Handling Speeches

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  • Handling Speeches

    I am currently working on a sci-fi script (space opera style) and the opening scene is where the villain is watching a holo-recording of a speech given by someone he knows. He mainly observes the recording, so there is a lot of dialogue without anything beyond the villain 'narrowing their eyes thoughtfully' and such.

    Has anyone else had this issue, where they open with a lengthy dialogue without changing scenes? If so, how did you handle it?

  • #2
    Re: Handling Speeches

    I'd ask myself if I really had to start with that.

    And then I'd ask myself again.

    Maybe the answer is yes, but I'd be damn sure it was before I committed to opening like that.

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    • #3
      Re: Handling Speeches

      I think like every scene it comes down to:
      - what's it about?
      - what's it really about?
      - who needs what?
      - what stops them getting it?

      And so on and so on. If the scene is just an info dump then I'd suggest getting something on screen other than the evil guy squinting, smiling, frowning etc. Or a little misdirect - we think we're watching the speech for real, then a huge glass of wine is thrown into the auditorium, but goes straight through it and we realise it's a little 3D thing on evil dude's desk.

      But fundamentally whatever the scene - chase, sex, eating - you need to know why it matters and concentrate on that first. I mean, off the top of my head UP IN THE AIR starts with Clooney delivering a speech for about 3 pages, but it works because it tells us everything we need to know about who he thinks he is and who he really is. And it's written to be funny, cynical, smart, brutal... all things that the film as a whole is about. That's why it works.
      My stuff

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      • #4
        Re: Handling Speeches

        If you must open like this, then use it as a chance to reveal an essential quality of the villain's character. You might have this reserved for subsequent scenes, but if he's in this opening scene, use his presence there to hook us into who he is.

        There are a million and one interesting things for him to do beyond "narrowing his eyes thoughtfully," and each one of those carefully chosen acts is a chance for him to do two things: react to the content of the speech, and in that reaction, show us who he is.

        Compare a villain who narrows his eyes thoughtfully as he listens to a speech to a villain who: drips hot candle wax onto his arm as he listens to a speech; drips hot candle wax onto his underling's arms as he listens to a speech; sharpens torture tools as he listens to a speech; strangles puppies as he listens to a speech; methodically eats a TV dinner; paints his toenails; cleans his ears; plays chess; jerks off; tunes a cello, etc.

        I'm not suggesting you throw actions in just to liven it up, but carefully choose actions that reveal his character and carefully place them at key moments in the speech.

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        • #5
          Re: Handling Speeches

          Check out the first 4 pages of Michael Clayton, which is easy to find on the Internet.

          It's a 4-page voice-over by Arthur Edens, with shots of the law firm interspersed. It builds to a crescendo, both in terms of what we're seeing and hearing.

          By the end of the monologue, we know a lot about Michael (because Arthur talks about him -- TO him) and a lot about Arthur. We also understand something about who they work for and what they do.

          And it works soooo well, probably because Arthur is bipolar and brilliant and at a huge turning point in his life, because he realizes he has the opportunity to do the right thing, which frightens and exhilarates him.

          So, yes, I think a speech can work, but only if your character is fascinating and what comes out of his mouth is unexpected and subtextual and emotionally rich.

          I'm sure you know not to give us a speech that is for no other purpose than to relay exposition. We do get exposition from Arthur's speech, but we don't notice or care because the dialogue is genuine and feels exactly right for what Arthur would say at this juncture in his life.

          The character who's listening should do stuff that reflects his emotional reaction to the speech.

          My website:www.marjorykaptanoglu.com

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          • #6
            Re: Handling Speeches

            Great advice above. What's the guy talking about? Maybe play it straight for a short bit, then do it in VO on top of something visually arresting, something that illuminates or hints at his and the villain's relationship. Unless it's a frickin' amazing monologue, opening with a talking head for 10 minutes will only get you butts leaving seats to buy more Milk Duds, or to sneak into BIRDMAN in the next door theater.
            Last edited by Adeimantus; 11-07-2014, 01:30 PM.

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            • #7
              Re: Handling Speeches

              When my Dad watches TV he doesn't just sit there and listen "narrowing his eyes" (which sounds like something you'd need a plastic surgeon for).

              Bill
              Free Script Tips:
              http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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              • #8
                Re: Handling Speeches

                One of my favorite movies of all time (Miller's Crossing) opens with one of my favorite speeches of all time, a two and a half minute monologue by the secondary villain with the hero silently observing, mostly out of focus or halfway out of frame.

                While there is some exposition (we learn that Caspar is a crimelord who is being cheated by a bookie named Bernie), this is delivered organically, in a context where someone really would explain at length to another person "here's what's happened up til now". But just look what else those 2.5 minutes give us:
                • worldbuilding -- we know this is a world where whiskey-swilling men casually talk about "paying a three to one favor to tank a fight"
                • theme stated, or at least set up -- even among thieves and murderers, is it possible to impose a moral structure to the universe?
                • character revealed (Johnny) -- we get a sense this is a man given to grandiloquence who may just be masking his rage against his own smallness, stomping his feet like a child who insists the world owes him what's his
                • character revealed (Tom) -- we see him taking it all in, planning all the angles, meeting eyes with his shadow The Dane and protectively watching over his friend like a she-wolf over her cub.


                I mean, wow.

                If it really is important that we see your villain seeing someone else talk, there had better be a dramatic reason like one of the above for why we're not just watching the speech itself. Is there something important about the specific way he narrows his eyes thoughtfully? If not, junk it.
                Last edited by Staircaseghost; 11-07-2014, 07:17 PM.

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                • #9
                  Re: Handling Speeches

                  For sci-fi, I suggest images. You're ostensibly creating a world and dialogue is going to be just that dialogue, words.

                  Using images along with your words to build your world would be a better use of page space. A static image is not going to help your story.
                  #writinginaStarbucks #re-thinkingmyexistence #notanotherweaklogline #thinkingwhatwouldWilldo

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                  • #10
                    Re: Handling Speeches

                    Originally posted by Staircaseghost View Post
                    If it really is important that we see your villain seeing someone else talk, there had better be a dramatic reason like one of the above for why we're not just watching the speech itself. Is there something important about the specific way he narrows his eyes thoughtfully? If not, junk it.
                    I agree.

                    My website:www.marjorykaptanoglu.com

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                    • #11
                      Re: Handling Speeches

                      Insert the recording into a droid!

                      shorten
                      the exposition
                      with scrolling text
                      at a speed a four year old
                      can read and understand
                      I heard the starting gun


                      sigpic

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                      • #12
                        Re: Handling Speeches

                        Thank you all for your input. I went back and looked over it with your advice in mind, and I have since added two scenes in front of it. One to introduce the protagonist and to include something that leads into the second scene, where the villain is having his enforcer torture a man who acts as a seneschal for the man who gives the speech. It has added quite a bit of 'flavor' to that scene by doing those two scenes first.

                        So again, thank you all for your input. It has helped quite a bit.

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