Character and Dialogues

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SCRIPTWRITING – Seymour B. Sanchez

Transcript of Character and Dialogues

SCRIPTWRITING – Seymour B. Sanchez

The fictional character can be represented in this way: Around 10-15% - What we actually learn about the

person

Around 20-25% - What we can deduce about the person

Around 60-70% - Everything we do not need to know about the person

Always try to find some easily recognizable trait for the person and decide what other people’s first impression of this person is.

PHYSICAL COMPONENT Sex

Age

Build (thin, tall, athletic) and bearing

Attractive or unattractive physical attributes

Color and style of hair

Typical clothing and condition of clothing

Gestures and mimicry

Way of talking (accent, slang, articulation)

Any defects (deformities, illness)

SOCIOLOGICAL COMPONENT

Ethnic background and nationality

Social class

Education

Profession (income, working conditions)

Living conditions

SOCIOLOGICAL COMPONENT

Family (married / single, children, relations with other family members)

Friends (at work and outside of work)

Hobbies, interests

Political views and affiliations

Religious views and affiliations

Name

PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT

Ambitions (long and short-term objectives)

Frustrations (everything that prevents him or her from achieving his/her objectives)

Dreams (which the character may think unattainable)

Personal weaknesses

Temperament

Intelligence

PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT

Attitude toward life (optimistic /pessimistic, rebellious, happy, altruistic, selfish)

Fundamental values (concrete expressions of what the person holds dear, e.g., family, life, hard work)

Romantic / sexual disposition

Complexes (inhibitions, phobias, fixed ideas)

Special talents (music, sport)

Character traits can be shown in the following ways:

Through action (what the person tries to do and how he tries to do it)

Through reaction (how the person reacts to new situations and do what other people do)

Through the reactions of others

Through dialogue (particularly what the other person does not say, what he hides; incidentally, his way of speaking is just as important as what he says)

Through his appearance, clothes, and characteristic patterns of behavior

Through his relationship to props

Through his relationship to his setting

Through contrast with what others do

Through name

A trait of character is often enhanced if the person is allowed to display minor traits which contradict the main attribute (e.g., A ruthless man is more dangerous if he is shown to be thoughtful and loving in certain situations.)

Dolores (Loleng) Rosales, 74 years old; widow; mother of Danilo, Gracia, and Arturo; mestiza; comes from a rich family; educated; kind mother; religious; likes music; will have Alzheimer’s disease.

THE PAMPANGA BRANCH OF THE FAMILY

THE L.A. BRANCH OF THE FAMILY

THE MANILA BRANCH OF THE FAMILY

Danny, 45 years old; eldest among the Rosales children; former black sheep of the family; did not graduate from college; owns three tricycles which are not brand new; knows auto mechanics; lives with his mother and family; not trusted by his siblings until now; sweet and kind husband and father to his children.

Celine, 40 years old; Danny’s wife; daughter of an American whom Danny met in Manila when they were still young and married without their parents knowing about it; has no finesse but a kind daughter-in-law, loyal wife, and knows how to take care of Danny and their children; good cook; industrious.

Danilo Jr. (Boyet), 22 years old; eldest child of Danny and Celine; intelligent and ambitious; wants to be a successful lawyer like his Tito Art; graduating UP student.

Chona, 16 years old; inherited Loleng’s ability to sing and play the piano; simple provincial lass; religious.

Carina (Cacay), 8 years old; closest to Lola; kind yet naughty; active; everyone’s “baby.”

Grace Rosales Alonzo, 36 years old; youngest child of Loleng; mestiza; graduated from an exclusive girls’ school in Manila; grew up spoiled and pampered; defied her mother by following the dictates of her heart and marrying her college sweetheart who is not rich; migrated to America where she works all the time; her beauty faded, she became out of shape but tough; because it is difficult to

earn money in America, she becomes too practical and obsessed with money; in the process, she becomes emotionally distant from her kids and husband, forgetting the reasons why she fell in love with him; works in a nursing home

Francis, 40 years old; Grace’s husband; has very Pinoy features; kind, industrious, understanding, not demanding; through the years he is still very much in love with Grace; a loving father to his

children and always defends Grace from them; their children are closer to him; works as a mailman.

Madeleine, 17 years old; looks like her Mommy but is closer to her Daddy; always at odds with Grace; has American views and manner of speaking.

Andrew, 15 years old; studious; quiet; cute; his mother’s baby.

Art, 42 years old; second child of Loleng; good lawyer; selfish; dominant; thinks that he is always right; his inner character is hidden by his usual demeanor and outer appearance.

Nanette, 39 years old; Art’s wife; intelligent; educated; careerwoman; her work involves frequent trips to the provinces; assertive and confident in the workplace but subservient to Art at home; frustrated because their family life is not harmonious.

Rommel, 20 years old; forced by his father to study medicine but he is really wants to take up Fine Arts; doesn’t want his life to be “boxed”; secretly hates his father but he fears him; interested in photography.

John-john, 12 years old; nerdy; likes to watch TV; more well-adjusted than Rommel.

Joel, 20 years old; Boyet’s childhood friend; finished his two-year course sa Marine Engineering; just waiting for the approval of his papers to become a seaman; in the meantime, he drives one of Danny’s tricycles; wants to go abroad since he was young; will fall in love with Madeleine.

Manang Gunding, 55 years old; Loleng’s long-time maid; treated like one of the members of the family.

Fr. Lito, 50 years old; Chaplain of DMI and parish priest of the church in Angeles where Loleng goes.

Cris, 40’s; Danny’s childhood friend who is a real estate agent.

Marta, 40 years old; maid of Art and Nanette; loyal; usually has tantrums.

Fr. Perez, 50 years old; hears Art’s confession. Dr. Arvisu, Loleng’s physician.

Chief of Police, Danny’s friend; will help in looking for Rommel.

Young Grace, 18 years old; mestiza; has a beautiful and gentle face; slim.

Girl at the Skating Rink, 15 years old; cute; Rommel somehow connects with her although he doesn’t know her; through her, Rommel musters the courage to stand up to his father.

Three siblings are now well settled with their respective families, in widely contrasting lifestyles. The one common thing that binds them loosely together is the love that their mother holds for all of them and her grandchildren, albeit expressed in varying ways and degrees, but always equally nurturing and self-giving. Much as they are held together by her, they are in turn separated by physical distance and the sad legacy left behind by their deceased, erstwhile strong-willed father.

Long suppressed pains and resentments unravel as the three siblings argue over the prospect of selling a vast track of land left behind by the patriarch. The process also brings to surface the hurts between parents and children, a likely spectacle of the “sins of the father visiting upon the children,” threatening to spill over to the third generation.

What stuff each one is made of faces its true test when the family matriarch, in an act richly resonant with ritual Christian self-offering, yields her whole being to the God of Providence and succumbs to a debilitating disease. Do her beloved children unite, or do the frayed relationships finally break up?

The family saga is a stark and poignant dramatization of provincial values vs. urban survival instincts precariously held in the balance by the abiding love, hope, and faith against the gnawing disease of the spirit brought by cynicism, materialism, and an unforgiving heart.

The most common error in writing dialogues is to load them with too much information

IMAGE SOUND

INFORMATION 70% 30%

EMOTION 30% 70%

Many a good film story is weakened by poor dialogue. One good way of getting it right is first to try to write the scene with no dialogue at all.

What is the purpose of the scene?

What do the characters want?

What actually happens?

Can this be shown through physical action, gesture, looks, props, setting?

Dialogue must be realistic and credible in its contextWhen characters speak, we should have the impression that these people speak in this way and no other

The dialogue should characterize the person who speaksThe way he expresses himself tells us a great deal about him

The dialogue must express the speaker’s moodThe way it is expressed is more important than the words spoken

The dialogue should characterize the person being spoken to or about If we see a person who is disdainful and insolent toward everybody but becomes cautious and respectful when a certain person appears, the newcomer does not need to say or do anything

The dialogue should move the action forward It should be a driving force in the drama

Dialogue should give information But the information should come naturally from the context and not be placed in the mouths of the characters

Dialogue should sound natural and not made up

But everyday speech is full of repetition and superfluity – it contains too many words and inessentials

Selection

Concentration

Compactness

Film dialogue simulates real speech but does not copy it It must also be based on oral rather than written forms Film dialogue is not grammatically correct

Gestures, exclamations and actions should take the place of the spoken word whenever possible

The intensity of the dialogue should reflect the intensity of the situationA less intense scene permits dialogue that is more discursive In a dramatically heightened situation, the dialogue is more compressed and spare

The lines should be written so that they say one thing at a time

Lines should be as short as possible

Any superfluous words should be dropped

DON’T “Yes, but surely one should consider people’s anxiety and fear as well.”

DO “People are scared. Should we ignore that?”

TV debate

Connecting words should be avoided

“and,” “because,” “although”

Words that reinforce have no place in dialogue

DO “I’m scared.”

DON’T “I’m very scared.”

TEXT SUB-TEXTand

wording of the dialogue,

conventional meaning of the

words

deeper veiled meaning, behind

the words

true intentions and goals of the characters

in the real – and often

unspoken – rapport between the

characters

Sub-text“I love you”

Text Text Text Text

Sub-text“I hate you”

Text“I love you”