The Importance of Dialogue

    I love being the producer, director, and screen-writer of my own project. Don't be surprised when all the credits shown in the opening will contain the same name, because I'll gladly give credit where credit is due. Now, I'm taking the role of the writer, and I'm having a blast. The dialogue in drama films are extremely important because it reveals the thoughts and inner-workings of the character's struggles and growth. Dialogue also gives a piece of work meaning, which is what I'm trying to achieve with the inclusion of the voicemail. I want the late mother's voicemail to not only create a melancholic mood, but I want it to add a sense of introspective into the main character's relationship with his mother. This will help give insight on how impactful her death must have been on the main character and foreshadows conflicts the MC will have to face throughout the movie.

    In writing the script for the mother's voicemail, I recalled scenes from the Netflix series Never Have I Ever, a coming-of-age story that's also a comedy drama, where the main character Devi listens to a voicemail of her late father. In the voicemail, the father is having a natural one-sided conversation in asking where to pick her up, but he ends the voicemail with calling her his "perfect girl." This tells the audience how much he cared for her and (in the context of the show) how he was the more loving parental figure. This makes his loss that much harder on Devi and the feeling of sympathy and loss can be translated through the screen.

Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/_v01HhhV17Y?si=b-boq09hb-QlMbd6

    After watching these scenes and thinking about the tone I want to portray, I began to put my ideas into writing. I wanted it to be a casual voicemail like that of Never Have I Ever, but I also wanted it to allude to her death more as it may not be clear through the photographs that the mother has died. (Oh! And it's a good time to mention that I've decided that the main character's name is Alejandro! Ale, for short). I thought the best way to do this was for the mother to mention something about a doctor's appointment or therapy and the audience could infer that she's sick. I also wanted the voicemail to reveal something about one of the main character's passions which is soccer, so I came up with this:

Ale! It’s mom. I’m parked in front of Field 3 to pick you up. I’m sorry to have missed your game. My appointment ran longer than I expected. But Diego’s mom sent me a Ton of videos and I’m excited to hear all about it! I knew you’d win! My beautiful champ. Oh, I see you! This was useless then.

    The next step was to write the dialogue between the main character and his father. I wanted Alejandro to seem a bit standoffish, a typical trait of how teenagers are with their parents, and I think I did a good job with the declarative sentence of "I didn't even answer to your knock." I also didn't want the father to argue back as he is meant to be a character that will help Alejandro find his path. When putting everything together, I tried my best to compile it in a formal manner, including stage directions, as well. I also thought to add the stage directions of Alejandro looking longingly at his graduation gown at the end to allude to his feelings of dreading the day. 

    Now, I have to leave my writing days behind and assume the role of casting director! Out of convenience, I think I'll have my mother record the voicemail, my father act as Alejandro's father, and my boyfriend (a 17 year-old) casted as Alejandro. And not to doubt anyone's acting skills, but I think it's beneficial that the lines are short and don't require a lot of emotion. The most difficult to get the tone right will most likely be my mother's acting of the voicemail, but, thankfully, as the voicemail will be recorded beforehand, she'll have an infinite amount of trials to record it to the best of her abilities. Throughout this following week, I'll have to properly ask the cast members to join my project and see what days they'll be available to film. Starting the filming process also requires me to figure out the set, props, and costumes involved, but I'm excited to tackle on these next steps!