scriptin...

[cliff j frog]

well yer can just write the fuckin thing
then shoot it
n work with the dialouge then
cos in me humble opinion:

a fuckin good film is a fuckin good story,
a fuckin good story is made by fuckin good characters,
and the way to make fucking good characters
is down to expressions

so a good film is made through getting good expressions and reactions from yer actors

yer can have a script that sounds average on paper, but get someone to give it some expression and yer fuckin flyin...

fer want of an example that yer should know
just fink o kevin spacey's

'oh... he didn't know...'

at the end of seven, sorry, se7en, to see what ah mean

[his Dudeness]

Cliff - speak 'fuckin' properly, that way people'll be able to understand what you are saying. Savvy?

Good point about the expressions. But they can only help a film - not make one.

[Arjun Menon]

a fuckin good film is a fuckin good story,
a fuckin good story is made by fuckin good characters,
and the way to make fucking good characters
is down to expressions

and who ever told you that this was a rule in film making.

[hairbrain]

You can plan good dialog but you can't plan good expressions.
You give your actors direction (what they're gonna say, what their state of mind might be, where they've come from, where they're going to) and then it's in the hands of your actors. If you think the secret to a great film is just to get somebody expressing stuff infront of a camera then you grossly underestimated the importance of excellent acting and your vital role of aiding the actor through supplying direction.... direction such as dialog and motivation.

Bad dialog just fights against the actor and makes them feel an idiot saying it.
Good dialog reveals stuff about the character and helps the actor to bring depth and understanding to their role.

I say this not in judgment as to what's good or bad. But actors are real people not machines and as such they need a bit of help from you to motivate them, get them excited, and inspire a good performance from them. Of course you might want to have some of your characters performed crappily and uninspired, in contrast to your hero character, as this may provide some neat kind of surreal contrast to your film. In film anything goes, it just depends on the effect you're looking for.

[soulfilms]

Really, actors are an ABSOLUTELY essential part of the film. IF your actor sucks, then no amount of SFX, great dialogue etc. can save you. Whereas if your actors are great, then even the stupidest, craziest scripts can turn into something really good. Think of The Silence of the Lambs, if we're honest with ourselves, it's a fairly mediocre film yet the character of Anthony Hopkins is so fantastic that we as the audience are willing to overlook the anticlimaxes, the old cliche at the end and really get into the movie and eagerly await its sequel for 10 years. Really, characters and casting is SO important.