Issue #194 – March 12, 2019 (Character Analysis-Part 3)

Character Analysis-Part Three
(c) Peter D. Marshall

Character Story Arcs
(Contributed by Michael Bruce Adams)

If we think of plot and character as two sides of the story coin, and we define plot as the results of your character’s motivations, decisions and actions, then the character arc must consist of the revelations our character experiences along the journey, the internal transformation motivated by those revelations and the physical manifestation of those transformations.

Once more in English…

Our heroes are going to enter into situations that provide encounters with others that involve conflict, learning or both.  Those experiences will change those characters, just as all of us are changing and growing with every experience we have.

The changes will inspire a new perspective that can shed light on past events and alter how we view the future.  If the perspective change is positive our heroes might have a more positive and proactive attitude, view future events as opportunities and carry themselves more upright.  But if the perspective change is negative our heroes might take less initiative, view the future with a bit of fear and slouch as they walk.

As our heroes work through our plotlines the cumulative internal and external consequences of all those revelations is what we call the transformational arc or character arc… the sum total of change the hero experiences from the start of the story to the end.

Character Super-Objectives, Objectives and Actions

One of the main responsibilities of a Director is to help actors achieve a realistic performance and one of the keys to getting a realistic performance is by understanding the character’s overall story super-objective, their scene objective and what actions they take to achieve that scene objective.

The Super-Objective (Spine) is what the character NEEDS most out of life; it is their primal motivation, goal, desire or dream in the story.

The Scene Objective (Goal) is what the character WANTS most of all in a scene. This is usually something they want from another person which will help the character achieve their overall Super-Objective.

The Main Actions are what the character DOES (Scene Action) to get what he/she WANTS (Scene Objective) to fulfill his/her NEEDS (Story Super-Objective.)

For example: if we have an actor playing a bully in a film, here’s how we could break down the objectives of this character:

Story Super-Objective (Because they need to have power over people….)

What are the main needs of the character?

What is the primal motivation of the character?
This is the character’s subtext (what they really think and feel.)

Scene Objective (…they want to dominate everyone they meet…)
What does the character want?
What are her active choices to achieve the super objective?
This is the character’s text (what they do.)

Main Actions (…so this is what they do to each person they meet.)
What the character does… (Actions)
To get what she wants… (Scene Objective)
To fulfill her needs! (Super Objective)

To find out what a character is trying to achieve in a scene, actors must ask (as the character) ‘What do I want?’ and this specific character objective drives the character through that particular scene.

Opposing Objectives. There would be little drama if characters got what they wanted right away so as you carry out your script analysis, look carefully at each scene to see if the objectives of the characters cause some sort of conflict, problem or obstacle for another character.

Before deciding on a character’s scene objective, you must know the character’s overall story Super-Objective which is their “primal story need” – the one thing they will sacrifice everything for to get what they want.

1. What does the character want (more than anything) in this situation?
2. Look at the character’s behavior. (What he/she does)
3. Look at what the character talks about. (What he/she says)
4. Look at what happens in the scene and how it ends.
5. A character’s objective should create obstacles for the character.
6. There should be one main objective per character, per scene.
7. An objective should be an active choice (a verb) for an actor.
8. Strong objectives help actors react to each other, not just “say the lines.”
9. The simpler the objective, the easier an actor can play it.
10. Actors should always play their objective in every scene

Copyright (c) 2019 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved