KRISTY
We're going to my mom's for dinner. She's making her famous meatloaf.
We're going to my mom's for dinner. She's making her famous meatloaf.
MAX
I love your mom's meatloaf. It's so -- meaty
You might think that the above exercise is baby stuff and not worth your time. Some writers may claim that their writing is ambiguity free. That's bull crap. The easiest way to confuse a person is with the written word. People take vocal, social, and assumption induced clues when interpreting ambiguity in speech. The written word eliminates those cues unless you're very careful. Having a conversation play out via email instead of face to face can be disasterous. If you doubt that your writing holds ambiguity, give it to someone else to read. If you can't wrangle a couple actors, grab a couple friends and have them read your work aloud. You will be absolutely flabergasted at how differently they interpret your writing.
So. Ambiguity. How do you eliminate it?
Since I'm no expert, I'm going to leave the end of this blog open ended. I've raised the question, but I'm not qualified to school you on the answer. Someone else take a stab.
I love your mom's meatloaf. It's so -- meaty
Okay... ignore the fact that that's the worst set lines I've ever written. Think of it on a technical level. Is Kristy being sarcastic? Does she like her mom's meatloaf or is she making fun of it? Is she excited about going to mom's for dinner? Is she dreading it? Is Max being sarcastic? Is he being placating? Does he really love the meatloaf? Is he making fun? Being mean? Shy? Teasing? If he is making fun, is he being malicious or is it a playful tease? Are Max and Kristi arguing? Playing? What's the tone of the exchange?
The possibilities are endless without context. One might quickly move to put a parentheses under Max's name, but as a former actor, I know that most actors want to take the character and make it theirs. They don't want to be outright told what to do.
Let's try something different... I've randomly opened a book I just finished reading (Stephenie Meyers' The Host P.236-237) to some dialogue. Read this carefully:
Jeb laughed when I emerged; his eyes were on the soap in my cautious grasp.
"Smarts a bit, don't it? We're trying to fix that." He held out his hand, protected by the tail of his shirt, and I placed the soap in it.
I didn't answer his question because we weren't alone; there was a line waiting silently behind him -- five people, all of them from the field turning.
Ian was first in line.
"You look better," he told me, but I couldn't tell from his tone if he was surprised or annoyed that I did.
He raised on arm, extending his long, pale fingers toward my neck. I flinched away, and he dropped his hand quickly.
"Sorry about that," he muttered.
Did he mean for scaring me now or for marking up my neck in the first place? I couldn't imagine that he was apologizing for trying to kill me. Surely he still wanted me dead. But I wasn't going to ask. I started walking, and Jeb fell into step behind me.
So how would you change that into script form without leaving it ambiguous and open to interpretation? How would you convey Wanderer's thoughts on Ian? How would you convey that she really thinks that Ian still wants her dead? Is a simple flinch enough? How do you instruct Ian's 'Sorry about that'? How do you make sure that whomever is playing Jeb doesn't laugh maniacally with the intent to scare?
How do you stop the above scene from turning out like one of those remixed movie trailers where Mary Poppins is evil? I think something like those trailers are perfect examples of how quickly and easily lines can get twisted into something you didn't intend.
The possibilities are endless without context. One might quickly move to put a parentheses under Max's name, but as a former actor, I know that most actors want to take the character and make it theirs. They don't want to be outright told what to do.
Let's try something different... I've randomly opened a book I just finished reading (Stephenie Meyers' The Host P.236-237) to some dialogue. Read this carefully:
Jeb laughed when I emerged; his eyes were on the soap in my cautious grasp.
"Smarts a bit, don't it? We're trying to fix that." He held out his hand, protected by the tail of his shirt, and I placed the soap in it.
I didn't answer his question because we weren't alone; there was a line waiting silently behind him -- five people, all of them from the field turning.
Ian was first in line.
"You look better," he told me, but I couldn't tell from his tone if he was surprised or annoyed that I did.
He raised on arm, extending his long, pale fingers toward my neck. I flinched away, and he dropped his hand quickly.
"Sorry about that," he muttered.
Did he mean for scaring me now or for marking up my neck in the first place? I couldn't imagine that he was apologizing for trying to kill me. Surely he still wanted me dead. But I wasn't going to ask. I started walking, and Jeb fell into step behind me.
So how would you change that into script form without leaving it ambiguous and open to interpretation? How would you convey Wanderer's thoughts on Ian? How would you convey that she really thinks that Ian still wants her dead? Is a simple flinch enough? How do you instruct Ian's 'Sorry about that'? How do you make sure that whomever is playing Jeb doesn't laugh maniacally with the intent to scare?
How do you stop the above scene from turning out like one of those remixed movie trailers where Mary Poppins is evil? I think something like those trailers are perfect examples of how quickly and easily lines can get twisted into something you didn't intend.
You might think that the above exercise is baby stuff and not worth your time. Some writers may claim that their writing is ambiguity free. That's bull crap. The easiest way to confuse a person is with the written word. People take vocal, social, and assumption induced clues when interpreting ambiguity in speech. The written word eliminates those cues unless you're very careful. Having a conversation play out via email instead of face to face can be disasterous. If you doubt that your writing holds ambiguity, give it to someone else to read. If you can't wrangle a couple actors, grab a couple friends and have them read your work aloud. You will be absolutely flabergasted at how differently they interpret your writing.
So. Ambiguity. How do you eliminate it?
Since I'm no expert, I'm going to leave the end of this blog open ended. I've raised the question, but I'm not qualified to school you on the answer. Someone else take a stab.
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