2nd Lesson.
October 27, 2007
I was the first to be in class!! weeeee!
Ok… So what we did in class was look thru’ some openers and then continue it. Here’s mine:
Sweat drips down as he pieces the map back together. The time left is another half an hour. Marcel just can’t figure out how the map fits. “I must not give up. I’ve come this far and I must not give up!” he thoughts as his hands move hastily. The place, which to Marcel, is a maze is installed with bombs. He can clearly hear them ticking away. All he remembers was being knocked out while walking. And woke up to find himself tied up in an unknown place. He found the torn map at the corner of the room, and knew he had to fix it before thinking about anything else.
I was thinking about the movie Saw II. I know it is different from my story but I sort of got my idea there. 
Then, we worked on dialogue. And Leslie told us the elements of dialogue as well as the common mistakes….
* Able to show the character’s character and relationships with others.
* A good dialogue is an illusion of reality.
* Dialogue should not be use generously.
* Never tell the audience what they can see for themselves.. um. Let what Leslie said in class- if somebody jumps off the cliff, nobody would say “Oh My God! He jumped off the cliff!” Um. So whatever we can hear or see, we don’t write them. Agree!!
* Also, we’ll have to know what people will say without losing the kind of attitude they have.
We watched two short film. Ah Ma & Shh..
In Ah Ma, I can see that the relationship between the family members is not good. Their conversation never seems to exceed 5 sentences. The way they talk is very formal too.
Shh… – basically the animator just show us how the way life is thru’ words and action. It’s very creative! I like the idea of the change in every word. From one word, they change it to another thru’ actions.
HENCE! WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER:
> WHOM AM I WRITING ABOUT?
>> WHO IS MY CHARACTER?
>>> WHAT IS HE/SHE/IT LIKE?
>>>> WHAT DOES HE/SHE/IT DO?
>>>>> WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM/HER/IT IN THE STORY?
Ha. I always thought dialogue isn’t so complicating. Just write it with ” and ” can already. Maybe because of the passed 10 years, no English teacher encourages the usage of dialogue. Therefore I don’t really know how to write a good dialogue.
The end! I shall go people-watch! 
Your opener was one of those I liked a lot. Reminded me of an Indiana Jones-type story rather than Saw but then again, different people see different things. As for dialogue, a good tip is to just write it as you hear it – then edit out what you know people don’t want to hear.