From the course: Creating a Short Film: 05 Directing
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Showing, not telling
From the course: Creating a Short Film: 05 Directing
Showing, not telling
- Yet another filmmaking adage that we commonly hear is to show don't tell. This goes back to the origins of cinema. Theater is the medium for great conversations and dialogue. Cinema is the medium of moving pictures. That doesn't mean that movies should have clunky or shallow dialogue, but it does usually mean that your audience will expect your story to be told visually and not just purely through dialogue. Like in Jurassic Park when the T Rex escapes and they're out looking for it. We see the ripples in the water in the glass. We put the pieces together and realize that those ripples represent the proximity of the dinosaur and it's pretty scary. Or think about the Wizard of Oz when Toto pulls back the curtain and we realize with our heroes that the wizard is a phony. Seeing the little dog doing stuff in this really intense scene initially feels out of place. But then, when we get what's actually happening it opens our eyes. So much so that still today we refer to seeing something…
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