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'What a delight to see the study of filmic dialogue pushed forward by O'Meara! Incorporating the latest research and clear analysis, her engaging insights are applicable to a wider field than the six writer-directors she foregrounds.' Sarah Kozloff, author of Overhearing Film Dialogue Examining the centrality of dialogue to American independent cinema, Jennifer O'Meara argues that it is impossible to separate small budgets from the old adage that 'talk is cheap'. Focusing on the 1980s until the present, particularly on the films by writer-directors like Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach and Richard Linklater, this book demonstrates dialogue's ability to engage audiences and bind together the narrative, aesthetic and performative elements of selected cinema. Questioning the association of dialogue-centred films with the 'literary' and the 'un-cinematic', Jennifer O'Meara highlights how speech in independent cinema can instead hinge on what is termed 'cinematic verbalism' when dialogue is designed and executed in complex, medium-specific ways. Jennifer O'Meara is a lecturer in Film Studies at the University of St Andrews. Cover image: Night on Earth, Jim Jarmusch, 1991 (c) sodapictures.com Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-2062-4 Barcode
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
Introduction
1. Measuring Engaging Dialogue
2. Verbal-Visual Style and Words Visualised
3. The Integrated Soundtrack and Lyrical Speech
4. Dialogue and Character Construction
5. Embodying Dialogue: Rich Voices, Expressive Mouths and Gesticulation
6. Gendered Verbal Dynamics: Sensitive Men and Explicit Women
7. Adapting Dialogue and Authorial Double Voicing
Conclusion: Verbal Extremes and Excess
Bibliography
Filmography
About the author
Dr Jennifer O'Meara is an Associate Professor of Film Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She is the author of
Women's Voices in Digital Media (2022, University of Texas Press) and
Engaging Dialogue (2018, EUP).
Summary
Focusing on the 1980s until the present, particularly on the films by writer-directors like Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach and Richard Linklater, this book demonstrates dialogue’s ability to engage audiences and bind together the narrative, aesthetic and performative elements of selected cinema.
