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Day 4 – What I learned …
Post the answer to the question, “What I learned rewriting my scene/character…?”
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7 Replies
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I learned that each of my characters should have at least one unusual characteristic or be struggling with a unique situation.
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Bob Kerr
What I learned from this assignment
Insights:
They capacity to stretch out the drama with a secret/demand/reveal can add both audience appeal as well as contribute to a heightened conflict. The opportunity to build on these elements will add audience engagement as well as add depth and texture to the characters
Breakthrough:
In my script I have initially written these elements in a very flat and straight forward manner. While the timeline in the script is accurate, a key component of a script based on actual events, there are several key scenes where by utilizing different vehicles to reveal the secret I can create a whole different landscape and motivation for why the heroine is doing what she is doing.
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What I Learned:
I guess the lesson here is that my character should have a secret that gets revealed. I’m trying to brainstorm how to give my character a secret. Perhaps he has a backstory that even he isn’t aware of but someone else tells him his own story.
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What I learned rewriting my scene/character
I learned that one of my main characters has a secret which she decided to reveal to the other main character at a crucial time, which changed the dynamics of the scene, giving it a lot more depth and reason, both from giving one character a concise backstory (told in a sentence) which will also both provide a clue and a misdirection at the same time, while also placing the other main character in more of a crisis that he was before this lesson!
It improved the scene enormously and it also taught me to provide secrets to all the characters’ lives, these secrets may never have to be revealed, they may be inconsequential or huge, but they help build dimension into each character. Thanks Hal & Cheryl!
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What I learned rewriting my scene/character:
1. I’m thinking the first clip makes Kate out to be dangerous.
2. The second makes her out to be someone relatable, a bit vulnerable, trying to cope in a bad situation. She doesn’t seem so dangerous.
3. The third shows what she did, why she’s considered dangerous by authorities, but also implies she’s mainly dangerous to sleezy drunken men who perhaps have harmed her, maybe someone like Sawyer, but not necessarily to someone like Jack.
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I don’t have any characters like those, but I do have several set-up/reveal situations. I’ve made some changes to one to help reveal character more:
Scene 11: After Ellie has agreed to a “situationship” with Jim, when she says something negative about oil money, Jim (without Ellie seeing) gives a “yike” expression.
Scene 12: Jim talks to his mom who reminds him of his obligation to his uncle, which Jim is trying to postpone. His mom tells him his uncle is visiting campus next week, which has Jim worried. He covers this up to Ellie.
Scene 13C: Visiting a ranch, Jim tells Ellie he’s always wanted a brushlands ranch, but it’s just a dream and he wishes he could go through life dreaming. Ellie wonders about that.
Scene 14: Jim’s uncle reminds Jim of his obligation to work for him in his petroleum engineering consultancy (reveal to the audience, creating suspense re how Ellie will react).
This set-up/reveal is a set-up for the big reveal to Ellie at midpoint when they call off their wedding due to conflicting obligations and life directions.
The trick here is to make Jim a good and relatable protag, without making him bad and deceitful in a mean way. So, I’m rewriting to make him more resistant to his uncle, and sort of afraid of losing Ellie if she knows the truth, figuring he’ll be able to get her on board once she’s more committed to him. Also Ellie has her own reveal about her commitment to help at the ranch; she has assumed Jim would be all in for that, but she, like Jim, didn’t discuss it with him earlier. They both come across as a bit immature, which is fine since they have the second half of the script to grow up.
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Insights: The suspense created by giving a hint here and there throughout the episodes, rises the tensions and thus the audience’s curiosity => the reveal should slowly build up.
While rewriting my scene, I realized that my 1st hint for my main character’s secret was maybe too evident, too clear and that the audience might guess what her secret is too fast, even if other hints come way later.
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I learned there can be a lot of entertainment revolving around each trait revealed and each secret revealed, and the writer is able to really stretch the imagination to keep the audience engaged and intrigued.
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