Script Dialogue Do's and Don'ts

When the screenplay has been written and the dialogue then added...then we are ready to shoot! 
A. Hitchcock.

Dialogue is one of the major blind alleys that new script writers run headlong into.
Before you add dialogue you should be sure you already have a few things in place:
Beginning/middle/end of the story.
Clearly defined needs/wants/problems of main characters.
Synopsis which can help you, the writer, maintain focus.

Characters need to be placed into a plot structure, you need to know what they will be reacting to or setting up before you can decide what they will be saying to each other.
Writers need to know the goals, problems and character objectives first.

Film is about action and visuals, dialogue is for the stage.
Know your story events and build your plot outline first, add dialogue last.

Less is more!

Read successful scripts, you'll notice that there is very rarely huge blocks of dialogue.
Usually there will be a line, followed by a line, all the way down the page.
The first thing to ask yourself about the dialogue you have written is
'Can I cut a word without losing any impact?'
'Can I cut a line without losing anything?'
'Can I cut the whole piece and give the same information using visuals?'
FILM IS A VISUAL MEDIUM.
Have a look at Tom and Jerry; no dialogue yet still very entertaining:






 Directness is usually best. If a character, Lisa, hasn't seen her boyfriend, Matt, for a while and she sees him in the street, here's what she shouldn't say:

LISA

Er, Hi Matt. Ah look, I was 

just wondering why you know, you haven't called me 

for a while and well,

I really miss you, and...

To the reader, the character seems weak and uninteresting because of the dialogue. Think about her motivation for the scene.

LISA

So, Matthew, where do I stand?

This is better, simple and direct, she is now in control and a much more believable character. The onus is now on Matt to provide a good answer.

Maybe this is even better?

Matt advances toward her with a big grin on his face, as he reaches her with his arms open wide, she...

Neatly sidesteps him and strides past, without a backward glance.

There are many variations once you have decided what type of character Lisa is, she could slap him, grab him and kiss him passionately, grab and kiss a passer-by passionately?

Positive action and decision making will endear your characters to the audience.

In the feature film, Citizen Kane, the characters Kane and Emily's marriage breakdown is conveyed by cutting most of the dialogue and simply showing their breakfast becoming more and more estranged each time, sitting further away from each other, body language, reading different newspapers.

Give your characters individual voices rather than your own.

Principle of Repetition

Repetition is used in film in order to emphasise a particular event or meaning in a film. This is used in films in the form of music, character speech or a character reappearing throughout the film. Also, some directors use repetition throughout their films, in order to create a trademark style of film that is associated with them.

Principle

If something happens often enough, It will eventually be persuasive.

How it works

Play it again, Sam. Music repeated gets under our skin. Advertisements repeated replay themselves when we see the product. Repetition of things has a distinct effect on us.

Pattern

Our brains are excellent pattern-matchers and reward us for using this very helpful skill. Repetition creates a pattern, which consequently and naturally grabs our attention at first and then creates the comfort of familiarity.

Familiarity

Repetition creates familiarity, but does familiarity breed contempt? Although it can happen, the reality is that familiarity leads to liking in far more case than it does to contempt. When we are in a supermarket, we are far more likely to buy familiar brands, even if we have never tried the product before. Advertisers know this very well.

Not scarcity

An effect that can happen is that repetition repeals any scarcity effect, making something initially less attractive. When I work with a famous person, my initial state of being overawed might soon be replaced by dislike of their annoying habits. With time, however (if they are not too obnoxious) I will probably get used to them and even get to appreciate and like the better parts of their nature.

Understanding

Repetition can also lead to understanding, as it gives time for the penny to drop. What at first may be strange, after repeated exposure becomes clear and understandable.

This is important for companies bringing innovative new products to the market where users may initially unfamiliar with the product or its usage.

Memory

Remember learning your multiplication tables at junior school? We have to repeat things more than once for them to finally sink into our memories. Our short-term memories are notoriously short-term and can forget something (like a person's name) in less than a second. Repetition is one of getting things into longer-term memory and hence is a key method for learning.

Convincing

Some people just have to do things several times before they make up their mind. Think about the last time you bought a pair of shoes. Did you pick them then put them down several times before trying them on. Did you come back to try them again? If so, you are in good company. Many people have to repeat things several times before they get convinced. Three times is a common number.

Sharp sales people know this when they show you something then something else, then back to the first thing a few times.

Nagging

We can also get persuaded in a negative repetitive way. All children know that if they repeat a request often enough, their parents will cave in. Some remember this when they grow up and get married--the nagging spouse is a legendary icon.

 Cues

As Pavlov discovered with his dogs, with repetition you can connect a cue or trigger with a selected action. This can be a color, a shape, a tune or a host of other things. The ideal that advertisers search for is that when you see the product in the shop, the pleasant or funny feelings that the advert evoked are re-awoken, making you somehow want to buy the product (and preferably lots of it!).

Music

A core principle of music is repetition. It appears in runs, trills and stanzas, as well as in pounding rock rhythms and dance music.

People dancing in clubs and waltz-halls commonly go into trance-like states. Music, rhythm and repetition have a hypnotic effect that can lull people into following a pattern in unthinking ways.

Trance

Repetition is also a basis for trance states and is consequently a basis of hypnosis and hypnotic techniques.

In language, alliteration is the repetition of a particular sound in the prominent lifts (or stressed syllables) of a series of words or phrases. Alliteration has developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's meter, are stressed, as in James Thomson's verse "Come…dragging the lazy languid Line along". Another example is Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers.

The tongue-twister rhyme Betty Botter by Carolyn Wells is a brilliant example of alliterative composition : "Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said, this butter's bitter; if I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my batter better..."

 

   So what

Use friendly repetition to create familiarity and hence liking. Use it to help the other person remember the things you want them to remember. And whilst you are at it, associate the repetition with a trigger that can re-stimulate good feelings.

Some people have a greater or lesser number of times something needs to happen for them to be convinced. 

Intertextuality

• Intertextuality is the way in which texts refer to other media texts that producers assume that their target audiences will recognise. 
• One of pleasures that audiences experience is the joy of recognition. 
• One form of this pleasure comes in recognising the reference in one media text to other media texts. 
• This process of referencing is called intertextuality.

Intertextuality can be demonstrated in several ways in the media:

Pastiche and parody are both examples of INTERTEXTUALITY. Intertextuality is the defining of a work’s meaning through the understanding of other texts. Look at this example from the Simpsons. It’s meaning is made when you understand that it’s a reference to the film Silence of the Lambs.

The image of Monty in restraints links him to the mass murderer Hannibal Lecter. If you have the foreknowledge of Lecter then you can make the connection; Monty is evil. Intertextuality is like a short cut to meaning, it uses people’s understanding of media texts to make new meanings.

- Parody Taking the mickey out of different texts for example “scary movie”. Anything that takes itself too seriously is putting itself up for parody!

- Pastiche Recycling other media texts for example Kill Bill is a mixture of Japanese samurai, french new wave, Hong Kong kung fu. 

- Homage referencing other texts and people for example the remake of Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho in 1998.

- Mimicry Often this borrowing of a text to link it to a second one is stylistic. This means that a text will mimic or otherwise copy stylistic features of another text, for example Katy Perry’s ” The one that got away” music video.

- Marketing of media texts. Making reference to other texts and marketing them, for example when Jonathan Ross had Daniel Radcliffe and David Attenborough on his TV chatshow.

- Media performers working in more than one media form. (Cheryl Cole as a judge on The Xfactor. Cheryl Cole won a show similar to Xfactor).

Task 1:

• Analyse the following videos and make comparisons. 
• How would you categorise the different features of intertextuality? Pastiche or Parody? 
• Are there any other intertextual considerations? 
• Check out who directed Thriller and what else did he direct?

 

 

Task2: Individually find a couple of additional texts that use intertextuality to position the audience and consider the relevant features.

Embed videos/images into your blog and write about them there. 

Task3: This cover of Vogue sparked a debate about racial imagery. 

Do some research and write 200 words on how intertextuality has been used and what effect it may have had.

Task4: This Vanity Fair magazine cover received a lot of publicity.

Research the scandal surrounding it and write 200 words considering the intertextual aspects. (Disney,Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus career).

Media theory

Media theories from urvibhatt

Media theory toolkit 2013 from Julian McDougall

Narrative Structure

Three Act Structure

Generally, the narrative structure of any work, be it a film, play or novel, contains a plot, theme and resolution. 

It can also be divided into three sections, which is referred to as 

The three-act structure: Setup, Conflict and resolution.  

The setup (act one) is where all of the main characters and their basic situation are introduced, and contains the primary level of characterization (exploring the character's backgrounds and personalities). 

A problem is also introduced, which is what drives the story forward.

The second act, the conflict, is the bulk of the story, and begins when the inciting incident (or catalyst) sets things into motion. This is the part of the story where the characters go through major changes in their lives as a result of what is happening; this can be referred to as the character arc, or character development.

The third act, or resolution, is when the problem in the story boils over, forcing the characters to confront it, allowing all elements of the story to come together and inevitably leading to the ending.

Linear and non-linear narrative structures

A non-linear narrative is one that does not proceed in a straight-line, step-by-step fashion, such as where an author creates a story's ending before the middle is finished.
Linear is the opposite, when narrative runs smoothly in a straight line, when it is not broken up.

Flashback movies are often confused with true non-linear narratives.
Although they appear to open (very briefly) with the ending, flashback movies almost immediately jump back to the very beginning of the story to proceed linearly from there and usually proceed past the supposed "ending" shown at the beginning of the movie.

A classic example of a non-linear narrative is the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. The film is ostensibly three short stories, which, upon closer inspection, are actually three sections of one story with the chronology broken up; no "flashbacks" are involved.

Moral Panic

A moral panic is an intense feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order.

Marshall McLuhan gave the term academic treatment in his book Understanding Media written in 1964.

According to Stanley Cohen, author of a sociological study about youth culture and media called Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), a moral panic occurs when "condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests".

Those who start the panic when they fear a threat to prevailing social or cultural values are known by researchers as moral entrepreneurs, while people who supposedly threaten the social order have been described as "folk devils".

Moral panics are in essence controversies that involve arguments and social tension and in which disagreement is difficult because the matter at its center is taboo.
The media have long operated as agents of moral indignation, even when they are not consciously engaged in crusading or muckraking. Simply reporting the facts can be enough to generate concern, anxiety or panic.

Moral panic examples:

60's
They often occur during times when society has been unable to adapt to significant change and when such change leads to a fear of a loss of control within the normal social structure. This was evident during the 1960s when society experienced such modernising trends as the so called 'sexual revolution'. When events, such as those found in the 1960's, occur there is a concern that moral standards are in decline and entire generations can sometimes be accused of undermining society's moral structure.

James Bulger.

The concern of 'video nasties' reappeared in the 1990's following the murder of the toddler James Bulger by two juveniles. The case was related to the violent film 'Child's Play 3', which the offenders had previously watched. The case and the implications made against the film resulted in further regulations being enacted in 1994.

Despite the fact that such killings remain extremely rare the story, largely due to its portrayal by the media, led to the view that all children were now at risk from one another, and that access to certain films could produce child murderers (Furedi, 1994, p.3). The dangers posed by moral panics are continuously exaggerated and distorted by the media with the result that public concern is heightened. They often present reasons and scapegoats for the occurrence of certain events in order to divert attention from more real and greater problems found within society.

E.coli

The E.coli outbreak in Scotland, which occurred at the end of 1996, created debates regarding food safety laws and led to changes concerning the cleanliness of animals when they are slaughtered and the general hygiene standards in butcher's shops and supermarkets. Whilst E.coli is extremely dangerous the media's reporting of the incident led the public to believe that there was yet another national crisis concerning our food, and that such vulnerable groups as the elderly and the young were in extreme danger. However, despite the fact that twenty people died and many were seriously ill, the outbreak of E.coli was exaggerated extensively by the press, and many of the public failed to realise that many of the planned changes concerning food hygiene were already in place in most food shops. Whilst changes in the storing and displaying of cooked and raw meats was clearly necessary, the media's orchestration of the panic led the public to believe the issue to be a far greater problem than it actually was.

Dunblane
Perhaps the most publicised moral panic in the past year has been the concern over the British gun control laws. Following the Dunblane massacre in Scotland in which a number of schoolchildren and their teacher were shot dead by a lone gunman, a campaign was initiated calling into question the current restrictions on the purchasing of weapons. The incident created a national panic and concern for the safety of our children in schools, and the issue of stricter gun laws resulted in extensive amendments to the laws making the United Kingdom one of the strictest countries regarding public access to hand guns.

Clearly, the majority of people who possess hand guns or who partake in shooting activities are normal, responsible people who have simply fallen victim to the demands of the media and the general public in making the country a safer place and preventing such a tragedy as Dunblane from ever occurring again.

AIDS
many innocent people fall victim of certain moral panics once they are orchestrated by the media. This point was evident in the aftermath of the AIDS issue which was raised in the 1980's. Through the media we were led to believe that the virus posed a very real threat to the future of mankind and although it was, to a great extent, a possibility that the virus would affect our whole way of life, it must be noted that the initial scare as reported by the media was based on assumptions and insubstantial evidence. The press also publicised the fact that the virus was prominent amongst the gay community. Whilst it remains true that homosexual men are at considerable risk from the virus the media's portrayal of the issue provoked mass public resentment of homosexuals and a general belief that they were responsible for the disease due to their 'unorthodox' lifestyle.

TASK1:
Do some research on the above moral panics.

TASK2:
Carry out some research on Leah Betts who died after taking ecstasy in 1995.
How has media coverage and celebrity input changed public perception of the drug?

Writing an essay all about ravers or Britpop is insufficient - you must write an essay about how they have been represented.

TASK3:

MEDIA PRODUCT

You must create your own Moral Panic via the production of  newspaper pages.

Your research and analysis will have shown you exactly how the media encourages the audience how to fear an element of society that is deemed to be on the 'fringes' - something which is outside of the norm. 
Your deconstruction will have shown how manipulative and persuasive the media can be in trying to shape the ideologies of an audience in order to be scared of that element.

You will also have investigated why Moral Panics are created and be able to give context to the representations you have seen.

All this analysis and research will probably give you a 'toolkit' of how to create a Moral Panic - sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit, the papers have the power to be master manipulators.

This project has the potential to be a lot of fun, but there are a couple of decisions to make and pit-falls to avoid...

• Are you going to take something that is already on the fringes of society and create a moral panic out of people's ignorance and limited perceptions?
• Are you going to choose something innocuous and unthreatening about society and demonise it?
• Avoid cliched and lazy ideas - somethings are overdone already; asylum seekers, video games and drugs might have already reached saturation point in the real media
• Don't confuse fear of things like natural disasters with Moral Panics
• Make sure that it's actually possible to get the photos you need - don't choose to discuss a terrorist attack unless you can get a photo of one!

Remember that the look and tone of this product should look and feel exactly like a real newspaper. Be very careful with how you write it and the decisions you make in regards to photos.

Slender Man

Assessment Task

1)
Talk about the different ways that you will target specific audiences in your MS3 production.

2)
Discuss either the narrative structure or representation issues dealt with in your proposed MS3      production.

30 minutes to answer each question.

More on Roland Barthes

Barthes theory on Media-Codes is important to us in structural terms as well as helping us to consider the positioning of audiences.

The Hermeneutic Code (or Enigma code)This refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and which creates questions that need to be answered. The purpose is typically to keep the audience guessing until the part of the text when all is revealed, loose ends are tied off and the questions are answered.

The Proairetic Code (Action code) This builds tension; any action or event that suggests something else is about to happen. An action that prompts the reader to predict what will happen next and will result in increased interest and excitement.

The Semantic Code This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

The Symbolic Code This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organising semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of opposition, where a new meaning arises out of opposing ideas. Such as good/evil andlight/dark.

The Cultural Code This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of recognised principle that is not challenged by the audience and is always assumed to be the truth. Normally this involves either science or religion.

Task: Watch the trailer for the Crime Drama Seven and write down any of Barthes codes as you can identify.

Applying Narrative to Crime Fiction

Applying Barthes

Barthes argued that a text (from the Latin Tissue) was not one thing but a weaving together of various strands and processes. Some of them internal to the story, some of them making connections to the outside or real world.
It is interesting to consider how many different ways readers are given access to stories.
Barthes suggested that narrative works with five codes, which together 'activate' the reader.
The two codes which are internal to the text are:

The Enigma (or hermeneutic) code which sets up and usually solves major puzzles. Often, a big event occurs at the beginning of a show and the audience ask themselves ' why did this happen?'

At least two kinds of pleasure are involved; It can be as enjoyable to 'know' the answers as it is to have those predictions confounded by twists and surprises in the narrative. Of course this doesn't apply to all genres, musicals for example.

The Action (or proairetic) code which makes complex actions 'readable' through smallso we don't have to have everything spelt out. For example, the victim of a crime can be shown on a stretcher can signal a whole sequence of getting to the hospital, so it will be of no surprise to the audience when the character is next shown on a hospital bed.

Applying Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss is less interested in the chronological plotting of a single story than in repeated elements and their systematic relationship, usually across many stories. He called these the paradigmatic aspect of myths. 
A Levi Straussian approach to a particular film/TV crime drama might 
place it in the binary of crime/law and order.

When analysing a crime text you should ask yourself:
How does it embody this binary through contrast of characters, settings and actions?

It can be argued that there has been a recent shift in crime drama. The progressive defence attorney crime fictions of the 60's and 70's featured compassionate fighters for the underdog. This was replaced in the 90's with texts becoming more focussed on prosecutors. Perhaps due to a shift to the right in US and UK politics but also due to the difficulty of presenting defence lawyers sympathetically after their role in such high profile cases as OJ Simpson. (See the jaded view of the law in Murder One (1995) and LA Law (1986).

We could also point to the different detection methods of characters such as Megan and Horatio in CSI, she insists on staying strictly with the evidence, he goes with a gut feeling. They are consistently opposed, a narrative that can be seen in other crime fictions such as Life on Mars.

Task: watch this episode of Luther and apply Barthes' and Levi Strauss' theories where you can. Consider the use of narrative theory within your own research investigation and production.

Narrative Theory

Todorov's Narrative Stages:

There are five stages:

1. Equilibrium – the setting is established, key character(s) are introduced and

the storyline has begun to be set up.

2. This is then followed by a disruption whereby an oppositional character(s)

appear and the story takes a particular direction

3. Then there is recognition of disruption, in that the lives of characters and

events are interwoven. Tension builds throughout this section, which is often

the longest.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption is at the highest point of tension within

the film after which there is a change in the dynamic.

5. Finally, there is a re-instatement of equilibrium where matters are sorted

out, problems are solved and questions are answered. The equilibrium can be

described as new as the story has been resolved but the events have

possibly changed people.

Propp's Character Functions:

Character Profiles.  Discuss the Proppian and 'Stock' characters you can identify.
Propp concluded that all characters could be resolved into 7 broad character functions in the 100 tales he analyzed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their quest.
4. The princess or prize and her father — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
7. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Barthes:

is basically saying is that a text is like a tangled ball of threads which needs unravelling so we can separate out the colours. Once we start to unravel a text, we encounter a lot more potential meanings.

We can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, and create one meaning for that text. We can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle, by pulling a different thread if you like, and create an entirely different meaning.

And so on. An infinite number of times. If you wanted to.

All you need to say, very basically, is that texts may be ´open´ (ie unravelled in a lot of different ways) or ´closed´ (there is only one obvious thread to pull on).

Barthes also sets out the theory of …

Enigma codes; a theory that suggests a text (whether that be television, film, a poster etc) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and, as such, become intrigued in the piece. For instance, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story, which poses the question "Who is the murderer?"

Action codes: what will happen next?

She falls over - will he catch her?

She has been caught - what will he do with her?

Barthes codes theory from alexdabriel

Levi Strauss: 

Constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.