Dialogue is one of the most powerful tools in film production. It can reveal character, advance plot, create conflict, and establish mood. But how can you write dialogue that sets the perfect tone for your film? Here are some tips to help you craft effective and engaging dialogue that suits your genre, theme, and style.
Before you write any dialogue, you need to have a clear idea of what tone you want to achieve. Tone is the overall attitude or emotion that your film conveys to the audience. Is it serious, humorous, suspenseful, romantic, or something else? How do you want your audience to feel while watching your film? Your dialogue should reflect and reinforce your tone, not contradict or confuse it. For example, if you are making a horror film, you don't want your characters to crack jokes in the middle of a tense scene, unless you are deliberately going for a dark comedy effect.
When I'm writing dialogue, I try to step into the character(s)' shoes as much as possible. What are their internal and external conflicts and how would those affect me as a person sitting in the world of the script. By doing this I will be able to gain a grasp on the character's emotions and in what ways the world is changing them and their perspectives on the particular situation they're in. After that, I find that writing dialogue becomes very reactionary. What would I (you) say in this situation and then how would you or someone you're basing the character on respond to that. Use who and what you know. Nothing is more real and true than that.
Define your audience, who’s sitting in the cinema. Analyse what films you like and why, this will help you identify traits that you enjoy.
The more developed and unique (within the story's world) the characters are, the more they will reflect and reinforce the tone, and the less likely they are to contradict it. Doing this work prevents haphazardly assigning your own voice to characters and allows for dialogue to develop organically and in accordance with the story’s tone.
Subtext is what your characters mean, but don't say, in their dialogue. It is the hidden layer of meaning that adds depth and complexity to your dialogue. Subtext can be used to create tension, irony, mystery, or humor in your film. For example, if two characters are having a polite conversation, but they secretly hate each other, their dialogue will have a lot of subtext that reveals their true feelings and motives. To write subtext, you need to know your characters well, and what they want and need from each other. You also need to use words, gestures, pauses, and tone of voice to imply what is not said.
Subtext is always determined by a character's goals. Any line of dialogue can be profound, filled with pathos and essential. What determines whether it is a throw-away line is why the character says it. That "why" is subtext.
An inner monologue will add dimension to your character, which will enhance the curiously of your audience. A rich delivery can be reached when a character is speaking and thinking in different directions. We all have a subtext.
L'OBJECTIF d'un sous-texte est déterminé par un personnage. Le sous-texte est utilisé parfois pour capter l'attention pour en créer une question.
No two characters should sound the same in your film. Each character should have a distinct voice, personality, and background that influences their dialogue. You can use different factors, such as age, education, culture, occupation, mood, and relationship, to make your dialogue more diverse and realistic. For example, a teenager will speak differently from an elderly person, a lawyer will use different jargon from a mechanic, and a friend will use different slang from a stranger. You can also use dialogue to show how your characters change and grow throughout your film, by making them speak differently in different situations.
Everyone talks differently. Even people who seem to be synchronized in every way speak with inflection, cadence, and word choice that is unique to them. I have always ejoyed listening to real people talk to each other in both formal and informal situations. That's where you pick on on idiosynchrasies, turns of phrase colloquialisms that are unique to that person. This will give each character personality a your dialogue will feel authentic.
It is important to do your research on any chosen characters. When choosing your characters give each of them contrasting personalities. That would make it more interesting for an audience. Give your characters a higher & lower status. Make sure that your characters are interesting, where have they come from? Where do they live? How old are they? What job do they have? Give your characters clear objectives this will help drive your characters forward. All this would help your characters tones of voice, the way they speak and the way they carry themselves forward in their world.
Exposition is the information that you need to give to the audience to understand your film. However, too much exposition can make your dialogue boring, unnatural, and unrealistic. No one likes to listen to characters who explain everything in detail, or who repeat what the audience already knows. Instead of telling everything through dialogue, you should show it through action, visuals, or sound. For example, instead of having a character say "I'm angry with you", you can show them slamming the door, throwing something, or yelling. You can also use dialogue to hint at exposition, rather than state it directly, by using questions, conflicts, or emotions.
Never sacrifice your audience's understanding of the core elements of the story in the name of artistic subtlety. Sometimes, as much as we'd like to avoid it, some raw exposition is necessary to get across what the viewers need to know. And that's okay! But always consider the audience experience. Is there a way to dress up the scene to make it more fun? More exciting? More active? In "Game of Thrones", exposition is often stuck into a sexy bedroom scene. In "Mission: Impossible" it's a sleek self-destructing message inside a top-secret dossier. In "When Harry Met Sally", it's moving a boilerplate feelings monologue to the stands of an MLB game while the crowd does the wave. If it must be said, say it in style.
If you want to deliver exposition, take a page out of acting. One of the core principals of acting is “motive”. So give a motive to deliver the exposition. Maybe frame the exposition in an argument, or a heartwarming moment where a parent is showing something to their kid (as long as it applies to the core story or a moment of character development. It’s even better if you accomplish both). For an easy go-to, just have a character who knows less. In Sherlock Holmes, his assistant Watson is the person who asks for the explanations when we need it.
The best way to test your dialogue is to read it aloud, or better yet, have someone else read it for you. This will help you to hear how your dialogue sounds, and to spot any problems, such as awkward phrasing, unnatural speech, or unclear meaning. You can also use this technique to check the rhythm, pace, and flow of your dialogue, and to see if it matches your tone and mood. You can also record your dialogue and play it back, or use a screenwriting software that has a text-to-speech feature. Reading your dialogue aloud will help you to polish and refine it, and to make it more believable and engaging for your audience.
This is unbelievably important. Your reading brain is not the same as your listening brain. You absolutely must hear your dialogue aloud if you care about its qualify.
I think table reads very easily into script development can really help to shape the story and characters as it’s so different to have lines read out loud, finding where emphasis is drawn to.
I write a lot of what I know, which makes for a lot of wild and organic characters that I've come across in my life or that are still in my life. Whether that's me, a family member, an old friend, an ex, etc. I start with the story that I want to tell which usually hits close to home, as I write intending to raise awareness and explore certain topics I don't see heavily explored in cinema, and then see how those characters come to life.
Something else that’s very important to consider are the character conflicts and motives at that point in the dialogue. This, together with their connection to the other characters will define how and with what tone of voice a line of dialogue should be delivered.