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1
2WRITINGDIALOGUE

Well-
wr i
ttendial
oguesaremini
malis
tic,
preci
seandare
usuall
yqui ckbackandfort
hexchanges,andnotl
ong
speeches.

Dial
ogueshol dthepowert ogenerat
eanapplaus efrom t
he
audience.Dial
oguei sessenti
alt
opus hthenarr
at i
vealong,t
o
exposet hecharact
er’st
houghtpr ocessandt
oillustr
atetheaur
aof
thestory.

Cleverandwitt
ydialoguescanmaketheaudi
encel
augh,
anddi al
oguesthatarewritt
enwi
thdepthandemoti
on
canmaket heaudiencecr y.

Cinemai savi sualmedi um ofs toryt

ell
ing, wher emaxi mum
cont enti
nt henar rati
vei sconveyedvi sually.Thispracticeneedst o
bef oll
owedwhi l
ewr i
tingdi aloguesaswel l
,wher esomet hingthat
canbecommuni catedvi suallyt akespr ecedenceover
communi cationthr oughadi al ogue.Acommonmi staket hat
screenwr i
tersmakei sr ei
terationandr epetiti
onofdi aloguesi n
ordert oconveyapar ticularrat i
onaleormes sage.Thistakesaway
thedept hoft hefil mt hatcanbeachi evedt hr oughact ing,and
subs ti
tut
ingi twithdi alogues .

Unf ortunat ely,

thi
sisr arel
ycaughtear lyandonl yget snoticedafter
thes hoot ,whi l
ewat chingt hefil m ons creen. Thisismor elikel
yto
happenwhenas i
ngl eper sontakesont her ol
eoffil mmaker ,
screenwr i
teranddi aloguewr i
ter.KarthikSubbar ajisafilmmaker ,
whowr it
eshi sowndi alogues ,buthes tr
es sesthatt hi
sneednot
alwaysbet hecas e.Afil mmakercanmakeus eofadi aloguewr it
er,
whi chi sas eparat
er oleinvolvi
ngacr eativet houghtpr oces sin
i
tself.Kar t
hi kemphas i
sesthati ti
sbet tert odelegat ethewor k,orif
not, t
owor koneachoft her ol
eswi thindi vidualmi ndsets,phaseby
phas e.
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it
in
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ogu
e

Inordert
omakeyourdi aloguesr
eali
sti
c,takeinspi
rat
ionfrom
real
-l
if
esit
uat
ions.Eavesdroponconversati
onsinvari
oussett
ings
,
anddocumentt henatureofconvers
ati
on, theconver
sati
onal
rhyt
hmsandt hebodyl anguageofthesubj ect
s.

Wr i
tedi
aloguesthatgodeeperthanj ustthei
rli
ter
almeaning.
W henachar act
ersayssomethi
ng,lettheaudienceunderstand
somethi
ngel sethattheyhavenotsaid,butprobablyf
eel
.Thishel
ps
buil
dexcitementandt ens
ioninyournar r
ati
ve.

W hilewr
wi ti
ngdi aloguesf oreachchar acter,ensurethatyou
cons i
dert heirtraits,thei
rqui rks,theirper sonali
tyandt hei r
rel
ations hipswi thot herchar acters.Under s t
andyourchar acters
mot ivesandhow t heywoul dcommuni catewhatt heywant .
Remembert hateachchar act erinthes tor
ywoul dhaveadi ff
erent
wayoft alki
ng. Hence, t
hedi aloguest hatyouwr i
tefort hem s houl
d
reflectthei rstyleofenunci ationandbecr aftedtoincludet heir
voice,accentands lang.Thisr equiresadeepunder standi ngofyour
character swhi chwi l
laddreal is
mt oyourent ir
enarrative.

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ogu
e

Dial
oguewri
ti
ngisnotjus
taboutputti
ngdownt hewordsthatwil
l
comeoutoftheactor
’smout
h,butalsoaboutcommuni cati
ngto
theact
ori
nstr
ucti
onsonhow todel
iverthatpar
ticul
ardi
alogue.

Aft
eryoucompl etewr i
tingthedi aloguesf oryours cr
eenpl ay,
readit
outaloudint hewayyouhavevi sual isedyourchar acterspeaking.
Analysewhet herthisdialoguenat urallyblendsinwi ththeir
characterprofileandt hecur r
ents ituationateverypoi nt.Karthik
advicestoalwaysre-writeadr af
toft hes cr
eenplay,solel
yfocus ed
onthechar acterdial
ogues ,andtoneverfixat eont hedialogues
writ
teni nthefirstdraft.

wa
tch 0
1
thefol
lowi
ngmovi
est
hatar
eknownf
ort
hei
rdi
aloguest
ogai
n
bett
erinsi
ght
.

-Pul
pFict
ion(1
994)
Writ
tenbyQuenti
nTar
ant
ino

-Reservoi
rDogs(1
992)
Wri
ttenbyQuenti
nTarant
ino

Taranti
noisknownforwrit
ingepicfilm dialogues,
aswellasfor
creati
ngmoment st
hatdonotr equi
redialogues.
Thewor dshe
wr i
tesal
waysserveapurpose,
andt husli
veoni nthemindoft he
audienceandendupbei ngunf or
gettabl
e.

-AnnieHal
l(1
977)
Wri
ttenbyWoodyAll
enandMar
shal
lBr
ickman

Thesewri
tersbr
ingaboutaconver
sati
onalrhyt
hm thati
s
captur
edbeauti
full
yint
hecharact
ersdial
ogueexchangesand
speechpatt
erns.

-TheSocialNet
work(201
0)
Wri
ttenbyAaronSor
kin

Thisisanextremel yf
ast-
pacedfilm, withrespecttodial
ogue
writi
nganddel ivery.
Thereisatonofinformationbeingpassed
aroundint henar r
ati
ve,wit
hcharacterstal
kingfastand
achievi
ngqui ckresponses,t
hatkeepst heaudiencegluedtothe
screeninfearofmi ssi
ngoutonas inglecri
ti
calwor d.

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ogu
e

-Juno(2007)
Writ
tenbyDiabl
oCody

Codywr otethedial
oguesf ortheleadchar acterofthefilm,Juno,
thatdefinedherent i
r epersonal
ityandgaveherauni que
i
dentity.
Thedialogueswr i
ttenwer ecatchy,eccentri
cands o
dif
fer
entf r
om anythingelsewr i
ttenbeforethat ,
thatCody
managedt ocr
eateanew s ignaturestyl
ethr oughas ingl
efilm.

-Carnage(
2011)
Wri
ttenbyYas
mi naReza

-Vi
kr am Vedha(2017)
Wri
ttenbyK. Manikandan

-Kal
loori(
2007)
Wri
ttenbyBalaj
iSakt
hivel

-Panchat
anthi
ram (
2002)
Wri
ttenbyCr
azyMohan

a
nal
yse 0
2
Cri
ti
cal
lyanal
yseas criptandpinpointt
hedialoguesthatcould
berepl
acedwi t
hvi suals
,ordi
aloguesthatarerepeti
ti
veand
unnecess
ary.
Wr itedownyouri deaofhow thevisual
sshould
bedoneforthes cene.

l
is
t 0
3
Makeanot
eoft
hedialoguesi
nmoviest
hathavel
ivedoni
n
yourmi
ndandl
eftal
as t
ingi
mpactonyou.

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