Assignment
A Letter to the Past
– Select a person that meant something to you in your past, But whom you no longer speak to now.
– Then write a letter which expresses all the things you wish could say to the person but can’t.
– Communicate the memories of important moments you had together has made you a different person now than you were before.
ELEMENTS OF DIALOGUE
Good and Bad Dialogue
Good dialogue
– sounds real ( but not so real as it will get boring)
– is short (relatively)
Bad dialogue
– not concise
long winded
– too real
– cheesy (cliché lines, in a romance… I will not be able to get on life without you…)
DIALOGUE REVEALS CHARACTER
– A character will talk about himself and other people will talk about him.
Communication with others helps you find out a little more of other people. (Their personalities)
Dialogue reveals a person’s personality.
DIALOGUE ESTABLISHES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHARACTERS
Casual in tone – it means that the person trusts you and they are comfortable with you.
Situation with lecturers – tend to be more formal.
– Once you have established your main character’s POV, you can use dialogue with other characters to show that they have other attitudes, creating opposite/alternative POVs.
– This helps to create and sustain the element of CONFLICT between characters.
GOOD EFFECTIVE DIALOGUE WILL MOVE THE STORY FORWARD
DIALOGUE COMMUNICATES FACES AND INFORMATION TO THE AUDIENCE
(Audience must find out something new.)
– It conveys essential exposition.
– Characters will talk about what happened, establishing the storyline. (Not in the direct way.)
DIALOGUE COMMENTS ON THE ACTION
DIALOGUE TIES THE SCRIPT TOGETHER
– It is one of the devices that YOU as a writer can use to expand and enlarge your characters.
‘’ if you can see it or hear it, don’t write it.’’
Neville Smith
DIALOGUE SHOULD BE USED SPARINGLY
NEVER TELL THE AUDIENCE WHAT THEY CAN SEE FOR THEMSELVES!
<<DIALOGUE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTION>>
In Hollywood when they look at a page it’s got too much black, too much ink on the paper, they say:
‘SHIT! IT’S FREZE THE CAMERA TIME!!!’
(It means there’s too much dialogue)
COMMON MISTAKE ON WRITING DIALOGUE
– Students sometimes never achieve a level of competence as they tend to reproduce conventional spoken language, long statements if ‘ REAL TALKING’, and defend their decision by tell us that:
‘’It’s how the character speaks.’
Dialogue is affected by
– age (eg, speed of speech, how busy a person is)
– gender ( eg, females tend to talk more)
– Social Status / educational qualifications
– race
GOOD DIALOGUE is not somebody’s ability to write authentic speech as heard in real life.
– If that was all there is to it, you can just push a button on the tape recorder and then go collect your Oscar.
GOOD DIALOGUE is the illusion of reality.
– You’ve got to know how to edit what people say without losing any of the spirit.
COMMON MISTAKE
– Students tend to create radio shows with images.
<< FILM IS A VISUAL MEDIUM>>
A SCREENPLAY IS A STORY TOLD IN PICTURES.
EXERCISE:
WRITING DIALOGUE
THE SCENARIO:
– A middle-aged man returns home from work.
– He had stopped for a few drinks with his friends and forgot to phone his wife to tell her he will be late.
– The dinner is ruined.
Exercise:
– Write a short scene composed of dialogue between husband and wife.
ROLE – PLAY:
– 2 Students to play the roles from their stories.
THE REAL EXERCISE:
– Repeat ‘ THE EXPERIMENT’ but:
– Husband and Wife are YOUR own parents
– Get two people to read the dialogue.
– Record the reading
– Post it to your blog (Using Youtube, Multiply, etc…)
Two things:
Audio and subtitles
Week 7
Review Exercise: True or False Stories
>> Purpose of the exercise
– A True story is not necessarily a good story.
– Good stories have to be worked and re-worked.
– True life stories do not offer neat and relevant endings.
– Life is unpredictable
Stories that are unpredictable are what we enjoy to watch.
Stories that are predictable are boring because we can anticipate it.
In a story, we can and must control the events and sequences so that it gives the appearance of being like life.
Characterization: Defining the character
Every story starts with a character, it can be a human or an animal.
Animals Characters: Finding nemo, Chicken Little, Garfield, etc
The character is… the heart, the soul, and nervous system.
It is through your characters that the viewers experience emotions.
< WITHOUT A CHARACTER, THERE IS NO ACTION.>
Your engaged in the movie because of the character.
<WITHOUT ACTION, YOU HAVE NO CONFLICT.>
<WITHOUT CONFLICT, YOU HAVE NO STORY.>
<WITHOUT A STORY YOU WILL NOT HAVE A SCREEN PLAY.>
Developing Characters
WHEN DEVELOPING A CHARACTER, ASK YOURSELF:
– Who is your character?
– What does he want?
– What is his quest?
– What drives him to the resolution of the story?
Meaning, what motivates him? What are we doing about it?
1. ESTABLIS YOUR MAIN CHARACTER
Characters should have a 3 Dimensional Structure. (3 Important parts to building your character)
a) Physiology – His looks.
b) Sociology – More of her/his background. Determine his/her background.
c) Psychology – how he/she thinks, what he/she believes in. ( Important)
a) Physiology
– Sex (Gender)
– Age
– Height, weight
– Colour of hair, eyes, skin
– Posture
– Appearance
– Defects, abnormalities, deformities, birth marks, diseases.
– Hereditary
b) Sociology
– Class (Lower, middle, upper)
– Occupation: type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, attitude towards organization, suitability for work.
– Education: amount, kind of schools, marks, favorite subjects, poorest subjects, aptitudes
– Home life: parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated / divorced, parents’ habits, parents’ mental development, parents’ vices, neglect, character’s marital status.
– Religion
-Race, Nationality
– Place in the community; leader among friends, clubs, sports
– Political Affiliations
– Amusements: hobbies, books, newspaper, magazines he/she reads
c) Psychology
– Sex life, Moral Standards
– Personal Premise, Ambition
– Frustrations, Chief Disappointments
– Temperament: Choleric, easy-going, pessimistic, optimistic
– Attitude towards life: resigned, militant, defeatist
– Complexes: obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias
– Personality: extrovert, introvert
– Abilities: language, talents
– Qualities: Imagination, judgment, taste, poise
– I.Q
– E.Q
– What is the deep and personal secret this character has which he is desperate to protect/hide?
1. SEPARATE THE COMPONENTS OF HIS LIFE INTO 2 BASIC CATEGORIES:
a) Interior
b) Exterior
>> Interior
The interior life takes place from birth until the moment your story begins.
It is a process that forms character. (When you start formulating your character from birth, you see your character build in body and form)
– How old is he when the story begins?
– Where does he live?
– Does he have siblings?
– What kind of childhood did he have?
– What was his relationship to his parents?
– What kind of child was he?
– Is he married, single, widowed, separated or divorced?
>> Exterior
The exterior life takes place the moment your story begins to it’s conclusion.
It is a process that reveals character.
– Who are they and what dot hey do?
– Are they sad or happy with their life?
– Do they wish their life were different? Another job, another wife?
>> YOU MUST CREATE YOUR CHARACTERS IN RELATION TO OTHER PEOPLE OR THINGS.
ALL DRAMATIV CHARACTERS INTERACT IN 3 WAYS:
1. They EXPERIENCE CONFLICT in achieving their dramatic need.
(eg, need money – rob the bank, rob a store, rob a person?)
2. They INTERACT with other CHARACTERS.
(Either in an antagonistic, friendly or indifferent way)
3. They INTERACT with THEMSELVES.
(eg. He overcame his fear of being caught by pulling off the robbery successfully.)
HOW DO YOU INVENT CHARACTERS?
-TRY TURNING THEM UPSIDE DOWN.
A monk who is devoted to his religion…
…but is a football fanatic.
A serial killer…
… Whose obsession is to kill other serial killers.
A Common street rat…
… who loves to eat and cook only fine food.
Next week
Storytelling techniques Quiz #1
Review
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