I agree. You have to write good dialogue and drop hints about what or where the character (or characters') situation is and where it is heading. If the script and dialogue is written well, the audience will pick up those hints before the character does.
A simple scenario - after the wife having witnessed her husband with another woman at lunch - husband comes home from work , complains of upset stomach to which she responds (without compassion) "something bad for lunch?"
Great interview about diffuse/dispersed focus in relation to too many characters & not having a through-line! Thank you! Could you also interview Sherry Lansing? She began as a script reader.
That's really annoying imo. I hate it when people talk around eachother, even if it is "realistic" for most people. It is not realistic for me and my surroundings as we (almost always) really try to understand another and I'm not satisfied with a conversation if I wasn't absolutely honest and tried to get the most accurate picture across, even if it takes several sentences approaching the idea from different angles. Maybe it is the Dutch side in me, but when people are bullshitting I always call it out instantly. No playing along or hints, that's just really petty. American shows are always full of people playing social cues and games and it is my biggest turn-off for shows, because on top of being annoying, it is also utterly predictable and just boring.
What Ms. Kram says about the character Blanche from, "A Street Car Named Desire," hit the nail on the head. I got it. Excellent example and illustration of the point of the video.
Could just mention Batwoman. That's a heap of garbage dialogue. Characters are just saying who and what they are. Starting from episode one of season one. The amazing thing about that show is how consistent they are in writing it. Even on season two they're still at it.
Then you've got the other side of the coin: The overly subtext-ridden, plotless, dumpster fire of a show - Star Trek Discovery. The characters engage in meaningless conflict to bump up the run time and give each other significant glances; and the writers think that a "significant glace" is the same as subtext and deep character engagement.
Kinda off subject, its ridiculous to even play that game... if I see my wife out to lunch with someone im asking then and there. Or soon as she gets home. But in writing, I always do the whole "hinting at feels" thing with characters. Makes for good writing but it's a really dysfunctional way to actually live. Just say it. Maybe it's the Aries in me.
Too many characters = The Walking Dead, over the last few seasons. You lose your bond with the original characters, and can't bond with the new characters. They seem to be trying hard to reel that back in this season.
i disagree game of thrones have so much character and it is good and this is fact to reduce the characters of the books that maked the show so bad in the last season this is not the fact to have many character but to know how to deal with
I don't have any problem and never had a problem with TWD having too many characters. The problem is there is zero story. Or the story is recycled over and over. They move, find a new community, fight the new big bad boss of that community... win while losing a few men.... then repeat. There's no end game. It got too boring last few seasons. Once I saw Eugene say "there is no cure destination" I knew this show turned into a money grab.
@Rtkts i agree completely. i'm writing a huge story with massive characters. (250 characters, 700K words and growing) at first i jumped each chapter to another character, kinda chronological. but after each return to edit, i felt it needed more substance. i now have characters that grow chapter to chapter up to a point another characters introduction begins, or the timeline can't be crossed. then i introduce another character and lay them out. by the time they intersect, you know the motives. the catch is, try to figure what they will do always stays in question. think board game strategy...move soldiers, then move horses, then move archers...etc. as each move in place, the dynamic of the story changes. my personal rule is to leave a character with a strong question to be resolved. background: it's pre/present/post apocalyptic. everything is connected. domino theory. the actions of one effects others.
For some reason I never worry myself to read any superhero script. But I love watching their movies. But I just finished reading The Darkest Hour. My Oh My ... I am now reading Sicario. Just awesome.
i recently just watch a movie that tell the audience everything with dialogue. It is "Mortal Engine". What a waste of si much of those visual arts that did not tell the story itself.
Wow Blanche was a prostitute in "A Streetcar Named Desire"? It was so understated I totally missed that. I gotta re-watch that now for the clues I missed.
Yes, that's the first thing you learn as a writer, that telling instead of showing is amateur so is over use of flashbacks, they slow down the story and translate into terrible films.
I think superhero movies do fall under "revealing too much too soon". That's why most of them are interesting in the first half and then everything becomes boring and confusing in the second.
well this comment if from the great writers in hollywood in coming years..these videos are making you cunning and you loose your innocense right there which is absolutely needed in your writing ..create with courage dnt watch these fuckin videos
I agree. You have to write good dialogue and drop hints about what or where the character (or characters') situation is and where it is heading. If the script and dialogue is written well, the audience will pick up those hints before the character does.
Lol, I DO try to speak everything that I am thinking and feeling as frequently as I can, in everyday life. I consider it a form of self-honesty.
This got personal real quick...
She revealed too much too quick. Didn't use enough subtext xD
Oh FilmCourage, how do you always know what I need to hear the day of?
A simple scenario - after the wife having witnessed her husband with another woman at lunch - husband comes home from work , complains of upset stomach to which she responds (without compassion) "something bad for lunch?"
Great example of subtext
Great interview about diffuse/dispersed focus in relation to too many characters & not having a through-line! Thank you!
Could you also interview Sherry Lansing? She began as a script reader.
Very interesting advice! It is hard to keep that in mind while writing.
That's really annoying imo. I hate it when people talk around eachother, even if it is "realistic" for most people. It is not realistic for me and my surroundings as we (almost always) really try to understand another and I'm not satisfied with a conversation if I wasn't absolutely honest and tried to get the most accurate picture across, even if it takes several sentences approaching the idea from different angles.
Maybe it is the Dutch side in me, but when people are bullshitting I always call it out instantly. No playing along or hints, that's just really petty.
American shows are always full of people playing social cues and games and it is my biggest turn-off for shows, because on top of being annoying, it is also utterly predictable and just boring.
In every first draft I've ever written I tell everything. But it's okay because it all can be fixed.
7:10 Tell me you've seen Eternals without telling me you've seen Eternals.
What Ms. Kram says about the character Blanche from, "A Street Car Named Desire," hit the nail on the head. I got it. Excellent example and illustration of the point of the video.
Could just mention Batwoman. That's a heap of garbage dialogue. Characters are just saying who and what they are. Starting from episode one of season one. The amazing thing about that show is how consistent they are in writing it. Even on season two they're still at it.
Then you've got the other side of the coin: The overly subtext-ridden, plotless, dumpster fire of a show - Star Trek Discovery. The characters engage in meaningless conflict to bump up the run time and give each other significant glances; and the writers think that a "significant glace" is the same as subtext and deep character engagement.
...And keep it simple. Remember,
it is what you don't show and tell them that gets the audience.
If we have the story only and unable to write script then what we do
Keep studying the format
Kinda off subject, its ridiculous to even play that game... if I see my wife out to lunch with someone im asking then and there. Or soon as she gets home. But in writing, I always do the whole "hinting at feels" thing with characters. Makes for good writing but it's a really dysfunctional way to actually live. Just say it. Maybe it's the Aries in me.
DiMario Bell def the Aries in you lol
Do use the word formulaic. It applies to writers who stick closely to the formula but don't write an interesting movie. Most movies made today.
Show, don’t tell 😌👌🎉
that is a myth
Too many characters = The Walking Dead, over the last few seasons. You lose your bond with the original characters, and can't bond with the new characters. They seem to be trying hard to reel that back in this season.
Couldn't agree more!
i disagree game of thrones have so much character and it is good and this is fact to reduce the characters of the books that maked the show so bad in the last season this is not the fact to have many character but to know how to deal with
TWD also had too much of these "naruto-esque flashback fillers" and dramatic people staring into the distance crap :(
I don't have any problem and never had a problem with TWD having too many characters. The problem is there is zero story. Or the story is recycled over and over. They move, find a new community, fight the new big bad boss of that community... win while losing a few men.... then repeat. There's no end game. It got too boring last few seasons. Once I saw Eugene say "there is no cure destination" I knew this show turned into a money grab.
@Rtkts i agree completely. i'm writing a huge story with massive characters. (250 characters, 700K words and growing) at first i jumped each chapter to another character, kinda chronological. but after each return to edit, i felt it needed more substance. i now have characters that grow chapter to chapter up to a point another characters introduction begins, or the timeline can't be crossed. then i introduce another character and lay them out. by the time they intersect, you know the motives. the catch is, try to figure what they will do always stays in question. think board game strategy...move soldiers, then move horses, then move archers...etc. as each move in place, the dynamic of the story changes. my personal rule is to leave a character with a strong question to be resolved. background: it's pre/present/post apocalyptic. everything is connected. domino theory. the actions of one effects others.
what i cant stand about most superhero movies is their need to explain a million things in exposition and narration idk why its just boring to me
It's all boring and over the top now. Stop the train.
For some reason I never worry myself to read any superhero script. But I love watching their movies. But I just finished reading The Darkest Hour. My Oh My ... I am now reading Sicario. Just awesome.
'How was your day?'
'Nothing'
Fantastic.
'Good luck.'
'Thanks, I will!'
'sounds like a man's ideal relationship'
'enough said'
🤣🤣
Game of thrones is an excellent example of this! The characters become more complex as the seasons go on.
i recently just watch a movie that tell the audience everything with dialogue. It is "Mortal Engine". What a waste of si much of those visual arts that did not tell the story itself.
I love listening to this piece, so helpful! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Shutter Island is a good example.
Dialogs are not about information. They are about characters.
Why can't it be both?
About both
@@PhantomRangerEarth1397 Cause picture is information in cinema. If you want to write dialogue with lot of stuff better write a book instead of movie.
What she's talking about sounds like good drama, good theater, but it has little to do with good cinema: film is a visual medium.
Write your characters as if they were real people living out their lives. We don't speak in exposition and neither should our characters
Part of the problem, certainly in the UK, is that people who ought to- don't know how to read a script.
It's not only in the UK. Lol. Rampant in LA. I can tell on the title page if the Writer knows what they are doing..
Wow Blanche was a prostitute in "A Streetcar Named Desire"? It was so understated I totally missed that. I gotta re-watch that now for the clues I missed.
Yes, that's the first thing you learn as a writer, that telling instead of showing is
amateur so is over use of flashbacks, they slow down the story and translate
into terrible films.
Another example is the new netflix original series maniac! Adds way more suspense when the audience doesnt know too much
She really looks like one of my professors
I think superhero movies do fall under "revealing too much too soon". That's why most of them are interesting in the first half and then everything becomes boring and confusing in the second.
7sN 96 "I am Number Four" is a great example of not doing this
well this comment if from the great writers in hollywood in coming years..these videos are making you cunning and you loose your innocense right there which is absolutely needed in your writing ..create with courage dnt watch these fuckin videos
This is why men should be allowed to have a mistress or two. Not three or more, but one or two. Problem solved.
You guys are talking about women but men can be exactly the same way. The rules can be reversed
This was kind of a mess
or atleast dnt get influenced at the first place.. i end up here coz im drunk ..sorry guys