Character Development

Aim: 

To be able to create/develop more fully rounded characters for G234 production piece; to show a sense of progression from AS to A2 (G325) in terms of character development.

Task 1: We were each given a picture of an individual and were set a task to create a character profile for them, here is the picture of my character below;

Name: Simon Calver

Age: 62

Occupation: Doctor

Ethnicity: White/British

Family: A wife called Sally of whom he has 3 daughters with (two in their thirty's and one in her twenties finishing her final year at uni). He also has 2 grandchildren

Class: High status

Lifestyle: Lives in a large 5 bedroom family home in the countryside which has a immaculate garden and drives an estate

Pets: 1 labrador

Hobbies/Interests: Enjoys being outdoors, going for long walks and birdwatching. As well as this he prides himself in keeping healthy and regularly goes running before work

Personality: Deals with situations very calmly, tends to be a perfectionist, well mannered male who gets on well with everyone he meets

Task 2: We were then instructed to think of what our characters more precious possession would be and how they would react if they had misplaced it.

Most precious possession:

A small chest his elderly mother left to him when she died aged 92. Inside it contains belongings such as family photo's.

Scenario where he can't find the object:

Simon wonders downstairs off to get his usual breakfast of museli. As he walks past his dining room on the way to the kitchen he has a seconds glance to where his most prized possession - his mothers chest, is usually situated. Usually Simon would smile to himself warmly whilst thinking of the memories of his mother, however today the chest was not there. Curious but not one to panic, Simon calmly wonders into the room to investigate further. He is surprised it is not there as he prides himself in taking good care of it and regularly polishes it to keep it look presentable. He esures himself that it could not have possibly been mislocated so continues searching attentively knowing it will only be a short while before he relocates it as he is always organised and has probably just moved it to a saver place.

Task 3: Finally we had to create a script pretending our character had a secret that only they knew about, but they have to reveal the secret to one other character and this other character acts as a block to their desire.

It is  a mid-April spring morning at approximately 10 am. Simon has just parked up his estate in The London Hospital car park where he works. He has his name badge around his neck with a brief case in his left hand. A he's walking to the hospital entrance he sees a fellow collegue, Norman. He smiles and waves as they both exchange friendly gestures.

Simon: ''Morning!''

Norman: ''Morning Simon''

As they walk off in opposite directions, Simon arrives at the hospital doors and politely comes to a standstill in order to let a patient past. The patient smiles pleasingly and says

Patient 1: ''Thank you''

As Simon walks to his office he picks up some patients notes and places a stethoscope around his neck. He quickly scans the notes for information on one of his current patients named Jenny as he enters her hospital room.

Simon: ''Hello Jenny its Dr Caler here i've come to check up on your this morning''

Barely managing a reply Jenny only just plucks up the courage and engery to make a response.

Jenny: ''Morning Doctor''

Dr Calver can see Jenny is deteriorating rapidly and a concerned glare begins to cover his face. Jenny has been a long term patient of Dr Calver's and the two had become very close. Simon quickly dashes out of the room and finds a fellow collegue in a nearby office.

Simon: ''Dr Bennett you've got to help me''

Dr Bennett swivels round on his chair alarmingly so that he's now facing Simon

Dr Bennett: ''Certainly, what ever is the matter?'' 

Simon: ''its a patient'' Simon replied

Dr Bennett: ''Who? and what's wrong with them?''

Simon: ''It's Jenny. I was reading through my notes and realised i've administered her the wrong drug, she's now so weak, i'm worried she might die''

Dr Bennett: ''Which drug did you give her? How much?''

Simon: ''20mg of Morphine''

Dr Bennett: ''With that much it would be kinder to let her pass away, she has a terminal illness and recorrecting your mistake is only going to cause her more pain and suffering''

Outcome:

From today's lesson I learnt how to develop a character from simply seeing an image. By this I mean not only there appearance but their personality and how they would act in certain situations. This has helped me to think of ways that I could develop a character for my own film production and how to start off the process. As well as this I have done some script writing which we are also marked on at A2.