Best And Easiest Way To Write Great Dialogue - Jill Chamberlain
Summary
TLDRDans ce script, Jill Chamberlain, consultant de scénarios et auteure, souligne que l'écriture de dialogues repose sur l'intention des personnages. Les personnages cherchent constamment à obtenir ce qu'ils ne possèdent pas, ce qui engendre le conflit essentiel au drame. Elle conseille de se concentrer sur ce que chaque personnage souhaite de l'autre, en étant conscient de leurs intentions cachées ou 'sous-texte'. Les acteurs, qui apprennent à jouer des intentions, sont naturellement doués pour l'écriture de dialogues. Enfin, elle recommande d'écrire des dialogues succincts et naturels, évitant la répétition et l'excès de verbiage.
Takeaways
- 📝 L'essence de l'écriture de dialogues est de se concentrer sur les intentions des personnages, qui sont le moteur des conflits dramatiques.
- 🎭 Les personnages, y compris ceux qui ne sont pas les protagonistes, doivent avoir leurs propres désirs et aspirations, pas seulement des rôles secondaires.
- 🎨 L'écriture de dialogues implique souvent de révéler les intentions des personnages indirectement, via le sous-texte plutôt que de les exprimer directement.
- 🌟 Les acteurs sont souvent naturels dans l'écriture de dialogues, car ils apprennent à jouer des intentions plutôt que de simplement prononcer des lignes.
- 🗣️ Les dialogues doivent ressembler à la manière dont les gens parlent réellement, mais en une version plus concise et rapide.
- 💬 Il est important de varier le langage et les choix de mots des personnages pour qu'ils soient distincts et représentatifs de leur personnalité.
- 📉 Éviter les dialogues trop longs ou répétitifs, qui peuvent alourdir la lecture et perdre l'intérêt du lecteur.
- 🚫 Ne pas tomber dans le piège de l'exposition forcée, où les personnages semblent simplement fournir des informations au lieu de révéler leur intention.
- 👥 Les dialogues doivent permettre aux personnages de révéler leurs intentions de manière naturelle, même dans des scènes qui semblent être de simples échanges d'informations.
- 📚 Les dialogues doivent être écrits avec une grammaire naturelle, même si ce n'est pas toujours parfaitement correcte, pour refléter la réalité de la parole.
- 🎬 L'illusion de la conversation réelle est cruciale; les dialogues doivent donner l'impression d'une interaction fluide et rapide, plutôt que de longues dissertations.
Q & A
Quelle est la clé principale de l'écriture de dialogues selon Jill Chamberlain?
-La clé principale de l'écriture de dialogues est que le dialogue est basé sur l'intention. Les personnages dans les histoires veulent constamment quelque chose d'autre que ce qu'ils reçoivent, ce qui produit le conflit.
Pourquoi les personnages ont-ils besoin d'intentions dans leurs dialogues?
-Les intentions sont nécessaires car elles sont à l'origine des conflits dramatiques. Les personnages ne reçoivent pas toujours ce qu'ils veulent, et cela crée la tension et le développement de l'histoire.
Comment les acteurs apprennent-ils à écrire des dialogues?
-Les acteurs apprennent à écrire des dialogues en se concentrant sur leurs intentions plutôt que sur les lignes elles-mêmes. Ils cherchent à comprendre ce que leur personnage veut vraiment dire derrière les mots qu'ils prononcent.
Quel est l'exemple de scène donné par Jill Chamberlain pour illustrer l'intention derrière les dialogues?
-L'exemple donné est une scène du film 'August: Osage County' où le personnage de Julia Roberts exige que sa mère mange du poisson, mais en réalité, son intention est de distraire tout le monde pour empêcher sa sœur de révéler un secret.
Pourquoi les dialogues doivent-ils être une version succincte de la conversation réelle?
-Les dialogues doivent être succincts car ils sont une illusion de la façon dont les gens parlent vraiment. Un dialogue trop long et surchargé peut alourdir la narration et perdre les lecteurs ou le public.
Quels sont les autres éléments à considérer lors de l'écriture de dialogues?
-Il faut également tenir compte de la grammaire, des contractions et du vocabulaire distinctif des personnages, qui peuvent varier en fonction de leur classe sociale, de leur région ou de leur éducation.
Quelle est la différence entre ce que les personnages disent et leur intention derrière les mots?
-La différence est que les mots sont la surface du dialogue, tandis que l'intention est le sous-texte, ce que le personnage souhaite vraiment dire ou accomplir avec ses paroles.
Pourquoi est-il important de ne pas répéter les mêmes points dans les dialogues?
-Il est important d'éviter la répétition car elle peut rendre le dialogue ennuyeux et pénible à suivre. Chaque point devrait être exprimé une fois et puis le dialogue devrait passer à autre chose.
Quel conseil Jill Chamberlain donne-t-elle pour améliorer l'écriture de dialogues?
-Elle suggère de prendre une classe d'acteur si quelqu'un a encore des difficultés avec les dialogues, car cela aide à penser en termes d'intentions et à mieux comprendre la nature des personnages.
Comment les intentions peuvent-elles aider à masquer l'exposition dans les dialogues?
-Les intentions peuvent aider à masquer l'exposition en donnant aux personnages des objectifs forts et spécifiques qui les poussent à parler, ce qui fait que l'information importante est révélée naturellement au cours de leur interaction.
Quel est l'effet d'un dialogue qui semble être écrit pour gonfler le nombre de pages?
-Un dialogue qui semble être écrit pour gonfler le nombre de pages peut donner l'impression de répétition et d'ennui, car les personnages peuvent avoir le même débat ou faire les mêmes points à plusieurs reprises.
Outlines
📝 L'écriture de dialogues axée sur l'intention
Dans le premier paragraphe, Jill Chamberlain, consultante script/auteure, souligne que l'écriture de dialogues repose sur l'intention des personnages. Chaque personnage a des désirs non satisfaits qui créent le conflit essentiel au théâtre. Les dialogues doivent donc se concentrer sur ce que chaque personnage souhaite d'un autre. Même les personnages secondaires doivent avoir leurs propres intentions. L'enseignement de l'intention est crucial dans les cours d'acteur, où l'on apprend à jouer un rôle en exprimant une intention plutôt que de simuler une émotion. Les exemples de dialogues, comme celui de 'August: Osage County', illustrent comment les intentions peuvent être différentes des paroles prononcées, soulignant l'importance du sous-texte.
🎭 L'importance des intentions dans les dialogues
Le deuxième paragraphe insiste sur la nécessité de donner des intentions spécifiques aux personnages pour que les scènes se déroulent naturellement. Les intentions doivent être claires et précises, comme 'j'aimerais que cette personne m'écoute maintenant'. L'auteure mentionne que l'écriture de dialogues sans intentions est facile à repérer et peut être ennuyeuse pour le lecteur. Les dialogues doivent être un reflet succinct de la conversation réelle, en évitant les répétitions et en respectant les différences de langage et de dialectes. L'exposition doit être dissimulée derrière des intentions fortes pour éviter l'apparence de simple explication.
🎬 La concision et la réalité dans l'écriture de dialogues
Dans le troisième paragraphe, l'accent est mis sur la brièveté et la réalité dans l'écriture des dialogues. Les dialogues doivent imiter la conversation quotidienne tout en étant plus concises. Il est important de ne pas surcharger les pages avec des répétitions de points de vue, mais de faire avancer l'histoire par le biais d'intentions claires et de dialogues courts. L'exemple de Hitchcock dans 'Marnie' démontre comment la concision peut être atteinte en éliminant les scènes inutiles et en se concentrant sur les éléments essentiels pour faire avancer l'histoire.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡dialogue
💡intention
💡conflict
💡subtexte
💡personnages
💡acteurs
💡motivation
💡exposition
💡grammaticalement correct
💡contractions
💡vocabulaire distinctif
💡succinct
Highlights
The key to writing dialogue is focusing on character intentions and the conflicts that arise from unmet desires.
All characters, not just the protagonist, should have their own intentions and desires within the story.
Subtext is crucial in dialogue; what characters say may not directly express their intentions.
Actors are often good at writing dialogue because they focus on playing intentions rather than just lines.
The scene from 'August: Osage County' demonstrates the difference between what characters say and their true intentions.
Dialogue should reflect the way people talk but in a more succinct form, avoiding excessive verbiage.
Grammatical correctness can vary in dialogue, even among well-educated characters.
Characters should have distinct vocabulary and word choices that reflect their individuality.
Writing dialogue without clear intentions can result in characters sounding alike and lacking depth.
Establishing specific intentions for characters makes dialogue writing easier and more natural.
Exposition should be handled carefully, with characters having strong intentions to avoid it feeling forced.
Dialogue should be brief and to the point, avoiding repetition and unnecessary elaboration.
Overwritten dialogue can quickly lose the reader's interest, so it should be kept concise.
An example from Hitchcock's 'Marnie' illustrates the importance of cutting unnecessary scenes to maintain pace.
Dialogue should give the illusion of natural conversation but in a more streamlined and efficient manner.
Writers can benefit from taking acting classes to better understand character intentions and dialogue.
Transcripts
Film Courage: Are there some simple tips you can give us for writing dialogue?
Jill Chamberlain, Script Consultant/Author/Writer: Yes, the most important key to writing dialogue is
that dialogue is about intention it's about characters in stories want things all the
time from the other characters that they're not getting all of the characters that's what produces
conflict right everyone knows conflict is kind of a necessity of drama the reason there's conflict
is because we don't have the things that we want and so the best and easiest way to write dialogue
is to focus in on what your character wants from the other character and all of the characters have
these intentions it's not just your protagonist I tend to know my protagonist intentions pretty
naturally because I have a strong sense of the character and I don't really have to think
about it too consciously when I write a scene immediately she'll have a a strong intention I
don't have to be conscious I will have to often be conscious about the other characters because
they're not there just to serve your protagonist or your needs for the protagonist right they also
have to have things they want that they don't have and that's the key that is the that is the
the simplest strongest way to write dialogue is to be aware of that is that characters are
don't have things that they want and sometimes they talk about it directly sometimes they don't
talk about it directly right but the the words that they're coming out of their mouth are not
necessarily related to their want I mean they may not say it directly but the underlying message is
that that's subtext basically right sub subtext is what the characters mean by the dialogue as
opposed to what they say so there's this great scene I love to use my classes in August:
Osage County in the climax of August: Osage County I'm not going to be able to quote it because it
is all filled with swearing and that's one of the reasons I pick the scene it's kind of fun
when I do it in my classes and it where but the Julia Roberts character is she's demanding that
her mother eat the fish that was brought for her at lunch and we go through the scene and I ask
my my students what were each of the characters intentions and sometimes most of the people most
of the time they don't but sometimes people say Julie Robert's intention is for her mother to
eat the fish and I'm like that is absolutely not her intention she doesn't care whether
her mother eats the fish those are the words she are saying that's not the intention the intention
has nothing to do with that right the intention is her intention is to distract everyone and in
order to stop her sister's about to reveal this big secret and she's trying to stop it so she's
just kind of swearing at people and yelling at people in order to keep people from doing this
so her intention is to get everyone is to prevent this truth from coming out but her words are eat
the fish but with a bunch of f bombs in it so it's just a great example that the what we say is not
the same thing as as the meaning and I find by the way that actors are Naturals or tend to be
at writing dialogue because that's the first thing they learn in acting class is basically right is
that we're not acting the lines you're playing an intention they they're they will study the lines
written by writers and they're going to be trying to figure out what is my intention right it's
like that old cliche scene you've seen where the Hollywood actress says to the director what's my
motivation that's what we mean by intention what is it I want what do I want from the character
that's what the actors is playing they're not playing sadness right that leads to bad acting
they play I'm angry and I want this person to listen to me right that's that's the intention
behind whatever the dialogue is and so actors tend to be just they tend to be more Naturals at
dialogue for that reason and in fact I've told people if beyond what I teach them if they're
still having a hard time with dialogue that take an acting class and I've had some people do that
and end up going into acting because it's just a great way to get you thinking about intentions
and there are other factors we want to keep in mind you want to write the way dialogue that
sounds like how we talk which is different than how we write so there are other things to keep
in mind keep that for example we're not always grammatically correct even people who are very
well educated are not 100% grammatically correct all the time time that people generally are going
to use contractions even people who think they're very proper and think they never use contractions
use contractions some of the time that they're going to have distinct vocabulary kind of word
choices that they like little things like that but honestly those are all second i' I've read scripts
all the time where all the characters sound alike that can be a problem but sometimes if they're all
coming from the same kind of social class it's not terribly surprising but what you can't get away
with is writing dialogue without intentions and the thing is it makes it so easy to write that's
the good news you just ask yourself what are what are my character's intention this character and
I like I said I like to phrase it in terms of what does the one character want from the other
character and it should be specific like I'm not a fan of lucy-goosey and they want respect no I want
this person to listen to me right now right right so real specific int intentions and the beauty of
that is the scenes right themselves if I just establish okay this is mine this character's
intention that character's intention I'm just transcribing I just hear the characters argue with
each other it makes it really easy to write once that it's particularly a requirement if there's
any if you have a lot of exposition because if you don't have intentions we know that it's just about
Exposition like there should never be a scene there just because you want us to know something
now that said you're probably going to have some scenes every now and then that are there
just because you want us to know something but you got to hide that you got to hide that by the fact
that people have really strong intentions and so I'm not noticing it doesn't wreak of exposition to
me because the characters are have very forceful things that they want from each other and so the
exposition comes by out like as a little byproduct of what they're saying and so it feels natural if
you don't have intentions and people are talking in Exposition then we immediately will it'll wreak
of that and it'll particularly a writer will notice even non-writers notice is like this is
really boring why are these people just telling me a bunch of stuff but if you have intentions
we're not going to notice that or we're not going to notice it as much so if it's a restaurant scene
let's say and someone's saying that their their intention is they're worried about a
family member they say I'm worried about your sister but instead of saying that on the- nose
dialogue maybe yeah I think I'm going to have the salad how's Jen exactly okay exactly right
eat the fish right exactly there you go yeah yeah so the words that are coming out of the mouth are
not the same thing as the intention and sometimes characters are on the nose more and sometimes they
talk all in subtext more often it's a bit of a mix you're going to have different moments of that but
yeah what's important is the intention not not the words sure and going back to sort of the formality
of the of the writing even like you said the most educated of someone might say cuz w got
y'all there's just different things forget about it just different dialects and and regions and so
yeah there are things that I would never put in a formal email that I'll say you know how you doing
I'm I'm doing good right that's not grammatically correct but that's the thing I'll say I'm not I
probably wouldn't put that in an email so just to be mindful of that and I one last thing I'll
say about dialogue 2 is it's the illusion of how people really talk it should be a very succinct
version of it you lose readers very quickly with overwritten dialogue dialogue should go at a
pretty fast pace there going to be exceptions you might have a people make a speech every now and
then but most of the time it's couple of lines Max back and forth you want to trim everything you can
even if you have a character that the the ideaas they ramble on and on I don't want to write that
for too long because it it gets tired it's more you you would indicate that more by the character
starts talking and somebody goes oh here he goes again right we don't actually want to hear the
character go on and on and on so keep that in mind it's a really succinct version of that I
a real sign of bad dialogue is where I almost feel like the writer was was trying to pad their Pages
or something because the characters are having the same argument maybe slightly different words but
they're making the same points over and over again you don't do that make your point once
and move on right so if I'm waiting for the bus I get on the bus I show the bus driver my my flash
pass or whatever and then I say do you stop at First Street instead of him saying yes ma'am we
stop it for he would be yep and keep moving and I very little very little inter as as you can yeah
there's a great example that was from Hitchcock's movie Marnie there's a woman woman who is in a
forced marriage and it was originally written as this long scene and the where we see the we see
the the the the wedding and then the reception and all these different things and then finally at the
reception it ends on a shot of the the flowers on the table that say congratulations and Hitchcock
said yeah let's just cut to the flowers we didn't need any of all that other stuff.
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