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Section 4: Overview

Character Development in Movies

How do filmmakers and actors create compelling characters and bring them to life? We will learn how characters are developed in movies by closely examining their external and internal traits, their wants and needs, the obstacles and conflicts they face, and their arc and backstory. We will continue to analyze film clips to deepen our understanding of film genres and how the conventions of different genres shape the characters that filmmakers create. We will also consider depictions of character stereotypes and the lack of diverse representation in film by reading several contemporary articles on the subjects. We will conclude the section by creating a character sketch for one of the central characters in our proposed film concept.

  • Lesson 1:

    To better understand characterization in movies, and the terms character, caricature, and stereotype from the Filmmaking Glossary, we will discuss characters from the films we’ve viewed, examine clips of our favorite (and least favorite) characters, and read about problems associated with racial and gender stereotypes.

  • Lesson 2:

    We will read an excerpt from The Power of Film by Howard Suber about characters’ aptitudes and attributes, then brainstorm about the aptitudes and attributes of the main characters we might develop in our own original movies.

  • Lesson 3:

    We will further develop and bring to life the characters we are conceiving as central in our own movies, thinking about their external and internal traits, wants and needs, and the obstacles or conflicts they might face within the movie’s story. We will think about and synthesize relationships among our movie concept, style, and setting and the characters we are developing.

  • Lesson 4:

    We will continue to think about the concepts of a character’s arc and backstory. We will also think about how a central character we’ve created might change during our movie, and we will integrate our ideas within our movie’s overall concept, plot, story, and theme. We will then develop a draft story spine for our movie that is built around our central character’s arc.

  • Lesson 5:

    We will finalize our portrait of a central character for our proposed movie in the Movie Character Tool, describing the character’s arc and backstory in relation to the story spine we have outlined. We will learn and think about the concepts of protagonist and antagonist and begin to plan other characters that will play important roles in our movie. We will then prepare for the Section Diagnostic task of writing and presenting a character sketch of our central character, which will become a component of our movie’s pitch packet.

  • Lesson 6:

    We will view the documentary Half the Picture about the struggles of women directors in Hollywood, and consider the issue of lack of diversity in filmmaking. We will also read an article about the DuVernay effect and the Bechdel effect and discuss the question of why the percentage of female and minority directors dramatically decreases as a film’s budget increases.

  • Lesson 7:

    Using the Movie Character Tools we have developed for a central character in our proposed movie, we will write and present a character sketch that tells the character’s story (backstory and character arc) and includes descriptions of the character’s traits, wants, needs, obstacles, and conflicts.

  • Lesson 8:

    We will review feedback on the Section Diagnostic. We will use the feedback to make revisions to our work.

  • Lesson 9:

    We will share the analyses we have made about our independent reading texts and make connections to the unit. We will plan a final product to share our experiences from reading independently and the knowledge we have gained.