Thursday, February 17, 2011

South African Writer-Director Gavin Hood

Per one of my recent posts about advice for beginning screenwriters, one of the best examples of show-don't-tell filmmaking and "employing very little dialogue to convey story" I have seen is in the work of Writer-Director Gavin Hood.

The South African filmmaker is the auteur of Tstosi, a feature-length which portrays the life of a ruthless thug, who, after shooting a woman to steal her car, is surprised to discover there is an infant in the backseat. Wow, isn't it surprising that a film that did such a good job as showing a story through action not words went on to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2006?

If you really want to see a wonderful job of a showing action with very little dialogue, then I recommend you also check out Hood's short, The Storekeeper. The short definitely has the Hood mark of style, pre-Tstosi, employing even less dialogue than the aforementioned feature. Check it out.

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