Personally, I don't mind if a character's goal is complex or not. I want to first see how far they're willing to go to get that goal, as well as how hard it is to achieve that goal
To me, what you just described is a strong goal. A weak goal is one the character doesn't truly feel/wants/desires. A weak goal is one that, if a character is in danger, the protagonist would drop it in a heartbeat to save them. A strong goal though, will make the character faze the desition of -in this hypothetical case- either continue with their goals or to save X character.
@@capuchinosofia4771 you mean it brings them into conflict with their worst fear? I remember that advice from another writing channel, that it's all about the tension between the character's fears & desires.
if you do it well, yeah we all could use some of that. everything is 'good' if we are good at it. that's basically how writing... and even life works. don't you think...?
Yeah, weak goals as part of the basic internals of the story are inevitable; scenes are always about goals, so they can't all be huge. But there needs to be an 'ultimate goal' that they all lead towards or the story will be dull and unengaging...
Write a horror. The goals in those always write themselves. "Survive," "kill the monster," "survive the night in the haunted house," "save loved one from demon." Self explanatory and easy to relate to because everyone has a desire to protect their lives.
His instincts are spot on - nothing is deeper, in human life, than mother-child feelings. Fear for one's own life, terror even, are just fireworks that are here and gone by comparison.
In reaction to the chat: "Weak" goals, and "Simple" goals are two very different things. Often goals that seem simple (goals like "Survive") are actually far more complex (as in "Survive" How? and under what conditions) than you might think. Because objectives within a story can shift, so it's not a static thing. Also,...do you start out with a complex character or goal,...or do you, during your characters journey, add more complexity in over time?
@@NJGuy1973 Well, maybe, and I'm just surmising, it could be because of the way that movie was designed. Perhaps a slice of life? Or maybe it's cause a lot of what happened in the Big Lebowski is so ridiculous that of course it's funny. You got John Goodman pulling a gun on a guy over a bowling game. Two rich people who are constantly causing trouble and someone pissed on his carpet. I'd say the fact these things have to told in a movie is already entertaining enough. But everyone interprets that movie differently. So maybe you do too.
I'm gonna make a movie where the guys goal is to replace his carpet. I'm gonna make a movie where the guys goal is to ditch school. I'm gonna make a movie where a guy say "oh hi mark"
I agree. I have a project im working and im having to keep revising the mc bcuz i feel the goal is too simple and cliche. I want a character that blows ppls minds as in his beginning and end game. It's been hard and ive still not fully got it yet but im close and am confident in my writing ability.
Watch Abbie Emmons (here on UA-cam) on character outlining and it should be as easy as pie for you. Also, as you write you naturally add more to the character to make them more nuanced. Since I adopted her method, writing interesting characters with interesting goals has been easy as all hell. Do go in knowing that not every method is for everyone though lol.
The channel is great, but 5:50 or so is the closest he gets to actually suggesting anything close to the video title. The vast majority of this is about execution of scenes, dialogue, & character portrayal. That is NOT the same as goals being weak.
But what if the character was also obsessed with a little goal and by Achieving this one big goal he can have this one little thing! Finally he can have this one thing that should be a simple thing to begin with. so throughout the story he’s busting his ass to pull of all this impressive stuff so he can fix everything and then he will finely be able to have that one little should-be-simple-thing. Irony but lovable-irony at the end when you realize all of it comes together…he just wanted that one little thing (because it was never pointed out by the characters through out the story but his Desire for that one little simple thing was strong and maybe in a comical since and brief Through action and or verbally but not verbally explained to the audience that it is his main drive to accomplish all this. nowadays the characters explain everything that the audience should see on their own and let it all come together naturally with their own thoughts. it takes the magic away you need the Audience to use their own imagination there needs to be a connection with your imagination and their imagination The audience needs to use their own mind to become a part of the story to really connect. I miss the good ole days we had the best storytellers. The real irony could be that humans never help or pull for someone who has a little goal but it’s not a little to him it also represents a good world age. So he has to go through the worst situations and pull off this one big thing and nobody would’ve helped if they knew he just wanted a really simple little thing LOL and the blissful minds of the world around him are the reason he is not able to have….this one little simple thing to begin with. Storys need irony it can be funny, sad, shocking or all of it rolled up into one crazy ball. The audience can see it and at least one of the characters not Necessarily the main character but just one character should recognize it especially if the main character that’s achieving the goals doesn’t see his own drive or why he’s doing all this. He’s just just driven to push through all this Chaos and in the end it could be something that he just wanted from the grocery store like a bag of Cool ranch Doritos and that’s what started the whole adventure LOL. Or maybe he just wanted to return a lady’s wallet she dropped and now he’s gotta save the town from being blown up so his favorite grocery store will have his favorite Doritos and everything will be back to normal like it should be. Or return the lady’s wallet LOL. Any thoughts out there?
What had happened was, the small goal either really wasn't a small goal to the character--for example, the last food they shared with their dying child was Cool Ranch Doritos and there's only one bag on the shelf and another customer headed that way--or the small goal became a big goal as the character realizes the lengths they'd go to in order to get it.
Sorry but the mother lecturing her son on changing the world isn’t very compelling. A simpler goal (More primal and deeply felt) would be better I believe.
Here is the previous video with Dan Attias - ua-cam.com/video/uz1uWkEqqKM/v-deo.html
Personally, I don't mind if a character's goal is complex or not. I want to first see how far they're willing to go to get that goal, as well as how hard it is to achieve that goal
True the Dude just wanted to get his rug back.
Interesting point of view.
To me, what you just described is a strong goal. A weak goal is one the character doesn't truly feel/wants/desires. A weak goal is one that, if a character is in danger, the protagonist would drop it in a heartbeat to save them. A strong goal though, will make the character faze the desition of -in this hypothetical case- either continue with their goals or to save X character.
That makes no sense
@@capuchinosofia4771 you mean it brings them into conflict with their worst fear? I remember that advice from another writing channel, that it's all about the tension between the character's fears & desires.
Weak goals aren't bad, it's all in how you portray it.
if you do it well, yeah we all could use some of that. everything is 'good' if we are good at it. that's basically how writing... and even life works. don't you think...?
@@sheppardscott13
Don't disagree. Though, that wasn't acknowledged.
Yeah, weak goals as part of the basic internals of the story are inevitable; scenes are always about goals, so they can't all be huge.
But there needs to be an 'ultimate goal' that they all lead towards or the story will be dull and unengaging...
Write a horror. The goals in those always write themselves. "Survive," "kill the monster," "survive the night in the haunted house," "save loved one from demon." Self explanatory and easy to relate to because everyone has a desire to protect their lives.
WONDERFUL example of the importance of "subtext" behind the mother/son dialogue. :^) Helps with learning to direct also.
His instincts are spot on - nothing is deeper, in human life, than mother-child feelings. Fear for one's own life, terror even, are just fireworks that are here and gone by comparison.
Hot damn! Did you feel how he flipped that mom's pick up your sh1t speech?! I started looking for things I could pick up and my house is already tidy.
That is why... I WILL be the hokage, believe it!
In reaction to the chat: "Weak" goals, and "Simple" goals are two very different things.
Often goals that seem simple (goals like "Survive") are actually far more complex (as in "Survive" How? and under what conditions) than you might think. Because objectives within a story can shift, so it's not a static thing. Also,...do you start out with a complex character or goal,...or do you, during your characters journey, add more complexity in over time?
A guy wants to get his rug replaced because someone pissed on it.
Is that a worthy goal?
Depends who pissed on it
@@ogsxl Right. It's not "what's the goal" it's "why the goal."
Isn't that the plot to the Big Lebowski?
@@MontChevalier Yes, that was my point. It doesn't seem like much of a goal just from that description, but the journey is epic.
@@NJGuy1973 Well, maybe, and I'm just surmising, it could be because of the way that movie was designed. Perhaps a slice of life? Or maybe it's cause a lot of what happened in the Big Lebowski is so ridiculous that of course it's funny. You got John Goodman pulling a gun on a guy over a bowling game. Two rich people who are constantly causing trouble and someone pissed on his carpet. I'd say the fact these things have to told in a movie is already entertaining enough. But everyone interprets that movie differently. So maybe you do too.
I'm gonna make a movie where the guys goal is to replace his carpet.
I'm gonna make a movie where the guys goal is to ditch school.
I'm gonna make a movie where a guy say "oh hi mark"
What do you like about this video?
Every second of it!
I agree. I have a project im working and im having to keep revising the mc bcuz i feel the goal is too simple and cliche. I want a character that blows ppls minds as in his beginning and end game. It's been hard and ive still not fully got it yet but im close and am confident in my writing ability.
I know what you mean Ive been working on mine Main character for years now
Watch Abbie Emmons (here on UA-cam) on character outlining and it should be as easy as pie for you. Also, as you write you naturally add more to the character to make them more nuanced. Since I adopted her method, writing interesting characters with interesting goals has been easy as all hell. Do go in knowing that not every method is for everyone though lol.
You've got this. 1st lesson is understanding the assignment and you clearly understand.🙌🏼
Just remember that you can't do any worse than Disney soy wars
@@someblaqguy easy as all hell you say, any awards or feedback as proof?
Thanks!
Thank you so much Andrew! We love our interview with Dan Attias. We're glad you found value here!
How can you make that subtext come out or come through in the script?
The channel is great, but 5:50 or so is the closest he gets to actually suggesting anything close to the video title. The vast majority of this is about execution of scenes, dialogue, & character portrayal. That is NOT the same as goals being weak.
🙏🙏
But what if the character was also obsessed with a little goal and by Achieving this one big goal he can have this one little thing! Finally he can have this one thing that should be a simple thing to begin with. so throughout the story he’s busting his ass to pull of all this impressive stuff so he can fix everything and then he will finely be able to have that one little should-be-simple-thing. Irony but lovable-irony at the end when you realize all of it comes together…he just wanted that one little thing (because it was never pointed out by the characters through out the story but his Desire for that one little simple thing was strong and maybe in a comical since and brief Through action and or verbally but not verbally explained to the audience that it is his main drive to accomplish all this. nowadays the characters explain everything that the audience should see on their own and let it all come together naturally with their own thoughts. it takes the magic away you need the Audience to use their own imagination there needs to be a connection with your imagination and their imagination The audience needs to use their own mind to become a part of the story to really connect. I miss the good ole days we had the best storytellers. The real irony could be that humans never help or pull for someone who has a little goal but it’s not a little to him it also represents a good world age. So he has to go through the worst situations and pull off this one big thing and nobody would’ve helped if they knew he just wanted a really simple little thing LOL and the blissful minds of the world around him are the reason he is not able to have….this one little simple thing to begin with. Storys need irony it can be funny, sad, shocking or all of it rolled up into one crazy ball. The audience can see it and at least one of the characters not Necessarily the main character but just one character should recognize it especially if the main character that’s achieving the goals doesn’t see his own drive or why he’s doing all this. He’s just just driven to push through all this Chaos and in the end it could be something that he just wanted from the grocery store like a bag of Cool ranch Doritos and that’s what started the whole adventure LOL. Or maybe he just wanted to return a lady’s wallet she dropped and now he’s gotta save the town from being blown up so his favorite grocery store will have his favorite Doritos and everything will be back to normal like it should be. Or return the lady’s wallet LOL. Any thoughts out there?
What had happened was, the small goal either really wasn't a small goal to the character--for example, the last food they shared with their dying child was Cool Ranch Doritos and there's only one bag on the shelf and another customer headed that way--or the small goal became a big goal as the character realizes the lengths they'd go to in order to get it.
Hello there
How long-term licensing film
From Amazon prime video for
Independent filmmaker 3 or 5 year's
Good video title. 👍
Rey Palpatine had no goals.
When can you hide motivation in a pilot
Sorry but the mother lecturing her son on changing the world isn’t very compelling. A simpler goal (More primal and deeply felt) would be better I believe.