More On Dialogue
I am returning to dialogue for this reason. It sort of sounded earlier
that I was anti dialogue. I am not. I am against the over use and dependence upon dialogue to progress the script. Dialogue pages fly by, while action and description takes longer to write.
Secondly my problem with dialogue is that people are just not as good at it as they use to be.
Hold it.
Wait a second.
Drop that protest sign.
I want you to go and look up what are considered the top fifty or so films of all time. Do the same for television. Do the same for songs. After you have done this review go back and look at the years these films, tv shows and songs were written. They will have something in common. Most if not all were written before the internet age, before the way we communicated changed. Instant messaging, texting, twitter has changed the way we talk to each other. Sentences do not always have begin middles and ends anymore. And of the modern day classics how many of them were written by older writers. People who started in the 80s or 90s? How many? Just about all of them?
You have two golden ages in filmmaking and screenwriting. The 1930's and the 1970's. The music was mostly bad, but the films were amazing.
Examples from the 1930's, The Thin Man, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Destry Rides Again, Stage Coach, Public Enemy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dracula, The Lady Vanishes, Murder, The Bride of Frankenstein, Duck Soup, Grand Hotel and I could list a hundred more films. Can you list 10 films from the last 5 years.
The scene is from the 1931 movie Public Enemy. the perfect mix of dialogue and action to tell you everything that you need to know about these two characters and their relationship.
Let’s jump to the 1970's. The Godfather and its Sequel. The French Connection, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, Vanishing Point, Halloween, Rocky, Scarface, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Superman the Motion Picture, Jaws, Star Wars, Patton, Taxi Driver, Frenzy, Straw Dogs American Graffiti, Alien and half a dozen Woody Allen movies. I am leaving out tons of international films, Grindhouse movies, and the golden age of Italian horror films.
Watch movies from both decades and read scripts from both. You will see that in the 1930's they had to hint and suggest what was really meant at times while in the 1970's they were allowed to hit you with a sledge hammer. The 1930's were about writing with a quill pen and the 1970's were about writing with a hammer and chisel. And the cool thing is that both ways were equally as effective.
Recognize this and understand that you can do it both ways depending upon the story.
Really? I don’t believe that. No one can tells stories using both styles.
You are almost right. Most of us will find our niche and stick to it, but I would like to say that Hitchcock managed to do it. As a matter of fact he managed to produce classic films in both of the decades listed. I am not saying be Hitchcock. That is like saying go hit home runs like Babe Ruth. What I am saying is that Dialogue is a tool. Learn to use it and if you have to visit past experts that is okay.
One great scene from the Godfather. Basic one on one dialogue at its finest. The actors and writer made this look too easy.
I am returning to dialogue for this reason. It sort of sounded earlier
that I was anti dialogue. I am not. I am against the over use and dependence upon dialogue to progress the script. Dialogue pages fly by, while action and description takes longer to write.
Secondly my problem with dialogue is that people are just not as good at it as they use to be.
Hold it.
Wait a second.
Drop that protest sign.
I want you to go and look up what are considered the top fifty or so films of all time. Do the same for television. Do the same for songs. After you have done this review go back and look at the years these films, tv shows and songs were written. They will have something in common. Most if not all were written before the internet age, before the way we communicated changed. Instant messaging, texting, twitter has changed the way we talk to each other. Sentences do not always have begin middles and ends anymore. And of the modern day classics how many of them were written by older writers. People who started in the 80s or 90s? How many? Just about all of them?
You have two golden ages in filmmaking and screenwriting. The 1930's and the 1970's. The music was mostly bad, but the films were amazing.
Examples from the 1930's, The Thin Man, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Destry Rides Again, Stage Coach, Public Enemy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dracula, The Lady Vanishes, Murder, The Bride of Frankenstein, Duck Soup, Grand Hotel and I could list a hundred more films. Can you list 10 films from the last 5 years.
The scene is from the 1931 movie Public Enemy. the perfect mix of dialogue and action to tell you everything that you need to know about these two characters and their relationship.
Let’s jump to the 1970's. The Godfather and its Sequel. The French Connection, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, Vanishing Point, Halloween, Rocky, Scarface, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Superman the Motion Picture, Jaws, Star Wars, Patton, Taxi Driver, Frenzy, Straw Dogs American Graffiti, Alien and half a dozen Woody Allen movies. I am leaving out tons of international films, Grindhouse movies, and the golden age of Italian horror films.
Watch movies from both decades and read scripts from both. You will see that in the 1930's they had to hint and suggest what was really meant at times while in the 1970's they were allowed to hit you with a sledge hammer. The 1930's were about writing with a quill pen and the 1970's were about writing with a hammer and chisel. And the cool thing is that both ways were equally as effective.
Recognize this and understand that you can do it both ways depending upon the story.
Really? I don’t believe that. No one can tells stories using both styles.
You are almost right. Most of us will find our niche and stick to it, but I would like to say that Hitchcock managed to do it. As a matter of fact he managed to produce classic films in both of the decades listed. I am not saying be Hitchcock. That is like saying go hit home runs like Babe Ruth. What I am saying is that Dialogue is a tool. Learn to use it and if you have to visit past experts that is okay.
One great scene from the Godfather. Basic one on one dialogue at its finest. The actors and writer made this look too easy.
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