Dialogue (+ Dialogue Continued)

Dialogue is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people.

I think the importance of dialogue in the opening two minutes of a film entirely depends on the plot - but I also believe that, if done right, it isn't necessary to make it successful. On the one hand, it puts across very easily how your character is feeling, and so it's easy for the audience to understand their emotions. However, on the other hand, sometimes, saying nothing can convey more information about the character and their emotional state than saying something ever could. If the film is largely character-based, then it is a good idea to include dialogue in the opening two minutes - it helps the audience form a connection with them faster, which is essential, as establishing the protagonist early in the film keeps the audience interested and rooting for them. However, this can still be done in many ways other than dialogue - for example, in the opening scene of Amélie, we know she is the main character in the opening without her saying a thing. If it's not character based - for example, if it focuses on the location, colours or cinematography, or it has a main theme as it's focus, like time travel, war, or tragedy, introducing dialogue in the opening two minutes might not be as important as a really good establishing shot/a sequence of establishing shots might be. Overall, I think dialogue doesn'€™t (and shouldn€™'t) have to try and tell the story on screen, because if the writer, the director's vision and the actors are doing their jobs properly, then the story should already be in motion. Therefore, I think that the role of dialogue is to reveal character and add layers to the drama, and so isn't necessary as such, but sometimes it can enhance the film.

The drama film There Will Be Blood (2007) is a very unique example of not using dialogue in the opening two minutes. In fact, for the first 15 minutes, there's no dialogue at all - although it's a drama film, it still manages to pull this off very well, as not having dialogue allows us to completely focus on the character's actions and the location's atmosphere - establishing and highlighting the danger and constant peril of working in an oil mine.

An example of a drama film opening with dialogue is Fight Club (1999). The dialogue intensifies the scene, as there are almost no other ambient sounds. Since the building they're in is so silent, their voices echo, which captures the audience's attention - this is very important to do as the dialogue is the only thing that actually explains what's going on. 

The action-adventure film Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) is another example of not using dialogue in the opening of the film. This doesn't last as long as There Will Be Blood - as dialogue is only absent for around 7 minutes, but again, it's a great example of emphasizing things other than the characters. The lack of dialogue also allows us to focus on other sounds - the eerie, dripping noises of a leaky tap, and the creaking of the windmill. Switching between these ambient sounds without introducing dialogue builds incredible suspense, as we have no idea who these men are - we don't know if they're good, bad or neutral - all we know is that there is a lot of tension in the air.

However, there is dialogue in the action film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Although there is only a little, I feel it does add to it, as it helps explain something that is happening - what is said in the exchange between the two characters tells us that they/we are in danger, as someone wants to kill them. This adds a huge serious undertone to the opening, which would be a lot harder to make clear to the audience without adding dialogue.

The drama-romance film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is quite different to the examples of film openings with no dialogue that have previously been mentioned. The lack of dialogue represents the main character's loneliness - he ends up talking to the audience in narration like we are his friends, as he obviously has nobody else to talk to. It also emphasises the stillness of the opening scenes, which in turn relates to how boring his life is. 

The opening scene to the romance film Dear John (2010) has a little dialogue in it. However, the dialogue it does have sets the scene really well - along with the music in the background, making it happy and lighthearted, we see some characters interacting like it's a normal, every day situation. For a romance, this is important, as the purpose of romance films is to make us feel emotional - it's hard to do that without relating and connecting to the characters.

In the opening to the horror film The Ring (2002), there's no dialogue. The character goes downstairs only to realise that the TV is on, with just static on the screen, and so she turns it off. As she walks out of the room, the static comes back onto the screen. Having only her in the scene, and nobody else there for her to exchange dialogue with (she calls out to someone, but they don't answer) amplifies the eeriness of the situation, as she has nobody to help her figure out what's going on the that scary situation - she's completely on her own and defenceless to what could happen.

The thriller/horror film Jaws (1975) opening scene uses dialogue to help us get to know the characters, whilst also helping us to understand their relationship. From the dialogue, we understand that the two characters don't actually know eachother - something which would have been hard to convey without dialogue. It also kind of gives us an indication of what is going to happen - we find out that one of the characters is very drunk before he begins to swim, which is a slight indication that something will probably go wrong.

The Big Lebowski (1998) is a comedy film. In the opening, there's no dialogue, as it focuses on people bowling. In place of the dialogue, there is music playing, as it gives the audience a chance to get to know the characters by face before they talk and their names are revealed - since there are so many characters introduced in the opening, finding out all of their names at once and having to concentrate and take in what they're saying would have probably been too much information to process at once. It sets up the light, relaxed atmosphere often present in comedy films.

The comedy Pitch Perfect (2012) uses dialogue in it's opening two minutes. The dialogue it uses gives away the genre, as the two commentators sitting up in the booth both say funny things about the performance that's going on. They are also making light of the situation using their words, and so I think as a comedy it's important for that dialogue to be introduced - without it, the opening scene would just be the group singing for quite a long time, which could potentially get quite boring.

Using dialogue in my coursework could lead to quite a few problems. Since I have no access to any proper sound equipment, I would have to use the in-camera microphone. This is a problem for many reasons -  firstly, the camera pre-amp (the part which prepares a weak signal for amplification) quality may be quite bad, meaning the audio will have a lot of noise in my final piece. Also, since most in-camera microphones are omnidirectional, meaning they pick up audio from any direction, the actors may only occupy 10% of the area the microphone is listening to. This means the sound of the camera operator breathing could easily be as loud or louder than the actors talking. The noise the camera itself makes can also be quite loud - changing focus, zooming, or panning may cause the mic to pic up extra sounds that will be present in the final version.

However, not using dialogue could also create a few problems. Depending on the plot I come up with, dialogue may be necessary for the audience to actually understand what's going on, or it might be needed to make it more interesting. Also, if I have to use an actor who is uncomfortable with close up shots, their emotions and facial expressions may be hard to capture - so dialogue would be necessary for communicating that.