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Dialogue question...

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Nope, there is not... unless you decide there is. A scene shall contain the optimal amount, but that's not what you're asking. You're asking what the optimal is. The rule for these sort of things always tend to be 17%. That's just how it is.
 
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When you're telling a scene, it's not always about the lines. You can have a scene with none, just the connection of the character's. The only thing you need to think about is what you're trying to show the viewers in that scene.

Thanks,

Johnny McCaffery
 
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I like to start with a purely visual scene when writing, then add dialog to suit the needs of the script rather than adding the visual to the dialog... it forces me to stay sparse with my dialog.
 
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Yeah, I mean there isn't any set number for it. It's really just about what needs to be shown and said and how to balance the meaning out between the two. If it can be shown, show it. If you need to say something, say it. Just don't saturate it with one or the other. If you have no dialogue, you run the risk of making your movie unrealistic and even confusing, but if you use too much, then you bore the audience.
 
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Firm1 said:
Yeah, I mean there isn't any set number for it. It's really just about what needs to be shown and said and how to balance the meaning out between the two. If it can be shown, show it. If you need to say something, say it. Just don't saturate it with one or the other. If you have no dialogue, you run the risk of making your movie unrealistic and even confusing, but if you use too much, then you bore the audience.
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Yeah I agree with you. As a novice it is the right suggestion, However I read
the script of Lincoln the dialogues are very big . He is also showing two columns, that
is he is having two speakers , still I loved it
 
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When I look at a script for the first time, I flip open to a random page and scan for the ratio of action and dialog. If there's more than 50% dialog, it needs to be from someone I know for me to actually read any of it.

This revelation came after putting out a request for scripts to produce... I got hundreds of them. I started to notice that the unreadable ones that took for ever to get through had no action blocks in them describing the setting, the action or even descriptions of them... I went on to realize that the magic 50% balance throughout was a trait held in almost all of the readable scripts. Note that we're still not at good yet though -- that's story + storytelling + writing talent; which takes practice and lots of it. After that, I gave the script 5 pages to hook me or I'd put it down and move on to the next one.

It all starts with the script.
 
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knightly said:
When I look at a script for the first time, I flip open to a random page and scan for the ratio of action and dialog. If there's more than 50% dialog, it needs to be from someone I know for me to actually read any of it.

This revelation came after putting out a request for scripts to produce... I got hundreds of them. I started to notice that the unreadable ones that took for ever to get through had no action blocks in them describing the setting, the action or even descriptions of them... I went on to realize that the magic 50% balance throughout was a trait held in almost all of the readable scripts. Note that we're still not at good yet though -- that's story + storytelling + writing talent; which takes practice and lots of it. After that, I gave the script 5 pages to hook me or I'd put it down and move on to the next one.

It all starts with the script.
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Yeah, I learned pretty quickly that heavy dialogue can be just as ruinous as heavy and/or unnecessary voice over. I threw a lot of my own out until I got it right with the 50% rule.
 
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