Lesson 3

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “Character Arc” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
  • “Internal vs. External Features” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
  • “Obstacles” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
  • “Wants vs. Needs” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017

• • Excerpts from Hidden Figures, Theodore Melfi, Fox 2000 Pictures, 2016

Materials

Tools

• Telling Stories with Film: Filmmaking Glossary

• Movie Character Tool

Question Sets

• Telling Stories With Film: Question Set Section 4

Editable Google Docs

• Movie Character Tool

• Telling Stories With Film: Question Set Section 4

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will review and discuss the traits we are envisioning for a central character in our proposed movie, and we will learn how to use a Movie Character Tool to further define and develop that character.

Step 1

With a partner, review what you have written in the Movie Planning section of your Learning Log about a central character you envision for your original movie. Use these questions to guide your review:

1. What are the character’s prominent external and internal traits?

2. How might the character be defined not only by "what they are" but also by "what they do"?

Step 2

Access the Movie Character Tool and follow along as your teacher explains its organization and use.

Closely read and annotate the excerpts from the Filmmaking Glossary on the first page of the tool for character and traits.

Select a character from a movie you have viewed as a class and complete the first two sections of the tool for that character, including a brief description, an explanation of their role in the movie, and a description of the character’s most prominent external and internal traits.

In the Connections to People You Know row for that character, write things about the character that remind you of people you have known and how those traits help the character seem real to you.

Activity 2: View – Discuss – Write

We will watch a pixar video about the distinction between a character’s “Wants” and “Needs,” then use the Movie Character Tool to further define these aspects of our central character.

Step 1

View the short Pixar Art of Storytelling video: "Wants vs. Needs."

As a class, discuss key ideas and examples that stood out to you while watching the video, considering the following question:

1. What are the connections, distinctions, and possible conflicts between what a character wants and what a character needs?

In light of this discussion, read and annotate the section of the Movie Character Tool that has to do with wants and needs. Discuss the following question:

2. What do the Pixar animators suggest characters’ stories are all about?

Step 2

Individually (or with a partner) begin listing your character’s wants and needs in the third section of the Movie Character Tool. Begin to think about how the character’s wants and needs might be in conflict.

Activity 3: View – Discuss – Write

We will watch a pixar video about the obstacles a character might face within a movie’s story, then use the Movie Character Tool to further define these aspects of our central character.

Step 1

View the short Pixar Art of Storytelling video: "Obstacles.”

As a class, discuss key ideas and examples that stood out to you while watching the video. Consider the following question:

1. How do what a character wants and what a character needs come into conflict with obstacles they face?

In light of this discussion, read and annotate the section of the Movie Character Tool that has to do with obstacles and conflicts. Discuss the following question:

2. In terms of how they develop their characters, what do the Pixar animators mean when they say, "We create these characters, we put them in a tree, and then we throw rocks at them. We make their life a little harder"?

Discuss the concept of conflicts relative to a character’s development, and specifically the distinctions between external and internal conflicts. Share and discuss examples of both kinds of conflicts faced by characters in a movie you have watched as a class, such as Hidden Figures.

Step 2

Individually or with a partner, begin listing the obstacles or conflicts your character might face in the fourth section of the Movie Character Tool. Think about how the obstacles and conflicts faced by the character might be central to your movie’s story and how they might be resolved.

Activity 4: View – Discuss – Write

We will watch a pixar video about the character arc, or journey a character might experience within a movie’s story, then use the Movie Character Tool to define this aspect of our central character.

View the short Pixar Art of Storytelling video, "Character Arc."

As a class, discuss key ideas and examples that stood out to you while watching the video, considering the following question:

1. How is a character’s arc determined by "the choices that a character makes in response to obstacles and how the character changes as a result"?

In light of this discussion, read and annotate the section of the Movie Character Tool that has to do with a character’s arc. Discuss the following question:

2. How does the glossary use the word evolution to describe what happens to a character in a movie? How does a character’s arc reflect the character’s evolution and define the story of the movie?

Discuss the concept of character arc relative to a character’s development and a movie’s story, and the concept of a character’s backstory: the "things from the past that may have shaped who the character is and how the character acts." Try to summarize the character arc for a central character in a movie you have watched as a class, such as Hidden Figures.

Activity 5: Write

For homework, we will begin to define the backstory and arc for a central character in our movie by listing events and experiences the character might face both before the movie’s story begins and within that story.

For homework, in the Movie Planning section of your Learning Log, begin listing key events, experiences, and changes that your central character might face, both before and within the story you intend to tell in your movie. Do not write down these ideas on your Movie Character Tool yet; you will think more deeply about them in the next lesson.

Note: You might make two lists, titled "Before" and "During," and think about the relationships between the two lists. You might also use the questions in the character entry of the Filmmaking Glossary to help you brainstorm characteristics and experiences for the characters you want to develop.