Guide › Welcome
Key concepts
Gilgamesh speaks the language of the set. Here are the words that come back throughout the app; the glossary lists them all.
The project
A project is a film: its screenplay, its elements, its preparation, its versions. Projects are kept in the Script Library, in folders. A project has a single owner, the only one who writes in it; other people read it through sent versions.
The rail
The rail, on the left, leads to the project's pages. A base is always there: Overview, Share, Write, Organize, Notes, Characters, Locations. The other pages join the rail as soon as they have content, often through something you do elsewhere:
| Action | Page that joins the rail |
|---|---|
| A character's first arc | Crossed Arcs |
| First prop, first vehicle | Props, Vehicles |
| "Create a shot" in Write, first element placed on a floor plan | Floor Plan |
| "+ Casting" on a character's sheet | Cast |
| "+ Scouting" on a location's sheet | Scouting |
| Any shooting page | Prep |
A bubble points out each page that joins. Settings › Project › Rail pages shows a set (Writing, Development, Preparation) or lets you choose page by page; hiding a page only removes its entry: its data stays, and Search finds it.
The scene
The scene is the unit of writing: one location, one moment, one continuous action. Each scene has:
- a text, written in Fountain;
- a context: location, time of the action (day, night…), narrative time (flashback…), weather, action and stakes;
- a cast (the characters present), vehicles and props;
- a status: Idea, To write, Prose, Broken down, Locked.
The heading (INT. CAFÉ - NIGHT) is derived from the context; you do not type it in the text. The number
follows the order of the list.
The elements
Characters, locations, props (hand props and furniture) and vehicles each have their own sheet. A scene links to them; in return, the sheet shows the scenes where the element appears.
The shot, the setup, the floor plan
- A shot is one take of the camera: a camera, described by six principles (size, subject, point of view, angle, orientation, function), often anchored on a passage of the text.
- A setup is one way of shooting a scene: the set, the characters, the cameras and the lights, placed on a floor plan seen from above. A scene has at least one.
- On the floor plan, elements move by keys along a timeline: the action as played gives the scene's running time.
Versions
- A project version keeps a copy of the whole project; a milestone is a version you name.
- An element version keeps a copy of a single scene, note or setup.
- A sent version freezes a version of the screenplay for readers.
Restoring never destroys anything: the previous state is kept as a version. See Versions.
Conventions
Conventions are the project's vocabularies: shot sizes, camera moves, times of the action, genres, aspect ratios… They feed the choice lists and are edited in Settings › Conventions. See Conventions.