPhone Apps
- Testing Celtx
- Time for action - starting it up
- What just happened?
- Time for action - establishing an Internet connection
- What just happened?
- Adding dictionaries to the spellchecker
- Time for action - getting and adding dictionaries
- What just happened?
- Celtx's six biggies-its types of projects
- Film
- Audio-Visual
- Theatre
- Audio Play
- Comic Book
- Storyboard
- Summary
- 2. All those Wonderful Writing Features
- Writing with character and mastering the Master Catalog
- Time for action - saving a project
- What just happened?
- Have a go hero
- Tracking people, animals, props, and so on
- Time for action - adding manual catalogs
- What just happened?
- Need an assistant?
- Time for action - intuitive formatting
- What just happened?
- Easy Shortcuts
- Page breaks and pagination
- Time for action - numbering scenes
- What just happened?
- Dual dialogue
- Scene management
- Deleting scenes
- Moving scenes
- Time for action - using the Scratchpad
- What just happened?
- Embedded notes
- Time for action - adding embedded notes to a script
- What just happened?
- Title Page generation
- Spellchecking
- Inline Spellchecking
- Write once, use many
- Time for action - getting the script out of your computer
- What just happened?
- Using Index Cards
- Revision Mode
- Time for action - adding new project types with the Template Engine
- Summary
- 3. Visualizing Productions Ahead of Time
- Sketching
- Time for action - starting a new sketch
- What just happened?
- Sketch Tool toolbar
- Icons for a professional look
- Saving a finished Sketch
- Time for action - saving and organizing Sketches
- What just happened?
- Storyboarding
- Time for action - storyboarding
- What just happened?
- Storyboard controls
- Generating scenes automatically
- Adding Sketches to a Storyboard
- Time for action - moving a Sketch to a Storyboard
- What just happened?
- Adding image files to a Storyboard
- Time for action - adding media files
- What just happened?
- Summary
- 4. Tools for Getting Organized
- Project Library
- Time for action - adding Items
- What just happened?
- Time for action - adding a folder
- What just happened?
- Time for action - deleting items
- What just happened?
- Scheduling, call sheets, and shooting reports
- Time for action - scheduling
- What just happened?
- Time for action - customizing schedule options
- What just happened?
- Time for action - call sheets, shooting schedules, and other reports
- What just happened?
- Inter-project document management
- Toolbox
- Summary
- 5. Tooling Up for Scriptwriting
- The File menu
- Time for action - starting a new project
- What just happened?
- Time for action - opening an existing project
- Time for action - opening and saving recent projects
- Time for action - saving early and often
- Time for action - saving a project under another name
- Time for action - creating new project types
- Time for action - closing a project
- Time for action - closing tabs and windows
- Time for action - opening and saving a project stored on Celtx studio
- Time for action - add Item, add Folder, delete Item
- Time for action - setting up a page
- Time for action - previewing and printing a local print job
- Time for action - showing the project file
- Time for action - exiting
- The Edit menu
- Time for action - undoing a change
- Time for action - redoing (restoring) a change
- Time for action - cutting
- Time for action - copying
- Time for action - pasting
- Time for action - selecting it all
- Time for action - finding that which was lost
- The View menu
- The Script menu
- Time for action - exporting scripts
- Time for action - adapting to another type of script
- Time for action - revising a completed script (and you will)
- Time for action - updating the Master Catalog
- Time for action - using formatting options
- Time for action - hiding the Sidebar
- The Tools menu
- Toolbox
- Options
- With a little help from our friends
- The top buttons
- The Project Library window
- The Scenes window
- The editor toolbar
- The bottom buttons
- Have a go hero-create a test script and turn it into a PDF
- Customizing the Celtx screen
- Additional buttons
- Pop quiz
- Summary
- 6. Advanced Celtx
- Multiple projects in a single project container
- Time for action - working with multiple project containers
- Importing Scripts in detail
- Time for action - importing the Celtx way
- Time for action - importing my way
- Time for action - accurately importing scripts
- Time for action - exporting Scripts in detail
- Pop quiz-advanced Celtx
- Summary
- 7. Writing Movies with Celtx
- Preparing to write a Screenplay
- Creating a project container
- Time for action - setting up the project
- Loglines
- Synopses
- Treatments
- Outlines
- Time for action - creating a title page
- Beginning a script-the first two words
- Scenes
- Time for action - formatting scene heading
- Action
- Character
- Dialog
- Parenthetical
- Shot
- Transition
- Text
- Printing it out
- Have a go hero-write a screenplay!
- Summary
- 8. Documentaries and Other Audio-Visual Projects
- What is an audio-visual production?
- Starting an AV project in Celtx
- Time for action - beginning our new AV project
- Time for action - setting up the container
- Title page
- Time for action - adding a title page
- Celtx power
- Writing an AV project in Celtx
- Scene heading
- Shots
- Character
- Dialog
- Parenthetical
- Pop quiz-What Are Audio/Visual projects?
- Summary
- 9. Raising the Curtain on Plays
- Act 1, Scene 1-writing a play
- What are plays?
- Parts of a stage play script
- Time for action - starting a theatre project
- Time for action - creating the title page
- Outlining a play
- The Outline in Celtx
- Play elements
- Act
- Scene heading
- Stage direction
- Character
- Dialog
- Parenthetical
- Transition
- Printing our play
- Tracking the cast
- Pop quiz
- Summary
- 10. Audio Plays, Podcasts, and Other Great Sounds
- Listen to this
- Why sound productions?
- Radio plays
- Time for action - setting up our audio play project
- Audio play elements
- Time for action - numbering elements and creating a PDF
- BBC formatting
- Time for action - using BBC formatting
- Have a go hero
- Pop quiz
- Summary
- 11. WAP! POW! BANG! Writing Comic Books with a Punch
- Graphic storytelling
- What are comics?
- Time for action - opening the sample comic book script
- Time for action - creating a Celtx comic book container
- Time for action - building the title page
- Comic book elements
- Page
- Panel
- Caption
- Character
- Balloon type
- Balloon
- Navigating, deleting, and reordering pages
- Pop quiz
- Summary
- 12. Marketing Your Scripts
- Appearances are everything!
- What is a screenplay?
- What Celtx does for us?
- Where Celtx needs help
- Sending out a good-looking script!
- Loglines and queries
- A spiffy logline
- An interesting and informative query
- Ways to get noticed
- Film festivals
- Places to get leads
- Places to get leads for money
- Getting support from your fellow writers
- Time for action - marketing using Celtx files
- Be persistently persistent
- Summary
- Conclusion
- A. List of Recommended Books on Screenwriting and Productions and Online Resources
- Screenwriting
- Production
- Online resources
- B. Celtx's New Web Look and Smartphone Apps
- Celtx on Smartphones!
- C. Future Development of Celtx
- Celtx 3.0
- Thank you!
- D. Pop quiz-Answers
- Chapter 5: Tooling Up for Scriptwriting
- Chapter 6: Advanced Celtx
- Chapter 8: Documentaries and Other Audio-Visual Projects
- Chapter 9: Raising the Curtain on Plays
- Chapter 10: Audio Plays, Podcasts, and Other Great Sounds
- Chapter 11: WAP! POW! BANG! Writing Comic Books with a Punch
- Index
