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DZ-107: Establishing Tone through Character

How can we use dramatisation to create tone?

Legacy Episode — Migrated from our original site. Will take time to tidy up!

29 FEB 2024

Show Notes

In this episode, Chas and Stu continue their deep dive into how to write tone by examining films with “light” (we use the phrase loosely) tones: LADY BIRD, EMILY THE CRIMINAL, THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, and SPONTANEOUS. We also talk a surprising amount about DUNE and CRAZY STUPID LOVE.

We focus on the relationship between character & tone and how the writers of these films use dramatisation to create their unique tones. We talk minimalism vs maximalism, dialogue, character actions & reactions, emotional dynamic range, and rules of the world vs given circumstances.

Stu proposes a new triangle to help us understand the dials we as writers have to affect tone:

  • The given circumstances of the story,
  • How that effects character actions & reactions,
  • How the audience are told about those elements.

Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.

"the dialogue is so fast and the emotions are escalating so quickly."

— Chas Fisher  |  DZ-107: Establishing Tone through Character

Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Khrob.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

Resources

Transcript

Read the transcript for this episode.

Chapters

  • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:23 – Tone & Character
  • 00:03:21 – › The tone triangle: given circumstances, character reaction, audience feeling
  • 00:09:38 – › Diegetic vs non-diegetic levers and the writer's control over tone
  • 00:15:26 – Ladybird
  • 00:18:43 – › How opening scenes encode a film's emotional range
  • 00:22:37 – › Underplaying drama to teach audiences what to laugh at
  • 00:29:42 – › How dialogue mechanics carry tonal instruction on the page
  • 00:33:20 – EMILY THE CRIMINAL
  • 00:36:22 – › Sparse big print and character-revealing given circumstances
  • 00:44:34 – › How action and reaction encode tone and theme
  • 00:53:25 – › Dialogue styling and emotional proximity to character
  • 00:57:43 – THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
  • 01:02:51 – › How character reaction creates comedic contrast with violence
  • 01:13:32 – › Given circumstances, audience expectation, and world rules
  • 01:17:28 – SPONTANEOUS
  • 01:20:57 – › Action lines as character voice and tonal instruction
  • 01:26:31 – › Humor as audience permission to engage with horror
  • 01:34:03 – › Tonal complexity versus emotional range across films
  • 01:38:11 – › Shared laughter as a device for building connection
  • 01:39:38 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
  • 01:42:38 – › Tonal contrast as emotional contract with audience
  • 01:46:13 – › Character reactions as the root of tonal clarity
  • 01:51:58 – Many thanks to our Patreons

Films

Scripts

Episodes in the Establishing Tone series

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We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.