The art of sound pictures (1930)

no THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES tudes toward esthetic objects that are more complex than those which call forth simple ejaculations such as “Lovely!” or “Ugh!” 4. Mixed forms, which include, in various proportions, noises, ejaculations, and “self-expressive” utterances, especially in the form of musical expression, singing, whistling, improvising, and so on. 5. Soliloquy, or “thinking aloud,” wherein we carry on intellectual processes with the aid of private speech in which we address nobody but merely try to make clear to ourselves situations which we find hard to analyze wordlessly. 6. The language of social encounter and adjustment, in which we explicitly avoid using words as a means of communicating our thoughts, and try, rather, to wheedle, cajole, flatter, deceive, or otherwise manipulate the people to whom we speak. Here belongs the speech of formal etiquette, of course, as well as the lies of Ananias. The above represents six kinds of vocal behavior, no one of which employs words as a means of reporting facts. So, we have at least seven varieties of language entering into dialogue. Your skill in writing dialogue will roughly be measured by your deftness in using all seven kinds of language appropriately throughout the action. We strongly advise you to experiment with dialogue ad lib. You may discover that you can do nothing with it. But if you can, you will vastly improve your output by experimenting. Many clever writers and directors have used this method to excellent advantage. There are sound psychological reasons for this success. Above all, dialogue is talk, and we talk best when we talk. WTien you sit down at a t5TDewriter, you use your fingers, not your tongue. However well trained your fingers may be, the odds are a hundred to one, or more, that your tongue can make up conversation better than your fingers can.