Notes (week 7)

Purpose of the exercise
☁A true story is necessarily a good one.
Good stories have to be worked and re-worked.
☁True life stories do not offer neat and relevant endings.
☁Life is unpredictable.
☁In a story, you CAN AND MUST control the events and sequence so it gives the appearance of being like life.

CHARACTERIZATION: DEFINING THE CHARACTER

☁Every story starts with a character, setting, event
-The character is the heart, the soul and nervous system.
☁It is through the characters that the viewers experience emotions.
☁Without a CHARACTER there is no ACTION.
☁Without Action, you have no CONFLICT.
☁Without CONFLICT, you have no STORY.
☁Without STORY, you have no SCREENPLAY
melo-drama is the totally opposite of drama

DEVELOPING CHARACTERS

☁When developing the character, ask yourself:
♠1.personality traits (temper, truthful,)
2.their likes and dislike (simple, complex)
3.their background (educational, family, status)
4.manner of speech (coarse, stutter, refine)
5.circle of friends and family
♠who is your character?
♠what does he want?
♠What is his quest?
♠What drives him to the resolution of the story?
Establish the main character.( Character should have a 3D structure)
A) Physiology (how he looks, sex, age, height, weight, color of hair, eyes, skin, posture ,appearance, defects, abnormality deformities, birth marks, diseases, hereditary)
B) Sociology
Class
♠Lower, middle, upper
Occupation
♠Type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, attitude towards organization suitability of work
♠Education: Amount, kind of schools, marks, favorites subject, poorest subjects, aptitudes
♠Home life: Parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated divorced, parents’ neglect, parents’ mental development, parents’ ices, characters’ martial status
♠Religion
♠Race, Nationality
♠Place in the community: leader among friends, clubs, sports
♠Political Affiliation
♠Amusements: Hobbies, books, newspaper, magazines he/she reads
C) Psychology
♠Sex life
♠Moral standards
♠Personal Premise, Ambition
♠Frustrations, Chief Disappointment
♠Temperament: choleric, easygoing pessimistic, optimistic
♠Attitude towards life: resigned, militant, defeatist
♠Complexes: obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias
♠Personality: extrovert, introvert
♠Abilities: language, talents
♠Qualities: Imagination, judgment, taste, poise
♠IQ
♠What is the deep and personal secret this character has which he is desperate to protect/hide?

DEVELOPING CHARACTERS
1. Separate the components of his life into 2 basic components:
♠Interior( don’t see. Information is fed in)
☼The interior life takes place from birth until the moment your story begins.
☼It is the process that forms the character. (When you start formulating your character from birth, you see your character build in body and form.
☼How old is he when the story begins?
☼Where does he lives?
☼Does he have siblings?
☼What kind of childhood did he have?
☼Is he married, single, widowed, separated or divorced?

♠Exterior
☼The exterior life takes place the moment your story begins to it’s conclusion.
☼It is a process that reveals character
☼Who are they and what do they do?
☼Are they happy with their life?
☼Do they wish their life was different? Another job, another wife?

You must create your characters in a relationship to other people or things.
ALL dramatic characters interact in three ways:
1. They EXPERIENCE CONFLICT in achieving their dramatic needs.( e.g. Need money- Bob banks, rob a store, rob a person)
2. They interact with other CHARACTERS.(either in an antagonist, friendly or indifferent way.)
3. They interact with themselves. (eg He overcame his fear of being caught by pulling the robber successfully.
How do you invent characters?
-Try to turn them upside down.
E.g. A monk who is devoted to religion… but is a football fanatic.
A serial killer whose obsession is to kill other serial killers.
A common street rat who loves to cook and eat fine food.

NEXT WEEK
STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES QUIZ#1
Review
-3storytelling tools
-memory observation
-experience
-Aristotle’s storytelling techniques
-Developing 3D character
-Writing for an audience