Character Development!

Now that we are building our actual story we needed characters! In my previous AS level project, I know that my group and I did not really spend much time developing the characters and I really wanted that to change in my A level project. I think it is only logical to take this step first as it will guide the rest of the story and especially the dialogue once my partner and I have a good idea of what the characters are like and their personalities.

So first we wanted to develop the main character's crush. First, we decided on a name. The name we decided on was Lucas. Now you may be asking yourself wow Elly what an original name how did you ever decide on picking this name? To which I would respond don't worry I am about to explain. So basically we first came to the agreement that we wanted the crush to be the most normal teenage boy we could think of. Not a nerd, or a crazy jock, or an edgy kid who rides his skateboard. We just wanted a plain old teenage boy, so he needed a plain old name. We thought Lucas was the best option because whenever someone envisions a Lucas most people think of a normal nice kid which is exactly what we were going for so after that we decided to develop his personality. Obviously, we wanted him to be normal so my partner and I thought of different characteristics that entail being a normal teenage boy. So then I thought of grades, which is in no way a defining factor of a person but I thought it would help us envision his aspirations and view of the world. So we decided Lucas is a B student because he cares enough to not fail but not to the point where it is his number one priority above anything else in the entire universe. We thought the way he dressed would also help us gain a better image of him so we decided that Lucas is the type to just wear good old sweatpants or jeans and a T-shirt. We also envisioned that it would be helpful to have a little bit of background on him as well. So we decided that he was born in Florida and was brought up by two white parents, again reestablishing the idea that we wanted to make the most normal teenager ever.

Lucas notes

The reason behind making him as normal as possible is because in the end the overall goal and punchline of the whole script for us, is that we want the kid to be unaware and nonchalant about everyone around him especially our girl main character. We believed that in this way it would make it more humorous and ironic the fact that she is having an absolute meltdown about a meaningless text message while he is probably playing GTA 5 at home drinking coke and listening to music. Or whatever it is teenage boys do these days. Then we really wanted to envision our character so we made a mood board of sorts to really try and capture his essence or vibe. So we headed on to Pinterest and collected a series of pictures that we thought represented our very own Lucas. As you can see we took inspiration from STRICTLY THE PHYSICAL/ AESTHETIC aspect of characters from movies and shows such as Mean Girls, PaperTowns, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and daybreak. We thought they each had pretty normal looking teenage boys so we paired pictures of them together as well as costume design inspiration.

Lucas Mood Board

Then we went on to develop our main character. We decided her name is going to be Hazel because it also just sounds like a nice innocent girl's name and that is what we want to portray Hazel as. But before really going into depth with her character development we wanted to make sure that we really hit all the important parts of her personality that we need to touch upon. So we did some research and we found a helpful website by the name of 33 Ways to Write Stronger Characters. The article provided us with various helpful suggestions. Among those suggestions included providing the character's flaws, goals, motivations, and fears. We also wanted to make her really quirky and just overall a relatable character. We even added random unique facts like how she has a strange affinity for soup. We also made it so she doesn't like books but she strives to do good in school. We explained how she has a fear of rejection and loneliness which I think really sets up the plot for the whole piece. We thought it was also really important to mention that she wants to fit in because this is another big motivation for her aspiration to be in a relationship.

Hazel notes

Then we decided to make her a mood board. For Hazel, we really wanted to go into depth into her more quirky side and explore the types of things she likes and her visual aesthetic. We included several pictures of inspiration for her physical appearance and costume design. After having done this I think we really felt more confident about the two character's personalities' interests and way of being.