How to Create Character Arcs

welcome to the third video in this series covering the fundamentals of screenwriting and storytelling you can find the full playlist link in the description or on the end screen of this video last video i looked at the fundamental building blocks of dramatic characters in this video i'm going to be examining the different character arcs and how they can be practically understood to help begin a story or fix problems while rewriting so when i talked about building dramatic characters i showed you how you need to define the beliefs of your characters so that you can then create their want and need a character arc will be the gradual internal change in beliefs that a character goes through from the beginning of the story to the end through the events of the plot which will largely be focused on what a character wants your character will be continually dealing with what they believe about the world and dealing with their main false belief which is their lie remember that the lie your character believes is a false belief they hold about themselves or the world the arc of the character will be the change in beliefs that takes place inside them as they pursue their external want km wyland writes character arcs are ultimately the whole point of fiction the change the journey from one spiritual emotional intellectual place to another is the story of humanity wyland is saying that the internal change made within characters defines the reason that stories exist at all in other words the change that a character makes will define the meaning of the story and the reason it exists remember when harmon talked about how story structure was built upon cycles of change wyland is applying this to the character's internal journey change creates dramatic narrative and change in beliefs creates meaning in her book creating character arcs wylin lays out three arcs the change arc the flat arc and the negative arc and to this list i'm going to add one more arc the open-ended arc first let's take a look at the most prominent type of character arc the change arc also called the positive change arc as i explained in the previous video your characters need is a result of being internally incomplete because of their lie this lie will become the main element and the internal change of the character as he or she encounters the truth the change arc works like this character believes lie character encounters the truth character overcomes lie by finding and accepting the truth in seven detective somerset is our protagonist and he begins the story with a lie somerset believes the world is too lost in darkness to be saved [Music] and he doesn't believe he's doing anything worthwhile he has become apathetic the lie that your character believes will usually be the result of their ghost wyland writes ghost is movie speak for something in your character's past that haunts him you may also see it sometimes referred to as the wound so your character's ghost a traumatic or belief defining event in their past will haunt them and be a pivotal reason for the lie they hold throughout the story somerset's lie is that the world is too lost in darkness to be saved and late in the film somerset reveals his ghost in this scene somerset reveals that he had a woman he loved very much but when she got pregnant somerset didn't think he could bring a child into this world i remember thinking how can i bring a child into a world like this how can how can a person grow up with all this around them and it's here we find somerset's lie i can tell you now that i'm i know i mean i'm positive that i made the right decision somerset believed the world was too dark for him to bring a child into it this is who somerset is when we meet him in the beginning of the story now let's look at how he changes over time somerset is assigned to work with detective mills mills holds different beliefs about the main philosophical conflict at the center of the story while somerset is burnt out and apathetic mills believes he can still help make the world a better place right here i don't fall very simple you actually fought to get reassigned here i've just never seen it done that way before i thought i could do some good look it would be great for me if we didn't start out kicking each other in the ball remember the last video when i talked about how a character's wants and needs are defined by their beliefs the conflict between somerset and mills is a great example of this throughout the story mills forces somerset to examine his beliefs you should listen to yourself pam you say that the problem with people is that they don't care so i don't care about people i don't think you're quitting because you believe these things you say i don't i think you want to believe them because you're quitting mills does what he can to shake somerset's beliefs and mills does persuade somerset to examine what he believes but mills can't quite get somerset to change his point of view but there is someone who does you're looking for me the serial killer they've been chasing john doe shows somerset what an extreme version of somerset's beliefs would look like innocent is that supposed to be funny only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face but that's the point we see a deadly sin on every street corner in every home and we tolerate it in a way somerset and john doe agree the city is full of apathy crime and filth but while somerset thinks he can simply leave it all behind john doe wants to cleanse the city through violence and torture while john doe gives his speech to mills in the car somerset is the one whose beliefs are being challenged in the climax john doe breaks mills he wins yet at the same time john doe has forced somerset to fully confront his beliefs and make a positive change in the last lines of the film we see that somerset's beliefs have changed he has found and accepted the truth ernest hemingway once wrote the world is a fine place and worth fighting for i agree with the second part somerset has moved from cynicism and apathy to believing the world is still worth fighting for so when you're writing your own positive change arc there's a few elements that are useful to keep in mind first establishing the lie the character believes is one of the most important things you can do the audience will not be able to see how the character changes over time if they don't understand the lie the character believes second is understanding the power of a clear ghost for your character when your character has a legitimate traumatic experience that's happened in their life to create their current beliefs it makes those beliefs stronger than just ideas in their heads their beliefs are part of who they are their beliefs are part of their identity another important element is the other characters or events that put the characters lie into question reveal the truth and help drive not only the internal conflict of the character but the external plot as well it can be useful to be aware of the exact lie the character believes and the exact truth they need to find when beginning a story while some may think beginning this way is too restrictive or formulaic it will give you a starting point of internal character conflict to allow the plot to grow more naturally out of the character's want and need next let's take a look at the flat arc in a flat arc the character has already found and accepted the truth they have no need no lie and make no internal change wyland writes the flat art character already has the truth figured out in the beginning of the story and he uses that truth to help him overcome various external tests the flat arc looks like this character believes the truth character's belief in the truth is tested character holds on to the truth but stories are still about change so if your main character is a flat arc character it will usually be the characters around him or her that will go through change remember when i talked about katniss everdeen this is a flat art character she remains the protagonist of her story but she is not the one who changes she changes the people around her katniss helps the people across the different districts realize that they have power and that they can fight the capital and gain their freedom but a character doesn't have to be the symbol of goodness just because they don't have a need and there will be blood daniel plainview is a flat art character while katniss helps those around her find positive truths daniel reveals a dark truth that exploiting others can bring success as daniel interacts with the other characters he begins to exploit manipulate and even kill them to get what he wants his belief in this negative truth allows him to win again and again and again i have a competition in me i want no one else to succeed let's take a look at how the flat arc is structured in a story katniss begins her story believing a truth that people should be free and should stand up to their oppressors daniel begins his story also believing a truth his truth is that exploiting others and completely focusing on one singular goal will help you get what you want the beginning will also show what the other people believe about this particular truth in the hunger games katniss is generally alone in her belief in this truth others around her either don't believe their freedom can be won or they are too scared to say anything and there will be blood many of the characters are also aware of the truth that others can be exploited however they don't believe these horrible things can happen to them paul sunday uses daniel for his own advantage eli sunday tries to use daniel's riches for himself and his church katniss's sister is taken for the hunger games and katniss volunteers to take her place even though katniss is now a captive of the capital doomed to die in a sick game katniss remains defiant in her training and inside the game katniss continues to defy the status quo and do what she believes one of the most important characters katniss meets is rue rue and katniss become close and through rue's death katniss is empowered to be even more vocal and open about sparking rebellion and she does just that and there will be blood daniel begins the story with his truth immediately challenged as he minds for silver his ladder breaks on him and he breaks his leg an injury that will stay with him for the rest of his life yet even as his leg is broken he focuses on the silver no matter what daniel will achieve his goal daniel slowly builds his oil empire he takes over more and more land and makes deals with larger oil companies in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars those who come against daniel are killed exploited and lied to no one realizes how dangerous daniel is until it's too late daniel is constantly manipulating others to get what he wants eli sunday challenges daniel's control over the townspeople hw forces daniel to see what having a family could actually be like hw is the example of an alternative life daniel could choose and william bandy becomes a thorn and daniel side he's a man who doesn't want money which is the only thing daniel has to offer the largest threat to daniel comes when his four main antagonists all align to create the largest attack on what daniel believes daniel's brother who turns out to be a fraud destroys daniel's last chance at having a normal family bond with someone after he kills his brother he's caught by william bandy daniel wants bandy's land for a pipeline and offers money but bandy doesn't want money he wants daniel to become a part of the church at the church daniel is humiliated by eli sunday to the point where eli forces daniel to admit that he abandoned his son say it louder say it louder i've abandoned my child i've abandoned my child i've abandoned my boy both katniss and daniel go through multiple obstacles and face all sorts of characters who challenge what they believe while all sorts of antagonists try to force katniss into despair she never gives up she continues defying the capital and sparks hope in the people across the districts this spirit inside her never changes it only becomes more and more apparent daniel is the same way even through everything the other characters throw at him he stays strong and continues to beat them over and over again and he gets everything he ever wanted he becomes extremely wealthy and destroys those who tried to stop him remember stories are about change if you are creating a character that will not change throughout a story it's important to take a look at the other characters to see which ones may change it's not that you have to know exactly who will change and how as you begin a story however if you move through the entire story with little dramatic character change then it's much more difficult to keep an audience engaged with the story as a whole the last type of arc that wyland outlines is the negative change arc and it's the most complicated of the three wyland writes the negative change arc tells the story of a character who ends in a worse place than that in which he started the negative change arc has three different types of arcs within it the disillusionment the fall arc and the corruption arc the disillusionment arc is exactly the same as a positive change arc the character has a lie that must be overcome the only difference is that when the character overcomes the lie and finds the truth the truth is negative simply put character believes a lie overcomes that lie but the new truth is tragic in sicario kate macer begins the story believing a lie she believes that the systems of justice are generally upright and operate according to the law and she believes that she won't compromise her morals to catch criminals but when kate is reassigned to a new task force she realizes that nothing is like she thought it would be government agents are operating illegally to take down the cartel she is surrounded by morally gray characters who will do whatever it takes to get to the cartel leaders a little nutty huh nutty yeah yeah that was [ __ ] illegal you want to start a war matt and alejandro lie and use kate to get closer to the cartel kate has constantly shown the reality of what's happening in the fight against the drug cartels and deep down she knows she hasn't been able to make any real change so far every day across that border people are kidnapped or killed by his hand or with his blessing to find them would be like discovering a vaccine the longer kate works with these men the more she realizes the truth kate tries to get in the way of illegal acts done by matt and alejandro but in the end alejandro gets to the cartel leader and kills him then alejandro finds kate and tells her to sign a document saying that everything they did was legal and by the book in this moment alejandro is attacking kate's core belief kate folds she signs the document showing that she has found the truth but that truth is tragic and that truth is that the world is not black and white and that sometimes people must abandon the rule of law to stop evil you should move to a small town [Applause] where the rule of law still exists you will not survive here you're not a wolf and this is the land of wolves now riding a disillusionment arc will work very similarly to the positive change arc and it can be helpful to nail down the exact lie your character believes and the dark truth they will come to understand this will give you a launching point to begin your story or a way to find story problems and solve them in a fall arc the character will have a fatal flaw or lie just like the positive change arc but instead of finding the truth and accepting it the character will fall further into the darkness of the lie usually ending in self-inflicted destruction simply put the character believes a lie clings to the lie rejects new truth and finally believes a stronger or worse lie in x-men first class eric lyncher aka magneto is a great example of this arc eric is a man who has seen extreme amounts of suffering and carries great pain with him from the murder of his mother in a concentration camp eric's lie is that he believes his anger gives him power sebastian shaw unlocked eric's power through anger and hate eric believes finding and killing shaw will satisfy him but eric meets charles charles tries to convince eric of the truth that he must let go of his anger and desire for revenge if he wants to find peace and that his true power is found at a place deeper than his anger at the midpoint shaw kills darwin eric wants to avenge darwin by going after shaw with the other mutants charles reluctantly agrees through charles's help eric gets even stronger it seems as though charles is getting through to eric but it wasn't enough eric goes against charles and kills shaw and his success introduces a stronger lie eric believes that shaw was right and that mutants must kill humanity to survive and bring in the future at the end we see that eric's new lie is still rooted in his childhood trauma i've been at the mercy of men just following orders never again in a fall arc the character will usually start in a dark place or already on a dark path they start by being unaware of the truth get a glimpse of what could be but never embrace it for this type of arc the motivation for the lie and why the character does not embrace the truth is very important in x-men first class while we may not agree with eric's conclusions his past suffering makes it totally understandable for why he cannot embrace the truth in a corruption arc a character will have the truth in the beginning of the story or at least will be very aware of the truth then throughout the events of the story the character will reject the truth they know for a lie it will look like this a character sees the truth rejects the truth and embraces a lie in the godfather michael corleone is surrounded by the lie but is aware of the truth michael has been born into a mob family he is aware of who his family is and what kind of business they run the family's lie is that the way to survive is to be brutal and powerful and michael believes he is not like them that's my family kate it's not me but don corleone is shot this causes michael to get pulled into the mob at a time of crisis this is a pivotal moment all his life michael has believed he is different from his family and that he must go a different way however there are elements of good in his family they believe in honor in watching out for family and in loyalty and these are things that michael also believes in he can't just leave his family in their moment of need he must help them survive so he decides to get involved notice how the positive beliefs that michael and his family hold help to pull him into the world of the lie this is important to remember when writing your own stories your characters won't simply join a lie for no reason they must believe in elements of it it must seem like the right thing to do at the midpoint michael shoots alatso which changes him from being a civilian to an active member of this war michael is descending into the lie after michael shoots lotso he is sent to sicily to hide this gives michael one final opportunity to embrace the truth and fully stay away from the mob but this doesn't happen his new wife is killed which sends michael back to america michael corleone becomes the head of the family and kills the leaders of the other families solidifying his family as the most powerful mob and embracing the lie that the way to survive is through power and brutality the major difference in a corruption arc and a fall arc is that in the beginning of a fall arc the character is not aware of the truth but in a corruption arc the character will be in this story the lie must be appealing because the character must have a good reason to leave the truth and embrace the lie and the godfather the lie is appealing for two main reasons the first reason is that the lie is what helps keep michael's family safe the corleone family cannot simply lay down arms and move into the normal world they are too involved in organized crime and they have too many enemies the second reason is that the mob represents power and control something that michael realizes he craves as the story goes forward it's not simply about protecting his family deep down he wants to be feared and respected but character arcs can get more interesting than this and i want to focus on an arc that wylan doesn't talk about i'm going to call this the open ended arc in an open ended arc the character may have a need or they may not depending on an audience's interpretation of the film let's take a look at whiplash and examine andrew's character arc andrew wants to become a great musician throughout the story he pursues this want until he gets it in the end so what is his need and what is his lie i think there are two main interpretations first you could say that andrew has a fall arc remember in a fall arc the character believes a lie clings to that lie rejects the truth and then believes a stronger or worse lie let's see if it works andrew starts the story by believing a lie that achieving greatness will make him fulfilled as andrew gets closer to his goal fletcher pushes him harder and harder fletcher believes his method of teaching can push people to true greatness when fletcher cuts andrew from the band andrew has an opportunity to re-examine his belief is greatness really worth it a normal life can be very fulfilling why not embrace it instead but andrew talks with fletcher again fletcher is given the chance to explain himself and once again andrew focuses on becoming great not only that but he believes in fletcher's method at the end of the film fletcher embarrasses andrew andrew walks toward his father the representation of the normal life but then andrew chooses greatness he chooses a worse lie that greatness is what fulfills him and that greatness is achieved through pushing people to the breaking point so it seems to work but let's take a look at it again from a different point of view let's look at the story as if andrew has a flat arc in the beginning of the story andrew believes greatness will fulfill him this isn't necessarily a lie this may actually be the truth not only that but he already respects fletcher's methods and his opinion means a lot to you doesn't it yeah andrew also looks down upon people who choose to be normal rather than great while others around him like his father and nicole stand as representations of the normal life he could choose he continues to follow fletcher towards greatness because i want to be great even after fletcher kicks andrew out of the band andrew doesn't want to turn against him why because andrew knows that fletcher helps create great musicians andrew stops being a musician but we see that he has lost his purpose greatness still sits on his mind he sits in a moment of confusion is the truth that he knows actually true is greatness worth it when he meets back up with fletcher his truth is reinvigorated and in the end he chooses to be great rather than to be normal fletcher's methods were right you can build greatness through torment and andrew was right to trust in fletcher and make him a great musician depending on your point of view regarding greatness and fletcher's methods the story seems to change meaning and the character arc seems to change as well this was the intention of writer director damian chazelle he wanted the audience to ask themselves these specific questions is greatness worth it and is torment the best way to produce greatness the interpretation depends on whether an individual thinks andrew believes a lie or has found the truth do films like whiplash put into question the previous understanding of character arcs no i don't think so whiplash is an intentionally open-ended story about an idea that still isn't fully understood interpreting the story through different character arcs is intentional and not simply academic theory i'm not suggesting that chazelle wrote the story by being totally aware of the fall art and the flat arc but he did write to intentionally explore an idea that he was struggling with something that he wasn't sure was a lie or the truth and this struggle created the different interpretations of andrew's arc the beliefs of your characters and the change that they go through over the course of your story will create the meaning and reason that your story exists stories without beliefs and change can be exciting rides but are usually forgettable these arcs are not the ultimate rules for how you should create characters but they are frameworks that can set you on the right track to create emotionally resonant characters and stories when beginning a story or trying to fix problems ask yourself what are the beliefs that your characters hold what is this story really about and how can you create internal change in your characters throughout the story it doesn't mean you have to outline your entire story and not allow any creative freedom it simply means that you are writing with a focus i'm not trying to give you an understanding of how every character arc works but i hope that this video gives you a better understanding of the purpose of character arc and how it drives the events of the story but why do your characters need to be in conflict what is conflict and what is its purpose in a story next week i'll be taking a look at the purpose of conflict and its role in a meaningful story so be sure to check out the other videos in this series by clicking the playlist and if you like this video leave a like and subscribe for more videos just like this one

Channel: Tyler Mowery

Views: 51,344

Rating: 4.9797497 out of 5

Keywords: film analysis, movie review, tyler mowery, nerdwriter, lessons from the screenplay, every frame a painting, screenwriting, script breakdown, writing, workshop, writing course, teach screenwriting, oscar best screenplay, film school, character arcs, seven, there will be blood, the hunger games, the godfather

Id: c1crdZI5Af0

Length: 27min 38sec (1658 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 04 2020