Character Development

 After the first draft of my screenplay, I realized I needed more consistent and well-developed characters. A little backwards...but it'll work out in the end. I began doing my research with StudioBinder again, as they have an article about character development. Here they explain how there are two main character types, dynamic and static characters. Dynamic characters change and have an arc throughout while static characters stay the same throughout. 

In regards to the robbers, I want them both to be amateurs and they shouldn't really know what they are doing. They should both be butting heads the whole time, so their personalities should be opposites. I want robber #1 to be more scared and anxious about the whole situation, while robber #2 will be more stubborn and rebellious, borderline dangerous. Robber #2 almost reminds me of Jon Ham's character in Baby Driver, but inexperienced. 

For robber #2, he should be a static character as he is blind in his greed and stupidity. Regardless of the consequences, he will return for one more job. In this sense, he would be similar to a character in the game Red Dead Redemption 2. In RDR2, the character of Dutch Van Der Linde is the leader of a cowboy outlaw gang that is constantly trying to go back for their last big heist. In the game, Dutch slowly begins going to more and more extreme measures for his goal which only damages the group. His greed, paranoia, and leadership are what lead to his downfall in the end, which is something that I would like to integrate into my own characters. An article by Screen Rant outlines this transformation and the foreshadowing and events leading up to it. I likely wouldn't touch this too much in my 2 minutes, but keeping this in mind will help me write my characters better and have their goals in mind. Dutch is pictured below.

Sakellariou, Alexandra. “Who Was Dutch van Der Linde before Red Dead Redemption 2?” ScreenRant, 18 Sept. 2020, screenrant.com/rdr2-dutch-van-der-linde-red-dead-redemption/.

Robber #1 would be similar in this sense, but instead of staying static throughout, he would have doubts and guilts, but ultimately still make the wrong choice for, in his head, the right reasons. 

And that leads me to their goals. What do these guys want? Why do they do what they do? Robber #1 should definitely be doing it for "good reasons". I say that in quotes because although they may be positive for him, there may be other, better ways to go around it. His character would be somewhat similar to that of Robert Pattison in Good Time, trying hard to help out his brother in really poor and wrong ways. I want robber #1 to be a lot more relatable as he would be the main character we would follow to the end. 

Scott, A. O. “Review: A ‘good Time,’ If in Name Only.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/movies/good-time-review-robert-pattinson.html.

Although we are also following robber #2, he would be more of an antagonist or conflict starter, looking out mainly for himself above all else. When researching, I found some information about kleptomania, which is the impulse or irresistible urge to steal things. When I looked into it some more, the Mayo Clinic explained that stealing could cause dopamine, which releases pleasure in the individual and makes them want to seek it again and again, which leads to addiction. Then I started thinking about how I could integrate this into robber #2 having him as a kleptomaniac and addict. He gets pleasure from stealing, which is a big part of his character.

Both my characters would be of lower class as they feel a need to rob homes for cash. In terms of attire and clothes, they should wear brandless, simple, and worn-looking clothes. A simple hoodie, sweatpants, and maybe oversized clothing indicate that it's a hand-me-down. 

Aliexpress, www.aliexpress.us/item/1005003951204364.html?src=google&aff_fcid=097e51c97f4b48469dcd4038ba7592a7-1709093006548-02004-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=097e51c97f4b48469dcd4038ba7592a7-1709093006548-02004-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=7664fdf52c1f4089822ab772119cabb3&afSmartRedirect=y&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.

Something like this is what they would be wearing. Very bland, boring, cheap clothes. At least for robber #1. For robber #2, he would fit the same aesthetic but, I like the idea of him wearing red since he's dangerous and rebellious. Wearing red during a robbery is also stupid as it makes you easily identifiable and stand out, which fits with what I'm trying to make of robber #2.

Finally, their names. In my script, I just chose random names to have them there, but now I think I want to officially decide. From looking at some of my peer's work and the group meeting I had, I saw that some are researching names and their meanings to choose one that fits their characters. I liked this idea and decided that maybe I should try and do that as well. To start, I just searched "names that mean chaos or blind" for robber #2 as he is blind in his ignorance which leads him to make rash decisions. I went down a crazy Wikipedia rabbit hole and eventually ended up finding Samael, literally meaning "Blind God". I thought this was pretty fitting so I looked into it more and found out Samael is traditionally the king of all demons and the angel of death....so...I think it'll work out. Instead of Samael though, I'll just go for the more common Sam. For robber #1, I was trying to search for names meaning unlucky or misfortune, as he will just get put through bad situation after bad situation, but didn't really find anything I liked or it just wasn't English.  One I found was Mallory, meaning unfortunate. But instead, I think I'm just going for Malcolm as it is a similar male name for Mallory.

I think for my purposes, this is all I really need for my characters. It's good to have an idea of what they will become and how they will transform throughout the film to try to capture that in my 2 minutes. So now, I think I will begin working on my storyboard.