First impressions
make a big difference, it's as true in life as it is in fiction. There is no right or wrong way to do this in your writing but if you
use a few time tested techniques when you introduce your characters,
it will create a character people will be entertained by. It will
help separate your work from the stack of scripts waiting to hit the
shredder.
Your protagonist
should usually be the first character you introduce and this moment
should largely represent who this person is. Taxi Driver (1976) opens with Travis Bickle
drifting down the darkened streets of New York, alone in his taxi Cab
while his voice over lets us in on the personal thoughts that consume
him. We see the crime taking place in the streets and that Travis
has grown used to it. The first image of Trainspotting
(1996) is of Ewan McGregor as Renton; a heroin junkie who is running
to evade the police after committing various acts of criminal
mischief. What about that iconic opening to AClockwork Orange (1971); Malcolm McDowell's
as Alex stares directly at us in a close up, he and his gang are
dressed up in matching white outfits and fake eyelashes and the
camera pulls back to reveal this surreal milk bar location in a
future world while we hear Alex talk about the "ultra-violence" they
plan on unleashing that night. It helps if this scene relates to the
theme and the rest of the story but ultimately it just has to be
right for the character and leave a lasting impact. You may have
noticed that all three of these examples are larger than life; they
are not things most of us get to experience. Entertainment is an
escape for people, the last thing they want is a story and character
that that just mirrors their own life. That is to say that something
has to be extraordinary; if the character's life isn't, then the
situation they get wrapped up into has to be. The protagonist in
American Beauty is about an ordinary man who goes through a series of
life changes before he is murdered. We know this character is going
to be killed from the beginning of the story, but why and by whom? One of the best ways to do this is to not start the film from the
beginning of the story. For example look at the opening of FightClub (1999). The film and the novel start with Jack; our
narrator commenting through witty voice over about the mess he is in
all while Tyler Durden holds the barrel of a loaded gun in Jack's
mouth. Then our narrator stops and says, “Let me tell you about
how I met Tyler Durden,” and we are taken back through the story
until we end up back where we started; at the height of the conflict,
with a gun ironically in our narrator's mouth.
The second element
you have to think about when introducing your characters in their
first scene is to make that circumstance as interesting as it can be. Everything should be taken into account; the setting, time of day,
is it a holiday? What is your protagonist doing? You need to have
an active protagonist, and whatever that activity is should add to
the scene and the story, it could be exciting unique or humorous. Sometimes it is the supporting characters in your story that are
fascinating and we get to observe this person from the point of view
of the protagonist. The recent independent film Frank
(2014) is about a struggling band but what makes it different from
the many other movies on that subject is Frank; the eccentric band
leader who wears a painted head over his own and never takes it off. We are led into Frank's strange and fun lifestyle through Jon; who is
the newest band member to join the group. In that case it is clear
that the screenwriter would not make Frank the protagonist because he
wears a mask the whole time. We are not able to see the emotions of
Frank's facial expressions; that makes him a very hard character to
relate to. Another reason to make a secondary character the most
interesting one in the story is to keep aspects of their life a
mystery until they are later revealed. A few other films that use
this technique would be My Week with Marilyn
(2011), The Silence of the Lambs
(1991) and Almost Famous
(2000).
Here is an example,
this is how I introduced Cliff; the second character of my two act play
Anxiety. These early
pages are crucial, it is the one moment that the whole story is based
on. It is after business hours and Jane had to stay late and goes
into the bathroom of the office building where she works. She is in
the stall when a male janitor walks in to clean, but little do they
know that once the door closes they are both locked inside the
bathroom. There are many choices that could be made here. What
would you do to make this scene as interesting as it can be? Is
there any way you could build suspense around this circumstance by
making it last longer? Here is what I came up with:
I am happy to say that this play Anxiety was nominated for an Outstanding Original Play award by the International Music and Entertainment Association. Discovering entertaining ways of setting the scene like this might have had something to do with it, it couldn't have hurt. Writing is all about possibilities, the choices you make, so embrace it.
- Curt Wiser is a filmmaker and Author, he is currently writing a guide book to screenwriting.
