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I just read Woody Allen's Annie Hall screenplay and it was kind of weird. It was like the text was transcribed after someone had spoken the words. What I mean is, there were so many stuttered words in the dialogue, "ums," sentences starting over half way through, overlapping dialogue. Here's a piece of random dialogue:
ANNIE
Well, I mean, I meet a lot of ... jerks,
you know-
ALVY
Yeah, I meet a lotta jerks, too.
ANNIE
(Overlapping)
-what I mean?
ALVY
I think that's, uh-
ANNIE
(Interrupting)
But I'm thinking about getting some
cats, you know, and then they ... Oh,
wait a second-oh, no, no, I mean
(Laughing)
oh, shoot! No, Saturday night I'm
gonna-
(Laughing)
gonna sing. Yeah.
ALVY
You're gonna sing? Do you sing? Well,
no, it isn't
(Overlapping)
No kidding?
(Overlapping)
-this is my first time. Oh, really? Where?
I'd like to come.
(Laughing)
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! No, I'm interested!I think it's great to have those quirks in the dialogue occasionally, it adds a sense of realism to it. However it was constant in Annie Hall, it was a bit much for me, it was really distracting. It works on screen fine for the most part, so obviously it's fine, it was just hard to read sometimes, particularly when it would be both Annie and Alvy in a scene, they both had that fragmented way of speech about them. When it was Alvy and someone who spoke more clearly and straightforward, it wasn't nearly as distracting.
However, it got me thinking about how hard it can be to keep a character's voice in tact in one's head long enough to get all the particulars on paper. All the distinct vocal ticks and the like, if your character has them. I was thinking it would probably be helpful to record one's self, even just the audio, speaking the dialogue as the character and transcribing it onto paper if they have as many ticks as say, the characters Woody Allen tends to write for himself, and maybe even if they don't on occasion. I'm sure this isn't a new idea, I'm sure people have done it. Maybe Woody Allen himself does it. But still, may as well post it up here. Maybe I'll forget somewhere down the road.
And you know, obviously one would need to have others read the scenes in character aloud back to see if it all works. If one doesn't have people in their pocket though, the audio recorder can still be used in a pinch, I'm sure.
BUt that is woody allen. doesn't he rely much on improv off a sub-basic script? Like he is trying to get a "natural" dialogue between characters? Could it be why it reads weird.
ReplyDeleteHmm, that would make sense. The thought had occurred to me, more or less, but I kept wondering why in the hell would it eventually get typed up the way it is, if that's the case? I was thinking, if were me, I'd have the actors kind of riff on it, embellish it with natural ticks, while I kept the script more straightforward which is what you're implying Allen may do. I don't know enough about Woody Allen to say either way, but I wouldn't be surprised and it would make plenty of sense, also I think I've heard something similar now that I think of it. I also suppose I shouldn't be surprised, if that's the case, that someone typed it up with all the strange oral choices the actors made. I suppose it might be needed/desired for any number of reasons. If that's true then, I'd much rather be interested in seeing the *true* script that the actors used. Unless they improvised in rehearsals and then Allen cobbled it together on paper, but that seems entirely like too much effort and a bit backward. So yeah, you're very probably right, why hadn't I been thinking straight enough to realize?
ReplyDeleteIs there a blog or book or website about different screenwriter's way of screenwriting or their quirks or something to that nature? Maybe something to look up...or start one your own. I'm sure woody allen writes entirely different than martin scorsese (does he write his stuff?) or even Nora Ephron (here is some interesting screenwriting link: http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/2009/05/act-climaxes-breakdown-youve-got-mail.html). I wonder what the good will hunting script was like.
ReplyDeleteI would think, just like novels, different screenwriters write in different voices/styles. A basic formula is followed, perhaps, but personalities and styles of the writers get thrown in.
Oh I'm completely sure that each screenwriter has their own style, each thing they write imbibed with some characteristic of their own, it'd be next to impossible for them not to - they're creating something after all.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, I don't pretend to think that many writers would have such a flamboyant characteristic or that this characteristic is typical for all of Robert Zemeckis's work, but in what's labeled as the first draft script of Back to the Future, Robert Zemeckis colors the page with commentary, talking to the reader. He'll say things like "Oh no, a monster is coming! What is Bob to do? Why he shoots the monster in the eye with a spud gun, of course!"
And thanks for the link
ReplyDelete