This week, we had Australian actor Arthur Angel as our guest which was very insightful for our projects. My groups film – Hedgehog Love – has a lot of emphasis on dialogue. Therefore, all of the class exercises that we did where we all read innumerous scripts and analysed them each line by line were very helpful. We paid attention to how each line of dialogue means something and has an importance to the scene but the overall film as well. I looked at each scene differently once we had discovered or interpreted the hidden meanings. One of the scripts we studied was Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The scenes from this film I think are great to review before we begin filming as there is a lot of important dialogue between characters and it is very effective in portraying meaning – which will be very important to think about for my group. One scene in particular was when L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart) is looking out the window observing and commenting on his neighbours. The dialogue reveals the meaning behind minor supporting characters and therefore providing a richer sense of time and place within the narrative, but it also reveals without directly telling the audience important subtle remarks about the main character(s).

After this, even though I am not on one of the main scriptwriters, I noticed that our group got together and together we discussed our dialogue and made a lot of changes, such as getting rid of unnecessary lines or making some more relatable or believable. One of the early problems that our group faced was how we would reveal the moment in the story where it is revealed that the second couple, Amy and Tom, were never there and just the exaggerated internal versions of the first couple, Debs and Billy. It was a difficult scene to write down without telling the audience and being obvious but also ensuring that the audience understands and recognise the important moment in our short film. However, after our groups discussions we would reveal this moment using the cinematography by having a slow pan or single shot which shows that there is no one else there. Overall, the script has come together very nicely and there is a a greater connection between the ‘real’ characters and the ‘internal’ characters. Looking back at the finished scripts there was a real improvement and every line in our piece was important and had an underlying meaning to our overall theme and story.