Archive for the ‘film dialogue’ tag

12 Characteristics of Great Dialogue

William Goldman said, “Dialogue is among the least important part of a screenplay.”

Yep, he’s right. Character development and story structure are far more valuable elements of a script than dialogue. Film is visual. Of course, good dialogue is an essential element of a successful screenplay. But the best crafted and most witty dialogue won’t make a good film if the other components are missing. Great screenplays tell the story with as little dialogue as possible (unless you’re Quentin Tarantino), so each word of dialogue needs to be the best it can be.

Creating effective dialogue is challenging for many writers. But crafting good dialogue is a skill that can be mastered by anyone (it just takes some of us longer than others to get there.) The best way to learn is by analyzing good dialogue. View a few of your favorite well-written films, or better yet read the screenplays, and note what techniques the writers use to create compelling dialogue.

Here are 12 characteristics of great dialogue to get you started:

1. Fits the genre – thriller film dialogue is visceral and terse, dialogue in comedy scripts is witty and funny, and epic adventures contain language that is heroic and grand. “At my command, unleash hell” (Gladiator)

2. Fits the specific scene – for instance, if the scene is driven by conflict the dialogue presents opposing objectives.

3. Defines character – the way characters speak reveals their background, lifestyle, education, personality, values, and attitudes. Erin Brockovich: “They’re called boobs, Ed”

4. Reveals motivation – can provide a glimpse of why a character does what he does.

5. Demonstrates relationships – characters may speak differently to each character they come in contact with, revealing the relationship between the characters. A character may talk one way to his daughter, another way to his best buddy, and yet another way to his boss.

6. Foreshadows – hints at future events and reminds the reader what is at stake

7. Reflects emotions – showing how a character feels, rather than telling

8. Has emotional impact – evokes a response from the viewer, such as laughter, sadness, curiosity, tension, or anticipation.

9. Is active and serves a purpose – good scenes often involve one character trying to get something from another in an active and purposeful manner, for instance through seduction, force, confrontation, negotiation, coercion, warning, provocation, etc.

10. Sounds real – as if the characters were actually speaking (not to be confused with real life speech, which tends to be repetitive and contains unnecessary words)

11. Moves the action forward – besides serving a purpose for the character in the scene, good dialogue advances the overall plot of the story.

12. Is unpredictable – it’s interesting, witty, sharp and unexpected. Princess Leia: “I love you”, Han Solo: “I know.”

YOUR TURN: What other elements constitute great dialogue?