Understanding Character Development in Film

1. Lecture 5:Who Does What and Why? Professor Christopher Bradley The Big Lebowski (1998) Written by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

2. Previous Lesson The Characteristics of a Good Short Where to Begin? Research, Belief and the World of the Story Turning an Idea into a Good Film Story Alien (1986) Written by Dan O’Bannon Based on a story by Dan O’Bannon and Russell Shusett

3. In this Lesson Emotion and the Foundation of Dramatic Characters Creating the Character Representing the Character Important Characters Writing Exercise #3 Run Lola, Run (1998) Written by Tom Tykwer

4. Emotion and the Foundation of Dramatic Character Lesson 5: Part I A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Written by Tennessee Williams Based on his stage play

5. Character in Film • Depicting characters in film differs greatly from depicting them in prose and theater. • In novels and short stories, the writer can describe characters in minute detail. • Though theater is closer to film than a novel, theater relies greatly on dialogue. • In film, the emphasis is on showing. The screenwriter must rely on action and behavior to show the audience who the character really is.

6. Creating Character • “Journal” Writing • Write about what happens in your short screenplay • Write about what happens off-screen. What happened before the story started? What do your characters dream about? What do they imagine their lives being like after they accomplish their goals? 6

7. Emotion • If you authentically think through why your characters feel what they feel, and if you feel it yourself, it will come out in your writing and it will elicit a response in your audience. • Journal writing will help you think through what your characters want, and why they want these things. Their actions will almost magically become organic, real and believable.

8. Relationships • Your character should pursue goals that strongly affect the other characters. • Emotional reaction is the source of the character’s true motivation (and yours). • Find actions that are logical, that clearly represent the emotion, but are surprising.

9. Examples Harold and Maude (2001) Written by Colin Higgins Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Written by Ernest Lehman Based on the stage play by Edward Albee

10. Emotional Progression • Emotions should progress, that is, rise and fall in logical, motivated ways. • The progression of emotions underscores the changes that characters go through while building to the climactic moment. • Varying the emotional content (and emotional intensity) of scenes increases the complexity of the story and ensures audience involvement.

11. Fear • If you know what a character is most afraid of, you know what he needs to face and can more easily design goals and obstacles around it. The most important thing to know about your characters is what they fear. • Audiences identify deeply with characters facing their greatest fear.

12. Character Foundation • Your protagonist must be committed to an ideal or committed to achieving something and be forced to take action because of that commitment. • What he wants must be big enough, and we must see that he wants it badly enough, to sacrifice almost anything to get it. If there is something he won’t sacrifice, we have to know why.

13. Want and Need • For a protagonist to operate successfully in a story, the screenwriter must answer three important questions about the main character. • What does the character want? • What does the character need? (There is a difference. One goes deeper into meaning. • Why does the character want it? How does the character see his life changing, or the world changing once he has this thing, or has accomplished this goal?

14. Want and Need (Continued) • The want refers to the character’s goal; it creates the action of the story and gives the plot direction. • The protagonist’s need refers to an unconscious inner force that compels a character to act without understanding the real reasons. • The why relates to the protagonist’s conscious motivation; the reasons he understands.

15. Example • In Casablanca (1942), Rick wants his relationship with Ilsa back. • His reason why is that her compassion and commitment to higher ideals pulls him along and makes him fully human. Casablanca (1942) Written by Julius J. Epstein and Phillip G. Epstein and Howard Koch Based on the stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

16. Example (Continued) • But his real need, as he (and we) discover, is to destroy the scourge of fascism. Having Ilsa end her marriage to stay with him will destroy her larger commitment, and his as well. Casablanca (1942) Written by Julius J. Epstein and Phillip G. Epstein and Howard Koch Based on the stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

17. The Psychology of Need • Need is used to create character dimension. It often compels the character to act in irrational ways. • The need can also oppose the character’s stated goal so that part of the overall conflict results from the disparity between the stated goal, the want, and the subliminal need. • Think of a character’s need as what he or she unconsciously needs to become whole but will have difficulty achieving. 17

18. Need and Tension • Sometimes protagonists don’t have an apparent goal driving them forward. But if the film is holding our interest and building tension, we’ll see that the underlying needs provide the power to push the story forward. • When the need is something specific, it becomes apparent as the story progresses. If the need is less defined, than the conflict that the character faces must be definite. 18

19. Writing Need • Often a character’s real need isn’t easy to discover and can be as elusive to the writer as it is to the character. Keep digging! • If you’re having a hard time, more journaling will help. Ask what your character wants out of life. Perhaps why he or she isn’t taking action, or is paralyzed. 19

20. Creating the Character Lesson 5: Part II Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Written by William Shakespeare (play) and Kenneth Branagh (screenplay)

21. Characters as People • You now know some of the basic character elements that help in structuring the plot. • Now you must create these characters in three dimensions – they must have emotions, attitudes, beliefs and actions that represent them. • They also need a history, personal traits and quirks to come alive.

22. Personal Experience • When creating the people in your scripts, begin by drawing on your own background. Good characters often come from actual people. • While you may use real people as models for behavior, you still must shape them. The writer does not simply copy people whole; rather she steals which traits she wants.

23. Character Biography • In addition to journaling, many writers use character biographies, descriptions of the relevant information of the character, to define the character and keep actions consistent with who he or she is. • Your biography might consist of several sections including: • Physical Appearance • Sociology • Psychology

24. Physical Appearance • Sex • Age • Race/Ethnicity • Physical Attributes • Physical Defects • Clothes • Personal Hygiene • Heredity Man of La Mancha (1972) Written by Dale Wasserman Based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Y Saavedra

25. Sociology • Class • Education • Occupation • Home Life • Religion • Nationality • Political Affiliation • Amusements The Insider (1999) Written by Erik Roth and Michael Mann Based on the article “The Man Who Knew Too Much” by Marie Brenner

26. Psychology • Sex Life • Moral Standards • Personal Ambitions • Temperament • Complexes • Extrovert/introvert • Abilities/talents/IQ • Qualities • Unique Traits Angels in America (2006) Written by Pedro Almodovar

27. Purpose of the Biography The character biography is to allow you to understand your story better by understanding your character and his motivations. In order for your character’s biography to be effective, it needs to address not only what motivates the character to behave as he or she does, but also why the character is in the predicament he or she is in. 27

28. Back-story • Back-story focuses on specific past events that directly affect the protagonist’s involvement in the plot as it unfolds. Back-story is sometimes what centers a character in a story and defines why he or she is here.

29. Example Casablanca (1942) Written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison (play) and Julius J. Epstein and Phillip G. Epstein and Howard Koch

30. Choosing Crucial Back-story All the information in the character’s biography or back-story won’t necessarily come out in the screenplay. But what specifically does come out should provide us with insight into the character’s present. Don’t let the back-story get in the way of the current story! 30

31. Attitudes, Beliefs and Values Everyone has a point of view towards the world. A writer may conceives a character through this attitude: the hard-boiled cop, idealistic young attorney, etc. But to avoid stereotypes, you need to supply fresh, authentic real-life experience behind those attitudes. A characters attitudes are based on beliefs. We don’t them spelled out, but we do want to discover what those beliefs are. 31

32. Attitudes, Beliefs and Values (Continued) No matter what a person says, his actions define his values. Values tell us what someone holds dear. They tell us what a character will and won’t fight for. 32

33. Representing the Character Lesson 5: Part III It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and Frank Capra

34. Decisions, Choices, Commitments and Actions • In drama, before someone takes an action, he or she must make a decision. That decision forms the basis of a commitment for the protagonist and this decision to commit to something starts the story. As the commitment continues and/or is altered the story develops. • The choices your character makes tells us who he or she is.

35. Character is Action • In order for your protagonist to demonstrate who she is to the audience, you must incorporate action that shows us the qualities central to understanding her. • Any important quality or trait must be worked into the action of the plot for it to have any meaning for the audience. • If a character is kind, hot-tempered or weak, then we need to see this in action, not learn it from other characters or through narration.

36. Revealing True Character • Character is revealed in action under stress. Conflict strips us of our masks and defenses. Response to conflict shows us what this character is committed to, no matter what he says. • Conflict strips away artifice and takes us to the essential person.

37. Choices under Stress • We learn the truth of their hearts by the choices they make under extreme stress. And sometimes that breaks their hearts and they change. Raging Bull (1980) Written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin Based on the book Raging Bull: My Story by Jake LaMotta and Joseph Carter and Peter Savage

38. Making the Choice Difficult • The choice that your character makes that defines him or her should not be an easy one. It should be one which calls upon him or her to make a great sacrifice. • A dramatically effective choice offers characters radically different outcomes. • The best way to frame these choices is in moral terms.

39. Transformation • Characters only change under the force of conflict. In successful feature films, the change is dramatic, but in a short film the transformation needn’t be as pronounced. • Sometimes in short films, the protagonist doesn’t change, but causes profound changes in those around him.

40. The Important Characters A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Written by Tennessee Williams Based on his stage play Lesson 5: Part IV

41. 1. The Protagonist • The most important character in the screenplay is the protagonist. He or she is the focus of attention. Especially in a short film, where one protagonist generally carries the storyline and forces the action.

42. 1. The Protagonist • Effective protagonists drive the story by having something they must do. In features, protagonists are generally appealing, but in shorts, they can get away with being unappealing.

43. The Duality of the Protagonist • The protagonist needs to encompass certain universal archetypes to stand out from other characters and drive the story. • However, the protagonist should also be as unique and specific as you can make him. • The contrast between archetype and originality can bring the character to life.

44. 2. The Antagonist • The antagonist is the principle adversary of the hero. The antagonist can be the one person or a group of people who oppose the protagonist’s pursuit of her goal.

45. 2. The Antagonist • The antagonist doesn’t have to be a “villain” to be effective. Often the antagonist is simply standing in the way of the protagonist and is just as committed to his goal as she is to hers.

46. Creating the Antagonist • The antagonist is not always as complexly drawn as the protagonist, but the more believably drawn the antagonist’s wants and needs, the more effectively he will play off the protagonist.

47. Supporting Characters • A catalyst is the character who causes something to happen and involves the protagonist in a conflict that becomes the plot. • The confidant is a close friend to the protagonist that allows her to reveal herself. • Don’t use supporting characters merely as mouthpieces for exposition. Make sure they have clearly drawn relationships to the main characters.

48. Assignments The Godfather (2003) Written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola Based on the Novel by Mario Puzo Lesson 5: Part V

49. E-Board Post #1 Pick any film, feature or short (that we have not discussed in this lesson), and do a brief analysis on what a character wants, why that character says that he wants this, and what the character actually needs, even if it is at odds with what he says he wants. You may need to review the section in the lecture about character want and need. 49

50. E-Board Post #2 Watch the short film from the lesson, IMAGO,and discuss how the film uses character to generate emotion, even though it uses no dialogue. 50