Consider Jasmine’s lecture on Screenwriting and briefly describe one point that you have taken from it. A point that excites you, something that was completely new to you, perplexes you or even one you take issue with.
One point that struck me most during Jasmine’s lecture was the fifth point: Make your character interesting.
This point was obvious enough, but I realised our desire for dramatisation is imbued in our reality. No one likes a boring person. That is why people like Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber constantly grace the front covers of OK! and US Weekly. Good characters are controversial and multi-dimensional; they’re always struggling. Hollywood big shots like Christian Bale and Chris Hemsworth enjoy phenomenal success, but they are less publicised partially because they appear “normal” – they don’t spit at fans or swing naked on a wrecking ball. They are good people, and good people don’t make for drama.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy ranks high on my list of favourite movies. Besides a very successful narrative based on the hero’s journey, the LOTR characters were incredibly well-developed. One of them is Gollum, a wretched creature whose sole obsession is the Ring. In the beginning, he appears purely despicable in his quest to retrieve the Ring from Frodo. However it is later revealed that he was once a hobbit who morphed into a hideous monster after the Ring had corrupted him. Throughout the trilogy, he constantly fights his obsession and tries to help Frodo. He is weak-willed and fallible, but his internal struggles make him a very interesting character that viewers can empathise with.