Exception to 'Show don't tell' : KISS indies?

BY the way - I'm not saying get rid of all dialogue, just make sure you are using the picture part of your movie.

The reason why Dov suggests doing a talk-fest movie is that it's cheap and easy to light a room and just have two people sit and speak for a scene. You can burn 10 pages in a conversation in a single set up... but that is about the most boring, static, thing you can do on film (or tape, or hard drive). Yes, it's fast and cheap. If you are making a 4 day film, it's going to be mostly talk because you have no choice. But if you are shooting on a more reasonable schedule, you want to use the picture part... and that will help when you are trying to sell the film.

Though the film is going to be dubbed, I like to think of dialogue in subtitle form... imagine that the words can not leave the screen until you cut to a new shot. If the subtitles ends up filling the screen and overflowing, you need to look at the dialogue and action balance.

In a genre film (rather than an art house thing) you need to deliver on the audience's expectations - and in a horror film, they don't expect talking heads (unless they've been chopped off and are in a wicker basket or bowling bag). I've crewed on a couple of cheapo horror movies made by friends, and they *do* pick a central location for the story, but once there, they focus on chases and attacks and suspense and all of the other stuff you expect in a horror film.

I did an article for Script on BREAKING AWAY and how it dramatizes emotion into action. So even a serious coming of age movie is still a *movie*.

- Bill

PS: I'm going to take down that link in a couple of days.
 
Do you think there is a generally accepted range (percent of words) of dialog in a script for various genres? I have often thought it would make an interesting research project to import a number of horror, romcom, drama, comedy, etc. scripts into scriptwriting software and analyze the scripts for #words that are dialog, then see what total words are in the script. E.g. are Horror scripts 10-30% dialog, RomComs 40-80% dialog, etc?

Is it possible to have too few words, especially in a horror/thriller? I worried about that after I finished my first draft of my supernatural thriller-- I think dialog was about 5% of the total screenplay words. I know it depends of course on what the story demands, just asking in general.

Bill what two genres would you say are the best for making for the best bang for the buck, if done indie style, low budget, and to get good foreign sales? Horror? Action?


wcmartell said:
BY the way - I'm not saying get rid of all dialogue, just make sure you are using the picture part of your movie.

The reason why Dov suggests doing a talk-fest movie is that it's cheap and easy to light a room and just have two people sit and speak for a scene. You can burn 10 pages in a conversation in a single set up... but that is about the most boring, static, thing you can do on film (or tape, or hard drive). Yes, it's fast and cheap. If you are making a 4 day film, it's going to be mostly talk because you have no choice. But if you are shooting on a more reasonable schedule, you want to use the picture part... and that will help when you are trying to sell the film.

Though the film is going to be dubbed, I like to think of dialogue in subtitle form... imagine that the words can not leave the screen until you cut to a new shot. If the subtitles ends up filling the screen and overflowing, you need to look at the dialogue and action balance.

In a genre film (rather than an art house thing) you need to deliver on the audience's expectations - and in a horror film, they don't expect talking heads (unless they've been chopped off and are in a wicker basket or bowling bag). I've crewed on a couple of cheapo horror movies made by friends, and they *do* pick a central location for the story, but once there, they focus on chases and attacks and suspense and all of the other stuff you expect in a horror film.

I did an article for Script on BREAKING AWAY and how it dramatizes emotion into action. So even a serious coming of age movie is still a *movie*.

- Bill

PS: I'm going to take down that link in a couple of days.
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Ryan Paige said:
When I made my first movie (a no-budget deal), I wrote a very talky script mostly because I was a Kevin Smith fan and wanted to make a "Kevin Smith" kind of movie. I discovered that my talky script was difficult to shoot because it took a great deal of time to get enough shots with usable dialogue. We spent a lot of time doing multiple takes because the actors had trouble getting through the lines.

Had I wanted to shoot something more quickly, I would've been better off shooting something with less dialogue.
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I think the main issue is that the more you rely on any one thing (dialogue, action, etc), the more absolutely brilliant that one thing has to be in order to keep the audience happy. Odds are, if you are a newbie writer / director working on a shoestring budget, you probably aren't brilliant at anything.
 
I'm making one right now. Mostly dialogue with a little action and some really good gags. Don't worry about all the naywayers. You don't have to worry about Sundance and everything on your first film.

Just make something the best you can and if worst comes to worst at least you made something and learned. And I guarantee you can get a bigger budget on your next because you proved to the guys with money that you can make a movie, period.

For action, just have something going on during the dialogue. Doesn't matter if they're raking leaves or chopping firewood, as long as it's something. Make the movie you want and even if it flops at least you like it.
 
With Blackout , Chris really wanted a conversationalist piece that fell somewhere in the HEAT/Dark Knight realm. The entire third act is almost entirely convo, but it's a reactionary convo that turns the actors into the action. You don't care if anything is going on, because you're so sucked into the conversation (at least I hope :) )

My whole feeling is that a story is a story. You tell it visually with action and words. Only the story can dictate what you need more of.
 
I won't consider limiting dialog just to appeal to non-english demographics, dubbed films sounds pretty ridiculous anyway. I much rather read subtitles, as I do for Japanese, Chinese Korean, Tamil. At least i can get the original actors tone of voice as he says it. Besides, it adds to the value and uniqueness. Here in Singapore, teens are crazy over Japanese and Korean celebrities.

The language may be different, but emotions are universally understood.

As to dialog over action or vice-versa, I can't choose between the two. In many ways I consider dialog to be action. Voice overs, Edward Norton in Fight Club, Edward Norton in 25th Hour (His 5-minute F- Montage), Alec Baldwin's prep talk in Independence Day, many many LOTR quotes. Tom Cruise needs his wife speech in Jerry Maguire and such. If I still remember these worded highlights after all the years of true 24p memory, that certainly says something about dialog doesn't it.

I would say though, while it's easy to think of the perfect setting and picture how it plays itself out isn't really in our hands. Ultimately, you need a good cast.
 
My Life as a Dog (4/5 stars on Blockbuster)-- a great swedish film. I saw the original, subtitled. Then I saw the dubbed version, which sucked. The film totally lost its charm, at least for me, when dubbed. I much preferred the original in Swedish with English subtitles.


raymondluo said:
I won't consider limiting dialog just to appeal to non-english demographics, dubbed films sounds pretty ridiculous anyway...
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