More About Dialogue

                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.

Another Software Review

            A Software Review

    I have written about it, but I have not shown you the software in action and I have not allowed others to tell you about certain aspects of screen writing. For this I am sorry. There are a lot of great writers out there and their advice is as good as mine and sometimes better.
    I have gotten so caught up in teaching you how to write a low budget script that I forgot to focus enough on the basics. You will need a great deal of knowledge about the basics. You will have to be more fundamentally sound than those who write big budget epics.
    I would first like to mention a new free software program that I have been introduced to. It is called Adobe Story. Just google that and you will find the download page. So far it is a really nice free program that can be used online or downloaded.
    The two that I wanted to revisit today are Celtx and Scripped.
    Here is a quick tutorial from the guys at the Scripped site. If you are ever worried about losing your work via a crash or lose of your computer then this is the place for you. Store your work here where it is safe and you can revisit it any time.

    Now here is a tutorial on Celtx. Keep in mind that once you finish your script here you can import it, print it and if you wish to register it on site.

No Budget Screenplay Structure

            Building a Structure


    Let’s review the basics.

    We are telling a story.

    Your screenplay is a story and just about every single story have one thing in common. They all have a set structure. Someone tells you a story and it always boils down to this. The story will have a beginning, middle and an end. In screenwriting we call this Act I, Act II and Act III. If your script is one hundred and twenty pages then Act I will be about 30 pages, Act II will be around 60 to 70 pages and the final act should be 20 to 30 pages.

    I believe that the last act should be the shortest because of intensity if no other reason. The time for talk is all, but over and action on the page and on the screen is what we are looking for at the end on our screenplay. Look at one of my favorite movies, Taken.  Act I is over when the daughter is taken, Act II is over when our hero finds out from his former friend when his daughter will be auctioned. The final act is short and brutally sweet.

    From this point forward in the Blog I am going to try to offer as many video tutorials on the subject as possible. I do this to follow my own favorite rule about movies. Show and do not tell.

    Below is a video about structure.

    Good luck with your script.

Short on Dialogue

                    Your Screenplay, Short on Dialogue

    When writing your low or no budget script you need to consider the actors. I do not mean that you need to consider casting. You need to consider their limitations. Unless you are lucky the majority of your cast will be new to the business. They will not be use to being on screen. They will not be use to hitting their marks and the massive pressure of a low budget film shoot.
    You as the writer need to help them out as much as possible.
    How do you do this?
    Keep dialogue as short as possible.
    No, I do not mean keeping the scenes as short as possible. I mean that you you try to keep their speeches as short as possible. One to five lines at most. Your name is not Tarantino and this is not Kill Bill. If you are going to have stage trained actors who are use to memorizing massive amounts of dialogue then go for it. But most likely you are going to have people who have never done this before. Friends trying to help you out or models who are trying to branch out. It will most likely be their first time so follow the first time rule, be gentle.
    Acting is a funny thing. It is easier for a novice to react than to actually act. Some of the greatest movie stars of all time are not actors, but reactors. Go rent a Kevin Costner movie and watch one of the worlds great reactors.
    Your lead character gets the most dialogue and the biggest blocks of dialogue. Allow those who interact with the lead to have shorter bits of talk that when and where ever possible they are called upon to react to what is said to them.  Bill was killed, react. Did you hear that Mike died, react. There is a monster in the basement, react. Our son is missing, react.
    Make it easy on the actors and they will show their love by giving a quality performance.

What Do You See?

What Do You See?

What do you see?
This is an important question.
Why?
Because what you see is what the audience will see one day. Movies at the end of the day are visual. I would say go back to silent films and watch them, but the truth is a silent film is doing very well for itself right now, (The Artist). When writing a script dialog tents to take over. I understand why. It is easier to write. To eats up a lot of pages. It progresses the story in a way. On the page it looks great and there is all that clear white space around it. While description and action is usually that ugly block text that look like paragraphs in a text book.

On the screen that block text flows quickly while those lovely pages of dialog drag along. More than 90 seconds on screen of uninterrupted talk is like watching paint dry unless you are named Tarantino. What we see is more important than what we hear or in other words show do not tell. If you can show that characters do not like each other rather than telling us then do it. If they love each other love is what they do with and to each other rather than going on and one about who loves who. Save that stuff for soap operas. We are going to talk about dialog soon, but this is about the visual and what we see comes first second and third.
Does genre matter?
Same rule for all.
I do not care if it is Action, Horror, Comedy, Drama or Found Footage show me do not tell me.
But in comedy they tell jokes.
Really?
Take Dumb and Dumber, it is the stupid things that they do and not what they say that makes it a comic classic.
Action is obvious. The Road Warrior is all most a silent film for the first twenty minutes.
How many times have you heard when will they shut up and when will something happen in this movie?
I am going over some familiar ground here, but hey this point has not gotten through to some of you. Show them at all cost and then resort to telling them. With low to no budget film screenplays sometimes we have to tell rather than show. We can tell about an alien invasion or a murder spree rather than showing it because we can not afford to show it, but when or where ever possible we must show them.

Your No Budget Screenplay, Cutting Scenes

            Your No Budget Screenplay, Cutting Scenes

    You have finished your entire no budget screenplay or at least an act of it and you are at a point where you wish to do some editing.  I would like you to review every single scene and list what you believe to be the 5 worst scene.  These scene will feel forced or they just do not seem to connect well with the joining scenes or maybe they are much too long or too short.  For what ever reason they do not seem to work.
    Isolate the absolute worst of them and cut it.
    I said cut it.

    Do not edit it or try to redo it or move it around.  Just take this scene and if you have a paper copy tear it out.  If it is on the computer delete it from the script.  Yes I really know that this scene has its place in your screenplay.  It is really necessary and conveys an important bit of information or character development.
    Here is my response to that heart felt and sincere argument.
    CUT IT.
    It is better to get rid of this really bad scene rather than have it stinking up all the scenes around it.  I do not care if this scene tells who did it or where the body is buried or who stole that piece of cake or if Jessica Alba is nude in it, cut it.
    “Did I really just say that last thing?”
    Okay keep the Jessica Alba scene and cut the rest.
    I am just trying to make your screenplay stronger and after you cut and edited you will find that it is stronger. After you cut that worst scene and cut as much as possible of the second scene, edit down the third worst scene and rewrite the forth and fifth worst scenes.  Make your script better and better.  It will be painful to do this, but you know what the military say about pain.
    Pain is just weakness leaving the body and in this case pain is just the weakest elements leaving your script.
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Your No Budget Screenplay, King Conflict

Your No Budget Screenplay, King Conflict

    Perhaps you have heard the expression that content is king.  I disagree, I believe that conflict is king.  Within those first ten pages you have to establish characters who will be in natural conflict with each other.  Unnatural conflict is this is page 8 and this is where character one argues with character 5 for no reason other than there is suppose to be conflict in the script somewhere.
    Natural conflict comes from character traits.  Their world view as it conflicts with the world view of others.  Their personality is at natural odds with those around them.  I will use 2 characters from a series of films that almost all of you have seen at least one of whether you were willing or not.  We are going to pluck two characters from the Harry Potter universe (I could use the Star Trek Universe) to illustrate how to create conflict naturally.
    Now entering the ring an attractive young mud blood, Hermione.
    Stumbling in, late as usual, is the red headed terror himself, Ron.
    Yes I know that they become a couple.  Hey opposites attract. These two are made to produce conflict.  This conflict does not come from the writer as much as it does from who they are.  Ron is all emotion and feeling.  Hermione is all reason and logic. Early one she looks at him as being a silly unprepared block head.  He looks at her as a bookworm who does not feel much of anything and has no concept of how to have fun.
    When ever they have a problem she tackles it with reason and logic while Ron gets caught up in doubt, fear and a hundred other emotions.  They will forever rub each other the wrong way and not because they do not like each other, (they grow to love each other) but simply because they do not see the world the same way at all.  Without the third character of Harry, who is mostly instinct, to balance them out they would have never been able to progress much past hello.
    Conflict between your heroes will come naturally if you keep this in mind.  Conflict between heroes and villains will be intense if you have a hero who is all emotion and instinct going up against a villain who is as coldly logical and remorseless as a plague.

    Whether it is Bond going up against Doctor No or it is Van Helsing doing battle with a soulless vampire who looks at innocent people in the same way he would look upon chest pieces conflict comes from being opposites.
    Your first and I hope only exercise that I am going to suggest is that you list your top character and in a word describe their primary approach to any situation.  If these characters share a lot of scenes together make them opposites.  If they are best friends or husband and wife or brother and sister or father and son.  These opposing traits can get you through the roughest parts of your scripts.  They will find ways to push the story forward even where you are lost.