As we place characters at different depths on screen, it’s important to make sure that people in the background aren’t walking “on top of” people in the foreground. Layers are assigned to characters with very simple Donacode. There are two ways of directing a character to a certain layer.

Layer Syntax:

@CHARACTER spot % X Y in zone # at layer X

OR

@CHARACTER moves to layer X

Layer 0 is closest to the background. The higher the layer number, the closer a character is to the foreground. So a character in layer 0 will be BEHIND a character in layer 1 (or 2, or 3, etc.).

Compare the 2 examples below…

Open the story “Advanced Directing Guide” and click button “2.2 Layers”

*To follow along in the script, open:

http://episodeinteractive.com/write/story/Advanced_Directing_Examples/1

Then jump to “label twotwo”

Example A: In this shot, Marie is at layer 1 and John is at layer 0, so Marie stands in front of John.

Example B: In this shot, Marie is at layer 0 and John is at layer 1, so Marie stands behind John.