As we learned in Chapter 0, the ampersand (&) allows directing commands to occur simultaneously with other actions and animations. Let’s apply this to Example C from Section 1.1.

Open the story “Advanced Directing Guide” and click button “1.3 &Zoom Example” to see the 2 examples below staged in the app. 

*To follow along in the script, open:

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

Then jump to “label onethree”

Example A: In this shot, we zoom on Marie while she’s speaking.

Donacode : &zoom on MARIE to 200% in 3

Here, Marie does not “wait” to continue talking until the zoom is complete. This is thanks to the handy ampersand!

Example B: In this shot, we zoom on Marie before or after she starts speaking. 

Donacode : @zoom on MARIE to 200% in 0

Here, Marie will either finish her line of dialogue before the zoom starts or will deliver her line of dialogue immediately after the zoom ends, depending on the dialogue’s placement in the script.

            *IMPORTANT* 

&zooms will override any other zoom commands within their time-frame. This means that if you have an active zoom that lasts 10 seconds, but the user taps through the content in that scene in under 10 seconds, the zoom level specified in the active zoom will override the zoom level of the subsequent shot. The best way to avoid an &zoom overriding a subsequent zoom is by making sure that you have 2 lines of dialogue for every 1 second of zooming. This is one of the more intuitive choices that you’ll make while directing, since you’ll occasionally want to do a very slow zoom and will have to consider how long it might take a reader to tap through X number of lines of dialogue, and therefore how much time you can give to the zoom.