Understanding Character Growth

In this video, the speaker discusses the importance of character growth in screenwriting and how it is a tool that writers can use to create meaning in their stories. The speaker emphasizes that character growth is highly specific in dramatic long-form narratives like screenwriting or novel writing.

What is Character Growth?

• Character growth is a term used in life that takes on many ramifications, but in dramatic long-form narrative, it's something highly specific.

• Character growth is the heart of the communication of meaning in stories. It gives moral order, social connection, and human emotional connection with the rest of humanity.

• Every story has a theme because a story is told for people who are waiting for a message. If there is no message explicitly laid out by the writer, the audience will make up their own message.

Importance of Writing

• Stories provide meaning and create meaning in life. As human beings, we seek meaning in everything.

• A world without writers would be sad and barren because they offer fellow humanity meaning through their stories.

• Writers have a responsibility to bear when it comes to themes/messages conveyed through their stories.

Tools for Writers

• The speaker believes in tools that she can give writers to help them understand character growth better.

• The process of building character growth isn't hard once you get your head around it.

• Stories are organized parables about life that give meaning to some aspect of life.

Positive Themes in Visual Storytelling

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of positive themes in movies and encourages writers to focus on creating stories that give people positive messages. He also talks about the importance of finding where a theme resides and how character growth takes place within the hero or heroine.

The Importance of Positive Themes

• Movies with negative themes are not necessary as we already know that life can be tough.

• Encourages writers to think about positive things that give people positive messages.

Finding Where Theme Resides

• The surface plot of a story must be physical and visible, but when it comes to theme, we are no longer necessarily on the surface of physical action.

• Character growth takes place within the hero or heroine.

Physical Action vs Internal Action

• Physical action advances plot while internal action is called character growth.

• In communicating through motion pictures, demonstrating what is going on inside a character is done by what they do on the outside.

Focused Thematic Idea

• A movie should have one thematic idea that takes an audience on a focused intentional journey to make a point about life.

• It must be focused and cannot have two or three psychological thematic things simultaneously.

Expressing Theme Actively in Your Story

In this section, the speaker talks about expressing theme actively in your story. He introduces a useful statement for stating a theme in a form that requires an action to prove it.

Active Expression of Theme

• Theme must be expressed actively in your story.

• Using simple phrases such as "In order to blank, you must blank" helps state a theme in a form that requires an action to prove it.

Examples of Active Expression of Theme

• Love: "In order to find true love, you must first truly love yourself."

• Recovering from deep grief: "In order to recover from deep grief, you must honor the past by living in the present."

Best Movies with Simplest and Most Powerful Themes

• The best movies are couched in simple terms or can be expressed in these kinds of terms.

• Using active expression of theme helps writers conceive of it actively.

Finding a Theme

In this section, the speaker discusses how to find a theme for your story. He emphasizes that you must inflict a wound on your hero or heroine and invent a trauma that they have experienced.

Creating a Wound

• To find a theme, you must inflict a wound on your hero or heroine.

• The wound should be specific and not general.

• The wound should create one issue that the character must overcome to experience character growth.

Examples of Wounds in Movies

• Officer Bud White in L.A. Confidential is committed psychologically to saving women due to his father tying him to the radiators as a boy so he could watch as his father beat his mother to death.

• Annie in Bridesmaids lost her bakery business during the recession, which made her bitter and negative.

Using Orphans as Heroes

In this section, the speaker explains why many stories focus on young people who are orphans.

Why Orphans?

• Orphans are often used as heroes because their lack of parents creates an appropriate wound for their age.

• All superheroes are orphans because it humanizes them by giving them a deep personal wound.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes that finding a theme is basic dramatic human structure in all genres of storytelling.

Final Thoughts

• Finding a theme is basic dramatic human structure in the heart and mind of a human being.

• A change of genre does not affect this structure.

The Structure of Hero Goal Sequences

In this section, the speaker discusses the structure of hero goal sequences and how it is a consistent form of storytelling that has been used in hundreds of films over time.

Key Points:

• Within three acts, there are major things that have to happen.

• In the first act, there must be an inciting incident which gets the ball rolling. There should also be a stunning surprise one or plot point one which is an emotional turning point for both the hero and audience.

• Act two includes a midpoint sequence and stunning surprise two at the end of act two.

• Act three includes an obligatory scene where there is a final showdown between hero and adversary for all the marbles, followed by something called day new mom which is like the wrap up.

Character Growth Arc

In this section, the speaker lays out the character growth arc for heroes in stories.

Key Points:

• In act one, we meet the hero who has suffered from a deep wound that needs to be specific.

• The hero's behavior keeps them emotionally isolated due to their defensive behavior caused by their wound.

• The three steps of change take place in act two where stage two involves expressing or hearing expressed by someone else, the true nature of their inter-emotional problem.

• Through all of their suffering, it's important to keep your hero sympathetic or empathetic at least.

• Sympathetic does not mean perfect; we don't particularly care much for perfect people.

• Stage three will be in the middle, almost always during the midpoint sequence.

The Hero's Journey

In this section, the speaker explains the five stages of the hero's journey.

The Five Stages of the Hero's Journey

• Stage Three: The hero does battle but falls back into their old ways.

• Stage Four: The hero physically overcomes what is holding them back emotionally and solves the problem of the whole story.

• Stage Five: The hero is free from emotional burden and transformed within.

• Act Three in Gravity: The hero is alive again to take risks and be brave.

• Improvising Their Way to Victory: Kicked into act three with no plan, but they have grown and changed within.

Examples of Hero Growth Arc

In this section, the speaker provides examples of movies that demonstrate a great hero growth arc.

Legally Blonde

• Elle Woods' boyfriend breaks up with her instead of proposing marriage, leaving her shattered.

Collateral

• No bullet points provided.

Timestamp 2378 seconds has no relevant content for note-taking purposes.

Introduction

The speaker introduces the topic of character growth in movies and sets the stage for discussing two specific films.

Character Growth in Movies

• The speaker introduces the concept of character growth in movies.

• Two specific films, "Legally Blonde" and "Collateral," will be used as examples to illustrate this concept.

Legally Blonde

The speaker discusses the main character, Elle Woods, and her lack of self-awareness at the beginning of the movie.

Elle Woods' Life Before Character Growth Begins

• Elle Woods is introduced as a young woman who is only expected to find a well-off man, marry him, and retire.

• Her college major was dress design or something similar.

• She is living up to the expectations of those around her without questioning whether there might be more to life.

• At this point in the movie, she has not yet considered that she might be capable of creating a life with more meaning than what is expected of her.

Collateral

The speaker discusses another film, "Collateral," and its main character Max.

Max's Skills and Wounds

• Max is introduced as a cab driver who has been doing it for far longer than he realizes.

• He dreams of starting his own limo company but lacks the emotional umph to take that next step due to past wounds that have created cowardice.

• Despite his fear, he is an exceptional cab driver who is praised by everyone who gets into his cab for being efficient and precise.

• This illustrates one aspect of heroism: whatever they do, they must be really good at it.

Bringing Inner Issues to Surface

The speaker discusses how inner issues must be brought to the surface in order for character growth to occur.

Expressing Inner Issues

• The inner issue, or personal issue, must be brought to the surface in some way.

• This can be done directly or ironically.

• In "Legally Blonde," Elle's inner issue is expressed when she gets into Harvard and realizes that she doesn't know why she got in and that her only goal was to win back her ex-boyfriend.

• In "Collateral," Max's inner issue is expressed through his dreams of starting a limo company but being unable to take that next step due to past wounds.

Act Two

The speaker discusses Act Two of a movie and how it relates to character growth.

Act Two and Questioning Life

• At this point in the movie, the hero begins questioning their life and circumstances.

• They begin to realize that there might be more to life than what they previously thought.

• In "Legally Blonde," this occurs after Elle gets into Harvard and begins studying law.

• In "Collateral," this occurs as Max becomes involved with a hitman who forces him out of his comfort zone.

Casual Conversation

The conversation is casual and lacks a clear topic.

• The speakers exchange pleasantries and make plans to meet.

• They discuss clothing choices for an event.

• One speaker compliments the other's outfit and they briefly discuss fashion.

• They mention extra items for dressing up and a teacher they plan to introduce.

• One speaker mentions learning something, but it is unclear what.

Heroes and Heroines

The speakers discuss the qualities of heroes and heroines in stories.

• One speaker expresses insecurity about not being good enough for the other.

• They discuss a scene from a movie where a character displays bravery as an important quality for heroes/heroines.

• They continue discussing the importance of courage in heroes/heroines, even if they lack other qualities.

Max's Courage

The speakers analyze a character named Max who lacks courage in a movie.

• They explain that Max has all qualities except courage, which he must develop throughout the story.

• They watch clips from the movie where Max shows caution due to danger but eventually overcomes his fear to act bravely.

Collateral Movie Scene Analysis

The speakers analyze scenes from the movie "Collateral".

• They watch clips from Act 2 of the movie where one character is forced to drive another around to kill people.

• They discuss a scene where one character threatens another with a gun.

• They watch a scene where characters argue and fight in a nightclub.

• They watch a scene where one character needs to retrieve an item from someone else.

Vincent and Max Character Arc

In this section, the speaker discusses the character arc of Vincent and Max in the movie "Collateral".

Becoming a Hero

• Vincent's character arc is about becoming a hero by taking enormous risks on behalf of other people.

• The more Vincent understands the difficulty of his circumstance, the braver he gets.

• This is shown in the midpoint battle moment where Vincent tries to kill four people but Max tries to stop him from killing other people.

Visual Storytelling

• The internal conflict needs to be brought out in a physical way so that we can see it and so that the hero or heroine themselves can see it as well.

• It must be expressed visually and physically because this is movies. That's visual storytelling.

Legally Blonde Midpoint Battle Moment

In this section, the speaker discusses the midpoint battle moment in "Legally Blonde".

Doing for Others

• Heroes don't just do things for themselves; they also do things for other people.

• Elle Woods fakes being a lawyer for her new friend who has legal problems.

Taking Risks

• Elle Woods takes an enormous risk by representing her friend in court.

• She wins her case by using past precedent and showing that her client has parental rights over their child.

Sperm Donor Case Study

In this section, the speaker discusses a case study involving sperm donors.

Precedent

• The defendant has no parental rights over the child because he did not attempt to contact every single person he donated sperm to.

• The plaintiff wins the case by using past precedent and showing that the defendant has no parental rights over the child.

Pursuing a Path to Self-Worth

In this section, the protagonist is shown pursuing a path to self-worth by helping someone else. She starts exploring and experimenting with other things in life.

Helping Someone Else

• The protagonist helps someone else by being a lawyer.

• She is doing it for someone else who is grateful for her help.

• This experience helps her start climbing up the ladder to self-worth.

Exploring Other Things in Life

• The protagonist starts exploring and experimenting with other things in life.

• She pursues that path and tries to find out what she's good at.

Revealing Scene at the Hospital

In this section, there is a revealing scene at the hospital where Max has been called because his mom is in the hospital.

Max's Visit to the Hospital

• Max goes to visit his mom at the hospital.

• His mom belittles him, revealing that his wound is his mother.

• He takes action when he finally gets pushed to do so.

Attempting to Save Lives

• Max attempts to save lives of people still in Vincent's briefcase.

• He throws away the briefcase containing names of people Vincent wants him to kill.

Heroic Act of Saving Lives

In this section, we see how Max does battle against those things emotionally that stop him from taking risks.

Act of a Hero

• Max's act of heroism is attempting to save the lives of people still in Vincent's briefcase.

• He throws away the briefcase containing names of people Vincent wants him to kill.

• He thinks he has saved the people in that briefcase.

Doing Battle

• Max does battle against those things emotionally that stop him from taking risks.

• His wound is his mother, and he is cautious about taking any real risk.

• He freezes when he sees Vincent coming towards him with a gun.

Max as a Hero

In this section, the speaker discusses how the character Max becomes a hero in the movie.

Becoming a Hero

• Max starts as an ordinary guy with dreams and plans.

• He becomes a hero by the end of the movie.

• This transformation happens step by step.

Overcoming Challenges

In this section, the speaker talks about overcoming challenges in Act Two of the movie.

Elle's Struggle

• Elle is at the stage of giving up towards the end of Act Two.

• She experiences a dark night of the soul after being harassed by one of her teachers.

• This is when she takes control of her emotional life and ability to deal with actions required to pursue victory or death.

Sarah's Situation

In this section, characters discuss Sarah's situation.

Sarah's Dilemma

• The group discusses carrying Sarah out safely.

• They talk about getting everyone else out alive too.

Legal Strategy

In this section, characters discuss legal strategy.

Getting Fired

• The main character gets fired from her job.

• She decides to use Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling 3.03 to get her job back.

• Her colleagues are also fired but they come up with a plan to help her get her job back.

New Life

In this section, the speaker discusses Act Three of the movie.

Act Three

• The group is now in a new life.

• The speaker invites the audience to stay for a few more minutes to wrap up the cycle.

Understanding Motivations

In this section, the speaker discusses the difficulty of understanding what drives people and how it can be challenging to identify someone's motivations.

The Challenge of Understanding Motivations

• It can be difficult to understand what drives people.

• You never know what someone else is thinking or feeling.

• People's motivations are often complex and hard to decipher.

Miscellaneous Conversations

This section contains a series of unrelated conversations between different speakers.

Borrowing a Signature

• A person asks to borrow a signature for something.

Strange Comments

• One speaker makes some strange comments about driving and time.

Awkward Conversation

• Two speakers have an awkward conversation that is difficult to follow.

Shooting Instructions

• A speaker gives instructions on shooting, but the context is unclear.