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Creating Original Characters, Themes, and Visual
Metaphors for Your Digital Short Film
By Sherri Sheridan
Date: Jul 9, 2004
Return to the article
Sherri Sheridan provides helpful tips to developers of digital short films on the creation of interesting characters,
themes, and visual metaphors through the development of a sample short film about a bigfoot named Ezzie.
"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known."
—Walt Disney
Character, plot, and theme are the building blocks of a great short film. This chapter focuses on creating original
characters, developing themes, and ways to create a unique visual, metaphorical, and symbolic language in your film.
Creating Powerfully Original Characters
The more you know about your characters, the easier it is to write your script. Assigning original sets of goals, traits,
history, and other qualities creates characters with real emotional depth and personality. In this section, you will
develop the main characters you chose for your final script idea in Chapter 1, "Generating Ideas for Digital Short
Films."
Creating Active Characters
The strongest protagonists are usually active. Make sure your characters are not on a "magic carpet ride" type of
journey through the story, just being carried along by a series of uncanny coincidences. When planning stories, keep
in mind the three states of being for characters:
Passive.
Lump: no goals, no plans, no energy to do anything. Part of the scenery, like colorful statues in a garden.
1.
Reactive. Goal, plan, or pursuit; two out of three: Needs a little boost to get going, but heading toward goal.
2.
Active. Goal, plan, and pursuit; fully engaged in quest to achieve goal.
3.
Have your characters make active choices that make events happen . Force your characters to deal and learn
from these choices as the story develops.
Watch your favorite films and see whether you can tell which state each character is in, in each scene, and how this
state affects the conflict and audience interest in the story. You will discover that the active character state is much
more engaging to watch.
Figure 2.1
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This reclining Bigfoot is a passive character with no plans, goals, or energy. He just lies around all day. Notice
how this character is not as interesting to watch as the one with a plan, goal, and motivation to make things
happen.
Defining Characters
Short films do not have time to develop complex plots, so they often depend more on character. Plot is character
personified in a sense. Characters are defined through their choices , actions , and reactions . Recognize that every
character creates his or her own situations (plot) from the externalizations of his or her inner world (character).
What a character does is more important than what a character says.
Characters need action and behavior to show us who they are. Guidance is good to have bestowed upon your
characters, but do not have them become puppets of outside forces. They must act for themselves to show us who
they are and what they think is important enough to fight for against heavy opposition.
You can define character in three ways, listed here in order of importance:
Action. Observing how they react to situations by what they do.
1.
Dialogue.
Listening to what they say.
2.
Third-party dialogue.
Listening to what other characters say about them. You could establish a whole character before he even walks
on the screen by what another character says about him. The power of third-person dialogue is that you tend to
believe it more if someone else says something about someone, rather than if the actual character claims to be
something. How would your character's parents describe him or her? What description would a best friend,
lover, or worst enemy provide?
3.
Figure 2.2
Big Granny tells her pet bobcat things about Ezzie when she's not around or is out of hearing range. How can
you use third-party dialogue to help establish characters in interesting ways? What ways could you use digital
tools to have characters talk to animated objects or animals, such as a conversing bobcat that gives advice?
Writing Exercise 2.1
Write a few pages about one character going from a passive to a reactive to an active state of being. Or you could
write about three characters in one situation, where one character is passive, one reactive, and one active.
Project 2.1
List Three Active Choices. Create three active choices your main characters could make in your short film to
accomplish the plot goal you chose in Chapter 1.
Project 2.2
Defining Characters. List at least one idea for using action, dialogue, and third-party dialogue to establish
characters in your film idea.
Movie Note
In Apocalypse Now , Martin Sheen's character describes the men in his outfit with a voice over (VO) as the camera
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pans around the gunboat. He starts off by saying the soldiers are a "group of rock and rollers with one foot in the
grave," foreshadowing upcoming events. One edgy character is described as "being wrapped too tight for Vietnam.
Probably wrapped too tight for New Orleans." We learn about Martin's character by the way he describes other
people in this brilliant, all-around character-defining monologue. How could you use a similar technique to quickly
establish characters in your short film?
Movie Note
The animated short film Transit
tells the story of Emmy, an archetypal femme fatal, seducing Oscar the butcher, who ends up killing her oil-baron
husband. The story happens in 11 minutes, is told backwards in cities all over the world through disappearing travel
stickers on a suitcase, and has no dialogue. We understand everything we need to know about these characters by
what they do in each scene, how they react to each other, and the choices they make. Pay attention to this "show,
don't tell" concept when planning your visual stories.
What Does Your Character Want and Need?
Your protagonist should have two basic goals related to both plot (want) and theme (need).
Want is the worldly plot goal to save the princess, rob the bank, save the world, find the treasure, or win the
race.
Need is usually the unconscious inner motivation that compels the character to act in irrational ways.
As characters attempt to get what they want, they often get what they need. Need may oppose want. Needs never
change in a film, whereas wants often do. A character may want to die of a broken heart, when what he or she really
needs is love. Need is something the audience often starts to see before the protagonist does, watching as the
character learns throughout the story. Study yourself and other people. See what makes people tick underneath what
they want and need to create believable characters.
Character want = Plot goal
Character need = Theme goal
Motivations = Why they made these decisions based on want/need
Writing Exercise 2.2
Write a few pages where you define a character or group of characters using action, dialouge, and third-party
dialouge.
NOTE
Get to Know Yourself. You need to really know yourself to build good characters and stories. The more you
understand yourself, the better you understand other people. We all share similar experiences of desires, suffering,
dreams, hopes, and the struggle to find value in our daily lives. Carry a notebook around with you to write down
what you observe in regards to what is important to yourself and other people. Build your characters out of parts of
people you know and assemble them into layered dimensions of contradictions.
NOTE
List Three of Your Own Personal Plot and Theme Goals. Make a list of three personal goals for both outer
(worldly) wants and inner (soul) needs. These will often surface in your characters in some way.
Figure 2.3
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My main Bigfoot character Ezzie's plot goal is to pass her vision quest, so she can stay with her tribe and not
be banished to wander alone in the forest forever. What she needs to learn is to trust her intuition in order to
pass her vision quest and claim her rightful spot in the Bigfoot tribe as the daughter of a long line of powerful
shamans and warriors. Ezzie is afraid of her Bigfoot psychic powers at the beginning of the story and learns
to use them better during the vision quest. In this shot at the beginning of the story, she trips on a log in the
forest on her way to steal the chocolate that gets her into so much trouble. A voice in the wind tells her to "go
back," but the smell of the chocolate is stronger and she ignores her intuition. Later in the story, a similar
voice will be heard, and she will listen to it this time to show how she is learning to trust her intuition.
Creating Theme Goals for Your Characters
Take the theme you chose in Chapter 1 and turn it into a theme goal for the protagonist. Theme goals tend to be
underlying unconscious needs characters have to develop, ones that will usually help them with their plot goals and
character growth. If your theme is that greed leads to corruption, as in the movie Wall Street , your protagonist may
struggle between greed and corruption while going through the story. Maybe your characters struggle to determine
who they want to be in a world ruled by this theme. Work with the plot goal you picked in Chapter 1 for the
following exercise.
Theme of film. Controlling idea, moral message, underlying essence, or deeper meaning of film.
Character theme goal. How a character needs to grow to accomplish plot goal or show the film theme.
In the film Wall Street , Charlie Sheen's character is the protagonist, representing the theme of how greed leads to
corruption. We watch as he struggles throughout the film to find a balance between the two extremes and still
become a success. Michael Douglas's character is the antagonist, representing the anti-theme personifying intense
greed and corruption. Charlie Sheen's character has the following goals he attempts to achieve within the overall film
theme parameters:
Theme of film. Greed leads to corruption.
Protagonist plot goal. To become a successful businessman.
Protagonist theme goal.
Needs to redefine who he wants to be and his place in the business world amid greed and corruption.
Writing Exercise 2.3
Write a few pages where you show a character struggling to achieve both a plot and a theme goal.
Project 2.3
What Does Your Protagonist Want and Need? List three ideas for each goal type. Pick your best ones to develop.
Theme Goal Brainstorming Chart
To let go of past
To take responsibility for actions
To find happiness
To find inner peace
To let go of being a victim
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To believe in something worthwhile
To define new version of self
To find a balance between extremes
To let go of self-destructive behaviors
To fit into new world
To find love
To change inner beliefs
To come of age
To see perfection in themselves and others
To let go of any fears and trust that everything is happening perfectly
To learn something
To change way of being in the world
To be honest with themselves or others
To resolve conflicting inner beliefs
To learn compassion for others
To see the world in a new way
To find one's own truth
To make peace with the past
To overcome past trauma
To gain self-confidence
To redefine self in world
To reach a new level of understanding
To overcome a fear of something
To find purpose in life
To realize something that changes perspective on life
To become a leader
To create life intentionally instead of being carried along by circumstances
To trust inner guidance rather than logic
Theme Goals Determine the Climax
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Another way to think of theme goals, or character need, is to ask yourself what the character is learning, or how the
character is growing during their journey through the film. Some characters are always in transition until the final
fade out if they grow a great deal. The more a character grows inside, the more external challenges the character can
handle. The bigger the external goals, the more internal change needs to occur.
The theme goal reaches its climax with the film's plot goal climax and is usually the reason the ending goes
positively or negatively.
In the short film Last Supper , the protagonist thinks he has won the lottery at the climax, not knowing it's a trick
played on him for fun by his wife. Believing he is suddenly rich, he now feels comfortable showing a more honest
side of himself, by telling her he is leaving her and has been sleeping with her sister for the past eight months. He
places the keys to his Jaguar, credit cards, and house keys on the table to leave them for his wife, which
symbolic-ally states theme, too. The theme is how money changes relationships, and this decides the man's reaction
at the climax. If money didn't matter in relationships for this film, he would have reacted differently to thinking he
had won the lottery.
Figure 2.4
Ezzie falls into a deep pit of quicksand during the climax while on her Shamanic journey and starts to drown.
Her initial urge is to fight her way to the surface, but then she hears her little voice that tells her to levitate
out. If she ignores the voice of her intuition, she will die and not accomplish either plot or theme goal.
Project 2.4
Three Theme-Triggered Climaxes. How could your main character's theme goal decide the climax of your film?
List the theme of your film, plot goal of main character, theme goal of main character, and three possible ways these
ideas could all connect at the end.
Project 2.5
Mutually Exclusive Goals. Create an ending that makes the plot and theme goals mutually exclusive. Your
protagonist cannot have both of them and must choose between the world (worldly plot goal) and his or her soul
(inner theme goal need).
Creating Mutually Exclusive Plot and Theme Goals
Sometimes you may want to make the plot and theme goals mutually exclusive. In The Maltese Falcon , the main
character wants to find the person who killed his partner and needs the perfect woman to love. When he finds out at
the end that the perfect woman he now loves killed his partner, he has to decide which goal is more important to
achieve. How could you create this conflict with your character to craft a great ending where the character must
decide between his or her soul and the world?
Often, achieving plot goals means winning in the world. Theme goals usually involve winning on a soul level.
Figure 2.5
Ezzie has one quick chance to place her palm prints and carve her initials and sacred journey symbol on a
special wall to prove her vision quest is complete at the end. Her intuition tells her to check out a sound
coming from a deep hole, creating a situation with mutually exclusive plot and theme goals. As she falls into
another series of caves, she finds a deeper hidden chamber where the heads of the tribe carve their symbols if
they hear the special call. This elevates her standing in the tribe when she returns with a talisman from this
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special chamber.
Creating Character Identification
When an audience relates strongly to a film, they are identifying some aspect of themselves with the characters they
see on the screen. Include as many of the following character identification techniques as possible when creating
each of your characters. Don't use all of these techniques on just one character; it would be too confusing. Try to
incorporate identification ideas that already fit your characters in some visual way. The trick is not to make these too
obvious or sappy. Make sure they are original and artfully presented in a very subtle way. Several of the following
character identification techniques are taken from Michael Hauge's wonderful book Writing Screenplays That Sell .
Add to this list as you see qualities in characters that make you want to watch them and feel connected with them in
some way.
Admirable.
The character is really good at something we can admire, such as being an expert in their field, brilliant, wise,
witty, beautiful, very talented, resourceful, or respected.
1.
Similar opinions/desires. You relate to the character's view of the world and what the character wants.
2.
Flaws.
Imperfections—physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, or personality. Give your characters lots of
neurotic tendencies to make them more interesting. Characters who are in conflict with themselves are
interesting to watch. Try to make flaws symbolic to theme. In Finding Nemo , the theme is to not give up and
"to keep swimming." Nemo has one fin that is smaller than the other, and his father is afraid of everything out
in the ocean. Dorie cannot remember anything for very long, which is a very funny flaw that works well to
keep reviewing the same story information. Add to these lists as you see films.
3.
Writing Exercise 2.4
Write a few pages where you show how a character's theme goal decides the outcome of their plot goal.
Movie Note
In Life Lessons , Lionel the painter says he wants Paulette to stay, but what he really needs to inspire his
painting is passionate turmoil in his relationships. He becomes both the protagonist and the antagonist as his
own worst enemy, because his plot and theme goals are in such direct conflict. Lionel wins in the world with a
successful art show at the end, although he loses another relationship on a soul level.
Types of Flaws
Physical Emotional Spiritual
Psychological
Personality
Missing
limb
Mood swingsReligious/Spiritual
zealot
Obsessive/compulsive Arrogant
Scars
Cries easily
Cult fanatic
Schizophrenic
Rude
Ugly
Emotionally
devoid
Evil tendencies
Manic depressive
Delusional
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Bad teethLaughs at the
wrong things
Terrified of killing
anything
Narcoleptic
Self
destructive
Obese
Uncontrollable
anger
Believes the world
is going to end
soon
Multiple personalitiesMean
spirited
Disfigured Insecure
Believes the world
is going to end
soon
Going crazy
Ego-maniac
One leg
shorter
than the
other
Afraid of
everything
Extremely
superstitious
Memory problems Clumsy
Always trying to
convert other
characters
Stupid
No
Integrity
Superhero qualities.
The character can do something amazing such as breathe under water and talk to fish (Aqua Man). Must
balance all superhero qualities with equal vulnerabilities, such as what kryptonite does to Superman. What
original visual superhero qualities could you create that are perfect for animation and digital effects?
4.
Visual appeal.
Great actors have what is known as "screen presence," meaning that you cannot take your eyes off of them in
the frame. When Elizabeth Taylor walks onto the screen, you watch her above all else. Visual appeal is often
thought of as sexual appeal. Jack Nicholson may not be the most handsome man in the world, but he has great
sex appeal. Animated characters need wonderfully original design, great personalities, and exaggerated
movements to create strong visual appeal.
5.
Introduce the main character ASAP.
Make it clear who the main character is, and introduce him or her right away.
6.
Sympathy.
Your audience really feels where the character is at emotionally and empathizes. Your character is having a
hard time, bad luck, or a bad day; is in pain; just lost everything; or is involved in an unjust situation.
7.
Place in jeopardy.
First you get the audience to care about and identify with your characters, and then you make them suffer by
placing the characters in emotional, physical, or spiritually dangerous situations. The audience loves to worry
about characters if they relate to them.
8.
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Familiar setting/situations.
What types of places or situations can you put your characters in that are both universal and unique? A family
dinner table, classroom, or job situation.
9.
Eyes of the audience.
The character goes through the story and learns surprising things at the same time the audience does.
10.
Empowered.
Active characters that make decisions to do something. Characters with no power to change their situations are
hard to relate to, boring, and frustrating to watch.
11.
Underdogs.
Characters in ordinary lives who are called on to do great things against all odds of success. Give your
characters normal boring jobs or place them in situations where they are underdogs.
12.
Good sense of humor. The character is witty, funny, tells good jokes, is playful, does entertaining things, or is
clever.
13.
Helps others.
The character goes out of the way to assist other people or animals. Avoid cliché helping actions.
14.
Loves children/family/pets/self.
Have your characters smile at kids, joke with old men in elevators, call their mothers, stop to pet dogs, and
compliment themselves in the mirror.
15.
Artistic. The character creates artwork or appreciates art.
16.
On a mission or has a special calling.
Show how your characters are completely inspired by some higher purpose, greater idea, or selfless mission.
Maybe they want to accomplish something in your story for the good of others or to serve.
17.
Figure 2.6 Character Flaws Add Personality. This flawed Bigfoot is missing a leg and has
scars, bad teeth, torn ears, strange religious emblems on his necklace, and a crazy look in his eyes. All of these
imperfections make him much more realistic and interesting than a so-called perfect Bigfoot. How many
character flaws can you incorporate visually into your characters?
Movie Note
In the 2D animated short The Last Day , the husband has a compulsive sawing problem when it comes to furniture.
His wife likes to take her eyes out and shake them like dice in an irritating way. What new types of visual flaws can
you give your character to enhance with animation or special effects that are metaphoric?
Superhero Qualities
Runs super fast
Can see through things
Can talk to beings on other stars for guidance
Ability to talk to plants
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Shape shifter
Mind reader
Body parts turn into spaceship
Ability to sprout wings and fly
Can see 10 seconds into the future when looking into special stone
Has the ability to shift physical locations at will
A magical scorpion tail sprouts out of body and stings people
Ability to tunnel underground with head
Can move objects with mind
Has a magical lasso only they can use
Ability to make people do things by gently suggesting ideas
Project 2.6
Add Character Flaws. Create three flaws for each of your main characters. Try to connect their main flaws with
their abilities to achieve goals.
Project 2.7
Character Identification. List 10 ideas to improve character identification for each main character in your film.
Figure 2.7
This Bigfoot carves redwood stumps with chainsaws he steals from the lumberjacks. Showing his artistic side
will help the audience identify more with the character. As you write your script, remember that these types
of character identification techniques are good to show. This character could be carving a symbolic object out
of a redwood tree while talking to another character who is playing with a beloved pet.
NOTE
Watch Finding Nemo for Character Identification Techniques. Watch the first 30 minutes of this film and list as
many of the previously discussed character identification techniques as you can. Notice how using these techniques
helps you relate to the characters emotionally. You need to set up strong character identification in Act One, so this
is a good place to study how other films do this in artful and original ways.
Writing Exercise 2.5
Write a few pages where you describe a day in the life of a character using as many of these character identification
techniques as possible.
Creating a Character History
You will have a hard time creating believable characters without thinking about their personal history. Find original
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ways to slowly reveal important and unique information about their pasts as it relates to the story.
Writing Exercise 2.6
Write a few pages where you describe your main character based on their history. You could do it chronically, have
a character telling their life story to someone, or have another character talking about someone else's life story.
Developing Psychological Profiles
Everything inside a character's head will affect how they see their world and how they act and react on screen.
People identify with characters who have similar emotions, opinions, attitudes, and beliefs. True emotion is the real
source of our connections to other people. Make sure that your characters have powerful desires and opinions to
create compelling moments and events on the screen. Answer the following questions to get a sense of how your
character thinks and feels about the world.
The emotional reactions of characters in a film are how we understand them visually.
What is the general emotional mood of your characters? Are they broken up inside or fresh and innocent? Are
they cynical or positive?
1.
How do your characters speak to themselves inside their own heads? Are they very critical and hard on
themselves or do they think everything is wonderful and just better and better? Write three lines of inner
dialogue to show general psychological character states, such as, "I never do anything right," "Nothing ever
happens the way I want it to," or "I'm just not good enough." Or does the character think more along the lines
of, "Oh great, another wonderful day!," "I can't wait to go to school," or "I just know something really good is
going to happen."
2.
How do they interpret external experiences internally? Do they think everything is their fault or do they never
take responsibility for their behaviors?
3.
Do they have any psychological problems or flaws, such as being neurotic, delusional, depressed, slightly
nutty, forgetful, or obsessive? Do they suffer from uncontrollable outbursts of rage or overwhelming panic
attack- type disorders?
4.
What is your character's biggest secret insecurity? Are they afraid they are not good enough, not beautiful
enough, or not smart enough? What might they think is terribly wrong with them that they do not want anyone
else to know?
5.
What strong opinions, attitudes, or beliefs does this character possess? Do they feel they have a clear purpose
in their life or higher mission to accomplish? What are they willing to fight for under pressure?
6.
What is your character's biggest emotional scar or shameful past event that they repress or hide from
themselves or others?
7.
What types of emotional weather did your character's family have when they were growing up? Was it a
happy family or a stressed out one? How does this affect your character's mindset now?
8.
Are there any original ways you could show some of these psychological states on screen, using your digital
tools to help the audience better understand your character's inner world? A character who has a very negative
inner dialogue with a cheerful outer attitude could be shown to be in conflict by using a separate, softer
soundtrack for the inner voice on top of the normal dialogue at key moments.
9.
Figure 2.8
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My protagonist Ezzie is very dramatic emotionally and has big mood swings. Her biggest flaw is that she is
overly optimistic about things and fails to see problems until it is too late. In this shot, she is at her lowest
point in the cave, having a vision of her grandmother in the lines of the rocks, who reminds her of why she is
on the vision quest. The two characters joke about how things are not going too well and use humor to help
get her into a more positive mental state in order to continue.
Project 2.8
Character History. Answer the following questions for both your protagonist and antagonist:
Naming your characters.
How can you create original names for your characters that relate to their role in the story or the theme of the
film, or that serve as metaphors for traits? You may want to refer to baby naming, family name, or other types
of dictionaries to create symbolic first and last names. A cold-hearted snippy character named Sally Davis is
not nearly as unique and descriptive as Nettle Frost. "Nettle" for the stinging plant and "Frost" for cold. Refer
to the character traits later in this chapter to see what types of synonyms you may be able to use for names.
What types of nicknames could you give your characters that relate to their history?
1.
Physical descriptions.
Height, weight, hair color, wardrobe style, posture, eye color, scars, cultural background, imperfections, and
general visual impression at first glance.
2.
Life experiences.
Write one sentence each for three major events in your character's life that define who the character is and how
the character sees the world. For instance: At 5 years old, the character stole a bicycle, got caught, and then
decided he or she was bad because of what the stern policemen said. At 10, the character's parents divorced,
the character's mother moved away to a strange place with the character, and the character never again felt a
sense of "belonging." At 21, the character had a vision of their life purpose and remains focused on achieving
this at all costs. Have these life-changing events define your character's attitude and feelings toward life.
3.
Free-time activities. Hobbies, skills, interests, collections, sports, travel, favorite band, and favorite thing to
do on Sunday or day off.
Figure 2.9
This 14-year-old Bigfoot girl is named Ezmerelda Firerose, but most of her friends call her Ezzie. She
comes from a long line of shamanic Bigfoot women who knew how to talk to plants and use them for
healing. On the night she was born, there was a big fire where the wild roses grow near the Bigfoot clan
cave, which is how she got her last name. She is 8 feet tall and weighs 267 pounds; she has sapphire blue
eyes and bright red hair. One of her favorite things to do is spy on campers and steal their candy bars.
She also likes to make sculptures out of junk she finds on the side of the road and natural objects such
as rocks and bones. Her current most-used expression is "wicked," which she overheard an English
anthropologist say while scouting for Bigfoots in the forests.
4.
Dialogue.
How the character talks. What are the character's favorite words? What kinds of special words could you add
to things the character says? "That's great!" is not as interesting or revealing as, "Oh goody goody gumdrops!"
Watch any films similar in genre dialogue to the one you are creating to get fresh ideas.
5.
Sociology.
Social status in film world, including education, money, friends, family background, neighborhood, city, and
environment. Effect of outside world situation on characters both internally and externally. Suppose, for
instance, that identical triplets were all separated at birth. One was reared with Eskimos, one in Beverly Hills,
6.
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and one on the streets of Bombay. How would their social environments make them all different at age 21?
Biggest heartache or disappointment.
What was the biggest heartache or disappointment that your character has ever experienced? What possible
fear did the character develop around this experience? Maybe if the character lost a best friend at a young age,
they become afraid of getting attached to anyone else.
7.
Most prized possession. What is your character's most prized possession?
8.
Secret dreams.
What does your character secretly dream about becoming or achieving? What does your character daydream
about in his or her spare time? How does your character view their future?
9.
What is missing in the character's life?
What one missing thing does your character think having would make his or her life perfect? What life
situation is your character trying to change in your story?
10.
What relationships are most important to your character? Is your character really close to his or her
mother but has never seen his or her father? Who is his or her best friend? Think about including archetypal
relationships in your story, such as father/son, teacher/student, priest/man, God/man, husband/wife, or
boss/employee. Make sure you build strong, contrasting characters for important relationships to help each
other grow and keep the story interesting.
11.
Figure 2.10
Ezzie secretly dreams of jumping her motorcycle over the biggest cavern in the Bigfoot cave.
Project 2.9
Psychological Profiles.
Answer the questions in this section to get a feel for how your characters think and feel about their lives.
Writing Exercise 2.7
Get inside your main character's head and write a few pages of how they think during a possible situation in your
story.
What Is Your Character Afraid Of?
Fear is an emotion caused by the anticipation or awareness of danger or pain. This powerful state is generated in a
character's subconscious mind based on negative thinking, past experiences, or current reality beliefs. Courage is the
ability to take action in spite of fear, while thinking positively about future results. The more a character is afraid, the
less likely they will take any action. The less fear a character has in their perceptions of reality, the more power and
excitement they will have to accomplish their goals. Emotional states are like magnets, which attract situations that
match the emotion being broadcast. A character who is really afraid of something will actually attract that thing into
his world in order to resolve it. Audiences love to see characters wrestle with fears, since this is a universal
emotional struggle for most people.
Not all characters are even aware of their fears. Unconscious fear drives a character's reactions, and you need to
know what these are. Some characters may wear masks that hide their fears and often appear to be the opposite of the
fear. If a character is terrified of people finding that the character is not as good as they appear, that character may
act very snotty to cover up their insecurity. In Life Lessons , Lionel is afraid underneath all his flurry of actions that
he will not be able to paint if his lover leaves. This causes him to react with extremely fearful freak-outs whenever
his girlfriend threatens to leave. In Finding Nemo , Nemo's overprotective father is terrified of little Nemo getting
eaten by another fish, since this is what happened to his wife and other children. One way to find fear in a
developing character is to ask, "What would this character do if they knew they could not fail?"
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After you know what your character is really afraid of, you know what they need to face.
Ways To Show Characters Overcoming Fears
If fear stops a character from taking action, you will need to show what motivates them enough to push through their
fears in order to obtain their plot and theme goals. Below is a list to help you think of ways to show characters
working through their fears, old wounds, or emotional blocks.
Types of Fears
Fear of losing someone or something very precious to you
Fear of not being good enough
Fear of being ridiculed
Fear of not being loved or wanted
Fear of failure
Fear of being vulnerable
Fear of past trauma repeating itself
Fear of snakes, spiders, viscious dogs, alligators, sharks, or killer bees
Fear of getting hurt or injured
Fear of things getting worse
Fear of losing what you already have
Fear of being alone
Fear of not knowing how to do something
Fear of being wrong
Fear of physical pain
Fear of illness
Fear of being rejected
Fear of being poor or homeless
Fear of someone finding out a big secret or insecurity about you
Fear of being caught for something you did in your past
Fear of a particular person, thing, or situation that has been harmful in the past
Ways a Character Might Overcome a Fear
Character faces fear and succeeds, gaining confidence.
Hits bottom and asks for help or realizes there is nothing left to lose
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Character becomes so paralyzed by fear they become weak and close to some form of death which causes big
realization
Character takes a little step out of fear and meets with success, then takes another
Character starts taking some form of action
Character tries very hard to cover up fear and finally breaks down about truth or is exposed
Character snaps from tension of fear and gets into more emotionally free state
Character realizes fear is costing them too much and lets it go
Character is motivated by the welfare of others to act and get out of fear
Character relives past traumatic event in some way and works through fear
Figure 2.11
My main character Ezzie's biggest fear is getting bit by one of the poisonous snakes or spiders that live in the
vision quest caves. She flashes on this fearful image in her mind when the witchdoctor tells her she must go
into Rattlesnake Cavern, the most dangerous place of them all, for her vision quest.
Figure 2.12
Ezzie is sticking her arm down the body of a this giant rattlesnake to retrieve her lightening bug friend who
accidentally flew into its mouth. Ezzie is first shown reacting with extreme terror to any snake, then getting
more and more comfortable around them, since they are all over the vision quest cave. I use her reactions to
snakes and spiders to show her character growth in the story. The more she masters her intuition, the less
afraid she is of the creatures. What unique ways can you show your characters gradually overcoming their
fears in your story?
Figure 2.13
The most important thing to this Bigfoot is looking really good. He is especially proud of his unusually long
Bigfoot hair. His biggest fear is losing his hair or going bald, which seems to be happening a little more each
day, causing him great stress. His unconscious fear is not being loveable if he loses his hair. How can you
create different believable layers of fear for your characters that match the concerns of people you know?
Project 2.10
Worst Thing. What would be the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist? What is your character most
afraid of? Are there any unconscious fears your character may have that they are unaware of or hiding from?
Writing Exercise 2.8
Write a few pages about how your main character developed their biggest fear and give some ideas on how they
might overcome it by taking action.
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NOTE
Character History in Films. Study your favorite films and write character histories from what is revealed about the
characters onscreen. How do they experience life through their own personal reality filter? What does your
protagonist's reality filter look like? Show this unique reality construction and contrast it with the other characters'
views in your film.
Adding Universal and Unique Qualities
All characters have both universal and unique qualities. How is your character a universally generic archetype? Is
your protagonist a rebel, saint, madman, hero, sinner, solider, mother, cowboy, detective, gangster, fortune-teller,
outlaw, drunk, shopkeeper, or businessman? Is there something going on with this character we can all grab onto?
Then you need to make that archetypal character unique and stunningly original. What about a detective who can't
remember anything ( Memento ) or an ant that wants to do things differently than the other ants ( A Bug's Life )? A
cowboy living in New York City ( Midnight Cowboy )? A poor, single, mother-of-three fortune-teller living in the
deep south ( The Gift )? An orphan boy with unusually powerful wizard skills ( Harry Potter )?
Figure 2.14 Bigfoot Scaredy Cat.
This Bigfoot who is normally supposed to be huge and brave is instead afraid of every little critter in the
forest because he got bit once on the foot as a youngster.
NOTE
Favorite Film Character Qualities. Go through your favorite films and list how the lead characters are both
archetypal and unique.
Project 2.11
Universal and Unique Qualities. For each main character in your film, assign a universal and unique quality
combination that we have not seen before in a film. These qualities may overlap with character traits.
Incorporating Unique Qualities
What does your character do that might be described as an eccentricity, strange behavior, or unique way of doing
things? Adding unique qualities to your characters make them seem more original and realistic. Do they listen to
swing music while gardening in cocktail attire, drive around naked at night and shoot at mailboxes to relieve stress,
put ketchup on their pizza, or have five little dogs with them at all times? Are they attracted to really fat people for
relationships or blondes that drive old muscle cars? What do they do when they are sad? Do they eat chocolate chip
cookies in a bubble bath? We need to see these things to feel like your characters are real. There are no vanilla
people, so don't make characters without any special flavor or color.
Questions to Consider for Unique Qualities
When thinking of unique qualities, see how you can relate qualities to the plot, character history, and backstory.
What weird hobbies might they spend time doing? Fly fishing? Lawn bowling? What two weird hobbies could
you combine for a new one?
1.
Where do they like to shop? Thrift stores or Saks?
2.
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Strange musical tastes? Food? Movies? Entertainment?
3.
Sexual quirks? Dating preferences? How do they show affection?
4.
What strange thing or pet peeve really upsets your characters?
5.
Do they have offbeat eating habits or order food in restaurants in an unusual way?
6.
How and what do they drive?
7.
Strange nonverbal mannerisms? Grind their teeth, blink uncontrollably, turn their heads around fast as if
seeing something?
8.
Do they have any unusual talents?
9.
What types of far-out clothes do they wear?
10.
How do they react to stress? Overeat? Beat up stuffed animals? Chop wood?
11.
How do they practice their spirituality? Strange rituals or meditations? Do they go to an unusual church?
12.
What is your character's idea of a unique dream vacation?
13.
What is the weirdest thing about your character?
14.
What are the strangest things people you know do that make them unique? How could you use these to spark
original ideas?
15.
Figure 2.15 Banana Slug Cravings? This Bigfoot has an unusual taste for fresh banana slugs.
What unique food quirks does your character have that might make the audience squirm?
Project 2.12
Create Five Unique Qualities. Using ideas from the preceding list, create at least five possible unique qualities for
each of your main characters.
Writing Exercise 2.9
Write a few pages of a day in the life of one of your main characters, concentrating on showing as many of their
unique qualities as possible.
Creating a Backstory
The world your characters inhabit need to be as interesting and unique as the characters themselves. The backstory
consists of past events in your film world that directly affect the protagonist's emotional involvement in the plot as
the story unfolds. Characters need emotions and attributes to really come alive, and these are developed through the
backstory and character history. You need to define the limits of your film world in the backstory. Audiences will
inspect your fictional world to find limits. These limits also help set up the conflict.
Writing Exercise 2.10
Write a few pages about the history of your film world. You could describe it like you are doing a documentary film
on some interesting aspect or like you are writing a research report.
Characters Making Tough Choices Visually
How can you place your characters in positions where they must make difficult choices? How can you show them
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making these choices and stretch them out over time to see them really struggle? Show how the characters may be in
conflict emotionally inside themselves over the choice. What types of insights could you have your characters
discover during their decision-making process? Positive interactions with the world produce positive attitudes, and
negative ones produce negative characters. The best stories are about choices and commitment. The decision-making
process needs to be shown as visual actions.
Figure 2.16 Bigfoot Boulder Tossing. This character makes decisions by tossing boulders off a
cliff and seeing where they land.
Project 2.13
Creating a Backstory. Write a one- to two-page description of your film world. Use short paragraphs or lists to
answer the following types of questions. Add any questions you think are important to develop your backstory. If the
characters live underwater, you are going to have to explain how they breathe.
How are your characters' current behaviors related to past film world events?
1.
How far out of town do most people go?
2.
Who runs the film world your characters inhabit?
3.
What is the social pecking order?
4.
Who makes the big decisions?
5.
What is considered good or bad in your world?
6.
What would your character give his life for to achieve in this world?
7.
What makes life worth living in your world?
8.
What is the best and worst thing that can happen to a character in your world?
9.
What are the characters in your story most concerned with— surviving each day or having perfectly
manicured nails?
10.
How do your characters shop, eat, make love, work, exercise, and pray. Really imagine it in your mind to get
into these characters and their worlds.
11.
Draw an overhead sketch or map of the house, town, city, region, or planet that your film world encompasses.
12.
Project 2.14
Personal Visual Decision Making. List five actions (that can be shown visually) that you undertake when trying to
make important decisions. Maybe you jog, take a bath, throw darts, roll dice, consult a psychic, go bowling, surf,
take a poll of all your friends, pace, pray, ask for guidance in your dreams, do a tarot reading, play hockey, meditate,
shoot at tin cans, or watch for superstitious signs. What do you do differently when forced to make a big decision
under pressure?
Project 2.15
Visual Decision Making. Make a list of five ways to show the protagonist in your story making a big decision. A
character who is pacing while making a decision is perceived differently than one who throws darts. How does your
character make choices under extreme pressure? Exaggerate the normal decision-making behaviors in tense
situations. If the character usually paces, perhaps under pressure the character paces quite frantically.
Incorporate Character Contradictions
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People act differently around different people. You probably act differently around your friends than you do around
your mother, lover, or boss. Create your supporting characters to bring out contradictory sides of your protagonist.
Maybe you have a super-ambitious protagonist who is riddled with guilt about the extremes he goes to, to achieve
his goals. With Character B, your protagonist is a sharp, angry, and ruthless competitor. With Character C, your
protagonist acts like a sad, soft, guilty child. With Character D, your protagonist is happy and carefree. Use this
technique to show characters that are beautiful on the outside, but who may be a complete mess on the inside.
Creating Strong and Revealing Character Reactions
The events in your story reveal the characters by how the characters react to them. Plot is a collection of events or
actions toward a resolution. Character is the action and reaction of individuals in the story to the plot. Often the
underlying theme is what causes
characters to make the decision to react in certain ways. If you were creating a film on the theme of the destruction
of greed, for instance, your characters personifying greed would always choose to react with the greed mindset to
each situation as they destroy themselves.
You must remember to give screen time for the reactions of the characters to each event in your film. This
allows the emotional impact to sink in with the audience members.
Figure 2.17
Ezzie meets a lightening bug mentor in the vision quest cave who offers to be her guide. The bug is half blind
and bumps into things but seems helpful. Later in the story we find out that the lightening bug works for
Rugaro the witchdoctor and has been reporting back to him on Ezzie's progress. When the bug talks to Ezzie
he seems scatterbrained, but when he reports into Rugaro we see that he is very cunning and sharp. This
character contradiction makes the story more deep and interesting than just having the bug as a helpful
character.
Figure 2.18
These two Bigfoots are having very different reactions to what they just saw. One reacts with horror, whereas
the other laughs; these different reactions reveal character. What ways can you have your characters react
differently to events in your story to help us understand how they see the world?
Project 2.16
Contradictions. How can you incorporate some form of contradiction into your main characters? What other sides
of your characters can be presented in different situations? How can you use different characters to bring out
different sides of your protagonist?
Project 2.17
Character Reactions. List five ways your character could react to various events in your story. Make sure to create
specific reaction shots for these moments in your script. Create one situation in which two or more characters react
completely different to the same event.
Character Traits
To create consistent and original characters, it helps to define their basic traits. By picking one unique character-trait
set for each of your main characters, you will be able to keep track of who they are when imagining them in
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situations, writing dialogue, and planning actions.
A character trait is anything that determines the way the character sees the world and how the character
thinks, speaks, and acts.
Relate your trait sets to the character history, film world environment, backstory, social standing, occupation,
emotional state, psychological profile, appearance, and other exercises you have already done.
Cliché characters have combinations of character traits we have seen before onscreen.
"The Goldman Five" Character-Trait System
Michael Dougan developed this technique to construct characters by assigning them five simple trait combinations.
This idea is based on some things William Goldman said in his wonderful book Adventures In The Screen Trade
(Warner Books, 1983).
One best trait. The thing this character is better at doing than anyone else in the film world.
One worst trait.
The biggest negative trait that prevents the character from achieving goals and may cause the downfall of the
character if it is not overcome.
Three other traits . These other three traits are ones you add to make sure your character has an original
combination of traits.
The big negative trait has to be a flaw or weakness that prevents the character from obtaining his or her goals. If your
character's main plot goal is to drink himself to death ( Leaving Las Vegas ), being an alcoholic may be his best trait to
accomplish that goal. You can track growth and change in a character by monitoring that one negative trait. By
changing, a protagonist may turn this negative trait into a positive one by the end of the film. Try not to duplicate
positive or negative traits among character sets. If you have one kid who has the best collection of comic books
hanging out with other comic book kids, have them all specialize in different types of comic books.
The antagonist usually cannot overcome his or her negative trait at the end, which results in the antagonist's ultimate
downfall. Most antagonists are either ignorant of their worst trait or completely revel in it. A tragic character loses all
his good traits in a downward spiral throughout the story, from the weight of the big negative trait pulling him under.
Hannibal Lector is better at killing people than anyone else (main positive for his plot goal). We may not like serial
killers, but we admire Hannibal's skill. He is a genius, gourmet cook, and classy guy. His big negative trait is that he
is completely insane. Study your favorite films for these trait sets to see how different combinations are developed
for each character.
Character-Trait Chart
The following traits are loosely divided into positive and negative. Good traits help characters accomplish their
goals, whereas worst traits stop them from getting what they want and need. Do not pick two traits that are similar.
Lots of traits that do not sound very much alike are, such as "warrior" and "brave." It is fine to have two character
traits that are cliché, as long as you balance them with two traits that are really original to create a unique set. You
can add traits later that pop up while writing your script and remove ones that are not being used.
Project 2.18
List Traits. Create a unique set of traits for each main character in your film. Use the character trait chart for ideas.
After you have decided on your final five unique trait sets for each main character, write the character's name and
trait set on an index card and hang it up next to your script-writing area. These cards help keep your characters
consistent to their main traits as you write your script.
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Character Trait Chart
Possible Best
Traits
Other
Possible
Traits
Possible
Worst Traits
Champion IntelligentAirheadFake
Insane
Professional AthleticAloof
Activist
Addicted
Master
AffectionateMiddle classMoody
Dead inside
Top FearfulBeatnikCorporateMean
Model WorrywartGypsyHomelessAlcoholic
Warrior
Brave
Thief
Hippie
Negative
Beautiful
Positive
Intuitive
Cool
Poor
Courageous Average Bitchy Dork Annoying
Rich
Loyal
Bookish
Trashy
Depressed
Charming
Blue
Nerd
Cultivated Crazy
Talented
Competitive Liberal
Boring
Corrupt
Well educated Creative
Convict
Nice
Greedy
Mentor
Conservative Dishonest Natural
Obsessed
Happy
Confused Curious Mysterious Evil
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Caregiver
Black humor Glamorous Nervous
Clumsy
Childlike
Delicate
Fugitive
Obnoxious Gossip
Funny
Deluded
ForgetfulOutlawHot tempered
Compassionate Dissatisfied Foolish
Party animal Hypochondriac
Loving
Easy going Freak
Peaceful
Ignorant
Artistic
Uptight
Gentleman Young/old Impulsive
Independent Cowboy Humble Political Jerk
Enlightened Anal
Hood
Playboy
Irresponsible
Enthusiastic Drifter
Holy
Perfectionist Maniac
Heroic
Motherly Intense Genius Neurotic
Imaginative Egomaniac Lucky
Sexy
Cruel
Inspiring
Fashionable Logical
Perky
Cynical
Passionate Streetwise Loud
Responsible Psychotic
Integrity
Heartbroken Lonely
Small-town Possessive
King/queen Cheap Musical Shy
Violent
Leader
Mindful
Simple
Superficial Zombie
Survivor
StubbornStressedHigh strungBurned out
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Wise
Storyteller Listless Tough
Worthless
Prodigy
Modern
Alien
Wild
Broken
Psychic
Worldly
Soft
Biker
Slothful
Figure 2.19
This Bigfoot is better at levitating (floating) than any other one in the clan. This unusual best
trait works great for animation and is something we have not seen much of before onscreen. What types of
unique digitally enhanced character traits could you give your character (for instance, the ability to fly, glow,
or become invisible)?
NOTE
Keep Adding to Your Trait Chart. Add interesting character traits from movies you see for future reference.
Writing Exercise 2.11
Write a few pages about a main character where you only concentrate on showing their five main character traits in
action. If their best trait is being a top-ranked mountain climber, then you could start with them climbing a mountain.
You might also want to write a few pages with two main characters interacting with each other, focusing on how
their different trait sets cause agreement and conflict.
NOTE
What Is Your Absolute Best and Worst Trait? Notice how these may pop up in your characters and usually
change as we grow and learn.
Developing Themes In Films
In Chapter 1, we already looked at several ways to develop themes in your films. The following is a list of
techniques you may want to start thinking about when incorporating themes into your script. Each theme and story is
different and will require a unique approach on how to integrate it carefully. Many of the following ideas use
metaphors and symbols, which will be covered more in-depth in the next section. A deeper discussion of ways to
show themes using different types of metaphors is continued at the end of this chapter.
Controlling idea.
Show how the story events are being controlled by one idea, such as the synchronisity theme example from
Chapter 1.
1.
List positive and negative manifestations of theme in plot and character. If you are working with the
theme of how love heals all, you may want to list situations where there is an abundance of love, a total lack of
love, and a medium amount of love, then show how healing is affected in each situation. You could list
characters the same way, then put them in strong relationships together. One character may personify great
love, one may seem devoid of any love, and a few may demonstrate the middle of the emotional theme
spectrum.
2.
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Show main characters changing in respect to theme. Pick a negative and positive manifestation for a
thematic character. Have the character start out in the negative theme state and then change to the positive one
you are showing. A film about freedom may start with a character who is very upset about the constraints of
their freedom, and by the end of the story is completely free and happy, after going through a big ordeal for
change. Showing characters that change will be covered more in Chapter 3.
3.
Use metaphorical characters.
Use your digital tools to show things like animal characters playing human roles, such as the ones in Aesop's
fables.
4.
Assign characters metaphorical occupations that relate to theme. What occupations best relate to the
essence of your theme? A detective in a crime thriller looking for the meaning of life (theme)? A boxer
throwing a fight that ruins his career or for a gangster to show struggles with loyalty (theme)?
5.
Pick a theme color.
Use a neutral or limited palette for your scenes, then pick a contrasting color, such as red, to use only for
thematic symbolic objects so that they stand out. In Transit , red is used to show the theme seduction of an
innocent, with blood stained aprons, bright sensual strawberries smeared on the characters' skin, and hot red
hair for the leading man.
6.
Dialogue.
Characters can make remarks about the theme such as "No one has any values anymore" in a story about the
disintegration of values in modern life.
7.
Create an original tag line in the dialogue. "Keep swimming" is used in Finding Nemo to drive home the
theme of don't give up.
8.
Character tells a story or fable.
What existing fables or new stories could you have characters tell each other that show theme? In The Crying
Game , The Frog and The Scorpion fable is told over and over again to show the theme at key points.
9.
Use metaphorical locations. In the movie The African Queen , the theme has to do with moving from an
institutional experience of spirituality to a direct one in nature. The film opens with a church scene in the
middle of the jungle and then quickly moves to a boat on the river.
10.
Character actions. How could the characters act and react in your film to show theme? In Finding Nemo , the
main characters n