Character Trees

RocketJump and VGHS writers Matt and Will walk us through a really useful tool that can help you develop your characters: The Character Tree!

AFK (Away From Keyboard) is an ongoing series about the different tools and techniques to help you develop your writing.

**This tutorial originally aired December 2014 as part of the RJFS beta test!**

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[HaloUnion]

I took a writing class at an actual film school, and this is better.

[nolanchill]

Came here thanks to the recommendation from Brennan's DM Academy! Thanks, Freddie!

[ScottsShots]

I tried to explain this to my teen writers' group but everyone kept cracking up when I mentioned "groin".

[masklover]

This just proves that we need a Calhoun based prequel to VGHS, following his high school years.

[efenty]

It would be interesting to make a character tree of yourself and then ask a friend to make one of you too.

[jasoncarman_]

This is a genius theory for character development, thank you so much for sharing.

[martynemec]

I love that Calhoun is a sergeant and acts much like a military veteran would, yet there is no mention of his military career. He drops out of high school (as he admits he never graduated) and somehow ends up at VGHS as the dean. There is a giant blank space that obviously hardened him but it isn't delved into, leaving a shroud of mystery around his character. Did he actually go into the military or is "Sergeant" a nick name for him due to his stern and authoritative persona? What gave him enough credibility to step directly into the dean position or did he start as a lower teacher and work his way up the "corporate ladder?" It also shows him miserable at his house with his daughter once he is fired as the dean. Where did he meet the mother of that child? Is he still with her? Did she die or divorce him, helping harden Calhoun's personality? How did L33tmas become a school holiday and what was Calhoun's involvement (as he obviously gets in the spirit as seen by him cooking yams for the dinner) The world clamors for more Calhoun! And by "the world, " I mean "only me." Carry on.

[jkrwhy]

This is absolutely the greatest way for me to organize and describe my characters without being all over the place in a quick thought process. Thank you so much, you guys are saving me time and money!

[NochSoEinKaddiFan]

This was the most universally appliable Video of this channel yet, because it works for everyone who wants to tell a story.
You guys did an amazing job, everything is clear, obvious and down to the point. Very impressive, thank you very much for the inspiration.

Calhoon was my antagonist until the third season when you got so see a little more of him than just the dean and I cringed so so much during all of VGHS, still it was the emotionally most relatable and in the end most satisfying experience I ever had with a series, especially with that "not perfect" ending that made the show a comedic drama, not just another cliché teen movie.

EVERYBODY in the team of RocketJump, you amazed and inspired me, that was filmed storytelling and writing perfection with flawless acting and production.

THANK YOU <3 <3 <3
P.S.: A triple DVD Box would be an instant buy for me(and probably some others) ath virtually every price, just putting that out there ;)

[WtbgoldBlogspot]

So, y'all are doing a wonderful job explaining this character. I (sorry!!!) haven't actually ever seen VGHS, but when you got to 4:30 his "7 deadly sins" I could imagine the character sneaking off somewhere and just completely indulging in a Chipotle burrito that he'd waited all week for, and even made himself wait longer than he had to. Then y'all said "repressed." Good job capturing the character. :)


Edit: And good job to Harley, too!

[TalkSweetProductions]

I beg you. Put more of this out as quick as you can, because I have a filmmaking club that I run and this is gold for teaching writing.

[angelalau]

Thank you for this video! I've been trying to find something simple and to the point for character building but a lot that I've tried are really complicated. This is really helpful!

[Daniel-Rosa.]

Curiously, I was *constantly* thinking how this will help me direct my friend - doing the *acting.* Like, "So you're a cop. Did you have a bad day? Are you looking forward to going back home? Why?", and so. *Very* interesting.
I couldn't picture myself applying any of this to my writing, though, funnily enough.

[x-trmetv]

Around the 1:50 to 2:00 minute mark they talk about VGHS season 3 hasn't came out yet?? they say "maybe this will come out in season 3"

[YouNeverForgetThiis]

when I was in creative writing class I was given a prompt to create characters by answering 42 questions that get inside the head of the character and to see them on the outside physically and I feel like I use that as my go-to to create my characters where as this is an example of what a summary for getting straight to the point of creating a character if you don't want to do the questions type prompt or if you simply just don't have the time.

I might have to use this..

[MagnoliaNoir]

This is really great, it helps more than any book on screenwriting! Thank you soooo much for sharing :)

[dallasdandigitalproduction]

Very helpful guys. Thanks for posting this. I will use this with my script

[JustAlfy]

How would you apply this to an antagonist? Since all over film history the typical antagonist stereotype in a nutshell is: Most of the times looks the opposite as the main character (take batman and the joker). They may have a brief backstory to know why they are doing what they are doing (like all james bond villains. Most of the times you know why they are doing that one evil plan, but yet again you dont know how they really are in depth as a person).

And i dont know if im explaining myself right but what i mean is that i always see characters as a structure:

protagonists: the story goes around them

secondaries: supportive characters that are in the story

antagonists: the opossits of the protagonists that want to see them fail

extras: just to fill in the story (people at a mall, zombies at a zombie apocalypse)

So when it comes to the antagonists i never see like enough information about them to build their character tree (thats why i putted them between secondaries and extras).

So those someone knows if theres a different strucuture used to build this type of characters?

[stevetrigg]

This is a good actor's character-development exercise as well.

[mburns]

My professors at BU taught us about character trees. I wonder where the idea originated? I thought it originated at BU, but I have no idea. I don't hear too many people talk about them often.