Understanding the journey of an Idea to a dialogue

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Friends’ I’m delighted to share 118^th Blog titled ‘Understanding The Journey of an Idea to a Dialogue'.

Friends’ journey of an Idea to a dialogue runs through the process i.e. Idea, Story, Screenplay, Script, Storyboard, and Dialogue. I will try to make you understand all the above terms, to the best of my abilities and understanding, in my 118^th Blog titled “Understanding the journey of an Idea to a dialogue”.

Understanding IDEA

Friends’ a great Idea can be turned into a good narrative that can capture reader’s and or viewer’s attention and leave them wanting for more.  The word IDEA originated from Greek ἰδέα - idea "form, pattern," from the root of ἰδεῖν - idein, "to see." Idea, as a philosophical term, refers to “An image in the mind”. Pre-requisite of an idea is its originality that means coming up with an idea that introduces something new or unique and or different.

An idea is a product of conscious and sub-conscious minds that can connects creative dots between thoughts and images. Creativity relies on imagination which helps in connecting dots from an Idea to Dialogue. Synonyms of idea are conception, concept, impression, notion, and thought.

Graham Wallas, an English socialist, social psychologist, educationalist, leader of the Fabian Society and co-founder of the London School of Economics, in his book “The Art of Thought” (1926) proposed one of the first complete models of the creative process. Wallas described how it consists of the four-stage process of preparation (or saturation), incubation, illumination and verification (or implementation). Preparation stage is all about gathering information. At Incubation stage we take a step back from the problem and allow our mind to wander to let it contemplate and work the problem through. Illumination stage essentially describes the classic “eureka!” or “aha” moment of insight. Verification/implementation stages we evaluate, analyze, build on our idea and further refine and polish it to make sure that it’s both useful and novel.

Understanding the Story

An Idea for a great story can come from an interesting person, character, place, situation or an event. Jot down all your thoughts. Once you’re done with this, pick one thought to develop into a story. Characters are the most essential part and driving force of any story because the readers or viewers instantly relates and connects to the characters. Therefore, create profiles for each of the characters by writing their personal details i.e. sex, name, age, physical description, trait, desire, and most interesting habit. Choose the story setting i.e. when and where the story takes place and how the story setting would impact the characters and their relationships.  Outline the plot of the story. Decide the scenes. Introduce the characters depending on the scene(s). Develop the story with gripping and intriguing situations - conflicts; involve each and every character, with interesting twists and turns, and give a solution at the end.

Friends’ while writing a story keep the 5 Ws and H in mind i.e. who, what, when, where, why and how. These are the questions that a story writer should be able to ask and answer while writing an interesting story. This 5Ws and H formula has been attributed to English rhetorician Mr. Thomas Wilson (1524-1581), who introduced the method in his discussion of the "seven circumstances" of medieval rhetoric: 1.Who, 2.What, 3.Where, 4.By what help or means and by whose, 5.Why, 6.How and 7.When.

Understanding the Screenplay

A screenplay is a script written to be played on a screen and it can be an original version or an adaptation from an existing piece of literature. It’s a document produced before the shoot by a screenplay writer. It describes the scene, including the set, the characters and the dialogue fragments and possibly gives an indication how the scene should be shot. It is a text-based representation of the film or TV serial story. A screenplay is a blueprint of a film which outlines all of the elements (audio, visual, behavior, and dialogue) that are required to tell a story through the film or a TV serial. Screenplay is considered as a final visual outline of what a production’s bringing to life on the screen. Screenplay consists of a thoroughly-developed narrative structure and visual directions to help the entire film crew, technical as well as creative, set up for shooting and allows the reader to visualize what is happening on screen. 

To be more precise, it is based on this outline that the director(s), actors, and other film crew members will interpret the movie.  The term screenplay can be used in the context of both films and television; however the term ‘Teleplay’ specifically refers to the screenplays written for TV serials. The typeface of the text fragments allow the crew to make the distinction between the different elements, including scene descriptions, characters, dialogue snippets and comments; hence it gives an overall idea of how the story might play out on-screen.

Understanding the Script

A script is a written text of a drama, film or a broadcast. Script is derived from the Latin scriber meaning to write. A script is the written version of a story. The term script can be applied to various fields such as stage play, a video game, a radio program or computer programming script, etc. A script is written in the dialogue format. In a script, lines, gestures, movements and expressions of actors are described. A script, especially a drama script is divided into acts and scenes. In each scene, the location, background and movements are described. In simple words, script can be described as a series of written instructions that specifies what dialogues should be said at which instance.

A script is the initial outline of a production and can be for anything and is subject to changes, modifications, additions and deletions before being finalized. Unlike screenplays, scripts aren’t limited to film and TV production. Essentially, scripts refer to any written document of a visual art form used across various mediums, including stage plays, podcasts, video games and radio programs. No matter what kind of content you choose to make, whether its comedy skits or talking head videos, scripts help you know what you’re trying to achieve with the video.

A script can look like a screenplay, with settings, descriptive back stories and characters, but it can also just be a basic outline full of talking points. No matter what medium one chooses to use it for, a script is a valuable asset and gives stability to the creative process. In other words, not all scripts are considered screenplays, but all screenplays come from scripts. As explained by the Oxford Dictionary: Script is described as “the written text of a play, film, or broadcast” while screenplay is defined as “the script of a film, including acting instructions and scene direction”.

Friends’ there is a shooting script also. Shooting script is a key piece in the production of a motion picture. It’s a version of a screenplay that includes detailed cinematography instructions laid out in the order that they’ll be needed, such as certain camera shots, props, and locations. A shooting script is like a combination of a screenplay and a shot list. 

Understanding Storyboard

A storyboard is a visual outline of a film. It’s made up of a series of images that convey what happens in the film, from beginning to end. It also includes notes about what’s happening in each frame. A finished storyboard looks like a comic strip. Traditionally storyboards are hand-drawn, although some might prefer to use exclusive software to create the images for their storyboards. Traditional storyboards are a series of pencil or ink drawings that help to visualize the scenes before filming begins. They can be sequentially arranged on a wall or in a spiral-bound book for easy reference. The drawing itself can be as detailed as one wants it, and one can use it to sketch each shot to a few scenes in a script.  Many traditional storyboards also have written notes that describe what is going on in the scene. The best thing about this type of storyboard is that it is easy to edit. 

Friends’ first time I came across of a traditional story board and that too created by the noted film maker, director and screenwriter late Sh. Satyajit Ray himself for film: Sonar Kella during shooting of the film. And when I started directing stage plays in the year 1981, I too followed the traditional story board technique in all the stage plays I had directed till today. 

Understanding Dialogue

Dialogue can bring a script to life.  Dialogues are vital to every drama or film script. Dialogue is what a character says to others in a drama, TV play or film. Dialogue is a spoken exchange between two or more people. A dialogue can reveal a lot about a characters' personality, and his or her relationships with others. Dialogue is one of the most important tools a dialogue writer has at their disposal. Clever dialogues can be used to reveal characters, advance the plot, and create suspense or tension. Dialogue can also be used to establish the setting and mood of the drama or a film. In some cases, dialogue can even be used for more dramatic effects e.g. a verbal battle between the protagonist and antagonist at the climax of the film. 

Thank you for reading the blog.

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