Intriguing Character Development Issue.

Doc Bernard

Doc Bernard

Indie Arms Member
I have decided to set a couple writing projects aside, wasn't make any headway anyway.

But I am currently writing a treatment for a short. And yes.....it is high concept. Never thought I would write something like this, always thought I would stick with action. But the idea for it came to me in a lucid dream a few nights ago, and it woke me up in a cold sweat. I HAVE to write this.

So the question is:

How would you go about representing a character or scenario as a human emotion. Happiness, sadness, fury.....etc. LOL, putting a sign on the character with that emotion is out. Character development is definitely a weak area of mine, unless it is the lead in the story.
 
Difficult. You run the risk of ending up with one of those wanky alternative theatre scripts where the woman in diapers and a blue hat represents The Death of Capitalism and the man wearing an evening dress covered in dead goldfish represents Entropy :)

You could simply have each character demonstrate their emotion, but a few minutes of watching Happiness giggling and Sadness weeping could get really annoying too...

If the audience does need to immediately understand that a particular character does represent e.g. Happiness, then a literal label may indeed be the solution. Wearing a sign around their neck would certainly be rather dull, but possibly some more original costuming could achieve the same purpose?

In your lucid dream, how did you know what emotion each character represented?
 
Doc Bernard said:
I have decided to set a couple writing projects aside, wasn't make any headway anyway.

But I am currently writing a treatment for a short. And yes.....it is high concept. Never thought I would write something like this, always thought I would stick with action. But the idea for it came to me in a lucid dream a few nights ago, and it woke me up in a cold sweat. I HAVE to write this.

So the question is:

How would you go about representing a character or scenario as a human emotion. Happiness, sadness, fury.....etc. LOL, putting a sign on the character with that emotion is out. Character development is definitely a weak area of mine, unless it is the lead in the story.
Click to expand...

For some of these...

[scrippet]
INT. TRACT HOUSE DINNING ROOM - NIGHT

JOE, 20's, smiles as IRMAGARD, 20's, enters with a tray of roasted chicken.
[/scrippet]

[scrippet]
INT. TRACT HOUSE LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

JOE, 20's, shakes his fist at IRMAGARD, 20's.

JOE
You'll never get a divorce from me.

IRMAGARD
Who'd want to. I'll get torture you for the rest of your living days, as your wife.

[/scrippet]
 
clang said:
Difficult. You run the risk of ending up with one of those wanky alternative theatre scripts where the woman in diapers and a blue hat represents The Death of Capitalism and the man wearing an evening dress covered in dead goldfish represents Entropy :)

You could simply have each character demonstrate their emotion, but a few minutes of watching Happiness giggling and Sadness weeping could get really annoying too...

If the audience does need to immediately understand that a particular character does represent e.g. Happiness, then a literal label may indeed be the solution. Wearing a sign around their neck would certainly be rather dull, but possibly some more original costuming could achieve the same purpose?

In your lucid dream, how did you know what emotion each character represented?
Click to expand...
There will be a couple of situations rather than characters that also represent emotions.

As to how I knew, I don't know, I just did. The nice thing is I can go a little over the top with it, as it is set in a fantasy/mystical world. And it is a child's imagination/dream.
 
Doc Bernard said:
There will be a couple of situations rather than characters that also represent emotions.

As to how I knew, I don't know, I just did. The nice thing is I can go a little over the top with it, as it is set in a fantasy/mystical world. And it is a child's imagination/dream.
Click to expand...

If you want total 'dream unfettered by reality'... there's "Spellbound"(1945).


However, this dream sequence, is 'interpreted' by the psychiatrist characters, who are trying to understand it, and initially may not make much sense to the ordinary viewer.
 
I would go with color.
Barring that you could represent them using a hair and costume combo.
The way that a happy, innocent person dresses is very different than the way that a conniving person would.
 
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