Characters are key to creative progress.
The entire narrative revolves around the
characters, therefore, if the character has a well built background
and characteristic traits, then the show can create successful
story lines around them.
“It’s all about character, character, character…. Everything has to be in service of the people. That is the secret ingredient of the show'' - Lost co-creator, Damon Lindelof. (Mittell.J, 2012)
Nearly every episode of LOST,
especially for the first few seasons, concerntrates on a different
character and their backgrounds and traits. This is what makes the
show so successful with the audience knowing so much about the
characters yet still with little mysteries that keep the suspense
building.
Character Recognition
Characters need to be defined into their groups such as; Main characters, recurring characters,supporting characters, extras & guest characters. The different roles mean different pay, contracts and credit placements. The main characters obviously get the highest pay and longer contracts, unless a special guest may be a high-list celebrity getting paid a large amount. Another case is Eastender's Tracy, who was an extra but has been a barmaid for years and has spoken, therefore, she is classed as a character.
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| Miranda D.J. Haza,2011.'Last Night's TV',Aug,27th.available at: http://whatculture.com/tv/last-nights-tv-miranda-series-2-episode-4-review.php |
Sometimes characters are affected by the actors that play them, such as the actor may die or decide to quit the show in TV case. Prime time dramas usually come up with a storyline to let the sudden absent make sense to the viewer yet more rarely some shows recast the characters. This is sometimes a big risk and uneasy to the viewer as the previous actor/actress for the character may have had a particular performance and look that added to the main characteristics of them. For example, you wouldn't see Eastenders recasting Phil Michell (i hope) as Steve McFadden puts so much into the character's iconic look and performance. Whereas, Eastenders and other soaps are known for replacing less developed young characters such as Lucy Beale. Doctor Who's narrative actually changed from when the first doctor, William Hartnell, left the programme, as then the producers used the sci-fi genre to their advantage and brought the doctor back as in a different body and now there has been over 11 doctors, changing over the years.
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| Doctor who???? Which one? sparkymat,2010.'madman with a box',July 1st. available at:http://www.sparkymat.net/tag/doctorwho/ |
The cast really can make a great impact not only on their characters, but also on the overall narrative. Being a huge fan of LOST, reading Mittell's 'complex TV -character' chapter, many of my queries i had about characters sudden deaths or cuts from the show, when the characters had either worked great in the show or/and been built up characteristically, have been answered. Such as the character Walt, who played a young boy survivor on the island with his dad. I felt that Walt gave the storyline the young innocent character that the viewers would nurture and his background story still had a potential present storyline to give. (His strange mind power shown in a flashback). Therefore, I felt the show had lost a great component through Walt's departure, yet i have learnt through Mittell.J's 'Character' article, that it was due to his sudden growth spurt that the character had to be cut, which we as viewers realise in the later seasons when Locke visits him off the island and he is practically a man with a very deep voice and at least 2 foot taller. Going back to Eastenders as another example Jim Branning's actor, had a stroke, so the writers collided him and his character with them both having a stroke and now Jim appears every now and then on the soap speaking little words, yet the viewer is sympathetic to him as they are aware of the situation.
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| Young Walt Niki,2010.'what i want from lost',April,28th. Available at: http://muserantramble.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/what-i-want-from-lost.html |
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| Walt when we next see him Izikavazo,2010.'615 the end no walt''Not confused just lost',May. Available at http://ncjl.wordpress.com/2010/05/ |
Alignment in characters us important as we need an attachment to main characters; following their experience and point of view, relating to their emotions and routing for them, yet we still need to connect with the other supporting characters in a serial. As i mentioned before about the LOST episode concentrating one different characters for the first few seasons.
Acting of character
Actors and directors find ways such as facial expression, dialogue and body language to portray their thoughts and emotions that we as humans can relate to. If something happens to a character, for example we may see someone walk by and hand him a note. This is were we then will see a thought process of the character, usually though facial expressions with a CU, which leaves the viewer in suspense and with a built tension. then we get the reaction, such as him running after the messenger or breaking down in tears. THE THOUGHT PROCESS IS IMPORTANT! It allows us as a viewer to think for them and have the imagination to guess what's happened. A thought process is also great for a cliff-hanger at the end of an episode.
Serial characters
Serial characters very rarely dramatically change in my opinion, yet in LOST, we have Ben Linus who goes from being a powerful character and leader for a few seasons, to then becoming a weak follower in the last season, once his daughter is killed. We see this through his performance of the character, as he follows others like Jack and Hugo more and becomes a friendlier guy that i begin to feel sorry for as soon as his daughter is shot. However, a common characteristic in TV serials is character growth which we see in young characters becoming maturer with more adult relation 'Outnumbered' is an example as the three children grow over the years with us seeing the most change in the oldest, Jake, who gets into girls and understands and feels emotion towards his family's problems, such as his granddad's Dementia. However, we also see growth in main characters like the characters in 'Misfits' and how they adjust to life with their super powers and how they then go about using them, becoming extra advanced. Lastly, there is transformation, where characters may create another opinion and have different values as we see in 'Desperate Housewives' with Gaby realising that all that matters is family and friends, after she goes to the full length to protect her husband from going to prison in the final season. whereas before this, money was mainly her top priority.
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| Misfits. |
TV RAGE,2012.'Misfits'. Available at:http://search.babylon.com/imageres.php?iu=http://images.tvrage.com/shows/9/8784.jpg&ir=http://www.tvrage.com/Misfits&ig=http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ14zLmcUd5RDx_15eT_60T1L7QSAjfR1Acml-LWw40jSCx4r-1K9tJKYA&h=1024&w=1280&q=misfits&babsrc=SP_ss
The Bad Guys!
When it comes to bad characters, we rarely look at them subjectively as the director doesn't want us to have an emotional connection with them. In 'Breaking Bad' we learn Walt's back story and spend subjective time following his view, so we route for him, even when he is creating the 'best weed' even though morally, we know is wrong. Also we see in this first episode that their are some bullies that Walt overhears talking bad about his disabled son, in which he decides to knock them all out. As viewers, we get a great feeling from watching him do this even though it's not exactly necessary. We have no sympathy for the bullies, yet another reason for this is because we have not been introduced to them and don't know their back story. Perhaps if we knew more about them as we do with Walt we may feel more sympathetic to them even though what they are doing we morally know is wrong.
Breaking Bad (sorry for the quality)
MENTALSAILOR666,2012. 'Break bad clothes store'.'Youtube',Mar,10th. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAtb7lHb8Y8
However, in soaps, the viewer spends quite a bit of time with them and the storyline runs on for quite a while, building our fury and hate for the character, giving us great satisfaction when the character is found out of their nasty ways. Archie Mitchell, Eastenders, is a prime example of this and like many of these big reveals, it is revealed on Christmas day his real bad side. Archie Mitchell also had the Charisma that many bad guys have which is to overlook their evil with them being seen as a lovely charming person to the characters within the story world.  |
| Archie Mitchell Mirror,2009.'Eastenders star larry lamb on...'.'Mirror',Oct,21st. Available at:http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/eastenders-star-larry-lamb-on-why-his-father-426104 |
Mittell.J (2012) “Character”, in Complex TV: The Poecctics of contemporary Television Storytelling. Available at: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/complextelevision/character/
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