Colloquial Polonius Ripoffs and Other Plagiarized Dialog
"He taps into the universal angst with his stunted colloquial Polonius ripoffs, dumbing them down to be socially digestible for the group dejour. The guy's still smarting from his rejection by the IRA - a closet Christian gone back into the closet. And now we have to hear him pontificate about world politics... all the while living in the fantasy world that comes from being an international superstar? Not to mention that his stardom is produced by formula, not by relevance or original thought. It's not just bullshit... it's hypocritical bullshit. The guy might not even be Irish!"
Part of a scene where Anders (John Curran) responds to comments about a certain international superstar to Goscienski (Adam Boyer) in the upcoming action/thriller
KERBEROS.
Of course it helps when writing dialog for films to have colorful friends around and even better if your girlfriend just happens to talk exactly like the speech above. These lines were taken directly from a conversation we had one night. And it all makes perfect sense, yet much like Adam's character in the film, I responded with "I don't know what the hell you just said!".
Dialog in a story is meant to inform and entertain, and many people have many problems coming up with it, but like acting itself, much of it has to do with listening, taking in the conversations and world around us.
The other thing I try to incorporate in my own scripts, is the understanding that an audience is getting to listen in but that not everything has to be spelled out for them. Not only are audiences generally much smarter than given credit for, if the story is to ring true, then realize that people do not talk in full developed, grammatically correct sentences. They ramble, they circle, the approach obliquely, and end up with a form of communication that the other person responds to. The audience has the support of the rest of the film (we hope!) to help decipher and inform.
You could also search for unique voices for each of the characters. In real life, very few conversations are carried out by people speaking in the same syntax or rhythm, though they frequently move in and out each others influence as they speak. Don't expect actors to do all the work, give them something to challenge and commit to.
Case in point, another 'colorful' scene spelled out in a post on the Director's Blog for Creative Dialog in KERBEROS. It might not set any records for the "F-word" - but it's going to make a stab at it!
The great thing about writing strong, interesting dialog besides contributing to strong, interesting stories, is that actors get excited about it. And that makes it much easier to attract the best talent.
As a writer/director/actor/ and editor, it's a hell of a lot of fun no matter what... but having talented people bring your story to life, both in front and behind the camera, is truly a joy!
"Talking people and doing people, for myself, I hope to do"
Kely McClung
http://www.bloodtiesmovie.com
http://www.kerberosbites.com
Posted at 08:16PM Jul 02, 2008 Read More...
by William McClung in General |
