the importance of character

In todays lesson we watched a clip on the way the film 'Big Fish' was filmed and created. I learnt the importance of character and that in order for your film to be successful you need a strong character to lead the narative and get the audience attached. Even with a weak plot having a strong character could turn the film into something orignial and exsciting.

In big fish the same character has two different people play it, this can work really effectivly to tell a story as you can do flash forwards and backs to tell the story which can add twists and turns to the story line. Doing this means everything has to be very direct and exact as both actors/actresses need to have the same kind of characteristics. Something simple like the fishing scene in 'big fish' needs to be done very well for it to look right, both actors need to act in the same way to show they are the came character at different ages. done well this can be really effecitve but done without a lot of thought it could ruin a film.

I learnt you should come up with a strong character first before you think too much into the plot as having a lead character then tells the story through them. Therefore before my groups starts thihnkgs of plot we wilkl come up with some character profiles to find a really strong character that can also been seen as a narrator.