{"id":3442,"date":"2011-05-24T18:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=3442"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:54:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:54:15","slug":"cineaste-2-spoon-fed-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=3442","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCineaste\u201d #2: Spoon-fed blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Double Life of a Cin\u00e9aste\u201d
\nWhere\u2019s the Dialogue?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our columnist ruminates about the necessity of words in a visual medium<\/p>\n

by Tyler Tharpe<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~~~
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Double Life of a Cin\u00e9aste\u201d follows contributor Tyler Tharpe as he balances the business of running a drive-in theater in the Midwest with the long and arduous process of filmmaking.<\/em><\/p>\n

I hate <\/em>writing dialogue.<\/p>\n

When I go back through a screenplay draft, it\u2019s the first thing I notice \u2013 how much I hate my own dialogue. If you watch one of my movies, you\u2019ll be able to pick out a clunky piece of dialogue here and there. I\u2019m seriously considering axing all dialogue at some point, or at least writing less dialogue than for my first two features.<\/p>\n

The only problem? Dialogue apparently plays a big part in selling your film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s the dialogue?<\/em>\u201d This is a complaint I heard frequently from my foreign sales representative who was trying to sell my last film, RETURN IN RED<\/strong> (2007), to some non-interested buyers from other countries at Cannes<\/strong>, the American Film Market<\/strong>, and so on. I\u2019d say, \u201cWhat are you talking <\/em>about? There\u2019s plenty of dialogue in there.\u201d In the end, he did sell the film to a few countries\/territories, but not as many as I would have liked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, this \u201cwhere\u2019s the dialogue\u201d issue has been bugging me for a long time and it\u2019s something I don\u2019t quite understand; animator Bill Plympton<\/strong> (HAIR HIGH, IDIOTS & ANGELS<\/strong>) says his work is more salable overseas because his films contain very little dialogue and tell stories mostly with visuals, requiring little to no audio dubbing. That\u2019s what I thought my film does. If you don\u2019t speak English, you should be able to easily follow what goes on in the movie, which I feel tells the story visually and contains dialogue only when necessary.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The more I thought about it, I realized at the heart of the complaint is that my film doesn\u2019t contain dialogue \u201cspoon feeding\u201d to the audience every single little detail. The in-joke about Hollywood <\/strong>product is that studio executives want dialogue to \u201cexplain what you just saw, and then <\/em>explain the explanation\u201d or something like that. This is fine, but I don\u2019t even bother going to those kinds of movies.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t fully enjoy a movie that pours on dialogue overrun with details. Last year\u2019s remake of TRUE GRIT<\/strong>, for instance, starts with literally 20 minutes straight of dialogue from the very opening shot, including what feels like a 10-minute courtroom scene. All this took me straight out of the movie, or rather, never let me into the movie in the first place. INCEPTION <\/strong>was the same way, unfolding so much dialogue that at the midway point, I was ready to hit the exit.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, a film like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN<\/strong> (2007) is a perfect example of the \u201cshow me, don\u2019t tell me\u201d rule of filmmaking, a practice I feel all filmmakers should utilize. Anyone who has seen that movie and liked it would agree the ultra-engaging opening sequence, during which Josh Brolin<\/strong>\u2019s character discovers the aftermath of a bad deal gone wrong, draws you completely in \u2026 and it is achieved with no dialogue whatsoever. Another movie I liked as a kid, THE ROAD WARRIOR<\/strong> (1982), is an example that encompasses \u201cshow me, don\u2019t tell me\u201d perfectly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I remember reading about the intentions of the Coen Brothers<\/strong> \u2013 responsible for both NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN<\/strong> and the new TRUE GRIT<\/strong>, curiously \u2013 to film the late James Dickey<\/strong>\u2019s final novel To the White Sea<\/span><\/strong>, apparently with little to no dialogue. This sounded exciting and I immediately put it on my radar, although they were due to start production in 2002 with Brad Pitt<\/strong> in the lead role. It has since been cancelled.<\/p>\n

Of course, this isn\u2019t the silent age and movies need dialogue. I have no problem sitting and listening to good dialogue \u2013 most of Quentin Tarantino<\/strong>\u2019s films, for example, contain great <\/em>dialogue \u2013 but my favorite movies tend to be ones where the dialogue springs naturally and sparsely from the characters and situations. The work of Jon Jost<\/strong> (SURE FIRE, THE BED YOU SLEEP IN<\/strong>) and Kelly Reichardt<\/strong> (OLD JOY, WENDY AND LUCY<\/strong>) are incredibly rich films, all achieved with minimal conversation. I understand Reichardt\u2019s latest film, MEEK\u2019S CUTOFF<\/strong>, begins with 10 minutes of movie before any dialogue is spoken. I love that concept and can\u2019t wait to see MEEK\u2019S CUTOFF<\/strong> based on that alone.<\/p>\n

One of my first real films, made my senior year in college, had zero dialogue. Even though that was born somewhat out of necessity \u2013 I shot with silent Super 8 film stock and had no idea how to record and synch dialogue at the time, even though I was able to Foley all the sound effects \u2013 the film remains one of the strongest visually that I\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Back at the Centerbrook Drive-in<\/strong>, I\u2019m in the beginning of my fourth season as owner-operator. I wouldn\u2019t dream of showing a movie with little to no dialogue so what did I open the 2011 season with, ironically enough? TRUE GRIT<\/strong>! The films I play here obviously are dialogue driven where everything is explained, and the explanation is explained, et cetera<\/em>. I guess I can understand this; customers who come here want something fun that doesn\u2019t preach or is too arty.<\/p>\n

Big tent pole popcorn movies are our bread and butter. BLACK SWAN<\/strong> might have been my personal favorite release of 2010 but I\u2019m not sure it would play well here; maybe as a second feature on a bill, but who knows. Something like my favorite film of 2007, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY<\/strong>, I would be an idiot to try and play here. In the meantime, I\u2019m gearing up for one of the biggest films I will probably play at Centerbrook this summer, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON<\/strong>. I dread the two or three weeks I\u2019ll have to sit here and listen to another TRANSFORMERS <\/strong>movie, which will probably continue the trend of fostering the worst and most banal dialogue of any movie franchise in history.<\/p>\n

I hate to admit it but these movies fill the house (only God knows why) and are the perfect definition of popcorn movies, so you\u2019ll hear no dialogue coming from me complaining about TRANSFORMERS <\/strong>when the non-Autobot cars line up from front to back to see it at our non-Decepticon drive-in this July.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Prior \u201cCin\u00e9aste\u201d<\/a> | Next \u201cCin\u00e9aste\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Tyler Tharpe is an Indianapolis resident who has a B.A. in Telecommunications with an emphasis on film from Ball State University. He is currently an independent filmmaker and drive-in theater owner\/operator who can be reached at <\/em>tylertharpe [at] yahoo [dot] com<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Double Life of a Cin\u00e9aste\u201d no. 2 \u00a9 2011 Tyler Tharpe.
\nPhotographs courtesy of and \u00a9 2011 Tyler Tharpe, except
\nSchokkend Niews<\/span> #77 cover \u00a9 Schokkend Niews<\/span>, Amsterdam<\/a>.
\nUsed with permission by Bart Oosterhoorn.<\/p>\n

CUBlog edit \u00a9 2011 Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

Click to follow the making of PHANTOM COMPANION<\/strong> on Facebook<\/strong>!<\/a><\/p>\n

Click to see what\u2019s playing at the Centerbrook Drive-in!<\/a><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to the fore, MacTharpe\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Visit the Column Index<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Return to Home Page<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this edition of \u201cThe Double Life of a Cin\u00e9aste,\u201d author Tyler Tharpe ponders the apparent film industry need to manufacture movies that work overtime saying what they really mean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217,594],"tags":[710,711,707,596,709,712,708],"class_list":["post-3442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-column-du-c-u","category-double-life-of-a-cineaste","tag-jon-jost","tag-kelly-reichardt","tag-no-country-for-old-men","tag-return-in-red","tag-the-road-warrior","tag-transformers-dark-of-the-moon","tag-true-grit-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}