Moving Images, Understanding Media

68 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

Writing: Character Development

In non-dialogue sequences or fi lms, characters become alive and understandable

to us through their actions and gestures. For our writing exercise for this chapter,

you will compose character sketches that will be based on the direct physical

presence of actors essential for silent fi lms. Next, you will write short, simple

scenes that explore physical interactions of each character with their world.

A. Sketching them out – You will create three characters for this exercise.

We will use three steps to this process. You are encouraged to use

these characters for later writing exercises and fi lm shoots, so it is

a good idea to create characters that will be feasible to bring to the

screen. In particular, the characters should be those that you will be

able to cast (age, gender, ethnicity, and so forth).

It is diffi cult for many of us to create detailed descriptions of people

or to describe things that we see every day. If the following steps

are very diffi cult for you, spend some time looking at people today

(for example, at lunch or when you are waiting for something or

someone) and note very specifi c actions and physical details that

you observe. You can use them to feed your character descriptions

or to fi nd inspiration.

1. Face – Describe the face of the character. How would you
   describe the eyes? Are there any typical movements or
   attributes of the character’s face? How is the head usually held?


2. Body – Describe the character’s body, in particular how
   it moves. Is there a particular walk? Typical gestures?
   Shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, and feet are all sources of
   expressive movement and distillation of character.


3. Wa k i n g U p – Imagine your character getting up in the
   morning. Write a brief paragraph (approximately four to six
   sentences) about the character’s fi rst actions of the day. Th e
   paragraph must start with the character’s name and use the
   verb “wants” in the fi rst or second sentence.

B. Solo scenes – Now you are going to write a “solo scene” for each

one of your characters. Th e character must be alone or in a situation

in which there is no interaction with any other character. Use this

writing to explore details of the character and establish physical

interactions with the world that surrounds the character.

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