Filmmaking: Learning To Use Your Own Voice

Humans learn by copying. We are designed to imitate.

A study found that bonobos do not copy actions as children do, suggesting human imitation is more unique to our species than others.

“From an early age, children are very skilled in imitating the actions of others and are so motivated to do so that they will even copy actions for no reason. Imitation is part of what it means to be human, underlying our capacity to acquire and transmit culture, including social rituals, norms, and conventions.” Science Daily

And filmmaking is, at it’s core, the art of imitation. We write scenes to imitate life, we write scenes to imitate the fantasy version of life in our heads. We build sets to imitate our living space, we add CGI to further create the illusion. Actors strive to embody a character convincingly imitating what the character would do in the given situations.

When I first started making films, the biggest buzz I got was when everything came together to create an illusion of reality; when the scenes I had only imagined were brought to life – it’s magic.

But one of our biggest challenges as filmmakers is authenticity. And I include superhero films, films about aliens, space travel, wizards and dragons and so on.

Writing Dialogue

In a literal sense, writing dialogue is the most obvious way of using a voice. When I started screenwriting, from the very beginning people would ask, “How do you write such natural sounding dialogue?”

At the time, I didn’t know any different. It just kinda came out. And I rarely found myself trying to manufacture dialogue. When I did find myself doing that, I knew something was wrong with the scene and the story.

But later, as I tried to become a “professional” screenwriter, I did begin to write less natural, more forced dialogue. And I think this is what happens to so many of us, as writers, as filmmakers, as actors and creatives in general.

Trying to be professional

I remember as a child being curious about the athlete, Zola Budd. One thought which has always stuck with me, and probably with others, was that she was said to prefer to run in bare feet. But when she became a serious athlete, she had to wear proper running shoes.

I don’t know the full truth of this story. Probably, it’s mostly mythical. But it resonates with the creative dilemma:

We start with a childlike passion and innocence. We create for the sheer joy of it. But then someone tells you you have talent and now you have to get serious.

You have to start wearing those metaphorical pro running shoes. In other words: taking your talent seriously. But what if your talent is drawn from instinct?

The problem arises when we try to act professionally, and we start to try to force things that previous came naturally. At that point we lose our voice. And what we create, rather than becoming more professional, simply becomes more artificial and inauthentic.

Peak fake

I reached my peak fake when I had an agent in Hollywood. I made the conscious decision to be a professional screenwriter at any cost – I wanted to earn money and get recognition. So this was it – I was going to do everything I was told that needed to be done to write a professional screenplay.

I have no curiosity now to read it, after all these years. But I’m sure it’s quite dishonest and contains little insight; or contains less of me than had I written it more instinctively.

It was at that point that I began the journey back to finding my own voice again. And the next few screenplays I wrote were batshit crazy. But it was just wonderful to be running in bare feet again – even if nobody ever read these scripts (let alone made them into moves).

The pressure we put on ourselves to be successful (whatever “success” is) can often lead to the opposite. So how do we learn (or re-learn) to use our own voice?

Firstly – try not to judge.

You can achieve this mostly by not thinking in terms of “good” and “bad”. The way to practice this skill is to view other’s work objectively: no good or bad. It is what it is.

Rather than being disparaging of other people’s work, try to see the value in it. Keep working at this, no matter how much it goes against your normal way of thinking.

Judging others is a bad habit we acquired as we developed as children and it destroys our creativity (and our mental health). Do this every day. Catch yourself thinking critically of someone and try to see things differently.

I guarantee after some days (or weeks or however long it takes) of doing this, you will start to see others differently. And by magic, you will also start to see yourself and your work differently too.

That fear of not being good enough will start to ease away. Because this terrible fear is what drives us to try to be “better” but unfortunately leads us to being fake. There’s also a fear that we won’t be successful if we don’t observe professional standards.

I know – this goes against everything you were led to believe

That’s right – it doesn’t make sense does it? Surely to be good at something we need to strive to reach excellent standards.

Well, that might work for body building or engineering, but it doesn’t work for creativity. Not if you want to create something authentic.

Because authenticity is by definition unprofessional – it’s warts and all, ugly truths, it’s messy, it’s confusing, it’s morally ambiguous, it’s hypocritical, it’s emotional, it’s illogical, it’s unpredictable… the list goes on.

And that’s why speaking in our own voice can be so hard.

To speak in our own voice we need to be vulnerable. We need to open ourselves up to criticism. So of course it feels far safer to hide behind some (often misguided) idea of “professionalism”.

But when we learn to stop judging others, the fear of being judged ourselves begins to ease away. Then we can begin to speak with our own voice.

Why is it important?

If we are not speaking with our own voice, what are we doing? Simply parroting and mimicking. And your scripts, your films and your performances will be less natural, less authentic, less true.

I also believe we feel better about what we create when we are expressing ourselves, as genuinely as we can.

And guess what happens…

We learn to speak with other people’s voices

One criticism I got as a screenwriter was: “Your dialogue is natural but they all sound like one person.”

And this is the beautiful thing about not judging others: you start to listen to them better.

When you listen to people better, you are better able to understand them. And as a writer or storyteller (filmmaker or actor) understanding your characters is key to weaving a rich and complex tapestry.

Now your characters will have varied voices, whilst still remaining authentic. When you are being less judgemental, you start to see the world around you clearer and therefore are able to mimic it better…

The paradox of creativity

After all, filmmaking is the ultimate act of sophisticated fakery. I mean, that has always been the paradox of filmmaking. We need to create something truthful and yet we need to do it at the exact moment the director cries out, “ACTION!”

We also need to do it within a set structure. Even if you improvised a 3 hour movie, that in itself is an artificial construct.

So then…?

Exactly. But if we draw on the truth, on our own voice and on the authentic voices of others, we strive to create something insightful. Something that, although ultimately faked, is aiming at achieving a unique poetry – as opposed to regurgitating cliches.

Your real voice is a resource. It is a warehouse full of stories which are unique to you. And when you unlock that door you are opening the possibilities – you’ll be able to create the worlds that only you are able to.

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