Considerations About Developing A Character

Developing A Character

Developing a character is one of the most interesting, but also one of the most challenging things to do as an actor. Acting techniques help you to build the character you are playing. Directors will also help you on the set of a film by giving you instruction, but you have to do some homework yourself. This is a broad subject, but remembering who my readers are, actors new to the game, I want to give just three examples of the kinds of things that must be taken into consideration when developing a character. Sometimes it’s just little things that can make your performance seem even more real in the eyes of those watching you.

Don’t throw away the sandwiches!

Once during class, two of my classmates were interpreting a scene set in the 1930’s. They were a couple at home having supper which consisted of sandwiches the husband had brought home from his job at a restaurant. They were obviously not very well off financially and had to scrape to make ends meet. At the end of the scene, the husband had made his exit (he went out of the house) and the wife was left to clean up the dinner dishes. There was the feeling in the room among those of us who were watching that the scene was finished and that the teacher would soon tell the actress to stop. She did not. Instead she let her continue the scene and I was sure I knew at least one of the reasons why. After just thirty seconds it was evident. At a certain point, I saw the actress about to do something that I knew would get her a serious reaming out. Inside myself I was saying, “No! Don’t do it!” But she did! While still in the scene, the actress portraying the wife, threw the sandwiches in the trash while cleaning up the dinner dishes. That’s when the teacher stopped the scene. The actress I’m sure will never forget that evening. In fact, I don’t think any of us who were present will forget it. The teacher chewed her out big time and rightly so. Her reasoning? She said that someone who has been studying and developing a character they are portraying and who has done her homework and who really is in that character, in this case and given the financial situation and the times would never have thrown those sandwiches away, but rather would have wrapped them up and saved them for another meal.

The FBI Dress Code

Another small example of developing a character is when I was once cast in an extra role as an FBI agent. The casting director told me to show up dressed the part of an agent on duty in the office. I was also told to bring a casual, sports jacket to wear while out in the field. I immediately thought to myself, “That’s easy.” But then, when I looked at my dark suit and my tie, I began to ask myself if an FBI agent would dress in a suit like that. I looked at the different suits I had, which were not all the same style. Some had two buttons, some three and one even had four. My dress shirts had different types of collars on them. With regard to the sportier jacket, I asked myself what kind of jacket an FBI agent out in the field would wear. I wasn’t sure and I didn’t have much time to figure it out! I thought I had better stop taking for granted that all I needed was a suit and tie and do some homework, so I went to the FBI official website and looked up their dress code. Fortunately there were not only explanations, but also pictures showing what the official attire for agents was. With regard to developing a character, even in this case it was a very small one, this information helped tremendously. I found that I had the appropriate attire with regard to the jacket and tie, but that I was not prepared for the sportier jacket in the field. I went and bought one that I knew I would take back to the store the next day for a refund. I kept the tags on it. The next day when I arrived on set, there were about ten other “agents”. I was one of two who had the right attire. So what did that mean? The director looked at all of us and then his eyes came back to me. He looked me up and down and he said, “You really look like an FBI agent. Come with me.” He placed me as a featured extra, which meant that he wanted me near the star actors when they came into the room.

Police Captain

Another example of when I had to think about developing a character was when I was cast in an independent film as a police captain. In my scenes, “my men” and I had to case some buildings, entering them when we knew it was potentially dangerous. We went in brandishing our weapons. To really be authentic, it was necessary to train ourselves on how to wear our weapons properly, how to hold them when aiming at a target and how to enter into an abandoned building. It was necessary to know how to enter the building properly given the fact that there were six of us and how I, as the person in charge, should direct the group. And we could only do those two things if we knew why we were entering a particular building and knew exactly what it was we were looking for and the potential dangers it posed. We were coached by an ex-marine who had us practice all those things several times under his direction until we got it right. I continuously thought if I was developing a character in the right way, so even when he told us that we were good enough, I still wanted to practice some more so that it would be almost second nature. My goal was that if a group of marines or policemen watched the film, they would say that those scenes looked real and believable.

Developing a character in the right way can make all the difference in the world to making your performance seem more real.

Taking the right acting classes will help you tremendously in developing a character.

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Hi Tony
I would like to thank you for helping me with the monologue question I asked in October 2007. I went to the auditions for a Drama course and I am happy to say that I have been accepted as a first-year student at the Tshwane University of Technology. Please keep on sending me those newsletters and let me know where I can find books that will help me in my acting career. Thank you once more. Have a blessed day.
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