Or; 'Why the Viral TED2023 Talk is An Inspiration For Writers'
Decades ago the world of silent cinema took a great leap of evolution. Many movie-goers were mesmorised as technology allowed the spoken word to be recorded on celluloid and played in cinemas across the world. Soon after, it would become as natural as the background music that dominated the aural stimuli.
When film-makers were confronted with the evolution, they immediately took it as a challenge, realising the potential. Just as one would listen to actors on stage, they were able to listen to them on screen and as such, screenwriters made sure that words were not wasted. Like the great playwrights before them, they crafted sentences that would mean the world to many and sound good to others at the very least.
Unfortunately, like many new achievements that become taken for granted, the importance of dialogue has since dimished and at the moment we very rarely have a motion picture in our cinemas with speech of the same (or similar) impact as "...don't let's ask for the Moon. We have the stars..." or "Here's lookin' at you, Kid..." for instance.
That is until Sir Ridley Scott hired the writer Damon Lindelof for his upcoming epic.
Observe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YK2uKxil8
What Lindelof has done is create a succinct three minute speech that encapsulates the feeling and anticipation of a film long-awaited from not just 'Alien' fans, but science-fiction aficionados everywhere; 'PROMETHEUS'.
The speech covers several different topics all strung together by key phrases, leading one into the other and back again as fluidly as the water cycle. T.E. Lawrence, the legend of Prometheus, fire, the evolution of technology and the future are brought together by Lindelof's writing...
And not a word is wasted.
Of course you may have noticed that, even as you're reading these words as I've been typing them, you're seeing that I too am trying not to waste my words! Lately I've been offloading plenty of steam over various issues (that needed addressing, frankly) but rarely do I think I do what I set out to do in the first place; to inspire.
As an amateur writer, I try to delve into what makes a good sentence and/or line of dialogue on a regular basis. So when I come across great writing that can set up the history of an entire franchise in three minutes, it's not just inspiration, it's aspiration and I believe it must be applauded, appreciated and respected.
This is for all you potential writers out there who happen upon this little Blog in the furthest reaches of the internet...It's possible.
AM
