• Wondering which camera, gear, computer, or software to buy? Ask in our Gear Guide.

character Looking for advice on establishing character trait.

I am working to adapt a series into a retelling/localization kinda thing(source is foreign). I have lots of this figured out but I cannot figure out how to show my main characters main trait.

She is foolishly honest. This doesn’t really have to go into why she is, she just is. But this is the trait that will evolve and grow over the story.

What are some examples that can show this trait, I don’t want to do just same thing from source, so looking for ideas without having to say them, or suggestions on scripts or films to see that may have a character like this and gives a brief scene to establish it. Not more then a min or so I imagine but yea...

Thanks for your time and any help that might be offered.
 
Last edited:
Basically she is one that is super gullible, falls for even obvious tricks, and would wait forever if someone said they would be right back.(this last bit will come up little later in script so don’t want to use that.
 
A few possibilities:

1. She buys groceries, pays cash, and gets change. When she gets home, she realizes that the cashier gave her 1 penny too much.
She drives back to the store and returns the penny. The cashier tosses it into a cup of pennies marked "need a penny, take a penny."

2. A man leaves a half-eaten banana on a park bench. She chases him 3 blocks, returns it, and he throws it in the garbage.

3. She asks a hot dog vendor if they're any good - he says absently that they're the best in the city. She buys one, eats it, but it's not great. She returns to the cart and stands on line just to tell him (politiely) that she's had better.
 
Another thing you can do is create a "fish out of water" scenario. Examples:

(movie)
Legally Blonde
My Cousin Vinny
(tv)
Beverly Hillbillies
Gomer Pyle USMC

These characters are treated as simpletons and dismissed in their "fish out of water" world, so revenge (or success) is that much sweeter when they prevail.
 
I am working to adapt a series into a retelling/localization kinda thing(source is foreign). I have lots of this figured out but I cannot figure out how to show my main characters main trait.

She is foolishly honest. This doesn’t really have to go into why she is, she just is. But this is the trait that will evolve and grow over the story.

What are some examples that can show this trait, I don’t want to do just same thing from source, so looking for ideas without having to say them, or suggestions on scripts or films to see that may have a character like this and gives a brief scene to establish it. Not more then a min or so I imagine but yea...

Thanks for your time and any help that might be offered.

Did you watch the invention of lying?
 
Another thing you can do is create a "fish out of water" scenario. Examples:

That’s a big part of the plot. She’s in the case time after time, trying to learn to adapt, stay true to herself, while realizing there are other ways and the world, specially this slice, is not so nice.

Did you watch the invention of lying?
No, but I will look it up, thanks for the suggestion!
 
A few possibilities:

1. She buys groceries, pays cash, and gets change. When she gets home, she realizes that the cashier gave her 1 penny too much.
She drives back to the store and returns the penny. The cashier tosses it into a cup of pennies marked "need a penny, take a penny."

2. A man leaves a half-eaten banana on a park bench. She chases him 3 blocks, returns it, and he throws it in the garbage.

3. She asks a hot dog vendor if they're any good - he says absently that they're the best in the city. She buys one, eats it, but it's not great. She returns to the cart and stands on line just to tell him (politiely) that she's had better.
I like the first, it’s kinda a twist to the original source. Others could work too possibly. Thanks.


In all honesty, this will prob never go beyond the writing stage, this is a labor of love, wanting to see an English version of the show, for legal reasons. But I still trying to see about changing it up some so maybe it could be it’s own thing and thus not a copyright issue. I need to look up how that will work, ie how much has to change to be just a story based on it, rather then the story itself.
 
Last edited:
You need to look at this from a different angle. Instead of trying to remake this legally by changing a few things here and there, use it as inspiration for your original story. You may end up hacking this thing up to the point it sucks, just for legalities, when you could be putting your passion into something original. Plus, no matter how much you change it could still look like a rip off. Do you want that?

Like in music. Bands are inspired by other bands but they don't just change a note here or there to reproduce their songs as their own. They use it as inspiration.

So, either get the rights to do this legally, where you have full creative freedom to stick to the script or change things. Or, come up with an original idea and use this as inspiration only.
 
Well, as said I don’t expect it to be made beyond script, it’s fine really, partly doing it this way to learn the skill of writing a script. But also it’s a labor of love for it. I wanna do the story right by relocating it in my head.

That said tho, I have tried to break it down to the essence/idea of the work. So I can rework some parts to maybe work a little different. This work is actually more like it would work as a series of movies, or a tv series. I don’t have my notes with me on my partial break down of the series as a whole, but I think I figured it would likely be like 9 movies. Tho I’m just focusing right now on the first and a little on second arc of the grand story. Figure once I would get those I look more beyond, just a few notes to keep in mind for foreshadow kinda stuff to later movies or such.

Also, I did try a little at one point to try and figure out who to talk to for copyrights, but the language barrier makes it hard, kinda thinking that I might go focus on this first part, then seek help from someone to find out who and what to do for that, and could show them what I already had done with regards to the work.
 
Back
Top