Format - someone talking over/during a speech

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  • Format - someone talking over/during a speech

    I have no idea how to format this. One character is giving a speech and at the very beginning the focus is on him. Then it shifts to two other characters making hushed comments during the speech and then goes back to the speech for the end. In other words, for the middle of the speech, it is going on and the guy is talking but it's in the background.

    Do i write the whole thing and say it's in the background? Just show the beginning and end and note that he's droning on during the other conversation? I haven't got a clue.

  • #2
    Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

    As for myself, I would go the route of:


    Speaker
    I like cold beverages...

    Joe leans over and whispers into Sara's ear:

    Joe
    This guy is a loser.

    Sara
    Why are you talking to me?

    Back to

    Speaker
    ...so stick it in the fridge -- stick it in the fridge --
    stick it in the fridge -- fridge


    something along those lines

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    • #3
      Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

      If you think the speaker's dialogue is important, even if it's in the background, you can do a tri-dialogue deal if you can figure out how in whatever software you're using:

      ON STAGE

      Speaker speaks.

      ---------------------SPEAKER
      ---------------ffdadfdadfadfadfadf --

      IN THE AUDIENCE

      Sara and Joe speak in hushes.

      ----JJOE---------------------SPEAKER (O.S.)
      --fdafdfdafadfdafaf------fdffdfadfdfdafda
      ---------------------------gfsgfsgfsgsfgfsg
      ----SARA-----------------fdsdddgdsgsdggds
      ---fdfdfdaffadfda --------fdafddafdfdafad--

      ON STAGE

      Speaker does something.
      ----------------------SPEAKER
      ---------------fdafafdafdafadfdafa

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      • #4
        Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

        Yeah, that second example is more what I'm thinking - or visualizing at any rate. I want the speech enough in the background that we barely hear it but know it's still going on as the other conversation is in the forefront.

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        • #5
          Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

          Originally posted by TigerFang
          The "up and under" of background audio is not your worry as the writer. Don't direct on paper. The Director and Editor will 'get it' if you place your words on the page in the correct order. The only thing you need to care and worry about are "How does the dialogue between the main characters move the story along?" If the person speaking on stage needs to say something relevant for your main characters to talk about, then insert the speaker as a character and have them say that line and then go back to your main characters. Don't fill up your precious white space on pages with useless audio direction; you barely have enough pages for a good story as it is without running over the normal page requirements.
          That's what I did originally. The situation is (and this is from a fairy tale adaption) that the King is addressing some potential soldiers from a balcony. His two children are behind and to the side of him. We need to hear the very beginning of the speech because the other conversation between the prince and princess jumps off from something the king says. At the end of that hushed conversation, the prince directs attention back to the king who is still speaking and we need to hear the very end of the speech for plot reasons.

          I can write that very easily and just note that the king is droning on off screen. What I was wondering is if I need to give what he is saying even though it is in the background and fairly inconsequential? If I don't, then great, it's easy. If I do, I was wondering the best way to format it.

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          • #6
            Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

            Sounds good to me. Thanks for the help.

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            • #7
              Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

              Originally posted by tinlizzie View Post
              Sounds good to me. Thanks for the help.
              The way this generally works in the real world is -- if the movie ever actually gets made and the person giving the speech really have to actually give the whole speech -- because he really is talking and even though the volume is low he can't just start speaking gibberish, production will come back to you (or whoever is actually working on the project at that point) and ask them to write the whole speech at whatever length is necessary to make it work.

              But that's far in some possible future and not something that needs to be worried about at the level of a spec script.

              NMS

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              • #8
                Re: Format - someone talking over/during a speech

                Thanks NMS! That's just what I needed to know.

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