intresting with no diologue?

[nate_dog]

In my script, the main character is alone in the woods for about half the movie. What can I do to make it intresting without having him talk? Or, is it necessary to make some kind of diologue? I don't think I want to have an inner monologue or make him talk to a vollyball (ie. Castaway). I can only fill the silence with so-much action until it becomes boring. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone?

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I LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING

[Davis]

Well, is he walking through the woods getting stuff accomplished? Or does he just walk for 20 minutes? Can you cut the woods down?

I think if it just had a voice over monologue for just that one part, it wouldn't fit, but if you voice overed the whole thing, it'd come out ok. I dunno man.

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"He who breaks a thing to discover what it is has left the path of wisdom."
-Gandalf

www.pmind.com

[eddie]

Why is he in the wood?
Is he lost? scared? looking for something/someone?
Is he a tree surgeon?
Is he a poacher?
Is he a hunter?

What sort of mood do you want to create? Suspense? Comedy?

Even one single scene can tell a story of some sort.

If you can answer those questions then you can start to plan how to film it.
Otherwise yes, it'll just be a bloke walking around a wood. So what? You might as well cut it out.

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[Matt J Heaton]

You can build the story with the images along as something is happening, as eddie said, but you could also make good use of sound and music. That means you need music skills but there you go...

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[Ralph Snart]

I envision

FIRE EXPLOSIONS
death
KERBOOM, crash

SCREAMING
radioactive mutants in horrid pustulating multitudes raviging the landscape.

god help us
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Small children and insects detonating like fireworks

frogs exploding like rabid caged rodents.

Insurance salesmen....

Insurance salesmen

AVON ladies with huge fangs clouded in a fog of Passion no. 6 lurking up wind in the distance.

Monsterous gnarled creatures with fly swatters the size of a buick chanting "Come out come out whever you are."

A girlfriend who doesn't bitch.

stuff like that.

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[steven_craig]

"You can try Acid like our Ralph here for only ?29.99 a shot at WWW.DRUGSONLINE.COM"

...anyway... i saw a film once that had someone just walking thru a wood with no diaglog, but thru the use of attention to small detail and a lot of cutting and bright contrasty colours and a trippy-like time-warpy feeling - it was made very intersting - remember would you just wan to see a bloke walking thru the woods if you were going to the cinema? try time-lapse, just sit the tripod down somewhere nice, get your actor to stand completely still maybe for half an hour watch it over again pressing fast forward, might look ok, i dunno, just a thought...
try doing it like he experinceing different film styles - french new wave, classic hollywood 80's action movie,b+w maybe dress him up differntly - try toying with the idea that he is being chased in the woods, but it is his mind that is working against him slowly making him mad...
jesus i could go on forever, just let us kno if you decide to choose any of our ideas and what you did

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My preciousssssss!

[nate_dog]

Thanx all! I'm sure I can use your suggestions. The story is the guy trying to find his wife who was kidnapped in the woods. He is desperatly making his way back to a rendez-vous point for his bush-plane where he can radio Search+Rescue. Phew! I thought I was going to have to create a whole other character to avoid this. Thanx a bunch!

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I LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING

[Red House Painter]

Just take another look at predator, There must be at least 10 to 15 minutes at the end where there is no dialogue until Arnie impresses us with his one liners -"Damn you're ugly"-
2001 has about 30 minutes at kleast at the end without any. Admittedly, retriving your dead friend's body from outer space, switching off a pschopathic computer, travelling at the speed of light through the cosmic universe, truely realizing man's place in it and then being reborn as the first star child is more exciting than walking through the woods, but it could still work.

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If you can't stand the heat, get out of the frying pan!

[ac_01]

not only predator, but at the end of Heat (Michael Mann), but in that case he also used the music.

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There can be only one.

[jmallen2982]

Hey, just have him talk to himself like Tom Hanks did in Castaway. Maybe he could be insane or have an imaginary friend or something

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Ooh, I just thought of another interesting effect you might want to put into it. I think it is always great to have some part with ambient music when the sound effects are muted. Have the camera a little shaky too. Ever see the Insider? The scene I'm thinking of is when Dr. Wigand is going to the courtroom and when he steps out of the limo the crowd is silenced and the muisc is all that is left. It sort of give the effect that the outside is so distracting that the character has completely blocked out a lot of sensory perception.


I don't know what could be happening to your character. Maybe he can be running really fast for some reason?

[This message has been edited by jmallen2982 (edited January 09, 2002).]