Day 29: Character driven stories like this take carefully developed characters with deep flaws and almost visible needs to make them what they are. For a craft full of people that freeze at on the nose dialogue, that's as on the nose as it gets. There are a ton of ways to go about crafting authentic characters but one of the ways I’ve found that gives me a good launch point is running each of them through their own personality test. Not so that the characters have a different level of understanding, but so that their choices make sense paired with their background and surroundings. Empathy is the guide here. Characters don’t know what they don’t know, because that’s how it works in real life. There’s usually a “why” behind the moves people make, whether it’s justified or not, it comes from somewhere. Characters that feel real have that same essence baked in, and the ones that don’t are usually easy to point out. So if you couldn’t tell by now, today I’m just focused on the characters as the people they are. Having a good understanding of the thematic question(s) I'm out to start conversations about with this is directly tied to the character development we'll see play out on screen. The ultimate goal is evoking emotion and the characters in this case are why. Even the most predictable people in your life can become unhinged if they're pushed too far, so I always want to create characters that have clear buttons that if something set's them off there's a hard left around the corner. Nuance in a character is like a visual representation of balance, I'm working through some ideas to create more for them.
Day 30 tomorrow - until then, I'll catch you at the movies ✌🏾