Dialogue help

I'm working with some friends on a short film (extremely low budget with a couple camcorders and some decent homemade equipment.

We are always able to piece everything together pretty well minus the just dialogue scenes. I know most of this is because of our definite sub-pro acting skills, but what are some general/specific tips on making a better, more professional, less choppy dialogue scene?
 
Less choppy? You mean, make it flow?

From a film making perspective, using more than one camera always helps. You mentioned "a couple of camcorders", so I'm assuming you have two. Use those two to shoot the dialogue from different angles (most likely focused on each character). Refilm the scene several times form several angles, and try to keep the actors as consistent as possible. Never interrupt the shot. Then, you can use the audio from the best take (Use only one source of audio. Unless you are very good at sound editing, it's a lot easier to use just one track), and edit the film over it. If you don't think your actors can redo the same scene more than once, you're lucky you have two cameras. It'll look boring, but you can just keep alternating between the two shots. But once again, use one audio track to keep it simple.

From an acting perspective, it is very hard to make a performance... human. If you meant "choppy" in terms PERFORMANCES, then you many need to coach your actors. This confuses people when I say it, but your actors should not look like actors. They should not look like machines that regurgitate memorized lines. They should be their characters. I have a bit of theater experience, so I'm not talking out of my ass right now. When you are on set, your actors are no longer actors. They have to BECOME their roles. Even when you're not shooting, you should encourage them to act, talk, walk like the characters. This has helped me portray a lot of characters I was otherwise unable to. Also, people generally react to lines. Even if one of your actors delivered a line perfectly, unless the other actor reacts (realistically), the dialogue becomes "choppy", and sounds like line regurgitation. Dialogue should flow.

However, beyond all of these points, the MOST important element in dialogue, is the dialogue itself. You can have DeNiro reading your lines, but if the writing is poor to begin with, there is nothing he could do to save the scene. I took a Creative Writing class last year, and while I met some very talented writers, about 90% of my class had problems with writing believable dialogue. The best thing to do is to give your script to a fellow writer for review (English majors don't count!) If you don't have access to one, try to get as much input from as many friends as possible. Rewrite the dialogue as many times as it takes. Listen to how people talk in real life. Mimick the interruptions, the pauses, the language, etc.

My instructor taught me (in my opinion) the most important writing term. Verisimilitude. I had never heard this word before I took the class. After learning what it meant, I was surprised how one word can have so much impact on my writing. Verisimilitude is basically a likeness of truth and reality. Lack of verisimilitude, is thus lack of realism (crudely). This concerns every aspect of your writing. The dialogue, the scenes, the story itself. That doesn't mean you can't write a fantasy script with verisimilitude. It just means that whatever universe you may create has to have an internal consistency that has roots in reality.

If you can be more specific about what you'd like to know, I can get more specific too. Nevertheless, hope this helped.
 
Thanks a lot VladCant. A lot of the time, due to the inexperienced actors, I end up feeding them singles and having them say them in respnse to something I say off camera. This is definately time a frustration efficient, but doesn't exactly yield great results.

I will definately try filming a dialogue scene multiple times. Do you suggest mixing the different takes or simply going with the best one? It seems like with mixing there could be some problems with audio matching up with video if I'm only using one track.

One thing that I think will probably help with this is getting a pretty decent shotgun mic to have the same audio from wherever, and from whatever camera I am shooting. Do you have any suggestions for good shotgun mics in the $0 - $300 range?

Also with the writing bit. I appreciate your suggestions and will definately take them into consideration, but I think that I am somewhat doomed to have sub-par writing at least for now, as the only ones doing it are my friends and I (none of whom have much real experience at all). I think the best thing for me is to get as much feedback as possible to make it seem as believable as possible.

It is somewhat the same situation for acting where I'm going to have to work with what I've got, but I will try to pass on some of your wisdom to try and make the scenes flow better.

Thanks again for the help.
 
I'm not sure how others do this, and you can take this with a grain of salt (as I haven't gone to filmschool), but having one track is very beneficial to the ease of editing. If you cannot get your actors to redo the scene consistently, then use the audio track from the shots of their faces. That way, any angle changes won't have an impact on the syncing, because you do not see the mouth of the actor. Also, cutaways are VERY important. When on set, film as many cutaways as possible. Film a painting in the room, or the vase on at able. The window, or the scenery outside. These cutaways can be used in places where your video and audio aren't perfectly in sync. They can also be used to patch up awkward transitions, and continuity errors.

I just ordered this microphone:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._AT897_Shotgun_Microphone.html#specifications

It fits your budget. The reviews say it's more than worth the money too.

http://www.pana3ccduser.com/article.php?filename=Review-of-the-Audio-Technica-AT897-Short-Shotgun-M

As for acting, this will be a bit harder to accomplish. If you have friends as your actors, they are probably not all that dedicated to their roles. It's almost impossible to get a good performance out of someone who doesn't take it seriously. You can tell your actors what they should do, and how they should do it a million times, but unless they see it themselves, they won't be able to do it.

In the very first short I made (sadly, never completed), my actors were the biggest of my worries. My lead was my best friend, and I couldn't get him to pick up a cup convincingly. I joke you not. I still have all of our takes (about 20) on tape. Later, I realized why that was. He didn't know who his character was. My actor was, for the lack of a better word, a machine. He only memorized the lines, but never bothered to read the script to understand the context. How could he possibly be his character if he doesn't know who his character is? So, when you are coaching your actors, try to provide them with as much background as possible. Let them know who they are portraying. If they are committed enough, they just might become their characters. And speaking of memorizing lines, THIS IS A MUST! Don't get your actors the script a day before shooting. It won't help. If your actors don't have their lines perfectly memorized, they will be thinking about the lines, rather than improving their performance. Obviously, film is not like theater, where you can rehearse for 3 months before putting on a show. This makes memorization all the more important. Give your actors their scripts several weeks in advance. Visit them from time to time, and run lines with them. Make sure they CAN regurgitate lines without thought (rehearsing is the only time you want to see regurgitation). And finally, when it comes to shooting, do not stop a shot if the actors deviate slightly from the lines. In my experience, many of these shots turn out more natural.

How do you get your actors to be committed? Well, I made a lot of mistakes my first few times. Frankly, I was a dick to my actors. I got very angry and frustrated (how hard is it to pick up a fucking cup?!). I yelled at some of my actors, and I was extremely bossy. I guess I was just angry that no one was taking it as seriously as I was. Do not make these mistakes. Make the set as hospitable as you humanly could. I'm guessing you are in the realm of no-budget shorts (like I am). If that is the case, you probably can't afford to buy them 6 pizzas every time you are shooting. A cheaper alternative, is several dozen donuts. Go to your local donut place, and buy 20 bucks worth of donuts. At my local Tim Horton's, that equals almost 6 dozen donuts. Make sure your cast and crew have something to drink as well. You can get 24 bottles of water for no more than 5 bucks at some grocery stores. 2 cases like this will do you good. Left over water bottles can be used for the next shoot! When your actors start to have fun, and don't have to worry about being hungry, or thirsty etc., you will see a huge improvement in their performances.

Swan, never say that you are doomed by poor writing! The fact that you are trying to improve shows me a great deal. Keep writing! Keep getting your friends to review your scripts. Maybe get someone on this forum to help out. You will make improvements with every script you write!

Glad I could help!
 
Oh, and another suggestion. Don't do everything yourself! A director does not have to be the camera man, the lighting crew, the assistant director (I'll get to that in a bit), the sound crew etc. The fewer tasks you have, the easier it will be focus on the most important part - the direction. I'm sure many of your friends get upset when you don't cast them as the character they wanted. Get them doing something productive. Assign them the role of "assistant director". They can do everything from helping you to direct, to creating a schedule, to making sure everything is on schedule etc. They can be there to relieve you of much of your stress and anxiety on set.
 
Thanks a lot for taking the time VladCant.

One thing that my friends and I have been arguing a little about is how "real life" a script ought to be. For example, if someone alks into a room to ask another character about something should he say hello in some way or should he get straight to the point. This has always been a problem balancing "real life" and "movie life."
 
Dialogue is one of the hardest parts to get right. Even professionals don't always get right, but there is a definite craft to getting natural and memorable dialogue.

First, you might want to study up on film acting techniques. Acting on film is unique in that the camera allows for very personal performances. The camera is right up in your face, the audience can see every facial quirk.

Did you know that people can tell an insincere smile and a real one? If you are smiling, because you know it's appropriate to smile, you actually use different muscles then when you smile spontaneously. People unconsciously pick up on this, just like any other feeling you try portray. When they watch your movie, they will be experts in picking up insincere performances.

So that's why it's important that when your actors act, they ignore the camera and focus on the circumstances, the other actor, and whatever action verbs you have given him. They say that the key to acting is how well you can let go and let yourself be viewed without being at all concerned about what you look like to the camera. As soon as you are aware of the camera, the audience will see through your performance just as easily as they see through your polite smile.

You cannot direct in terms of adjectives and your actors cannot act in terms of adjectives. As soon as she acts sad on camera, she's trying to seem sad. She is thinking of how the camera sees her, hopefully as sad. Instead of telling her to act sad, tell her to guilt trip the other person with her line. Maybe she begs. Thinking of lines in terms of intent and action verbs, it will give her something very specific to do.

One of the most important parts of dialogue are the beats. A whole book can be written on beats, and there are many out there. Scenes are structured and can be broken up into groups. I need a specific example to really explain it well, but basically each beat is a group of lines where one character tries to achieve something.

Say you have a scene where a woman wants her husband to leave the room but he won't budge. At first she asks him to leave. Then she demands him to leave. He still doesn't budge. She then begs him to leave. First, notice how I described the scene with verbs. The beat has a specific progression; you don't even need lines, you could improv this section and come out with a natural impromptu performance. Throughout this section the wife has a goal: get the husband out.

After she begs, lets say the husband accuses the wife of stealing money. The wife lies to her husband. Her husband lectures her on lying, and then quietly accuses her of stealing again. The wife defends herself, and the husband explodes threatening with the back of his hand. If this is a continuation of the same scene, it is not a continuation of the beat from before; the beat has changed, the scene has shifted. The wife no longer has the same goal, she now wants to avoid the husband's wrath. The husband now wants to get her wife to apologize, to break down.

If all else fails, tell your actors to listen to each other. Not just watch the other actor deliver the lines, but try to determine what the other actor means, his intentions. Study his performance for hints of his goals. Focus on the other actor and you won't focus on your performance and the camera.

As you can tell, A LOT of work goes into directing and acting and there are plenty more to it than what I've just describe. There are plenty of resources online, if you want to direct you should start researching as much as you can.

EDIT: Also, yeah filming from multiple angles is real important. Shoot the entire scene without breaking in each shot. First get a wide shot of the scene. Then get a medium shot of each character and run through the entire scene. Then close up of each character and run through the scene. It is actually not hard at all to cut between the angles and you will want to. You can make characters interrupt each other, you can change the whole flow of dialogue, you can (and should) be piecing together the best performances. You can even piece together lines; oftentimes I'll have a character start a line, and then you can cut to a reaction of a the other character and use the audio of a different take. Since the camera is on the other guy it can cover up any editing that you do. Not that editing audio is easy, but once you start learning it quickly becomes very powerful.
 
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Thanks a lot for taking the time VladCant.

One thing that my friends and I have been arguing a little about is how "real life" a script ought to be. For example, if someone alks into a room to ask another character about something should he say hello in some way or should he get straight to the point. This has always been a problem balancing "real life" and "movie life."

I think the only time you should deviate from "real life" in terms of script writing, is when it is absolutely necessary. Say, you want to provide some background information about the history of a character, but don't want to use a flash back. Maybe you can work that history into a conversation with another character. Maybe one of the characters could be reminiscing. "Remember that time I..." sort of thing. In real life, people probably won't go into monologues reminiscing about their distant past, but if you have no other option, sometimes you have to deviate from "real life" a bit. However, like i said, verisimilitude is extremely important when writing a script. If there IS another, more believable way you can introduce the background history, then use it!

For your example, it really depends. What kind of character is he? Would he say, "Hello, there," every time he entered a room? Is the character the type of character that gets straight to the point? Whichever it may be, you have to have consistency. It wouldn't make sense for a concise character not to get straight to the point. This is ofcourse, very situational. If there is a reason for a concise character not to be concise, it is acceptable. Once again, it brings us back to internal consistency. When writing characters, you should always consider personality traits, the character's history, etc. Then, when you are writing your script, you should have a lot of, "No wait... This character wouldn't say/do that", moments. If you are having these moments, you have done a good job of constructing a consistent character.

Writing your characters is an important part of the overall project. If you do not have clearly defined characters, it is impossible to have consistency. I'm sure I'm going to get shunned for using this as an example, but look at Friends. Each character is a sort of... Archetype. Ross is the geeky romantic, Chandler is the insecure joker, Monica is the OCD mom-type, Joey is the stupid Italian who gets by on his looks, Rachel is the spoiled rich girl, and Phoebe is the superstitious occultist. These characters are VERY clearly defined, and their dialogue and actions clearly represent their characteristics. I'm not saying that your characters should represent some kind of archetype, but looking at them in the WAYS of an archetype makes it easier to write their roles. The more complex a character becomes, the harder it is to write them (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

I'm going to write a short character outline, and try to use it in your example. Bob is a 23 year old construction worker. He still lives with his parents, and is somewhat of a mama's boy. He was never really popular in highschool, and preferred to be with his family and few close friends. Recently, his mother has been diagnosed with a rare disease, treatment for which is very expensive. Given that it is winter, construction has slowed almost to a halt, and Bob is out work. A combination of a worry for his mother's health, and the lack of income, has made Bob exhibit signs of high stress. There is not much time left for his dear mother, and Bob needs a way to make some money quickly. At the start our story, Bob seeks out his best friend Frank for advice.

Bob enters a dimly lit room. In the middle of the room sits Frank, watching Wheel of Fortune on a tiny television set.

How would this conversation start?

"Hey Man! I haven't seen you in like a year What have you been up to? How's law school treating you?"

"Hey! Yeah wow, it really has been like a year. Shit, best friends should see each other more often! Law school's been okay. Although, I have completely forgotten the meaning of a 'good night's sleep'. How are you? Still dating Jenny?"

etc.

OR

"Fuck man, I need some money."

"What's wrong...?"

"My mom. She's really sick man. I'm fucking broke. I need to make some money. Quick."

Of course, it would depend on the relationship of the characters. If they are best friends, a glorified "catch-up" session would probably be outweighed by the importance of the health of Bob's mother. Bob would get straight to the point, knowing that Frank would understand. However, if the characters barely knew each other, Bob might need to ease himself in in order to ask for Frank's help. In either case, consistency, consistency, consistency!

I would also suggest writing characters that are unlike yourself. You don't want to turn script writing into a glorified "What would I do?" game, especially when we are often not completely honest about ourselves.

Sorry for the lengthy and unorganized post. I was just writing things as they came to mind.
 
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Thanks a lot guys. (And don't worry about the unorganized post).

I've got a shoot coming up that is a pretty important scene in which the main character (who is suffering from some sort of memory loss following the traumatic death of his friend - sounds a little cliche but it works) comes back to the home of a rougher character (who the dead friend got mixed up with) and is trying to piece together what has happened. It's going to be a mix of flashback and real time in which the main character has some things come back to him. The scene ends up with a sort of scuffle between the two after which the main character truly realizes what has happened.

We've got it pretty much written, but if you have any suggestions on mood/tone of dialogue, action, angles, etc. they would be greatly appreciated. This scene has got to be pretty good as it is largely the climax/turing point of the story, setting of the real time/flashback jumbled, emotional ending.

Thanks again!
 
Thanks a lot guys. (And don't worry about the unorganized post).

I've got a shoot coming up that is a pretty important scene in which the main character (who is suffering from some sort of memory loss following the traumatic death of his friend - sounds a little cliche but it works) comes back to the home of a rougher character (who the dead friend got mixed up with) and is trying to piece together what has happened. It's going to be a mix of flashback and real time in which the main character has some things come back to him. The scene ends up with a sort of scuffle between the two after which the main character truly realizes what has happened.

We've got it pretty much written, but if you have any suggestions on mood/tone of dialogue, action, angles, etc. they would be greatly appreciated. This scene has got to be pretty good as it is largely the climax/turing point of the story, setting of the real time/flashback jumbled, emotional ending.

Thanks again!

Sounds like a fun scene! I really can't make any suggestions, because I don't know enough about the mood/tone of the film. There are more things to take into consideration too!

This may feel a little overwhelming for you (it always does!), but give it your best, and you will pull through. Even if I knew more about the story, I'd encourage you to experiment by yourself. Each person adheres to a different style. Each person prefers a specific aesthetic. But point still stands, you know your film better than anyone else. The stakes are not that high yet, and I find that experimentation is the best way to learn. You just need need a vision in your head. If you need help figuring out how to accomplish your vision, I'd be glad to give you some advice. But building the vision is all up to you!

Any time my friend! I wish you luck!
 
This is somewhat of a random question that you might not know anything about, but I was wondering how important orignal music is.

The films we're making are for student film festivals and stuff. Is it a lot better to have original music or is it okay to use other songs/soundtracks from other people? (citing them in the credits of course.) Also is it worth it, as the music that i could get original would obviously be nowhere near anything i could get from a soundtrack.
 
This is somewhat of a random question that you might not know anything about, but I was wondering how important orignal music is.

The films we're making are for student film festivals and stuff. Is it a lot better to have original music or is it okay to use other songs/soundtracks from other people? (citing them in the credits of course.) Also is it worth it, as the music that i could get original would obviously be nowhere near anything i could get from a soundtrack.

Personally, I would stick with original work.

Just citing a piece of music in your credits does not give you the right to use it in your films. Copyrights are a very tricky subject. Either way, I'm pretty sure that it's illegal to use copyrighted material like that without the permission of the copyright holder.

I'm no master composer, and neither do I have any good recording equipment (unless a shotgun mic counts), but if you get desperate, I can write you a few tunes :P I haven't completed any shorts with my own music, but I'm currently writing a score for a my next project.
 
Yeah i've got a friend who is interested in giving the music thing a try.

VladCant, I was wondering if you have any of your work online that I could take a look at, because you've been so helpful it would be cool to see what you have done.
 
Yeah i've got a friend who is interested in giving the music thing a try.

VladCant, I was wondering if you have any of your work online that I could take a look at, because you've been so helpful it would be cool to see what you have done.

I haven't uploaded any of my films online :)

Like you, I'm also "starting out". I've made 2 or 3 actual short films. I've done other projects as well, but I don't really count them. Either way, all three were disasters :) Which is why I have at least some advice to give.

I'm currently in pre-production for another short. I'm trying to have it done before the new year. I'll link you when I can! :)

I'm not quite sure how good this one'll be either. I don't know anyone with any cinematography experience, so I'm all I got. With that said, when I finish it, I hope people on this forum can give me some crits :)
 
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