Making a Film with Great Performances and Dialogue: Part I "How do I find a great script with g

INTRODUCTION

In our last two series about Making Great Film, we focused on the fundamentals of visual storytelling from how to use visuals to build suspense and connection with the audience. Now, we move into the world of the actor's performance, dialogue and sound.

Just a side note, I didn't cover dialogue and sound in the first two series because of three main reasons.

1. Capturing high quality sound is not easy. We'll go into this with this series but I believe that one should avoid dealing with this initially because you want to build up your skills with the camera's lens first. Then, think about the microphone and sound.

2. Also, I wanted you to build up your overall visual conceptualization skills first because it may seem obvious but film is a visual medium first. Unfortunately, a lot of new filmmakers forget this.

3. Finally, working with actors and dialogue is actually a lot harder than many new filmmakers think. When you have actors delivering bad dialogue poorly, this can sink your film.

And so we're going to go in depth with actors performances and dialogue and capturing that dialogue with great sound.

A GREAT EXAMPLE OF DIALOGUE AND PERFORMANCE

Before we go into the details of the project, I want to look at an example of great dialogue and performance on a contemporary classic film, Good Will Hunting. This film won two Oscars (Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor) and was nominated for five more Oscars. Despite being an amazing achievement for any film, it was particularly impressive because the screenwriters were first timers, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon who were only in their mid-20’s.

The story of this film is an impressive example of young artists working hard to create the best story and script they can and finding impressive collaborators to make that script into a great film. Ben and Matt were childhood friends who saw themselves as actors first but worked on this script together as a way to build their acting career and also just a fun way to build their friendship. The script tells the story of a young genius, Will Hunting who struggles to accept his gifts because he is haunted by a painful past. The screenplay is noteworthy because of how well the characters come alive with very astute visual details and brilliantly written dialogue.

On top of a great script, the film shows off impressive performances from Matt and Ben and it also includes an Oscar winning performance from Robin Williams. Their performances are so memorable because the actors fully commit to the emotional authenticity of their characters and their situations.

We are going to use this one scene (see below) from the film as an example of how dialogue and performance can create a very memorable experience for the audience. In this scene, Matt Damon’s character, Will has started a romantic relationship with a young Harvard student, Skylar played by Minnie Driver. Will has grown up in working class Boston while Skylar is from a wealthier background and in this scene, this class difference among other issues comes between them.

DON'T WRITE THE FIRST SCRIPT

So my first (strong) suggestion is not to write the script for this film project. Writing dialogue based scenes is not easy and I think in order to learn how to write great dialogue, you need to learn from professionals who have mastered the craft. So my suggestion is to find a great dialogue scene that you are able to shoot for this project. While you work with this script, you will begin to understand the format of screenplay writing, what great dialogue and scenes look like on the page and much more. So let's go find a great script.

BEFORE YOU FIND THAT SCRIPT, TAKE STOCK

Before you go and find one, I think you also need to take a moment to think about what available resources you have. Of course, you can find the screenplay for a high budget sci-fi film like The Matrix and try to do a scene from this movie. But do you have the budget, actors and locations for a scene from The Matrix? Maybe, maybe not. But I just warn you that if you pick a scene that you don't have budget, actors or locations for, then you may be disappointed.

I'll give you a very small example to illustrate this issue. I am a high school film teacher and I have my students use teen based scenes from movies like The Breakfast Club or Mean Girls or Good Will Hunting. The reason I use these type of films is that my teenage students can both relate to the roles as well as perform them well. There's nothing more frustrating for a new actor than to start acting as someone who is very far from their experience. My old high school teacher had us perform Tennessee Williams' Streetcar Named Desire and I really didn't have much in common with Stanley Kowalski, a middle aged abusive husband from the South. My chances of making this performance believable was close to nil. So I've learned to give scenes to my students so that they already have an advantage. They can play a teenager better than any middle aged adult and they understand these situations probably better than actors older than them. So you get a victory before you even start rehearsing.

As you look for the script, ask yourself these questions:

1. What actors do I have available for this film? What are their strengths? Weaknesses? What is their background?

2. What locations do I have available for this film?

3. What other resources do I have to make this film? I.e. do I have the money to buy the right props? Maybe to hire actors?

Now, that you have done an assessment of your resources, I believe it's time to go look for a script.

WHERE DO I FIND A GREAT SCRIPT?

Lucky for all of us, screenplays are pretty readily available. You can find most mainstream/famous movies' screenplays online for free.

Here are some great websites that I recommend:

On this website, www.scriptreaderpro.com via www.indiewire.com, they have done a nice job of compiling 50 free contemporary classic screenplays and categorized them into comedy, drama, action, thriller and horror. Click here.

From the people that bring you the Oscars, here are some screenplays that won the Nicholls award. The Nicholls is the most prestigious screenplay award and those who have won it usually go on to very illustrious careers as screenwriters. Click here.

New York Film Academy which is a film school that I've had students attend has done a very good job of compiling many of the screenplay websites. Check it out here.

FINAL WORDS

So good luck hunting for that great scene from a great script. Once you find that great scene, you’ll be ready for the next stage, pre-production. Next time, we’ll go into the major issues with pre-production on a film that focuses on dialogue and performance.