CHAPTER 4
Developing Characters
HOW TO BEGIN
Put in as much time as it takes to develop characters that are really original and interesting! You’ll want each of them to be as different from the others as possible. Those differences allow your characters to conflict and to relate to each other in funny ways. You’ll probably want to start by writing a biography or fact sheet for each of your main characters. If you’re an artist, you may prefer to start by drawing the characters. Often writers choose to script scenes between characters to see how they’ll react. And actors sometimes prefer to improvise scenes out loud to develop their characters. Whatever works best for you is fine. Think of your characters as real actors. Get to know them so you know what they’ll do. Lucky for you, your actors won’t indulge in gourmet lunches and then demand a trainer to get in shape for the big battle scene or insist on a stunt double to fight the fifty-foot, flying monster with two robotic heads!
TYPES OF PEOPLE
People have been characterized by types and traits for eons. In the Middle Ages there was black bile (melancholic, sentimental, thoughtful), blood (sanguine, amorous, joyful), yellow bile (easily angered, obstinate), and phlegmatic (calm and cool). Another method divides the body into centers: head (soul, link to God), pituitary (integrated mental, emotional, and physical), throat (conscious creativity, intellect), heart (greater love, brotherhood of man, self-sacrifice), solar plexus (aspiration, group power, personal power), sacral (sex, money, fear), and root center (survival). Carl Jung classified types as the introvert or the extrovert, and then further into those who experience life mainly through sensing, thinking, feeling, or intuition. People have been characterized as being dependent, independent, or interdependent. Whether or not you believe in these kinds of classifications, any of these methods might help you to develop your characters. Of course, there’s also astrology.
© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-240-81343-1.00001-7
Consider these other norms. Real people are often in conflict with their character opposite. However, some people seek out others that complement their strongest traits. Usually, people are a combination of two or more types.
CLASSIC COMEDY CHARACTER TYPES
From its beginnings, comedy has often been based on a character type. It’s a stereotype in that it’s an exaggerated model we recognize and understand. This kind of character is valuable in comedy shorts like cartoons because we already know that character and what to expect. It saves time. We don’t have to set up a new character for the audience, but we can go immediately into the story and the gags. We laugh when the character does the funny thing that we have come to expect, and we laugh when he does something off-the-wall that we don’t expect. Infexible types are great for comedy. These character types have a comic defect. You can set up a character type and bounce the world off him, using conflict and contrast. Think of Homer Simpson, Donald Duck, and the Grinch.
Comedy stemming from character allows for sustained humor, and it’s remembered long after the gags and the situations. A good gag builds characterization, and characterization builds gags.
Classic Roman comedy types are still used in cartoons:
- The Blockhead—We’re smarter than he. He’s defeated before he even begins.
- Fred Flintstone (The Flintstones)
- The Naif—The kid who’s always in trouble.
- Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)
Other typical comedy types include the following:
- The Fish Out of Water—The misfit. (Try developing a whole series around this type!)
- Shrek (Shrek)
- The Naïve—Forever innocent.
- Winnie the Pooh (Winnie the Pooh)
- The Conniver—Not innocent, but really guilty.
- Wile E. Coyote (Road Runner)
- The Zany—Wild and crazy.
- Aladdin (Disney’s Aladdin)
- The Poor Soul—The underdog. This character works best today when he’s a child or an animal. Be careful about adult characters that appear to be victims. If the adult is a victim, then he must constantly be struggling to get out of that situation for us to identify with him. Also, this kind of character must retain his cool and remain likeable no matter what injustices are done to him. Charlie Chaplin fought for his dignity.
- Tweety Pie (Tweety Pie)
- The Coward—Always the chicken.
- Scooby-Doo (Scooby-Doo)
Classic Comedy types vs. Negative Stereotypes
For a short cartoon, you may choose to use a classic comedy type that we already know, but take care to avoid negative stereotypes. Commercial broadcast television, especially, is a mass-market medium. Networks have censors that ensure that their comedy is politically correct, especially if the comedy is targeted at children. Some networks are more careful than others. In commercial TV advertisers will refuse to buy advertising in programming that offends. In a global marketplace where the audience is very diverse, a certain amount of political correctness is just common sense. You simply cannot afford to lose a segment of your audience…even if the gag is the funniest ever!
When you’re writing about someone of the opposite sex, someone older or younger, someone with disabilities, or someone from another culture or lifestyle than the one you know well, consider what you write. Be aware of nuances. Think of people in terms of multi-dimensions. What do these characters do in their spare time? What are their relationships socially at play, at school, or at work?
Whether you’re developing characters or just writing a scene, consider who would normally be in that location in real life. Who would be there in New York or Detroit? Who would be there in New Delhi or Beijing? What races, nationalities, social/economic classes, occupations, sexes, and ages would be there? Develop different characters into your series and films in places where you would normally find them and in places where they could be.
Value diversity! Prize differing beliefs and cultural values besides the traditional ones you know. Make minorities active, not passive. Avoid casting minorities as victims, or if they must be the victims, let them overcome this by themselves. Both bad guys and good guys come in many diverse types. You might want to create characters and then add a gender or race afterward. The key is in not isolating minority characters. One child in a wheelchair is a role model, but it’s hard to make role models interesting and unique. If you have two or three characters with disabilities in the same script, then each can be unique and interesting, good guys and bad.
Do your research before you develop and write characters and scripts that are different from what you know best. Read the latest scientific studies. Get to know people who are not like you. This is a part of your job! Understand people’s thought processes and really care about others. Try to get someone from another culture, lifestyle, age group, or sex to give you feedback about characters and scripts that are different from what you know so that you get it right.
Don’t be afraid of a point of view! Let characters stand up for their culture and experiences and provide the rest of us with new insights.
Recent studies on gender differences are compelling: Most, but not all, women are more relational, better at reading emotions, nuances, and social cues. They’re apt to be more sensitive to touch, pain, and sound. Their body movements may use more of the small muscle groups. They might score better in verbal skills and short-term memory. Men generally score better in mathematical, mechanical, and spatial skills. Assertiveness is likely to be higher in males. Males tend to do more exploring and may be more creative. Women often overcome problems with support from their friends. Men tend to deal with problems more on their own. Remember, however, that not all males or all females are the same. Today there are plenty of stay-at-home men and plenty of women who are CEOs. Try seeing sexuality in broader terms with warmth and love for all ages. Instead of describing people by their attractiveness, try describing them by intelligence, style, or uniqueness. Try giving your characters traits that are opposite from the norm.
Everyman vs. One-of-a-Kind
As human beings, there are qualities that we all possess. A character who is everyman is someone who represents us all, and we’ll always be able to identify with that character. Real people are a combination of the qualities that we all possess and specific, unique traits. Characters should also be a combination of those global qualities and the unique characteristics that make them one-of-a-kind.
Complex and original Characters
If you want to develop characters for a feature or a series that you hope will become a classic, then you probably want to develop more complex characters than the character types just listed. Classic characters who will be loved and remain on the toy shelves for decades are usually unique characters that we can all relate to and like. You want to give those characters a complete personality and an attitude toward each other. The more personality and individuality your characters have, the better your stories will be.
STARTING A PROFILE
Not every question that follows will be applicable or necessary for each character you develop. The most important information is what will help you delve into the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of your characters. Feelings and emotions are key to good writing! You might even want to write down your own character profile and delve more deeply into the things that make you tick. Tapping into your own emotions, often buried deep inside you, may help you hit pay dirt in understanding the complexity of your characters and getting inside their skins. Some people feel that it’s better to write a character profile in the first person, as if it were an autobiography, so you really get inside the soul of each character. Your characters should be allowed some room to grow as you write more about them. The more you know about your characters, the better.
CHARACTER PROFILE
- Name (name may give us a clue: Precious, Cowboy, U.R. Steel, or Ted D. Bear)
- Sex
- Age
- Appearance (height; weight; hair color; eye color; physique; size; posture/poise/carriage; outstanding physical characteristics, such as dimples; dress—taste, neatness)
- Movement
- Does he move like a dancer or someone who’s sleepwalking? How does he walk?
- Does he use expansive gestures when he talks?
- Mannerisms
- Voice (diction, vocabulary, power, pitch, unusual attributes)
- What does the character say, and how?
- Give your character a dialogue tag (Fred Flintstone’s “Yabba dabba doo!”).
- Make your character’s voice distinctively his or hers.
- I.Q., abilities, talents, qualities (imagination, judgment).
- Personality/attitudes/temperament. Attitudes are key to comedy and situation drama.
- Is your character ambitious, loyal, sensitive? Inferior, optimistic? Shy? Sloppy? Eager?
- Character flaws, bad habits, weaknesses
- What is your character’s biggest secret? What will happen if someone finds out?
- What is your character’s biggest fear? Why? What caused this?
- What was your character’s biggest disappointment?
- What was his most embarrassing moment?
- What was the worst thing that ever happened to him?
- How does this affect your character today?
- What makes your character angry? Frustrated? Ashamed?
- Does he have self-esteem?
- Is your character a loner? Does he belong to lots of groups? Which ones?
- How does he connect with the other characters during your story?
- What makes your character laugh?
- How does he relax?
- Motivations, goals, ambitions. What does your character want?
- What is your character’s spine? What’s his unchanging driving force throughout life?
- Does your character put his own self-interest first, or that of the group and its survival?
- What are the shifting allegiances in your character’s life?
- Does he feel pressured by other people or circumstances?
- What are your character’s hard choices? Crises? Urgent decisions? How does he react differently from the norm?
- Values. What’s important to your character?
- How does he feel about the past? What in past situations have specifically affected the important choices he is making in this story?
- What are your character’s current circumstances (rich/poor, good luck/bad luck)?
- What effect do these things have?
- What current threats exist in your character’s life?
- What opportunities does he have?
- How does your character feel about the future?
- Situation
- How did your character get involved in this situation?
- What about his background or personality made him get involved?
- What kinds of changes has your character been going through?
- Birth of a child? New brother or sister?
- Marriage? New stepmother or stepfather?
- Death in the family?
- A major move?
- A major school or job change?
- What external or internal stresses is your character facing?
- Birthplace
- Ethnic background (when needed, research for authenticity) and any cultural baggage?
- Social/economic/political/cultural background and current status (research)
- Education
- Occupation—research well if he has one. Values derived from the work (an accountant vs. an actress)
- Pace, stress factors, other characteristics of the job.
- Lifestyle
- Family
- Siblings? Parents? Husband or wife? Extended, adopted, or alternative family?
- How do these relationships now or in the past affect your character?
- How did he grow up? With love? Closeness? Neglect? Abuse?
- How did your character’s family affect his self-image?
- Hobbies, amusements
- What does your character read, watch on TV/in the movies/on the Internet?
- What sports, exercise, or hobbies does your character engage in?
- What does he do on Saturdays? Sundays? Tuesday evenings?
- What makes him funny?
- Give your character one dominant trait, with a couple of other less important traits.
- Era—if this is historical, research well.
- Setting or place
- What kind of people would be in this setting?
- How would your character react to this setting? Would he be happy here?
- Why or why not?
- Where was your character before this? Why?
- Is he likely to leave soon? Why or why not?
- Does this setting or where he was before give your character a different outlook or attitude? A different rhythm?
- What sounds, smells, and tastes are in your character’s surroundings?
You don’t need to answer every single one of these questions, but do take the time to get to know your character. Use the Character Profile to help you explore personality.
TYPES OF CHARACTERS
Different kinds of stories have different kinds of characters. Realistic characters are often found in modern stories and in dramas and are multidimensional. These characters have feelings and attitudes just like real people. We can see what motivates them. They act like people we know.
The classic hero is found in classic tales, often oral histories. The story is meant to teach us some important truth. The classic hero had some realistic traits and some that were more symbolic that made him bigger than life. He’s an adventurer, a person of action, a warrior. Often the hero goes on a quest with much demanded of him along the way. He may find a mentor, undergo tests, and win a final battle to attain his goal and save the day for all. His journey makes him stronger and wiser. Classic heroes and heroines are found in myths, westerns, crime and war stories, science fiction, comics, and many children’s stories.
Fantasy characters are romantic. Often they live in a magical world with powers that can be used for good or evil. They’re more realistic and less exaggerated. They usually have a limited number of traits. They may look different, and these physical characteristics might extend to their personalities. Much of the fun of these characters is the fish-out-of-water conflicts they have. This world could be a nightmare world or a world of our fondest dreams. Stories can be funny or tales of good and evil. It’s possible for humans to enter into these fantasy worlds and for fantasy characters to suddenly find themselves in a world that is real.
Nonhuman characters often personify certain human traits. Pooh is always hungry; Scooby is always scared. Usually, only a few traits are given to the character, and the audience can identify with those traits. These qualities may stem from the properties or physical appearance of the animal or object itself. A cat uses its eyes like a soldier with a night vision weapon, or a stick of gum clings.
Symbolic characters are meant to represent a trait or idea. They’re one-dimensional and stand for qualities like love or evil, justice or fear. We find these characters in myths, comic book stories, fairy tales, and other fantasy. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used these characters, and they appeared in the morality plays of the Middle Ages and in the Punch and Judy shows later. There are no gray areas in these personalities.
Everyman represents the ordinary man or woman or every kid. This character is less specific and more symbolic. He has more than one trait, but he is generalized and we should always be able to see ourselves in this character.
TAKING YOUR CHARACTER FURTHER
Consider other ways to develop characters. Is your character like anyone you know? Who? Does the character resemble an actor or actress or one of the characters they play? In what way? Stay away from characters that have been overdone. Does thinking about this real or fantasy person give you any ideas to make your character funnier or more realistic? Is this character a combination of people? Juxtaposing traits gives you something we wouldn’t expect. You might want to take this real or fantasy character, and then give his personality a new twist.
Observe people and use your observations. Try taking some real traits that you’ve observed, and add a funny trait to make your character unique.
Quality characters are often more complex. This may explain why they tend to have more lasting appeal. Make a list of inconsistencies in your character: He’s this, but he’s also that! What’s illogical, surprising, and unpredictable about him? What makes him interesting? Different? Fascinating? Compelling? Never too bland? Always larger than life? Use “what ifs” to dig deeper into your characters. Once you’ve decided on these inconsistencies, they should remain constant. They do not change on whim or in keeping with the current episode’s story.
What makes your character funny? A comic character needs to have a flaw that makes him funny. What are his funny attributes? What very human mistakes does he make that would make us laugh? Recognize ourselves? Be typical and recognizable to kids of a specific age category? We tend to like comedians who let us feel superior (like Charlie Chaplin). We know that we’re much smarter, more resourceful, and luckier than they. For animation comedy we often want to create loveable and larger-than-life characters to whom slapstick things are almost certain to happen. It’s human nature to like to see slapstick things happen to people with power or authority, especially if they’re pompous or misusing that authority (the mean boss, the overbearing substitute teacher, the bully who’s a hall guard). Most of us humans struggle to be normal, to be perfect children or parents, to be the ideal student or employee, and fail at these things every step of the way. Much of current television is based on these failings.
Do you really understand this character and what makes him tick? How is this character similar or different from you? Let his feelings and emotions show. Do you like him (even if he’s the villain)? Accept the shadow side of yourself so you can accept those flaws in your characters. If you truly understand and like your characters, others probably will, too. If you still don’t quite “get” your character, do more research. Delve more deeply into yourself. Write or act out scenes that won’t be in your script to learn more about him. Make your character real to you.
Then exaggerate! Make your characters larger than life. Think James Bond or Superman! When the average person is the main character, he or she often walks taller than in real life. The character becomes a model of all average people. Make your slob a superslob, the bore a superbore. Exaggerate! Exaggerate! Exaggerate!
More realistic characters are harder to animate convincingly. You can’t squash and stretch a real person. The less realistic ones lend themselves more to the medium and to the gags, especially if it’s a comedy.
What behavioral tags does this character have? These are repeated actions that are specific to that character. Does he go into a one-armed handstand when overjoyed? Does she shake her hips from side to side or tug on her ear?
Set up relationships. One way to create a series is to start with a character type, or one really strong character, and let all the remaining characters bounce off. How does your character feel about each of the other characters, and how do they feel about him? Why are these characters friends or enemies? Contrast characters (a smart guy with a dumb guy). How does this character affect each of the others by the strength of his personality, by his actions? How do they affect him? Does he team up well or conflict with the others? Each of your characters should be as different as possible from each other. You might want to make a list of characters and then itemize the traits of each to make them as different as you can.
There may be two stars. What brings your characters together and keeps them together? What pushes them apart and provides the sparks? Is life better for others around this team or worse? Is life sweet or bitter when they’re together? Are there enough believable reasons that this team will stay together, or is the conflict intense enough that they must eventually split up and end your series? Too much attraction and the show is boring; too much conflict and the characters may become unlikable. Roadblocks may come from the situation rather than the characters themselves to avoid this problem.
Avoid using too many characters. Keep economy in mind. Also, it becomes much harder to identify with characters who don’t receive a lot of screen time. If there are many, we don’t care about any of them.
Can we identify with this character? Bond? Does the audience have real recognition of that character? We need enough information about a character to empathize. What are the real-life, down-to-earth traits that we immediately recognize? What are the character’s little eccentricities, small compulsions, and very human characteristics? Or you may want the audience to feel superior to (rather than identify with) a character. Think of Scooby-Doo. You could let your character be the scapegoat, the butt of her own or someone else’s jokes. It’s okay to let your character appear foolish and find life difficult. The audience sympathizes.
Do we really respond strongly to (or against) this character as a person? We need to feel that this character is family. What makes us root for her or hate her? How can we strengthen this? It’s been said that it’s hard to sympathize with someone who is too naive or dumb, but one moving relationship with another person may save an otherwise unsympathetic character. If you must have an unsympathetic character who’s not a villain, then start by showing what happened to make her that way. Avoid showing your protagonist as a complete misfit in the beginning. Your audience must like her and admire her enough to want her to recognize character flaws and try to change. We like characters with positive goals and dislike characters who are evil or selfish and have negative goals. If something is important to your likeable character, then it will probably be important to your audience as well.
Buyers like a cartoon character with an edge, someone you love to hate. Think of bad Bart Simpson. The audience will identify with someone who’s not sickening sweet but has tastes, dreams, and weaknesses.
Is your villain really bad? Your hero or heroine is only as strong and as good as your villain is evil. A truly great villain can add inches to the stature of a hero. Is your villain a life-and-death threat? A monstrous antagonist requires a stronger hero to beat him. But you may want to add those shades of gray, a wisp of human kindness where you least expect it. Give your villain emotions and feelings to make him vulnerable. Motivations keep any villain from becoming cardboard. In a very short story you may require a fairly cardboard villain due to the lack of time to develop anything else. Why does this villain want what he wants? Is he aware of how evil he seems to others? How does he convince himself that this is right or at least justified? A funny villain isn’t very frightening. Watch out for bumbling antagonists. They need to be at least as strong as the hero to make it a fair fight. A bumbler might work in a comedy, especially for younger children. If you want a funny villain, try making him the secondary antagonist, with a stronger and more evil villain as the main foe. The antagonist doesn’t always have to be a villain and be evil, but the antagonist usually is evil in animation.
MORE TO THINK ABOUT
Today’s characters should be able to extend across media. Think in terms of film, TV, home video and DVD, the Internet, wireless, books, games, toys, and other merchandise.
Layer details, gestures, speech, imperfections, behaviors, original reactions, and approaches to action. Layering makes your character more interesting and attracts different demographic groups for different reasons.
If this character is for a series or a game, is your character interesting and unique enough to not eventually become boring? Is there some mystery there, a feeling that there’s more to find out, more we want to know? Can your character grow? How? Is she strong enough to sustain conflict and be funny week after week? Characters must have enough history to allow the audience to continually be discovering something fresh. Two or more characters who have known each other in the past can keep tapping into this history.
In a series characters probably change a little over the course of each story, but if they change too much, then their relationships have changed, and you no longer have that same series. You have to watch out for that.
For television keep your characters simple, something you can establish (without detail) in a speech or a half page of script. Your characters should have only two or three major attributes. Keep them visually simple as well. A simple character makes a better stuffed toy. The character animates more easily and ends up looking nicer in a TV series because the artists can draw or model him better and quicker. Every detail and extra color adds pencil time or modeling time during the animation process, adding up to increased animation expenses. When designing, think three-dimensionally for toys and for animation because the character must be drawn or modeled and seen from every angle as she moves.
As you’re designing these characters, you’ll want to show what they look like from all angles (front, back, and side, and possibly from a low angle and a high angle as well). You’ll want them drawn in action and flaunting an attitude, showcasing their personality. You’ll want them posed so that we can see easily what they’re doing if we can only see a silhouette. We want to also see them in relationships with one or more of the other characters, preferably in typical backgrounds of the series or film.
Okay—now you’ve developed your characters. Is a character missing…some-one to set off the other characters, set sparks flying, take the plot off in another direction? Try creating a situation in which your characters have to react. The way they react is the way you get to know them and test their relationships.
Any character that is similar to another character shouldn’t be there. Remember that characters should be as different from each other as possible to keep interest, provide conflict, and comment on the theme. Their traits and visual appearances should be different; they should contrast in values, attitudes, lifestyles, and experience. A comedy, especially, requires that each character contrast sharply with each other character to provide the humor.
Let your characters evolve as you work with them. Changing one part of the puzzle usually means adjusting others. This is a process; do some research of your own. Try out your characters on your own kids, on your nieces and nephews, on a youth group. You might test them at children’s wards in hospitals or as mascots. Make up a story about them to tell your kids at bedtime. Watch reactions, ask questions, and make developmental changes accordingly.
Keep your characters consistent. They must remain true to their core traits and to what has made them who they are. Keep their choices consistent with their values.
Put your best character in the right concept for him. The concept and the character should be a tight ft. Stories should stem from the personalities of the main characters.
YOUR CHARACTER IN A STORY
If you’re creating characters for a feature or a short as opposed to a series, then you want to develop them to best tell your specific story. Characters have conflicts in dramas and do funny things in comedy because they are so different. So their values in life must be different. Your characters must be created with personalities that best express a conflict in their values. Values indicate a theme. The theme centers on the core values that are expressed in a story, the basic message, or lesson that the protagonist learns. You may want your main character to reveal something about the theme to us but probably not in words. Maybe he represents one point of view about your theme and the villain who opposes him represents the opposing view. Maybe the other characters all represent differing points of view. One character could even express the point of view of the audience. But each character should have his own good motivations for feeling the way he does.
Your audience needs to be able to identify right away who the major characters are and be able to tell them apart easily by name, sight, and personality. We should recognize, too, which characters are minor and unimportant. Use height, weight, ethnic type, voice, hairstyle, clothing style and color, attitudes, and movement to help identify characters.
The hero or heroine must be the most interesting character in the story. If he’s not, then you might want to consider centering the story on the colorful character instead, making him the protagonist. Supporting characters don’t have the burden of driving the story forward, and so they may become more interesting and colorful. Don’t let them take over! If your characters get too pushy, stand up to them, and threaten to erase them from your hard drive!
You may want your less important characters to help in defining the role of the hero. Is your hero a leader, a father figure, the class clown? Minor characters can help us to understand the star’s role in his peer group and in the story.
All characters need a story function, or they shouldn’t be there. What’s the essence of this character—the core or nub? What is the one dominant characteristic that most affects the plot? If a character doesn’t affect the plot, then remove him. A character should always be motivated by this essential characteristic, and every other trait should ideally come out of this one or support it. What event or circumstance or decision in the past made him this way?
Character information is sprinkled throughout the script, not crammed into the beginning. Use only the essence, and be concise. Use conflicts, contrasts, reactions, gags, or visual symbols to convey information and define character.
Consider your protagonist or hero. What plans does he make, and what does he do to attain this goal? What decisions does she make along the way? How do they affect her? How do they affect others? What terrible thing is at stake if our hero doesn’t reach this goal? Animation protagonists invariably do reach their goals at the end.
What are each character’s goals? What do they want? Do we care? What are their hidden agendas? What do they really want? (If this is animation for kids, what drove you personally as a kid?) What does each character promise? You should only set up traits and circumstances that apply to this story and the goal. But if a character is playing with matches, we need to see the inferno, the payoff. Don’t cheat your audience out of the juiciest parts of your story.
Think in terms of scenes. What are your characters’ goals in each scene? Which character is driving each scene? What are your characters’ feelings in each scene?
Is there a broad range of emotions throughout your story? What are the conflicts your characters go through to reach their goals? The goals of different characters should conflict to set off sparks. We need to see the effects of conflict on the main characters. Characters should confront difficult choices, and they must make those choices themselves. The more difficult the choice, the more interesting the story. Because of difficult choices we get to know the characters better, and we come to admire them more. What’s hidden along the way from your characters or from the audience? What things do some characters hide from themselves? As all this information comes to light, the choices become ever more difficult, leading to the most difficult choice of all, the critical choice, near the end of the story. These choices make your characters drop their masks. They react instinctively, revealing what’s been hidden. What do we learn about a character then? What does that character learn about himself? How does he change because of it? Characters change each other. Does your character always stay in character, acting and reacting in ways that only he would do?
In the end, this is what’s important: What event/circumstance/decision in the past is still affecting your hero today, making him who he is and driving the plot of the story you’re writing today? Anything that you discovered about your character in developing him that doesn’t relate to this is unimportant and doesn’t belong in your story.
ANIMATED CHARACTERS LIVE
The technology exists to control animation and lip-sync of characters in realtime. What this means is that kids can call into a show and speak to their favorite character on the air live as an actor/animator controls the animation and lip-syncs in a booth. Interactive games can become a part of a live show with callers using telephone keypad game controllers. Actor/animators could develop their own characters for this kind of production. Or writers could provide a cast of actor/animators with detailed bios, backstories, and guidelines for the characters they portray.
ANIMATED CHARACTERS AS ICONS
Internet providers are just one source of supply for animated character icons with personality. These characters have built-in animated behaviors that respond to real-time input. They can accompany instant messages, responding to the text with motion, sound, color, and humor. File size for these characters must be small, and many of the character expressions are exaggerated to give them more visual impact in the limited space. There appears to be a great future for characters like these in cell phones, sales pitches, and so many other areas. Changing technology will continue to open up new opportunities for animated characters.
MARKET RESEARCH
Studies seem to show that kids like characters that they can identify with, characters that appear to be like them in one or more ways. The youngest children like characters that are safe and nurturing or that they can nurture in return. They like characters that they can emulate: heroes and heroines, teen or adult role models, sports figures, entertainment figures. Children, too, are fascinated by the dark side of life and are entertained by villains. Perhaps it’s a way of learning to deal with life on a more adult level. Children generally prefer characters who are older than they are, or at least that’s what they want other kids to think. Boys often prefer male characters, although girls apparently have no preference. Boys are more apt to be attracted to power and control, to defending the right, to the gross and silly. Girls still seem to be more romantic in the broadest sense and more nurturing. Animal characters often are nonage and nongender specific, making them less likely to be rejected for those reasons.
We all like characters that satisfy our basic emotional needs and values while still appearing fresh and “in.” Children and adults alike seek love, acceptance, belonging, and security. We all strive for independence and control. Parents want to instill the very best of all qualities in their children.
Popularity usually starts with the oldest and drops down in age. When characters become too popular, then the fad subsides. Part of being a fad means being the first. By the time a character is beloved around the world, it has started to lose its appeal.
PROTECTING YOUR RIGHTS TO YOUR CHARACTERS
If you hire an artist to design your characters for you, then that artist needs to sign a simple “Work for Hire” agreement before he sets pencil to paper. It’s recommended that you obtain the services of an entertainment attorney to draw this agreement up for you. If you don’t have an agreement signed before pencil is set to paper, then you don’t own the character—the artist does.
You must protect the characters you’ve created, but if your project includes a bible or a script, then it’s best to file for protection and copyright when the project is completed. You may wish to file for trademark protection then as well. In the meantime, place the following information on each piece of completed artwork, title page of script, and bible: © (copyright symbol) 2009 (year of completion) Jean Ann Wright (your name). Your work is not protected without that information.
EXERCISES
- Think back to when you were a child. Who were the people that you liked the best? Who frightened you? Why? Can you use any of these people as the basis of a character? Exaggerate!
- Use kids you know for the following: Listen to kid dialogue. Write it down. Make a list of hobbies and activities, especially noting anything that is interesting and out of the ordinary. Ask the kids about places they especially remember and like. What places made them afraid? What do they hate? What hurts their feelings? What embarrasses them? What makes girls scream? What makes them laugh or cry? What does their sister or brother do that they hate the most? Save the lists.
- Go to a mall or park and watch people. How are they different? How do they walk? What funny mannerisms do they have? How do they change their behavior when interacting with different people? Do they react to their environment? Now create two opposing characters from those that you’ve seen. Add new traits. Give them motivations. What’s the conflict? How can you make them funnier?
- Observe half a dozen animals or everyday objects. What stands out about each one? Pick an “essence” that you can develop into character traits: the happy-go-luck dog, the sly cat waiting to pounce, or an elegant tapestry pillow. Develop them into characters first as the animals or objects that they are and then into animated people.
- Choose a classmate to work with. You’ll each think like a character, any character. Ask each other these three questions:
- What do you want?
- How do you move (your walk, things you do with your hands, etc.)?
- What do you enjoy doing?
It’s okay to make up wild and funny answers. Now change partners and ask each other three different questions:
- What’s your biggest fear?
- What do you sound like?
- Who or what are you (male, female, person, animal, object…like a banana)?
Individually, develop a unique, new character using most of these attributes. Discuss your characters in class.
- Think of the funniest thing that ever happened to you or a friend. If you can’t think of anything, make something up. What kind of character would make that situation even funnier? You may improve the details, if you wish. Discuss.
- Develop three to six characters that you can use in a TV series, a short, an animated feature, or a game. You may work any way that is most comfortable for you, filling out a fact sheet, scripting short scenes, doodling and drawing, or improvising monologues or scenes between characters.
- Grab a piece of paper and list at the top each of the three to six characters you’re developing for your project. Underneath list the opposing attributes and traits of each, making sure that each character is as different from each of the others as possible. Will these characters conflict or rub against each other in a funny way?
- Write out a detailed biography of each of your characters and give them a name.
- Design your characters or work with an artist who can.