character and dialogues
TRANSCRIPT
The fictional character can be represented in this way: Around 10-15% - What we actually learn about the
person
Around 20-25% - What we can deduce about the person
Around 60-70% - Everything we do not need to know about the person
Always try to find some easily recognizable trait for the person and decide what other people’s first impression of this person is.
PHYSICAL COMPONENT Sex
Age
Build (thin, tall, athletic) and bearing
Attractive or unattractive physical attributes
Color and style of hair
Typical clothing and condition of clothing
Gestures and mimicry
Way of talking (accent, slang, articulation)
Any defects (deformities, illness)
SOCIOLOGICAL COMPONENT
Ethnic background and nationality
Social class
Education
Profession (income, working conditions)
Living conditions
SOCIOLOGICAL COMPONENT
Family (married / single, children, relations with other family members)
Friends (at work and outside of work)
Hobbies, interests
Political views and affiliations
Religious views and affiliations
Name
PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT
Ambitions (long and short-term objectives)
Frustrations (everything that prevents him or her from achieving his/her objectives)
Dreams (which the character may think unattainable)
Personal weaknesses
Temperament
Intelligence
PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENT
Attitude toward life (optimistic /pessimistic, rebellious, happy, altruistic, selfish)
Fundamental values (concrete expressions of what the person holds dear, e.g., family, life, hard work)
Romantic / sexual disposition
Complexes (inhibitions, phobias, fixed ideas)
Special talents (music, sport)
Character traits can be shown in the following ways:
Through action (what the person tries to do and how he tries to do it)
Through reaction (how the person reacts to new situations and do what other people do)
Through the reactions of others
Through dialogue (particularly what the other person does not say, what he hides; incidentally, his way of speaking is just as important as what he says)
Through his appearance, clothes, and characteristic patterns of behavior
Through his relationship to props
Through his relationship to his setting
Through contrast with what others do
Through name
A trait of character is often enhanced if the person is allowed to display minor traits which contradict the main attribute (e.g., A ruthless man is more dangerous if he is shown to be thoughtful and loving in certain situations.)
Dolores (Loleng) Rosales, 74 years old; widow; mother of Danilo, Gracia, and Arturo; mestiza; comes from a rich family; educated; kind mother; religious; likes music; will have Alzheimer’s disease.
THE PAMPANGA BRANCH OF THE FAMILY
THE L.A. BRANCH OF THE FAMILY
THE MANILA BRANCH OF THE FAMILY
Danny, 45 years old; eldest among the Rosales children; former black sheep of the family; did not graduate from college; owns three tricycles which are not brand new; knows auto mechanics; lives with his mother and family; not trusted by his siblings until now; sweet and kind husband and father to his children.
Celine, 40 years old; Danny’s wife; daughter of an American whom Danny met in Manila when they were still young and married without their parents knowing about it; has no finesse but a kind daughter-in-law, loyal wife, and knows how to take care of Danny and their children; good cook; industrious.
Danilo Jr. (Boyet), 22 years old; eldest child of Danny and Celine; intelligent and ambitious; wants to be a successful lawyer like his Tito Art; graduating UP student.
Chona, 16 years old; inherited Loleng’s ability to sing and play the piano; simple provincial lass; religious.
Carina (Cacay), 8 years old; closest to Lola; kind yet naughty; active; everyone’s “baby.”
Grace Rosales Alonzo, 36 years old; youngest child of Loleng; mestiza; graduated from an exclusive girls’ school in Manila; grew up spoiled and pampered; defied her mother by following the dictates of her heart and marrying her college sweetheart who is not rich; migrated to America where she works all the time; her beauty faded, she became out of shape but tough; because it is difficult to
earn money in America, she becomes too practical and obsessed with money; in the process, she becomes emotionally distant from her kids and husband, forgetting the reasons why she fell in love with him; works in a nursing home
Francis, 40 years old; Grace’s husband; has very Pinoy features; kind, industrious, understanding, not demanding; through the years he is still very much in love with Grace; a loving father to his
children and always defends Grace from them; their children are closer to him; works as a mailman.
Madeleine, 17 years old; looks like her Mommy but is closer to her Daddy; always at odds with Grace; has American views and manner of speaking.
Andrew, 15 years old; studious; quiet; cute; his mother’s baby.
Art, 42 years old; second child of Loleng; good lawyer; selfish; dominant; thinks that he is always right; his inner character is hidden by his usual demeanor and outer appearance.
Nanette, 39 years old; Art’s wife; intelligent; educated; careerwoman; her work involves frequent trips to the provinces; assertive and confident in the workplace but subservient to Art at home; frustrated because their family life is not harmonious.
Rommel, 20 years old; forced by his father to study medicine but he is really wants to take up Fine Arts; doesn’t want his life to be “boxed”; secretly hates his father but he fears him; interested in photography.
John-john, 12 years old; nerdy; likes to watch TV; more well-adjusted than Rommel.
Joel, 20 years old; Boyet’s childhood friend; finished his two-year course sa Marine Engineering; just waiting for the approval of his papers to become a seaman; in the meantime, he drives one of Danny’s tricycles; wants to go abroad since he was young; will fall in love with Madeleine.
Manang Gunding, 55 years old; Loleng’s long-time maid; treated like one of the members of the family.
Fr. Lito, 50 years old; Chaplain of DMI and parish priest of the church in Angeles where Loleng goes.
Cris, 40’s; Danny’s childhood friend who is a real estate agent.
Marta, 40 years old; maid of Art and Nanette; loyal; usually has tantrums.
Fr. Perez, 50 years old; hears Art’s confession. Dr. Arvisu, Loleng’s physician.
Chief of Police, Danny’s friend; will help in looking for Rommel.
Young Grace, 18 years old; mestiza; has a beautiful and gentle face; slim.
Girl at the Skating Rink, 15 years old; cute; Rommel somehow connects with her although he doesn’t know her; through her, Rommel musters the courage to stand up to his father.
Three siblings are now well settled with their respective families, in widely contrasting lifestyles. The one common thing that binds them loosely together is the love that their mother holds for all of them and her grandchildren, albeit expressed in varying ways and degrees, but always equally nurturing and self-giving. Much as they are held together by her, they are in turn separated by physical distance and the sad legacy left behind by their deceased, erstwhile strong-willed father.
Long suppressed pains and resentments unravel as the three siblings argue over the prospect of selling a vast track of land left behind by the patriarch. The process also brings to surface the hurts between parents and children, a likely spectacle of the “sins of the father visiting upon the children,” threatening to spill over to the third generation.
What stuff each one is made of faces its true test when the family matriarch, in an act richly resonant with ritual Christian self-offering, yields her whole being to the God of Providence and succumbs to a debilitating disease. Do her beloved children unite, or do the frayed relationships finally break up?
The family saga is a stark and poignant dramatization of provincial values vs. urban survival instincts precariously held in the balance by the abiding love, hope, and faith against the gnawing disease of the spirit brought by cynicism, materialism, and an unforgiving heart.
The most common error in writing dialogues is to load them with too much information
IMAGE SOUND
INFORMATION 70% 30%
EMOTION 30% 70%
Many a good film story is weakened by poor dialogue. One good way of getting it right is first to try to write the scene with no dialogue at all.
What is the purpose of the scene?
What do the characters want?
What actually happens?
Can this be shown through physical action, gesture, looks, props, setting?
Dialogue must be realistic and credible in its contextWhen characters speak, we should have the impression that these people speak in this way and no other
The dialogue should characterize the person who speaksThe way he expresses himself tells us a great deal about him
The dialogue must express the speaker’s moodThe way it is expressed is more important than the words spoken
The dialogue should characterize the person being spoken to or about If we see a person who is disdainful and insolent toward everybody but becomes cautious and respectful when a certain person appears, the newcomer does not need to say or do anything
The dialogue should move the action forward It should be a driving force in the drama
Dialogue should give information But the information should come naturally from the context and not be placed in the mouths of the characters
Dialogue should sound natural and not made up
But everyday speech is full of repetition and superfluity – it contains too many words and inessentials
Selection
Concentration
Compactness
Film dialogue simulates real speech but does not copy it It must also be based on oral rather than written forms Film dialogue is not grammatically correct
Gestures, exclamations and actions should take the place of the spoken word whenever possible
The intensity of the dialogue should reflect the intensity of the situationA less intense scene permits dialogue that is more discursive In a dramatically heightened situation, the dialogue is more compressed and spare
The lines should be written so that they say one thing at a time
Lines should be as short as possible
Any superfluous words should be dropped
DON’T “Yes, but surely one should consider people’s anxiety and fear as well.”
DO “People are scared. Should we ignore that?”
TV debate
Connecting words should be avoided
“and,” “because,” “although”
Words that reinforce have no place in dialogue
DO “I’m scared.”
DON’T “I’m very scared.”
TEXT SUB-TEXTand
wording of the dialogue,
conventional meaning of the
words
deeper veiled meaning, behind
the words
true intentions and goals of the characters
in the real – and often
unspoken – rapport between the
characters