Why Small Talk Matters
Chance Godwin
is helping businesses illustrate their big ideas with whiteboard animation.
When asked about writing character dialogue for a movie or a book, David Mamet says to focus on rhythm and musicality more than content.
Why does he downplay the content?
He says the function of dialogue in a story isn’t for the writer to explain things to the audience, it’s a tool for a character to get what they want from another character.
Well-written dialogue doesn’t speak directly about what’s really going on.
If a character says something like, “The weather has been gray for weeks,” they probably aren’t really talking about the weather.
We call this hidden message subtext.
Real-life conversations work the same way.
You may be comfortable speaking very directly - but that’s not necessarily true of the person you’re talking with.
You'll want to learn to recognize and use subtext if you want to move the conversation forward.
Even the information I’m sharing right now with you right now has subtext. Can you guess what it is?