Updated: 02/20/2003

Copyright, 2003  Dr. Janet McMullen

When we discuss the nature of drama or narrative, there are three elements which are essential, particularly for television:

• Character

• Plot

• Dialogue 

All of these are held together by six key elements of any artistic composition:

• unity

• variety

• balance

• coherence

• contrast

• emphasis

All of these things are focused on a specific THEME or main idea for the piece.

A key part of any narrative structure is CHARACTER -- obviously without them, there would be no narrative structure. 

Characters must support the theme of the story by

• what they do or

• do not do.

• what they say

• how they look

• how they are shown on camera

Creating Character involves creating the SIGNs of the character

• The producer must know what they are in order to effectively create them

• The critic must recognize and understand them and their use

• Signs of character and other dramatic elements always have to be considered in terms of

  • understanding the world around you, TV, genres

  • content (the program at hand)

  • viewing situation (warm, cold, hungry, crowded, etc.)

  The codes of character construction are historical and cultural

  As Butler illustrates, when we see Dr. Green on E.R. wearing glasses, that tells us something about him.-- he's smart, sensitive.  When he starts to smoke we know he's "losing his grip"  Why?

Butler lists a typology of Character Signs:

1.    Viewer Foreknowledge:

This includes the narrative image of the program.  (What have you learned about the show from promos? publicity, etc.?

What you know about the actors or producers.  We know something about Matlock when we hear that Andy Griffith is the star. We also know something about The Practice because he is NOT the star of that show.

Our foreknowledge gives us some understanding about what the character will be like.

Eventually, characters become familiar whether people watch the show or not.  Kirk and Spock are recognized, even by people who have never seen a Star Trek episode.  (Tarzan, Matt Dillon, The Fonz)

2.    Character Name:  The name of the character tells us a lot about that character....

Ethnic characteristics/heritage:  Ricky Ricardo, Mile Silverberg

Distinctiveness:  Murphy Brown (unusual name = unusual person)

Seriousness:  Corky Sherwood (later Corky Sherwood Forrest)  the "y" indicates not so serious

3.    Appearance:  Three components:

• Face: includes hairstyle, makeup

• Body: build, posture

• Gesturing:

4.   Dialogue:  Choice of words tell us about attitude, education, regional origins, etc.

5.   Lighting, Videography or Cinematography:

Diffused lighting vs. sharp

Wide-angle lenses in close-ups, are distorting, etc. 

6.  Action/Movement:  What they DO determines what they MEAN

There are also codes associated with PERFORMANCE:

Vocal:  includes, volume, pitch, timbre (nasal, gravelly, etc.)

Facial Performance: How hair moves, expressions, (Spock's eyebrow)

Gestural Performance:  Raised fist, palm up vs. palm down, etc. ; lots of movement vs. little; fluid movement vs. stiff  (Lillith vs. Sam Malone)

Corporeal: How one holds the body; posture 

Performance Schools of thought....

Naturalists:  

• Repertory:  copy the movements of others to achieve realism

• Method:  become the character so movements occur naturally

Anti-naturals:

• Vaudeville:  exaggerated movements, song, dance, slapstick; direct address via fourth wall

• Brechtian:  distanced from character, portrays, but retains own identity; very rare on television

Star System:

The star system contributes to our understanding of a program and it impacts casting choices

Inter-textuality:  This is an important term referring to our awareness of an individual's performances in other texts.

1.   We know "stars" from other series.  We can't see Becker without remembering that Ted Danson played Sam Malone on Cheers.  When William Shatner appeared on Third Rock, we were very aware that he was Captain Kirk from Star Trek. The fact that stars appeared in those other programs brings meaning to their current role.  The same people then have meaning in multiple texts.

2.  What types of texts can this occur in?

• Promotional texts:  These are generated by the stars, the networks, their P.R. firms in a deliberate attempt to shape meaning

• Publicitity:  These texts are beyond the control of the stars and their agents; news, tabloid, etc.

• Programs on TV:

  • actors appear on multiple programs

  • type-casting  (expectations)  (Seinfeld cast?)(Ron Howard -- grown up an bald, but still Opey)

  • problematic fit between star's polysemy and the attributes of the character played

    • Farrah Fawcett in Burning Bed

    • Ed Wynn in Requiem for a Heavyweight

But use of intertextuality is used selectively.   P.R. people pick the things that are to their advantage to point out to audiences.

Criticism and commentary about how great or how bad a star is affects perception of that star in the new role.

What makes characters interesting?

1.  Characters must be believable:

• They must have a realistic approach to the story or situation.  (We must believe someone would really act that way in that situation.)

• They must have reasons to exist, to act, etc.  They must have motivation.  (i.e. not be "puppet characters."

• They must not be all good or all bad; real people have are combination of good and evil.

• They must not have all answers; inner conflict -- not knowing what to do -- allows us to identify with them and makes them interesting.

2.   Conflict:

• Real people are always in conflict with something.  Because we can identify with that conflict and their position in it, be care for the character.

• Conflict must be credible and must stem naturally from

  • people

  • situations

  • personalities

• Conflict can be emphasized through contrasting opposites

  • circumstances: 

    • sickness -- health

    • poverty -- wealth

  • physical attributes:

    • physical beauty -- ugliness

    • strength -- weakness

  • emotional traits : 

    • social ease -- social awkwardness

    • friendliness -- rudeness

    Ask students for examples of characters who contrast each other.

•   Universal Problems:  Those problems with which we all can identify create effective conflicts which engage the audience, creating empathy.  The more we care about a character, the more involved in and committed to a show we become.  Universal problems include:

• illness

• love/broken heart

• family or relationship problems

• success problems

  • business/career

  • financial

  • creative

• Conflict is the easiest way in which to reveal character conflicts and character traits.  Who we really are seems to emerge in times of crisis.

4.  Complexity:  Complex Characters have complex problems:

• Characters which are not one-dimensional, but have many interests, relationships, experiences or struggles

• Dr. Carter on E.R.

• _________ on The Guardian

• Spock on Star Trek
  

5.  Pace:  The slower the pace of narrative, the better the audience gets to know the characters.

• Daytime dramas work very slowly, so they have long story arcs with lots of time to develop characters

• Sitcoms and action programs move much faster, so we never know as much about those characters...Does anyone know anything about the families of the guys on The A Team?

• Dramas provide more time for character developments

  • may build character development into the format of the show

  • Dr. Carter was a new intern when E.R. began

  • Voyager purposely introduced characters who seemed immature and flawed (like Tom Paris) so that they would have time to grow and mature over the seven years the show was on the air.

6.  Too many characters can confuse the audience.

• Because of the limited time to develop characterization, too many characters can be problematic.

• Audiences can't keep them straight

• St Elsewhere had a cast of nearly a dozen regulars in it's first year; it was pared to 6 to 8 in the second season and ratings improved.

7.  Each character must be unique and distinct from all of the others

• Those distinctions may be physical

• They may be personality-related

• function related

• age

• ethnicity

• attitude

• costuming

• but they must be very clear and not confusing

• No one would confuse Spock with McCoy or Scotty with Kirk.  Study the characters in your favorite show to see how they are each designed to be clearly different from each other.

HOW  WRITERS/PRODUCERS CREATE CHARACTERS FOR TELEVISION:

Every series has what's known as a "bible" for that series.  In it will be all the basics about the show.  Where does it take place, what kind of place it that? What are the rules of its operation? 

But even more important are the dossiers of characters:

• The dossier is where the character is developed :

  • contains all the details of the character's life

  • keeps episodes consistent with each other

• The dossier contains:

  • backstory or backlife of the character..

    • all history of the character

    • home, school, popularity background

    • hobbies, likes, dislikes

    • important events in life

    • love interests

    • goals, accomplishments, etc.

    • what did the people and the places look like

  • present life

    • professional life:

      • daily routine

      • route to work, where work

      • what is office life? relationships with people there

      • what does office look like? how new? how pretty?

      • these things translate into pictures

    • personal life of the character:

      • family:

        • How do they test, try, support each other

        • Parents, spouse, children, siblings, friends

      • Hopes, dreams, insecurities, fears

      • relationships:

        • who are those key people

        • how do relationships with them change through the course of the program?

        • how are they reflected in personal space?

          • family photos

          • heirlooms

          • furniture

      • personal space:  how does personal space reflect the character

        • decorating style

        • furniture

        • family photos

        • cleanliness or clutter

        • books

        • what's in the refrigerator

    • Private Life of Character:

      • What do they do when no one is looking?  (Wings characters singing over P.A., Cosby sneaking food.)

      • Sometimes you show a character doing something strange and then show WHY as the story unfolds

    • Most Compelling Characteristics: What about the character is the most dominant or profound? 

      • Kirk?

      • Spock?

      • McCoy?

      • Picard?

      • Dr. Greene (E.R.)

      • Murphy Brown

      • Ray Romano  (Everybody Loves Raymond)

      • Others:

Minor Characters:  Most narratives have major characters and minor characters and minor characters have specific roles with  equally specific limitations:

• Minor characters must be developed quickly due to time constraints

• They must have readily distinguishable characteristics so they are readily identifiable.

• They are usually involved in sub-plots 

• They frequently represent actions, beliefs or functions

  • These facilitate the plot

  • contrast the actions, beliefs or functions of main characters (as in minor character is afraid, but Captain Kirk is unafraid.)

  • serve as FOILS to main characters

    • foil is designed to contrast or set off a characteristic of another character

    • may serve to generate conflict

    • ex.  Archie and Meathead in All in the Family,  Spock and McCoy

Remember that characters must be believable.

Blum examines the "method writer" approach to creating characters.  Method actors consider character's purpose or motivation, so method writers do the same by asking key questions.  See your book for more discussion on these questions:

1.    What is the super objective or the main reason the character was created? What's the characters job / purpose in the story?

2.    What is the character's throughline of action?  What is the character's plot-related purpose in the script? To let a secret out? To tempt the character? To rob the bank? Find the kidnapper?

3.    What is the character's intention?  What the character wants to do and what the writer plans for him to do may be two different things.  The character may want to kill the murderer of his friend, but the writer may want the character to learn about mercy and forgiveness, and therefore drop the gun at the last minute... 

4.   What is the character's motivation?  This is the big "WHY" question. 

5.   What is the sense of urgency the character feels?  How important is it that the character achieve his/her goal quickly...or at all.

6.   What is the character's state of being?   What is his psychological or emotional state?  Is he physically healthy? Fit?

7.   How does the character react to what's going on around him?  Is he jumpy, impulsive, nervous, angry? 

Characters also must support the theme of the program or piece.  

What is the theme of Star Trek?   How do Kirk, McCoy and Spock support that theme? 

What is the theme of Just Shoot Me?  How do the characters of Maya, Vera, Elliot, and Finch support that theme? 

There would be no action without characters, so there must be enough characters

•  to support the action in the plot

•  to explain what's going on

•  to make sure there are no "holes' in the audience's understanding 

  What are some examples of characters who are introduced in a dramatic work so we'll know what's going on?

  • Security guards in Star Trek -- they have to get killed so we know how dangerous the situation is

  • Early victims in any action film -- so we know how bad the bad guys are

  • Abby in E.R. -- so Carter will have someone to talk with and we can know what he's thinking.  

    

Character Arcs:  These are the changes that a character goes through over a period of time

• from beginning to end of a single film; through a trilogy like Star Wars

• within a single episode

• may extend for years on a soap opera or continuing drama like E.R.

Examples of good character viewing:

• West Wing

• E.R.

• Star Trek:  "Amok Time" " Journey to Babel";  TNG: "Family" "Best of Both Worlds" "The Child"   

ASSIGNMENT:   Character Evaluation Assignment   Value: 10 pts.

Resources:

• Armer, Alan.  Writing the Screenplay, 3rd edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993. 

• Blum, Richard A.  Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract, 4th ed.  Boston: Focal, 2001.

• Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications.  Mahwah, NJ: LEA, 2002. 

• DiMaggio, Madeline.  How to Write for Television.  New York: Prentice Hall, 1990.

• Whitfield, Stephen. The Making of Star Trek.  Bantam, 1968.

Copyright, 2002

Dr. Janet McMullen