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hey screenwriters
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welcome to part two on how to quickly
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and easily create
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unforgettable characters using my two
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triangles method to character
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development
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in the first part of the video we talked
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about the psychology triangle
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your character's wound wants and needs
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today's video is
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all about personality so let's get into
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it
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my method is called the two triangles
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method because it focuses on
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two main areas of your character their
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psychology
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and their personality in my first video
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i discussed the psychology triangle
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that triangle determines your
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character's psychological makeup
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what drives them and what moves them
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forward but in order for your audience
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to understand the psychology of your
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character
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it has to manifest itself into something
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that can be seen or heard on screen
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today's video is all about the
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personality triangle
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and the personality triangle is about
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how your character's
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wounds wants and needs manifest
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themselves to the outside world
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it will show you how to take your
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character's internal dynamics
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and help them become something external
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that the audience can experience
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the personality triangle is made up of
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three components
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your character's pov or point of view
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the way your character compensates to
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the outside world
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and your character's voice so let's
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start with the first part
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your character's pov or point of view
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now if you grew up being bullied or beat
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up
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you may develop a point of view that the
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world is an unfair place
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a place where the strong preys upon the
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weak
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because your wound impacts how you see
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the outside world
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it acts as a kind of lens that distorts
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reality
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think of pov as a kind of prescription
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glasses for your characters
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it determines what they as a character
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focus in on
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and for you a pov helps bring focus to
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your character so your character's pov
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not only helps you understand what they
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focus in on as a character
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but helps you as a writer determine what
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you have to focus it on
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for that character and that's what your
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character's pov is
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it's how their wound has distorted and
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shaped the way
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they look at the world and the first
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step in terms of developing a great
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character personality
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is understanding their pov and
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understanding how they see the world
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and how their wound has shaped how they
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see the world
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and now you know why we started
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initially with the psychology triangle
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because your character's wound shapes
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everything about that character
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including their pov you can't understand
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a character's pov
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unless you understand their wound so
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let's look at how some wounds have
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impacted some characters povs
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in moby dick for example captain ahab's
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wound is quite literal
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he loses his leg to the white whale that
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creates a point of view for him
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that the only way that he can be made
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whole again is to kill the whale that
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crippled him
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in ferris bueller's day off ferris's
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best friend cameron frye
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is so put down upon by his father is so
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beat down upon by his father
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that he develops a point of view that
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he's not worthy of having any fun or any
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enjoyment
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this is why during the adventures of the
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movie cameron is the one that has the
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greatest amount of difficulty enjoying
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their day
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off in pulp fiction we actually see a
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character's pov
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change in act one when vincent vega and
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jules winfield survive an assassination
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attempt
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it completely changes jules's pov on
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life
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he quickly decides to give up his life
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of crime
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because he feels that god has spared him
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in this case you can argue that jules's
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wound is not a specific thing
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but the toll a lifetime of crime has
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taken on him
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this is why in the final scenes of the
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movie jules refuses to kill
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either pumpkin or honey bunny your
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character's pov is important because it
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lays a foundation for your personality
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triangle
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it directly impacts how they compensate
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and how they communicate with the world
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so let's talk about character
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compensation and what i mean by that
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compensating is a term that i use when a
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character builds a mask around
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themselves
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or develops an entirely new persona to
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hide their wound to mask their wound
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this is similar to the psychology
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triangle
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of how a wound creates a false want
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in the personality triangle your
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character actually begins to
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compensate their behavior to make up for
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their wound to hide their wound and to
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mask their wound
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i know i use comic book characters a lot
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on this channel as examples
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for character development or story
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development that's only because i
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actually think that
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combo characters best encapsulate the
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dynamics that i'm talking about that are
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still relevant for filmmaking
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let's look at two legendary comic book
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characters and how they have
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compensated to hide their wounds
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batman's wound
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comes from watching his parents being
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murdered and it creates a
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want for vigilantism in his life but
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it's hard not to see batman as still
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this sad
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emotional orphan who's lost his parents
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this
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gaping wound in his chest at a loss of
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his parents
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that he can never fill so what does he
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do he creates the persona he
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compensates by creating the persona of
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batman
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this emotionless cold calculating hero
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that he feels he needs to be
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to hide the pain of his wound in many
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ways
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the batman persona compensates for his
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emotional vulnerability
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he both literally and figuratively puts
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on a mask
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to hide his wound in pain another great
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example is spider-man
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and his wound is because he is actually
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responsible for the death of his uncle
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ben
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that event so traumatizes him that he
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decides to do right and fight crime
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but again it's hard not to see the
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spider-man character
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without realizing that so much of it is
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driven by his wound of
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guilt the feeling of responsibility that
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he has for his uncle ben's death
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it's hard not to look at the
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wisecracking web head and not
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see that persona as a way of
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compensating for the guilt that he's
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carrying for the death of his uncle ben
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now let me give you an example from the
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movies in the movie
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ford vs ferrari christian bale plays a
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character called ken miles
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a washed up race car driver who is now
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broke and working as a mechanic
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this clearly wounds miles he feels that
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he deserves better from his life and
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from his sport
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so he ends up compensating by belittling
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anyone
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that doesn't understand cars as well as
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he does there's this amazing scene where
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he basically tells a client
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that he's not man enough to drive the
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car that he's fixing right now
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now this persona is in stark contrast to
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how he is in his personal life
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where you see him being very warm and
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generous with his wife and son
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but if you place him in an environment
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where his ego is threatened
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he becomes combatant and difficult now
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this compensation
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is much more subtle than batman or
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spider-man
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but it's still there it's still part of
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the dynamic of the character's
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personality
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now not every character you write was
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going to need sort of an extreme
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compensation as part of their
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personality triangle
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but it is absolutely something that you
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should keep in mind when writing your
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characters
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it shows hollywood readers that you take
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your writing seriously
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it shows that you're able to address
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story and character development at an
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advanced level
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and it adds a layer of richness and
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complexity to your characters
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that audience and readers will gravitate
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towards when they read and see your work
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now it's time to talk about character
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voice
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one of the most common feedback that
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producers give screenwriters is that
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their characters sound alike
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what they mean by that is that each
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character doesn't have a distinct voice
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nailing a unique voice for your
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characters is critical for your success
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as a screenwriter
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in fact if you write great voices you
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will be a very
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in-demand screenwriter in the industry i
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like to think of character voices
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as the verbal cues a character gives an
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audience or reader
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in terms of how they're grappling with
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their pov and their compensation
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so let me give you some examples of how
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pov
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and compensations impact character
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voices in a christmas carol
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scrooge's pov is that the only thing
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that matters in life
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is the accumulation of wealth and the
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only thing that makes you
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worthy of being a person is the
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accumulation of wealth
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so his voice tends to be very sarcastic
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very down putting
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towards the poor but also towards any
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endeavor that is not
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revolving around the accumulation of
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money in once upon a time in hollywood
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rick dalton's pov is that he's a washed
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up actor whose best days are behind him
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he compensates by trying to seem very
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confident in front of other people
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but in private he tends to speak in very
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insecure
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and unsure ways about himself in the
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x-files
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mulder and scully have competing povs
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mulder believes in the paranormal he
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believes in the limitless potential of
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reality
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scully however being a hardened
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scientist tends to see things in very
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clinical terms
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so the language she uses tends to
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diminish reality
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when speaking scully often restricts the
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limits of reality
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only to what she believes science allows
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for these characters are so
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distinct and so iconic precisely because
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the writers who wrote these voices
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understood the power of how pov
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compensation and voice connect to each
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other
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another really important thing about
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voice it's more than just
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your character stating their pov your
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character's voice encompasses
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everything that has to do with the way
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they speak how fast they speak
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how loud they speak whether they swear
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or not
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the kinds of metaphor or similes they
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use the kind of historical or pop
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cultural references they bring about
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all of that informs your character's
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voice all that adds richness
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and depth to your character's voice but
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all those things
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must relate back to your character's
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point of view and must relate back to
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the way your character is compensating
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for their wound
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so master your character's voice clearly
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define it
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your hollywood reader and your audience
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will thank you for it and they will
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notice it
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it is one of the most critical aspects
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to screenwriting success
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[Music]
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as you can see the personality triangle
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that i use is a powerful
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and easy tool to develop compelling
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characters with amazing personalities
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and the great thing is it is so simple
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to do just by understanding those three
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variables
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you can develop unique distinct
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characters with unique and distinct
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voices and personalities
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the personality triangle is a shortcut
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that i use when i have to create
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compelling
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rich characters in a short amount of
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time best of all it is so
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simple the two triangles method breaks
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down great character development
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in very simple and easily understood
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ways
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it's something that you can sit down and
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focus on one element at a time and build
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your character step by step
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by step i use it all the time and i hope
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you will too
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so that's it that's part two of my two
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triangles method to character
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development
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if you have any questions if you have
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any comments feel free to drop in the
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box below
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and please like and subscribe to my
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channel to support my work
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happy writing
