RESEARCH INTO CHARACTER INSPIRATIONS
Depth to individual characters is important to understand and represent to the audience as the characters can feel disconnected or misplaced, linking back to why character development is important. For individual characters you need to think about their positives, flaws, habits, motives, speech and past. Having dimension in characters allows the audience to be more drawn to getting to know the characters and listening to them to try and understand them.
The character's positives are always good for the audience to know but if they are perfect they can become boring as everybody has flaws. Understanding a character's flaws and presenting it to the audience can teach the audience why they may act in a certain way or why they may be struggling in a certain situation. Another important element is why the characters act the way they do, having to understand their natural habits, their past and their motives in the story. Understanding this will make it easier to develop the character throughout the story and make them more realistic to the audience, allowing them to understand the character in better detail in comparison to the story line. Speech patterns can also be important as it makes the character unique and if they fall out of their speech pattern they can become strange and misplaced to the audience, making them lose their personality altogether. The way a character talks can influence the audience and help them differentiate the characters from each other. 'Dialogue is a topic unto itself but for the most part people speak differently.' (Diamond K, 2018)
SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004 FILM)
Shaun of the Dead is a comedic/romantic twist of a zombie movie that follows Shaun and his group of misfits trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.
Shaun- Acted by Simon Pegg
The first main character of the film is Shaun who is acted by Simon Pegg. Shaun is a 29 year old man slacker that works as an electronics salesman, being disrespected by his co-workers and is a dead end job, Shaun having no direction in his life. Along with his dead end job, he also has a strained relationship with his girlfriend, Liz, and is trying to re-kindle their relationship throughout the film despite the bromance that he has with his best friend, Ed, being called boyfriends throughout the film from how close they are, both living together in the film. Shaun is lazy, useless and a mummy's boy at the beginning of the film but also very snarky and naive in what is happening in the world around him and his friends.
Shaun develops through the film, becoming a bad ass fighter with a cricket bat as his weapon and becomes fairly intelligent by the end of the film; also considered as going crazy when he puts his tie around his forehead. Shaun only wants the best for his relationship with Liz and has a heart of gold throughout the film which is hidden behind his stupidity and his naive tendencies, Shaun wanting to go and save Liz from her flats as well as his own mother. Shaun manages to find direction in his life with the zombie apocalypse, managing to become stronger, more loving and more intelligent throughout the film. Shaun suffers from having no initiative which leads to his girlfriend breaking up with him in the first place, the zombie apocalypse forcing him to take action and fix the broken bonds, Ed being by his side from the very beginning on the film where their roommate, Peter, turns into a zombie.
Ed- Acted by Nick Frost
Ed is Shaun's best friend and roommate along with Pete, Ed having even less direction in his life than Shaun and sells weed to gather money, Pete wanting him to move out but Shaun managing to convince him to allow him to stay. Ed is unemployed, the reason why Peter wants him out the house, being a slob that sits on the sofa all day and doesn't clean up. Although Ed is vulgar, annoying and careless in some of his actions throughout the film, he has a heart of gold when it comes to Shaun. Ed is never shown shouting at Shaun although he sits through Shaun's lecture but shouts at some of the other characters, showing how close Shaun and Ed are to each other and can explain why they are called boyfriends by some of the characters in the film.
Although Ed is the most obnoxious of the group he keeps the spirits of others high throughout the film and becomes a bad ass like Shaun, using a shovel as his chosen weapon to fight the zombie apocalypse. Ed shows how much he cares for Shaun when he is caught in the pub and bit, telling them to leave him behind as he becomes a heroic sacrifice, allowing Shaun and Liz to escape to the cellar of the pub. This shows how much he cares about Shaun as he allows his self to die for him, Shaun coming back to rescue him to find him as a zombie. Ed develops through the film, becoming more understanding of the issues around him but is the only one excited at the beginning of the apocalypse, crashing a car purposefully to drive Shaun's step-fathers car instead. He stands by Shaun's side from the very beginning to the very end, showing how loyal he is as a friend hidden behind his annoying and careless attitude, showing there is a deeper meaning to their friendship.
SCORPION (TV SERIES, 2014 to present)
Scorpion is an action/drama that follows a group of geniuses lead by Walter, a computer genius, who work together to solve global issues and to save people's lives; their own or complete strangers.
Walter O'Brien- Acted by Elyes Gabel
Walter is a genius with an IQ over 170 but doesn't understand the emotions of others or his self. Walter is shown throughout the series to have heroic tendencies from those 2,000 civilians who died in Baghdad thanks to his program, him wanting to help out where he can. Walter leads the group of geniuses, working together to solve global issues and to save people's lives; their own or complete strangers. Walter is shown to be snarky when irritated or upset, having to clarify his importance to the group as he doesn't feel like he fits in with the rest of the group and because he doesn't understand emotions. Walter was a child prodigy and now is a computer whiz with an extremely high IQ, this sometimes making him act cold and arrogant towards the others although he has a hidden heart of gold.
Walter develops throughout the series, becoming less cold towards the others and trying to understand emotions better. He starts to show his heroic side much more frequently when he is protecting his friends from danger or are getting them out of danger, not thinking twice about running into save them. If he can't physically go in to save them, he will think of a plan to get them out safely. He tries to show that he cares about his friends but has difficulty doing so, showing progress from his before cold and arrogant self.
Toby Kurtis- Acted by Eddie Kaye Thomas
Toby may come off across as snarky when talking about his intelligence and understanding but has proven that he is the best of the group at analysation. Toby is the psychiatrist of the group but remembers all of the medical training that he went through at Harvard as he has a photographic memory, being able to perform medical procedures when needed. Toby is shown to have a gambling addiction because of his love for analysing problems but also has a love for hats, him getting stressed out or complains when he loses them. Toby is a nerd and enjoys music and is one of the first characters to get close to Walter, being able to understand how he works and his thought processes because of his psychiatrictraining.
Toby can be shown to be a lot to handle at a time when he get excited about a situation or needs to tell people some intelligence he has gathered but is also shown to be a hero and carer for his friends. He puts his self in danger to save his wife and friends where normally he wouldn't, showing he has heroic tendencies behind his actions. Toby is also shown to help Walter understand and discover his emotions, allowing him to understand his exact feelings, showing that Toby can be a great friend when needed. Most of the series he is acting silly or talks too fast for anyone to understand but becomes a hero to those around him.
THOMAS SANDERS- SANDER SIDES (YOUTUBE, 2016 to present)
Thomas does a series on YouTube where he goes through certain issues that he is facing by talking to the different aspects of his personality; Logic, Morality, Creativity and Anxiety.
Logan/Logic
Logan, or logic, is Thomas' logical side, knowing every fact that Thomas has learnt and has shown that he also may hold much more than expected. Logan is brutally honest, not having an understanding of emotions or how they work, quoted saying 'Emotions, the bane of my existence.' This can make Logan come across as cold to the others but he always seems to have the best interests in mind for Thomas and the other sides. Logan is focused, serious, rational and labelled as the 'smart guy' or 'nerd' by the others, this not affecting him as he doesn't really understand emotions.
Although Logan is shown to be cold and rational, he has been showing emotions and will start to show more, some of the emotions he has already been showing is anger, frustration and guilt, whenever he is angry yelling, 'Falsehood.' Logan has been shown in the series to be trying to be nicer to the others and that his emotions may grow over time, becoming more like the others. He is shown to not like being seen as 'useless' so this may be explored in future episodes, showing that behind his cold and focused mind they're may be a kind, emotional person.
Patton/Morality
Patton, or Morality, represents Thomas' emotions and sense of right and wrong, being described as Logan's opposite, being the right side of the brain whereas Logan represents the left. Patton has a love of Dad jokes that annoys Logan but can also be seen as spontaneous, naive and hyperactive compared to the others. He is optimistic and cheerful, being the optimist of the group of the issues they discuss and is shown to be a man child. Patton is the most innocent out the group but is shown to fanboy over Logan, wanting him to open up, and protecting Virgil when Roman picks on him or when Virgil puts his self down.
Patton may be cheerful and optimistic but in a recent episode he was shown being upset and rude to Logan, the opposite to what he would normally be. Patton has been shown to have his ups and downs but undoubtedly loves the other sides, being happy knowing they all made the effort to try and make him happy once again, Patton appreciating this and sure to precipitate this back to the others when they are down.
Roman/Creativity
Roman, or creativity, is Thomas' fanciful side, also representing all of his hopes and dreams, imagination and creativity. Roman can be over the top, being the most energetic out of the group. Roman is theatrical and is called 'Princey' because of his attire and love for Disney movies. Roman can be inspiring but also impulsive and irritating, fond of giving nicknames to the other sides, examples of this being 'Hot Topic' to Virgil or 'Microsoft Nerd' to Logan. Roman is energetic and entertaining, all of the other sides liking Roman but can find him too much sometimes as he can be seen to be self-centered compared to the others.
Roman is shown to be self-centered, egotistical, insensitive, and hotheaded but also has been shown as chivalrous, noble and loyal. This shows that behind his self-centered feelings and how he presents his self, he is shown to love the others and become upset when he isn't able to help or has upset the others, showing that he is becoming kinder to the others. He also is trying to stop the nicknames that he gives Virgil and accepting him as a part of the group.
Virgil/Anxiety
Virgil, or anxiety, represents all of Thomas' doubts and fears, being the negativity of the group. Like Logan, Virgil is brutally honest but understands how it may affect the others. Virgil is shown to be sarcastic, grouchy, rude and cynical although he does care about the others and Thomas' well being. Virgil is shown to be the closest to Patton as he accepted him the quickest and treats him like his child but Virgil understands Logan the most, both of them having a strong connection as they both think logically and are less energetic to the others, Logan also accepting Virgil into the group.
Virgil rarely smiles but recently with feeling that he is apart of the group, he has started to smile more and tries to be kinder to the others, him and Roman finally becoming friends and being kind to each other. Virgil has started to show that he cares more about the others and Thomas, becoming more open to the group and feeling like they are his family.
This research can be implemented into my own work as the characters in my short film will be one of the main aspects to the short film, their interactions being unique in how they treat each other and how they change throughout the film; an example of this being the two best friends, Scott always being mean or sarcastic to Marshall but becomes nicer and more protective over his friend throughout. This research will allow me to help the audience to understand the characters more clearly and their motives behind their actions, giving the audience reason and knowledge of their personalities.
References
Diamond, K., Reilly, S., Marshall, L. and Cassandra, C. (2018). The Importance of Character Development. [online] Thanet Writers. Available at: https://thanetwriters.com/essay/characters/the-importance-of-character-development/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2018].
TV Tropes. (2017). Shaun of the Dead / Characters - TV Tropes. [online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/ShaunOfTheDead [Accessed 29 Nov. 2017].
TV Tropes. (2018). Scorpion / Characters - TV Tropes. [online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Scorpion [Accessed 7 Mar. 2018].
TV Tropes. (2018). Thomas Sanders / Characters - TV Tropes. [online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/ThomasSanders [Accessed 7 Mar. 2018].
Bubbl.us. (2018). brainstorm and mind map online. [online] Available at: https://bubbl.us/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2018].
