From the course: Creating a Short Film: 02 Writing
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Creating shadow characters
From the course: Creating a Short Film: 02 Writing
Creating shadow characters
- [Chad] I really like writing shadow characters. Shadow characters are mysterious characters you can't quite figure out, are they good or bad? Sometimes, these characters kind of weave back and forth morally or do things that alternatively help or hurt the protagonist or maybe they're just out for themselves, so sometimes they're aligned with their protagonist and sometimes they aren't. The point of a shadow character is to keep the audience guessing as to what's gonna happen. And any time you can keep the audience interested and curious in your film, or your characters, about what's gonna happen, the better off it's gonna be. In the Princess Bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts is a shadow character when we first meet him. We hear the terrible rumors about him, but we see that the villains are also afraid of him. - [Vizzini] Inconceivable. - [Chad] So that's good. He's also pursuing the guy that stole the princess. But why? Does he want to hurt her or help her? It's a fun mystery because…
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