Thumbnails For My Next Shot

The dialogue for this next shot goes like this: (another female character by the way)

You've got to work with what you've got, well we...we all do. I mean, you know I,I...I wish I had the legs so I could wear short skirts, but... (Offscreen male: Your legs are beautiful!) No they're not

It'll be a really understated piece, if I do it right.

I'm having the character mixing up a batch of brownies with a wooden spoon while she is delivering the lines. Like my classmate Anthea (who was just recruited out of the ranks of AnimationMentor by Walt Disney Feature Animation) said about it, "youth and beauty lost, like at one time she was a hot tamale in a short skirt but now she cooks and cleans all day." That's exactly who she is.

She is fishing for a compliment here. She delivers the line like it's no big deal and she doesn't really care, but inside she desperately wants to be attractive and good enough for her husband. She says she's resigned to the "hand she has been dealt" in life, but she still wishes. She still desires. She still wants to be desirable, and the fact that she ostensibly downplays the attractiveness of her legs just screams "VALIDATE ME!!!"

The trick will be contrasting the subtext with the dialogue and making it clear without being cliche or too overstated.