RESEARCH: INTERVIEWING OUR FILM CHARACTERS

In order to better understand our protagonist four our film The Family, we decided to do a mock interview that is reminiscent of a press interview for the police. We looked at an article written by Charlie Sierra about such questionnaires, and he quoted a book written by Pen Densham (an Academy Award nominated filmmaker) entitled Riding the Alligator. In one of the chapters in the book, he provides a check list of questions every writer and director should ask of themselves when they are developing their characters. The purpose of this is to outline a deep understanding of your characters for both the actors and director, and for motivating your character’s choices or actions.