Friday, January 15, 2010

Full Length Play, Final Exam, Dialogue

Full length play due next week (Wednesday, Jan. 20)
Final Exam: Wednesday, Jan. 20. Please see the review below.

Dialogue: Some final points about dialogue:

1. If you can cover up the name of your characters and tell through the dialogue who is speaking, you have succeeded.
2. Short sentences are preferable in script writing. Short sentences speed up tempo!
3. Long sentences are fine in script writing. Long sentences SLOW down the tempo!
4. Match your tempo to the action, the action to the tempo.
5. Avoid generalizations and abstractions.
6. Remove "filler" phrases: such as "well,", "so,", "what do you mean by that?", "What?". If dialogue doesn't advance the plot or scene, remove it.
7. Break up long sentences in favor of short declarative ones.

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