CPM - Characters (Lesson)

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Characters

Introduction

DW_CHARACTERSPlot_CHARACTERS.png In this lesson, we will review character development tools from the playwriting lesson and identify four essential qualities identified by Syd Field in his chapter, Building a Character, from Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting.

Building a Character

Before getting into the story and fleshing out the incidents of your logline, you must know your characters. It is not possible to determine which tactical approaches or responses a character will take when faced with the inevitable obstacles of the story unless you know as much as you can about what came before. In order to reveal who the character becomes during the trials of the story; we must know where they started. Therefore a full interior life must be established.

Some authors even suggest a full breakdown of the character’s life from birth to the start of the story. In previous lessons, we looked at character analysis used by actors. We will revisit this as a starting point for the building of your character’s interior life or biography.

Character Analysis Questions

The question set below for character analysis is just one of many. Start by asking these questions and making some basic decisions about who the characters are:

  • What is your full name?
  • What were your parents like?
  • Do you have any brothers or sisters? How many older? How many younger?
  • What is your favorite childhood memory?
  • What is your worst childhood memory?
  • What is/was your relationship with your family like?
  • Are you now a member of any clubs, organizations, or religious congregations?
  • What do you enjoy doing most in your free time?
  • What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?
  • What do you do for exercise?
  • What is your best feature?
  • What is your greatest fear?
  • What type of clothing do you most like to wear?
  • What are your favorite TV programs?
  • Are you happy with your social position?
  • What do you feel the future holds?
  • Describe your personality.
  • Pet Peeves: What are some things that annoy or bother you?
  • If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

What additional questions would be good to explore to further develop characters?

Once you have established the answers to these questions, you can begin the process of developing the character biography. It is recommended however that you don’t write the biography from the perspective of an omnipotent third-person narrator, as this form of description is much more effective for novels than dramatic literature. Consider developing the character's backstory and event their own biography from the perspective of the character. Make the character's history autobiographical.

Michael Shurtliff's Guideposts

While screenwriting, and to some extent playwriting, will use some external narrative structure in stage directions or action shots, having a deep understanding of how the character views themselves will ultimately help to produce more realistic and nuanced dialogue throughout the story. For this, we turn once again to the tools of the actor. Select Guideposts from Michael Shurtleff work just as well for the writer to get to know the character being built as they do for the Actor interpreting the words of a previously written character.

Review the information about Michael Shurtleff’s Guideposts from a previous module:

Michael Shurtleff’s Auditions provides actors with 12 guideposts that help the actor create specific choices about a character in a timely fashion. Writers can also get a great deal out of looking at some of Shurtleff’s guideposts. Armed with the brief backstory and key questions about who the character is, the next element to consider is how the character engages with other characters and how they deal with specific situations. Answering the following 8 guidepost questions as the character will help to clarify how the character will function in the world as well as hone the internal monologue:

  1. Relationship - How do you interact with others? Am I direct, nervous, flippant? Does it change depending on the person I’m speaking to? How?
  2. Conflict - What am I fighting for? What is my dream and how can I make it come true? If there is no conflict, why don’t you run?
  3. Humor - What do I think is funny? How do I use humor in general?
  4. The Moment Before – How did I get here ( the start of the story)? Write a brief history of how you came to be in the situation of the exposition.
  5. Communication and Competition - Who are you competing with and how do you communicate with them to get what you want?
  6. Importance – What specific things will happen if I don’t get what I want?
  7. Place – What is my relationship with the location? Am I comfortable, formal, public or private? Can people hear me? Do I want them to?
  8. Mystery and Secret - Do I have a secret that no one knows? What do I want to keep hidden?

Source Links to an external site.

Bringing Your Characters to Life

Once you have your characters' biographical information in place, you can begin to consider the four elements identified by Syd Field as necessary for the makeup of a good character. Watch the video below to explore these elements. Please reach out to your instructor with any questions.

Click here to download the presentation notes for Bringing Characters to Life. Links to an external site.

Characters Review

Review your understanding below.

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