Character Inspiration - Main Character

>Main character - our main character is a good person, however caught up in the wrong business / lifestyle.. We are meant to presume his link with the Gang was a result of a series of unfortunate events and relationships, instead of him actually wanting to be part of it. The character will be humble and quite, clearly troubled from family life - possibly due to a death of his mother / father - resulting in him needing extra money - why he connects with the gang. The audience is meant to sympathise with this character especially due to the situation he is in with his brother and the gang - causing dilemmas (does he protect his brother who sold them out or does he support the gang in finding his brother). It is meant to be clear that he is caught up in the lifestyle and cannot escape.

1. Micky Ward

This clip demonstrates a similar morale dilemma in which my character will be placed in - which commitment takes priority ? Family or profession ? - It is obvious Micky is ashamed of the situation he is in from his tone of voice and his attempt to justify himself. He does not realise the world is bigger than he is and his role in what occurs around him is not as big as he would like it to be.

> Body language - my character is unsure of himself like Micky is, he has more to say than he says, so is seen frequently clenching his jaw in order to prevent himself from speaking out more than he would like to do so. Avoiding eye contact by looking at the ground, hunched over and awkward head movements like Micky does in the clip perfectly demonstrates the characteristics in which my character will be adopting in order to portray a frustrated teen, struggling to not snap from the pressure he is under.

> Tone of voice - Micky speaks in a low pitch - generally saying what other people want to hear to avoid confrontation - when speaking with passion - awkward characteristics are dropped and the tone and volume increases causing people to listen to what he is saying. The point of this is to demonstrate how our character doesn't like confrontation, however has strong opinions on certain matters and wants to show this but does not really know how.







2. Tom Stall

Tom Stall character in a History of Violence is a perfect inspiration for our main character. His sombre and humble personality make him appear as though he poses little threat, however his ability to handle a situation demonstrates his real character, buried within himself. My main character needs to appear as though he would rather avoid a fight, like Tom, due to the fact that he is aware that he would win with violent consequences. My character needs seem as though there are 2 sides to him, the humble, unsuspecting side, then when antagonised, another side is witnessed.

>Tone of voice - like Micky, Tom's tone is soft - my Character will speak softly as though raising his voice will encourage a darker side to resurface like in this clip. The words used by Tom's also shows his soft exterior - 'you gentlemen are welcome to all of it'. My character will be shown to want to avoid confrontation like Tom.

>Underlying rage - as shown in 1:56. My main character will be troubled from his past like Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence. This is clear from facial expressions, breathing patterns and general body language. My character will have to adopt similar characteristics to Tom in order to suggest his past troubled him to the point of almost a dual personality, where a single antagonist can cause him to switch.









3.David Dunn

Bruce Willis's role in Unbreakable as David Dunn is an ideal inspiration for our main character. This unsung hero possesses all the essential qualities for a likeable character. Humbled despite his abilities, the audience grows to feel a sense of admiration for this character as he grows to realise what he is capable of. My Character will be similar to this character in terms of characteristics in almost every way.. although being the main character, he speaks infrequently and softly, obviously troubled with his past which has led him to a certain part of his life which he doesn't agree with, hence why he adopts a superhuman role. We also witness a very human side to him where his family life causes him stress, allowing us to relate to him. My character will act similar in the sense that David has these abilities which allow him to do certain things, however doesn't act as though he is above others, so my character will adopt David's humbleness in order to appear more likeable, seeing as we will also witness an aggressive, dominant side, similar to David at the end of the movie.