Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Cinematic Storytelling: Character and Personal Profiles, plus an Updated Storyboard.

Hey all! This time, I'm going to post the profile I was supposed to create for my character, listing off personal quirks, background, likes and dislikes...anything and everything to give my character depth. I also will be posting a profile I created about my best friend, as well as a portrait of her that I drew as part of the assignment (her name, as well as those of her friends, have been changed to protect their identities). Well, here we go!


Character Profile - Harry Dreesen


This seemingly unremarkable man is Harry Dreesen, a 29-year old with an average body and a seemingly unremarkable demeanor. He was born in a suburb of Chicago. His parents are fairly laid back with him and his two sisters, Libby and Ashley. As the middle child, Harry had a fairly unremarkable childhood, though he always had difficulty living up to his older sister Libby’s example. He made fairly good grades in school and did not have any trouble making friends, but he is a fairly private person, with only a few close friends. His best friend Shaunda is one that he had met in college, and while Harry had a fairly big crush on her, he respects her wishes not to be committed to a relationship at this point.


In the scene, Harry has come home from a long day at work and is extremely tired, wanting nothing more than to sleep. Because he is inattentive when he’s sleepy, Harry does not realize that he has disturbed his cat, who seeks to disrupt Harry’s sleep as he disturbed it.


Harry works at a firm that specializes in packaging and marketing. He works as the secretary for the head of public relations, using his easygoing nature to help screen calls and spread the department’s policies to the other workers. He lives in a small suburb of Chicago in a modest but modern home. It is sparsely decorated, with family pictures in the entryway. The kitchen has some artistic photos of food and wine on the walls. In Harry’s room, a poster of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as Doctor Who and Amy Pond adorns the wall over his bed. There is also an Xbox and a laptop on a desk on the wall opposite his bed, with a 22” tv hanging on the wall above the Xbox.


Harry loves to go out for sushi and drinks every week, though he also enjoys eating Italian and Thai food. Harry can not stand intolerant people, and will verbally fight back against any instances of discrimination regardless of circumstances. While his fervor is admirable, more often than not it gets him into trouble. However, outside of those situations Harry is incredibly laid back, and he likes to joke around and generally get along with everyone.


Harry has black hair that is usually worn spiking forward slightly, though not overly so. He usually wears jeans, a white t-shirt, and a button-up shirt, which is frequently left unbuttoned. At work, he wears khaki dress pants and a nice button-up shirt, usually red as it’s his favorite color. Harry frequently listens to oldies and indie music, though he sometimes listens to country as a guilty pleasure or when he’s feeling stressed.  He likes action movies and comedies, but refuses to watch horror movies. He talks quietly, but his voice has a mellow tone that carries well and makes people stop to listen.


Harry is fairly reserved with his emotions, but he unconsciously runs his hand through his hair when he’s feeling nervous or uncomfortable. He also ends most of his questions with a drawn-out “eeh” sound.




Friend profile - "Kim"


What is the character's backstory? This must include the following:
What are the character's name, age, gender, and body type? "Kim", 22, female, slender
Where was your character born? Madison, Indiana
Who are his or her parents or siblings, and what was his or her childhood like? "Kim" lives with her mother and father when she’s not in school. Her sister, "Mary", is usually in Korea teaching, but occasionally comes home for family get-togethers.
Who are his or her friends, and who is his or her significant other, if any? Apart from me, "Kim" has several friends at college, including the ridiculously accident-prone "Lacy" and her kind but easily frazzled roommate, "Alice". "Kim" doesn’t have anyone she considers a boyfriend, though she constantly gets teased for hanging out with me so often.
What does your character like to do in his or her spare time? "Kim" loves playing video games (mainly Tales series titles), watching anime, and watching crime dramas.
What is your character's job? "Kim" does not have a job at present, though she is planning to apply at the campus bookstore at her college.
Where does he or she live? She lives in St. Charles, MO when she is not in school, which is located in Maryville, MO.
How is the character's home decorated (name at least three personal items found in the place where the character lives)? Her apartment is fairly plain, though she has stuffed animals on her bed. She has a picture of her family over her desk, and she has a dolphin curtain on the shower.
What is the character's favorite food? Being Korean on her mother’s side, she loves Korean food, especially Kimbap.
What annoys the character most? In her own words, “stupid people.”
What is your protagonist's personality like?
Is the character bubbly, surly, funny, quiet, stupid, clever, shy, bold, or something else? "Kim’s" fairly quiet when she doesn’t know someone, but is very boisterous around people she knows. She is extremely intelligent, and has an extremely large sense of humor.
What color is the character's hair? Dark brown
What sort of clothes does the character wear (personal style)? She mostly wears loose-fitting clothes like sweats and boy’s t-shirts, though she occasionally wears jeans or nicer clothes for special occasions. She refuses to wear dresses or skirts, as well as heels of any kind.
What is his or her favorite color? Green
What kind of music does he or she listen to? Her favorite groups are Celtic Woman and Girl’s Generation (K-Pop girl’s group). She also loves country and showtunes.
What's his or her favorite movie? Tossup between Tokyo Drift and Fast Five.
How does the character speak (fast, slow, with a stutter, with an accent, quietly, or loudly)? Fairly quickly, with a midrange pitch and occasional pauses as she searches for words.






After creating our character profile, we were told to redraw our storyboards to include details which were mentioned in our character profiles. I used Photoshop and my VisTablet to create the storyboards, since they gave me more control and a cleaner product than pencil and paper would. I also ended up deviating from my original storyboard, deciding that my original idea would take up far too much time.








I hope you like it! I had fun creating it. Next time I'll be talking about camera positioning and shot types, so stay tuned!


Until next time.

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