Character Development

     Today we worked on actual dialogue and the script for our project. We figured out a little bit more of who our protagonist is, and how she interacts with others. We also figured out how other characters will act within our film opening, which is really only the therapist, the mysterious caller, and an assistant that isn't really important. Since figuring out our protagonist was such a significant theme discussed in today's class, I figured that is the blog topic I would post about for today.

Meet Alice

    Before I say anything, we came up with her name on our own, and it just happened to be the name of one of the example post's characters. And it is funny because another character we came up with ALSO happened to have the same name as another character from the SAME POST. I swear I can never have an original thought. Anyways, back to the actual topic of the post. Our main protagonist's name is Alice, which was inspired by the story of Alice in Wonderland which also just so happens to be the inspiration behind the example poster's character name, because of course. We went with this because of the bizarre circumstances our protagonist is going through with the whole time loop and everything. She isn't perfect and definitely has some issues that need sorting out, so let's talk about them. For one, she has depression and anxiety, so she needs to take antidepressants which will show up in our opening scene. Today in class we thought the reason she could be in therapy was that she had maybe attempted suicide or something and was court-ordered to have therapy. She also has a bad relationship with her mother, possibly an abusive one. We also want her aesthetic to look kind of grungy. A perfect example of someone with the aesthetic I am talking about is Jane from Breaking Bad (2008). 

Here is some images of her I found so you see what I am talking about.

    I was thinking she would wear grey or darker-shaded colors. I also don't think she should have too much makeup since she wouldn't really care about that kind of stuff. Her development will focus on overcoming her trauma or her mental health in some way. We don't want her to be too emo, but want her to be annoyed that she has to do therapy. This will make her more quiet and slightly rude when the therapist is trying to talk with her. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The therapist! 

The Rest of the Cast

    The therapist's name will be Dr. Schultz. We didn't have any inspiration for this, I just kind of came up with it. We want her to kind of act like she doesn't care about Alice, but is still being professional about her job. She asks very ordinary therapist-esque questions to her and only gets enthusiastic when she thinks she has some sort of breakthrough that will boost her ego. While making the script, we thought it could be funny to have Alice say "Why am I here again? We just did this! ", after the first loop occurs and then have Schultz respond "I know it may seem redundant at first, but the more sessions we have the more progress we’ll make." We didn't really make Schultz's character development too deep, since she is stuck on repeat each loop, so she is a static character.

    We also decided to have Schultz's assistant interrupt the session to deliver some files. This would act as one of the motifs that happens in each loop. We decided to name the assistant T. Jacobs, which is a homage to Texas Jacobs, the lead singer of our music video project. Since I played Texas Jacobs, I am going to play T. Jacobs in this opening to keep it consistent. The only time his name would pop up is on a name sticker he has since he is just an assistant intern. We also want him to have a relaxed demeanor, but his character doesn't really matter that much since he only shows up for a few seconds each loop. Oh and guess what. Of course, the example had another character named Jacob in their post. The coincidences are diabolical.

    Finally, we have the mysterious phone caller who triggers the loop. We haven't really thought about who they are, but we know how they act. They will act pretty sinister and cocky every time they contact Alice, clearly taking pleasure in her misfortune. Their first line is "You should have answered the first time.." and their second line is "At least finish the session first." These all give this caller a villain persona and will keep the plot interesting since they are the only other character that acts differently in each loop, making them dynamic. They will taunt Alice throughout the film, and we thought that maybe (if it was an actual film) eventually they would be revealed to be Alice's mom. The whole thing also could have been a psychotic break from Alice's past trauma, but let's just focus on the opening before trying to figure out all of that stuff. The key to stopping the loop will lie with them.

Sources:

- Guisinger, J. (2024, December 31). Jane Margolis Hair. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/387309636722510523/

‌- jane margolis. (2022). Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/702139398188878942/

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