BORING AND AVERAGE

[kgasser2]

I'm working on a character right now.. In the beginning of the story he is pretty much the epitomy, a complete cliche, of what is the most boring and average american life. He is a 20 something white male in Ohio who works as a mail man.

So my question to you is..

What are your ideas of boring and average? What are the little annoying problems that people deal with everyday? At work, at home, with friends, alone, anything. I just need something to help me start brainstorming.

THanks!

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

It doesn't matter...

I'm working on a character right now.. In the beginning of the story he is pretty much the epitomy, a complete cliche, of what is the most boring and average american life. He is a 20 something white male in Ohio who works as a mail man.

So my question to you is..

What are your ideas of boring and average? What are the little annoying problems that people deal with everyday? At work, at home, with friends, alone, anything. I just need something to help me start brainstorming.

THanks!

If your character(s) are boring or average... Just be sure to REMEMBER and KEEP IN MIND that this is a screenplay that you either want to evolve into a film or a sale or maybe both.

What I mean by that is this...

Characters in screenplays are not like you or I. They are HYPERcharacters... In other words, just like you have to crunch the page numbers down in a screenplay, so should you crunch your characters... i.e., they should really be what is called the QUINTESSENTIAL character. That does NOT mean cliche.

You must make this guy the QUINTESSENTIAL boring and average guy -- whatever that means. Take boring and average and RAMP IT UP. In other words, this boring and average guy should be the boring and average guy that all other boring and average guys are compared to.

A character can be ANY kind of character... Just make sure that they are the BEST example of that kind of character... Not a stereotype unless you are purposely creating a stereotypical character. Not a cliche character unless you are purposely creating a cliche character.

Here's the definition of quintessential on Dictionary.com: quintessential

1. the pure and concentrated essence of a substance.
2. the most perfect embodiment of something.

So if this guy is boring and average... DON'T MAKE HIM BORING AND AVERAGE so that we're bored reading about him. He needs to be the pure and concentrated essence of BORING and AVERAGE. Capture THAT and we should be mesmerized by him.

filmy

 

[Talentville]

Look at existing boring film characters

I might add something here, and that is that to portray a character as average and "boring", you might look at some movies that have that type of character in them to see how they make a character boring but yet keep the film itself interesting. Perhaps Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty was a boring person, but the film portrayed his boredom in life in an interesting way. He became apathetic, didn't care about life and had fantasies to get him out of his boredom. They got into his head, which is interesting to an audience.

My own opinion is that showing a boring person in a film has more to do with how they react to things that happen to them instead of just having them act in a boring manner all the time. Just be sure that when you create scenes to show him in a typical mailman setting, make the things around him exciting and interesting but make his reactions to those events either muted or off kilter in a way that shows how he feels inside about his life and situation.

 

[kgasser2]

good tips, but those are the things I already know. I just recently made some realizations in writing and story telling and characters (for a while I was obsessed with the filmmakers that said fuck story and just made a movie whatever they wanted it to be. which is cool, but that's not the kind of thing that I can do, so now I'm getting more into french new wave and tarantino style film... ) anyway..

I guess I phrased the question wrong, because you're right-I can make him act mundane, he needs to be mundane in the way he reacts to everyday life. So my real question is,

What are some ideas for everyday lame situations that he could act lamely toward?

i know everyone is eager to prove that they can make a good point and show everyone they know about film but (i'm not attacking you 2, i see everyone doing this. even me sometimes) please no more tips on the concepts of writing and character development, i already have an idea of that that i want to toy with, i'm looking for a concrete situation to write the character around.

like awkward and existential situations.

 

[Talentville]

Need more info on the story

I guess its tough to give concrete mailman scenes that might be boring without you clueing the members in to some of the storyline, like who he is, where he lives, what kind of movie it might be, that sort of thing. Something so that another writer out here can get a teeny bit of visualization of the setup to know what to suggest. Rural mailman? Suburbs? Family? Old? Young? Has he been a mailman for a week or for 20 years?

 

[Samiammi]

just focus on routine - the stuff people do everyday without thinking - that's as boring as you can get, and a simple visualization - like brushing teeth, getting dressed, eating cereal.

 

[kgasser2]

nvm.. i can do it myself

 

[kgasser2]

talentville

none of those details matter because i'm not asking anyone to make a specific situation for this one guy, i was looking for general situations tht EVERYone has experienced or can relate to. but forget about it, i'm just going to figure it out on my own.

 

[Buddy Greenfield]

I can’t answer if it will fit in with what you are doing, or hope to do, but if I were kicking around in that frame work, I might try something like Mittyesque fantasy sequences to try to show his boring life after the fact, but it would be a fine line between boring and a daydreamer.

For quick example:

It’s a bright sunny typical day as THE MAILMAN delivers mail.
He comes to The House! - DUNT! DUNT! DUNTTTT! -
It has thunderclouds and lightening over it!

The Mailman’s eyes narrow. -THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY THEME - plays.

In the yard of the house a dog dish with “Killer” written on it. –THUNDER!-

The Mailman pulls a shotgun from his mailbag.
He -SHICK SHUCK- pumps it.
Mailman: “Special Delivery!”
He runs towards the house, dives over a fence.

In the yard, Killer, a huge Great Dane!
It breathes fire, and leaps into the air on the wings of a bat!

The Mailman hits the ground in a combat roll and comes up on his feet!

A MAN calls out shattering the fantasy,
MAN: “Hey Smellmen, the new Victoria Secret catalog come out yet? I'd like to uhh… have a look.”

The Mailman exhales, shoulders slump, head bowed: “Yeah, me too Ed, me too.”
The Mailman closes a mailbox.
Pan down to reveal Killer, a feisty Chihuahua.
It yaps at him.

The Mailman hurries along.
The Man calls out amused: “Look out Smellmen, he knows where you live!”

You might be able to do the same kind of sequences with other common characters, like The Fantasy Woman, The Bully, The Bumbling Cop.
Then in the mix is the Ugly Duckling Waitress that likes the Mailman, but he never notices her. Then there comes the New People in town, like the typical Mobsters hiding out, and the Mailman witnesses something suspicious they are up to. He employs his fantasy like bravado and saves the day, the Waitress takes off her glasses and is suddenly hot, blah blah blah, and the rest is cliché history.

Just a thought.

-Thanks-

EDIT: Sorry, I now see you didn't want specific ideas. Please disregard- Thanks

 

[torn]

A Boring character? Lester Burnham.

 

[TheOpusFuller]

kgasser2, If you're looking for boring and average... just follow people around. Make the guy do everyday things of the norm. Go to work. Say the same things to people he walks by in the street. Him eating, watching the same crap on tv and him going to bed, alone. Rinse and Repeat.

I wouldn't spend too much time on this character doing things of the norm. You're going to lose your audience/readers. Depending on what kind of story you're going to tell, you're going to want to hit your Inciting Incident and throw your character in the mix of the story. That's where the interest really builds. That's where the meat of the story is... the arc, etc.

Look at North by Northwest. Shows the main character doing his normal everyday job and then at the restaurant he gets mistaken for a spy or something and the people kidnap him and he is immediately tossed into the mix.

Hope that helps.

 

[wheatgrinder]

nvm.. i can do it myself

What I Find boring and average:

Hearing uncle Ted tell the same borderline dirty joke at Thanksgiving dinner every year.
Having conversations withe people who are only waiting for their turn to talk.
TPS reports.


FYI: thanks for asking the question , even if you don't care about the answers, I found them interesting.

 

[wheatgrinder]

Oh, I thought of a couple more:

People who THINK they are cool and interesting, but aren't.
People who call them selves "edgy."
Ohio

 

[Joker B]

, i was looking for general situations tht EVERYone has experienced or can relate to.

The more specific you make it, the more people can relate and generalize it.


Also, don't confuse bored with boring. Boring means no one cares about him or his actions. The audience can care, but other characters don't.

 

[AntonDoiron]

boring ideas

here are some situations if you are looking for boring life as opposed to boring character

alarm radio goes off and is talking about monday morning as he wakes up. every hates mondays

mail truck (if he has one) won't start spends his morning waiting at repair place or for a replacement vehicle

show his lunch, boring paper bag and contents

long and droning meeting with his boss and other mailmen

the theme with these being everyday blaa

 

[tongoll]

lets see.
some one who doesn't continue a conversation IE
hey have you seen the new transformers movie?
yeah, its cool.
..... what did you like about it?
it had robots.

doesn't understand jokes.


oh... this is one i have a personal problem with,
doesn't know when to start stop or to wave at all at passing cars, nieghbors walking by, or random strangers.
....
asking for directions and after finishing what you had to say have a dazed face like your trying to remember something/have something more to say when you don't and havn't said, well bye for a few seconds and then akwordly walking away.....

make him allergic to a bunch of stuff.
retarded things too, like pollen, and corn.

make him drive like a granny....

OHHH here is one i all so have a problem with.
giving compliments.
i don't know how to give people compliments and people tell me im being strange....
for example,
i see my friend jenifer has dyed her hair a reddish tint, i say,
"i like the reddish tint in your hair, it goes good with your face...... not that i find you attractive, we are friends?"

funny thing is.....
i actually said that one time.....
she didn't take it offensively, she just laughed and said she thought my shoes went good with my face....

 

[Joker B]

I know the OP kgasser2 has already abdicated this thread.

Just the same, I think the real dilemna with the question is not "what is a generic situation" but "how can I start a story that doesn't lead anywhere."

In other words, I ask: WHERE IS THIS SUPPOSED TO LEAD? One can assume from the original post that it's desired that this guy be more-than-boring (or less-than-boring) by the end of the story -- so why not use that info to be really specific about the nature of his banality at the start? It will give the audience something to follow. The audience -- remember them?

If by the end of the film he's interesting because, I dunno, he blew up the world, then start by either making him too dull to do it or he's dull because he's hopelessly obsessed with his chemistry set. Have some direction that will lead, somehow, to the end. Not one pixel should ever be in your film by accident. Because if your goal in the first act is to be as boring as possible, well... I've got a lot of other bad films to watch first.