How To Introduce The Protagonist - Shannan E. Johnson
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- Опубліковано 23 січ 2022
- Shannan E. Johnson, a native of Houston, TX, is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO of the first black-owned script consultancy in the entertainment industry, The Professional Pen. The Professional Pen is a writer-centered service provider helping emerging and established creatives develop their stories for the screen.
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My favorite introduction of a protagonist has always been Jack Sparrow in the original Pirates of the Caribbean. In less than three minutes and with only a dozen words, the entire character and his current status/situation is introduced to us.
In the video game world, one of my favorites is Dante is Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening. ua-cam.com/video/VSNb6944cE8/v-deo.html. You can tell instantly what this game and character is.
Yes me too sick introduction
In less time than that literally not even before he says a word, we already kind of get an idea of exactly what kind of person we are about to get to know. I'm, of course, talking about how he arrives at the dock.
I was taking a media studies class in university where Jack Sparrow's first minute or so specifically was actually brought up as an example for us to analyze in class. Just, breaking down how much we find out about him just from that alone. I remember:
-Pirate
-Has a sense of respect for his fellow pirates
-Thinks very highly of himself
-Is actually a bit of a screwup
-Somehow manages to pull through even when everything is against him
...All just from how he enters the movie and before we even know his *name.*
Jack Sparrow is a man on a sinking boat. Both literally and metaphorically.
What always amazes me about Shannan is her ability dissect hypothetical storylines on the fly. You can give her the most outlandish hypothetical - opening scene of young boy riding a bike in the rain and a butterfly lands on his handlebars - and she'll somehow be able to guide you on how to craft it into a worthwhile story. She's just so incredible in her understanding and articulation of the craft.
🙏🏽
Facts!
@@ShannanEJohnson you’re amazing. I’ve learned so much from you
@@rjonesy3480 Glad I can be of help. 💚
So true, that's what I thought as well! I was already invested in the story she crafted in this video because of how she really looked into the character and scene!
Shannan is just a fantastic communicator and everything she says is relevant and thought provoking. A real gem.
I love hearing Shannan talk, she has so much insight and truly understands narrative. Every time I watch a video with her I get a little bit deeper into understanding how I can approach how I write. I would definitely take her classes, I feel like she has so much to offer people wanting to write whether it be screenplays, novels, etc. She's says a lot in the small amount of time given.
Never heard of Shannan before, definitely got a new subscriber just based on this one interaction.
The best art imitates life, and just as she's explaining here, in the first few minutes I already understood her character and was interested to see what journey we were then going to go on together.
Cheers Michael, thank you for subscribing! Hope you find more value here.
Stan Lee used to bring this up, specifically pointing to Spider-Man. He knew he had to make sure Peter Parker was interesting on his own before he could ask his audience to care about Spider-Man. The character needs to be interesting before the powers and the costume come into play.
On another note, this also reminds me of something Overlord DVD was talking about, citing character introductions in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dr. No, and Casablanca, where we learn a lot about a character quickly, but the film holds off on showing their face for a while.
@Oswald Cobblepot Well, whoever wrote Spidey clearly understood character intros quite well.
@Oswald Cobblepot Yeah but it was Stan Lee who envisioned those concepts take place. The writers just filled in the details of what he wanted to take place.
Though not the protagonist, one of my favorite character introductions in any movie is Marla Singer in Fight Club. So much is shown about her with just her heels clacking into the support group from off camera, the drag on the cigarette, and "this is cancer, right?"
In many ways, we want to see how other characters react to your character. Because in those reactions we learn; power dynamics, social relationships, and a whole host of other things from just how your character is seen by others. Then as a writer we can either choose to confirm what the other characters see, or we can undermine it with conflicting information. A lot of times the conflicting information makes for a great character because we see them as more layered. But then again it all really depends on presentation.
Also I’ve never been a fan of just having people talk about someone unless the conversation is captivating because that feels a lot like lazy exposition. Aka telling and not showing.
I was just thinking this while listening to the interview. This is very important - showing the reaction/ relation to the protagonist.
It's also visual.
There's also the story introduction on page and the visual introduction on screen which needs to be acknowledged as well.
Like you said there's tons of big budget films with exposition. Doesn't mean we should copy that less effective way of introducing a character
Great comment! Thanks!
For me both Percy Jackson (book) and Wheel of Time (book again) have spectacular character introductions. Percy is shown, literally from the table of contents, to be such a witty, fun character, and seeing his life before getting pulled into his adventure is just incredible. With Rand you really get invested in his small town community, and his love of his father.
Extremely valid point
Percy's introduction is absolutely amazing
@@rudeusgreyrat2925It truly is. If there's one thing I truly love about Rick it's his ability to make characters that hook you in the first page.
The interviewer has a beautiful, calm voice. Her rate actually allows us to understand the question.
I felt entirely the opposite when viewing the pilot for "Scandal". I was highly irritated at how much other characters were telling us how "brilliant" the protagonist was instead of just opening the show by showing us so how great she is so we could draw our own conclusion.
I just watched "Thief" with James Caan for the first time yesterday and that's a great example of showing the lead being great at what they do but not telling us. I saw how meticulous and talented he was as a thief without anyone having to verbalize it.
I never made it past ep 1 of "Scandal". Another tell vs. show was the phrase "Gladiators in suits!". Don't tell me that, show me that.
As far as Scandal is concerned, they spent several seasons demonstrating how brilliant the protagonist was amidst her “flaws” and moral imperfections. The pilot was only a tip of the iceberg that doesn’t hold a candle to the rest of the show. In other words, they became better as the writers developed the story.
@@tieuellegacy So you're telling me it only gets good later on? That's pretty bad. Doubt you watch anime, but that's why I never got into a lot of anime recommended to me. The biggest I would never watch is One Piece. Fans tell you it gets better after 60 episodes in. And same thing here for Scandal. Why can't I be intrigued with the characters the same way in the FIRST episode like Game of Thrones or the TV Show Fargo?
@@ThatCreeNative1 I don’t think that I’m jumping off of a limb here when I say that it’s every showrunner’s desire to get better (better story, better comedy/drama) as the season and life of the series moves forward. If not, why watch?
A failure for viewers to be captured from the pilot (premiere) can be a different issue in terms of whether or not you will like the story or characters. The pilot is supposed to give you something that will bring you back for episode 2. You aren’t always supposed to root for the lead or like the lead but the idea or the story should compel the viewer to want more.
You absolutely won’t have the entire story unraveled in the pilot. Depending on the type of series (serial drama or soap, sitcom, reality show,), you’ll be introduced to things differently. In a serial, every episode prior to the current episode should reveal something that contributes to the ending.
For me, ShondaLand does a great job of setting up characters in moments that are highly unlikely for the typical person. Yet, they are believable and we know that these people have to exist. They don’t fly, teleport, or shoot webs out of their wrists. They are experts at knowledge and schemes.
@@ThatCreeNative1 All of that is not to say that a person will enjoy each season of any series. However, the lead characters are well developed.
@@tieuellegacy Well, I never got that far because the introduction was so cringe I decided to move on and invest my time elsewhere.
Shannan is one of those very rare souls we are lucky enough to have in our midst that has a genius level understanding of story. That girl just sparkles when she is talking about story. Shannan is a very humble and gracious person, and would never admit or agree with that, but she is most definitely a genius. 💖
Great comment, but calling a grown woman a "girl" is demeaning. This century ain't Mad Men.
@@emilymartin5418 Girl, please!
@@hopegrable No.
She is so smart and explains things so well
I'm a simple person. I see Shannan in the title - I click.
Hands down my FAVORITE guest on this channel. 🔥🔥 Her passion, precision, clarity, and wisdom are so refreshing and helpful. No fluff or filler. Just gems! ❤️
🙌
I agree, she really hits home quick and precise and says so much in the small amount of time.
Yes, I feel the same but you articulated why so perfectly!
PERIODnn
Agreed. I regularly watch them for refreshing purposes.
She's dynamite. Her video about S.M.A.R.T. goals was great too.
The intelligence and clarity with which Shannon explains her points are wonderful.
Always LOVE interviews with Shannan- her expertise and enthusiasm come across so strongly… she is clearly a wonderful teacher who really knows her stuff and can communicate it clearly and compellingly for students: the best!!
one of the best introductions was Amadeus... the introduction of the character Amadeus Mozart.
he says: "my music!! they started without me! “ and then you know, he was Mozart
Is a girl who falls asleep in math class relatable? If yes, then I have a good introduction.
Shannon is really good at explaining important things easily to us. Great filmmaker.
I loved what you explained at the end of the conversation. Let's stay on the "egg's". The protagonist could be a mother working on her marriage, and her and her husband of 15 years are late for therapy. The broken egg Symbolizes the first child they lost together. The mother hasn't gotten over it, and the dad wants to get passed it.The lost stresses her out daily; Because she thinks it's all her fault. (Scene)
Int. Therapy room - Day
Fantastic opening!
Jesus ,I swear this channel reads my mind and or my work in real time! (or maybe I’m watching it religiously)
After listening to this….I guess I have to go back the drawing board 😔
One of my favorites has to be Odd Thomas, brilliant introduction. It took only a couple paragraphs for him to be likeable and relatable to me.
John Wick. You see him as relatable at first, but then you see that his name strikes fear in mob bosses.
I like how Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is introduced in the Marvel Netflix Daredevil series (Season 2 to be exact). You have this man who is walking in a hospital who is obviously concealing a shotgun in his jacket. Some security guards try to stop him but he knocks them out cold and is after a gang member who murdered a woman in cold blood. He brings out his shotgun and starts shooting in different directions though not wildly as to not hit the wrong target. His methods may be questionable but he doesn’t kill just anybody. Even police that happen to stand in his way.
I took a page out of this kind of character introduction for my novella. The primary protagonist in my story is a former army ranger who is called “The Road Ranger” by those who hear of him in the Texas wasteland (This is a post-apocalyptic backdrop of said place). A murderous religious cult attempts to murder a virgin woman and just when things go from bad to worse, the Ranger swoops in and shoots all the cultists down with extreme prejudice all the while rescuing the woman in the process. The woman, although grateful, wants to see the face of the man who rescued her as the Ranger had his head and face covered with a gas mask and combat helmet on top of his full-body tactical gear. She gets her wish and she shockingly recognizes the man’s face. All of this is laid out to introduce the primary protagonist to give the audience an idea of what kind of man he is.
We all love Shannan❤
I love the way Shannan breaks it down. Informative and funny as hell. "Why should we invest into this person other than she's beautiful and cooking eggs". 🤣👍🏾 When think about some of the early crap I've written with vague descriptions... She hit it on the head😂
I've heard probably 10 other people say a similar msg at this point, but this one actually connected with my brain in a way that it stayed in there ☺️
I think the 2017 film A Good Time was a great example of drawing the viewer in immediately in the first scene. I cared about the characters and felt a connection from the first few minutes all the way till the credits rolled.
Intense movie
I would love to have Shannon as my mentor and to be able to ask her questions. Her lessons are so easy to grasp and the way she talks is very engaging.
"I'm the protagonist"
-TENET
This woman knows her stuff!
She is so enjoyable to listen to. Perfect blend of informative and entertaining.
Her videos on Film Courage helped me so much. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Not the protagonist, but one of my favourite character introductions of all time is President Bartlett in The West Wing. The other characters have spent the entire episode referencing him directly and indirectly, everything else that has happened has shown us their feelings about him as a man and as the president, and then in the final few minutes of the episode he appears and surpasses everything we've even come to expect. I know the original intent was that he wouldn't be a central part of the show, and then they realised they had Martin Sheen and that it would be a travesty not to give him more screentime, but even in the pilot where the focus is still supposed to be the staffers, that character introduction just kills.
Man Shannan is good. Shes really sharp about story telling
Her last segment goes up tonight at 5pm PST.
This is such valuable information!!!!! I am truly impressed in the way that she broke this down. I had to stop what I was doing to take notes.
We all need Shannan as a teacher!
And thanks to FC we get it at least a bit...
She's brilliant. I've watched a few of her videos. Helped me loads
Great to hear!
Thank you! I have a 50 page outline with beginning, middle, and end but I couldn’t quite figure out how to introduce the protagonist. This is good stuff to chew on and I feel a bit closer to sorting it out!
She needs her own studio!
One thing that always undermines my interest in an introduction is hearing a narration describe them as "beautiful", rather than give a more technical description of how they look and/or carry themselves. All that tells me is that the writer wants hot people in their story rather than anything about the scene or character.
The Borg Queen: a disembodied voice which is eventually connected to a torso which slowly descends to a chamber where arms and legs are attached, and she walks out of the chamber, still in monologue, to address Janeway. LOVED THIS!
One of the best protagonist introduction I have seen is in the movie "La Belle Personne", where a college class is listening to an English lesson on a tape, and the first word in French is said by the main character, a girl, saying her name! Is just simply beautiful! I highly recommend the scene and the film too, you can find it on youtube entirely.
My favorite, and possibly the best protagonist introduction in television history is Walter White from "Breaking Bad". I'll never forget the short monologue (Walters's first words on the show.) He pulls out a camera and points it to himself and what he states immediately makes us relate and root for Walter. As it allegedly shows who and what he loves most in this world.
"My name is Walter Hartwell White. I live at 308 Negra Aroya Lane, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87104. To all law enforcement entities, this is not an admission of guilt. I am speaking to my family now. Skyler, you are the love of my life. I hope you know that. Walter Jr., you're my big man. There are going to be some things that you'll come to learn about me in the next few days. But just know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart. Goodbye."
The way she keeps talking about a woman cooking eggs in the opening scene, I keep thinking about Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun. Of course, Ruth isn't the main character; her husband Walter is. However, the eggs that Ruth is cooking symbolize the mundanity of their lives contrasted with Walter's big dreams. The eggs also show the routine of Ruth looking after her family.
I LOVE this UA-cam Channel. Its also like Therapy
Cheers to you and your work!
Sooo good!! i can't express enough.
So awesome! Makes perfect sense. Thank you ❤
Mystery plays the biggest role in peaking a person's interest. Therefore you don't have to play by the rules by introducing your character and trying to get people to know who they are in the beginning. As long as you offer a question that the audience wants to know and find out at the end of the story, being very limited with who your character is in the beginning actually works better. Overall I'd be careful with following other people's rules, break the rules; that is what will set you apart. With that said, don't just break them just because, break them knowing you have a good reason why that makes sense. Once its successful, then most will follow suit because that's primarily why people take the time to follow something, its successful. Hope this helped.
Shannan - listening to you is the most interesting learning experience, I'm so glad you're featured.
🙏🏽
Brilliant as usual!
thank you so much
This is everything
Perfectly explained and exactly what I needed to move forward.
I was pushing my plot twist as the hook and delaying cha dev. Putting the cart before the horse, it turns out. I felt that I lacked something, now I know what.
Called me out lol. Literally had my mc in the kitchen cutting onions as an introduction/joke.
Really nice video. I love her.
Thank you!!
Great speaker
This was incredibly insightful. 🙏
This channel is so good, I learn so much
This is the advice that I needed!!!!
Glad it is helpful Dianne!
Fabulous stuff.
Love this advice - so clear - what a great teacher! Blessings; Johnny David 🙏
Blessings to you Johnny David!
Amazing vidieo, I have learned so much from it, thank you.
Thank you. This helps me a lot
Best advice on this channel
That was AMAZING! Thank you!!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@filmcourage Always 😊
Great information . Thank you for this video 💪🏾
Cheers!
OH MY WORD!!! This helps
My favorite introducction of all time, at least in Superhero cinema, its the Thanos instroduction. In less of five, ten minutes, you know that this guy its a big menace and he is ready for everything.
I think the TV show LOST had literally dozens of expertly crafted character introductions. Some told you exactly what the character was all about, like the selfless man-of-action protagonist Jack Shepherd. While other introductions were made to subvert your expectations, like Kate, the unsuspecting fugitive with a heart of gold.
I agree. Some of the best characters, some of the worst plots
great!
Makes us care about/like characters:
* Has lost everything
* Can lose everything
* Generally likable
GTA5 does this with its three main.
my favorite character introduction is actually from a game - Majima in Yakuza 0. absolute masterpiece of a scene. it creates this glowing aura around him and you are in awe of him and how he carries himself, he seems so confident and pleasant, and is a master at his craft of being a cabaret manager. then you learn that he’s not there by will, that he lives in pretenses, and you’re let into his dark past. you’re pulled in and hooked, so when you learn about his true personality and past, you can’t help but sympathize with a guy like him who’s just trying to get his life together. legendary scene.
Mine is R.J. MacReady in The Thing.
He's in his shack, alone, drinking scotch and playing chess against a computer. When the computer cheats him out of a justified win, he dumps his drink into the machine, because if he can't win because his opponent isn't playing by the rules, then he'll burn the whole thing down just to keep his opponent from winning.
His character in thirty seconds of action and a foreshadowing of his actions in the film that he's an absolute badass that will bend the course of the upcoming conflict through the shear force of his will.
Gonna take the Breaking Bad example once more but it's so exactly what Shannan described. It's a striking example of establishing the life of the character and his sudden turn of events.
We see Walter struggling with two jobs - one as a teacher with his love for chemistry and sharing science, the other to make ends of month with the car wash job. We see him having a 50 year old birthday and seemingly remorseful of his past - a possible millionaire with great ambition and love for science. We see Skyler, his wife, whom seemingly controls most of his life, months in her pregnancy with their second child, while their first son is slightly handicapped and seemingly hating on him with his teenage phase. It's not great to be him.
Then, boom, rock bottom: lung cancer.
Everything that made him so average is now his enemy. His regrets, decisions, options, and plans for the future, all of it is out of the window. What matters now is to make his last moments matter. He does not care anymore because the end is inevitable and he understands. So he can go to lengths he never knew he could. He got the extra push he could ever ask for to finally reach the heights he was looking for all his life. Setup and payoff : cooking meth can make big money (Hank's tale of his recent raid at a family lunch).
It's brilliant and never fails to make you feel what a boring, average and struggling life Walter has, until it gets even worse. We see him being so apathetic, submissive in face of adversity (his students, his brother in law with an exciting "alpha male" job, Bogdan's attitude, even his wife). His entire environment is screaming "WALTER'S A LITTLE BITCH AND HE DOES NOTHING ABOUT IT" which is exactly what he is for the viewer, until you see his rise to Heisenberg, the dormant alter ego that brewed in the dark and is now finally able to take over.
Breaking Bad is just a masterclass in writing. When you analyze what the writers did, it's simply worth it. You learn a lot.
Great video 👍🏿
So true, recently I bailed on a few narratives where they upset the apple cart immediately so we have this exciting incident almost right away but have had almost no time with the protagonist to make me care about this life changing incident. What was their life before? Why do I care it's going to change? They show up but I know hardly a thing about them. I think the belief is we will be drawn in by simply the premise or immediate action but I too hold I need to care about what happens to THIS particular person to keep me tuned in.
All of these bad situations she’s fixing on the fly is amazingly simple but man she just zeroes in on what is wrong and how to make it sing.
This right here is why so many films and series are shit bc they don’t hire (or listen to) writers that push the story beyond the first draft and ask “why?”.
Opening scene of House of Cards.
I was hooked on that show 2min in.
Sounds of tires stretching then
Sounds of a dog in pain.
Frank and bodyguard come out of House to see what's going on.
They see the car flee the scene.
They approach the dog and view its the neighbors dog and things are dire for the pup.
Frank sends the guard to alert the neighbors of accident.
Frank kneels down over the dog and looks in the camera and starts to dialog about there being two types of pain.
Pain you can live with and get stronger from.
Pain that makes you weak. ("I can't tolerate this sort of pain" Frank says) as he strangles the dog to death putting it out of misery.
I'm paraphrasing obviously but that scene always stuck with me.
I think the best introduction to a protagonist I have seen in a long time got to be in “Taboo.” A lone rowboat transports a dark and hooded figure over a night black ocean through the mists in a scene reminiscent of Charon ferrying the dead to the afterlife. Only this time, Charon is ferrying someone back from the realm of the dead. As a storm rolls in from the distance, as if enraged by this sacrilege, they reach the shore and the hooded figure mounts a pale horse as he rides of to his final destination: London.
This alone tells us much, but before he reaches London he stops and decides to bury something in the ground. Something that we, the viewers, are not allowed to see (thus instilling in us early on that not even we, the viewers, are privy to all of this man’s secrets). Once he, this spectre, reaches London he goes to a morgue where a dead man is laid out for burial. He steals the coins from a dead man’s eyes (the toll required to reach the afterlife) before he speaks to the dead man in an unknown language before he simply says “Forgive me, Father. For I have indeed sinned.”
Boom. In just over three minutes the show has told us everything we need to know about our protagonist and with only eight words spoken. He is mysterious, he is irreverent, he is dangerous and he is just *wrong* on some inherent level.
My favorite character introduction will always be Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
Favourite character introduction is Disney’s Zombies. The two main characters break the third wall and tell you exactly who they are. No fuss no muss!
Favourite protagonist intro is Elle Woods from Legally Blonde and my favourite antagonist intro is Regina George from Mean Girls. Both icons from icon movies 💗
7:27 Nice save👌✨
my favorite character introduction is The Dark Knight's Joker
Most of the movies I love were failures at the box office, but I don’t care, because they were actually very well written. For example, I love the introduction of Disney’s Treasure Planet, which involves the younger version of Jim Hawkins and his mother Sarah Hawkins, as they were reading/watching this holographic book about Captain Flint and Treasure Planet itself. Followed by the older version of Jim Hawkins, who is surfing on a solar powered vehicle. Does that make any sense to you? I certainly hope it does.
Evy from The Mummy (1999), is an epic example of how to introduce a character. 👍
negan and zaheer are my favorite villain introductions for sure. They're both so menacing in different ways.
I think Sling Blade has an epic character introduction.
My favorite introduction to a character is Commander Sheppard in Mass Effect
"And again, none of this has anything to do with eggs". Boss.
This is something I've noticed more than ever and even in my own works I'm like if this isn't interesting now I how would I know if it'll get interesting later. People be like give it a few episodes I'm like nah if I'm not down ep 1 it doesn't matter since some shows are like 22min to maybe an hour long per episode. I shouldn't be invested an 2-5 hours before things "get good". That get good moment should have been episode 1.
The Picture of Dorian Gray actually did something similar to that, Basil and Lord Henry talk about Dorian Gray with Basil describing how Dorian Gray is sort of his muse and Lord Henry is gaining interest based on that.
Scandal is my No1 guide on how to write a great story!
Freddy Krueger is a great one, (building the glove) it’s got that score and we don’t know why. A good hook
Bruh Shannon is the best
Cheers Charles!
My favorite character introduction of a protagonist is Bruce Wayne/Batman from The Dark Knight. After a brilliant setup with Joker stealing funds from a Mob Bank, I get to see Batman taking on Bad guys inside the parking garage and capture Scarecrow. It's a well executed action scene as to what the cape crusader does best.👌
my favorite introduction to a protagonist is berserk.
guts starts off as a savage, in the depths of depravity of intercouse with a succubus., he then shows himself as an angry selfish person. unbelievably unpersonable. but where there are glimmers of something deeply wrong with him. him intentionally getting caught and tortured. him casually scratching deep into his skin in his cell. his freakouts whenever he's touched. and eventually his tears at the end of the black swordsman arc. then it all gets explained durring the iconic golden age.
we are shown a Serverly broken man with no hope. that is slowly forced to learn how to grow past his traumas
This is excellent. Whole courses and entire books have delivered less knowledge than Shannan casually drops here. Great interview.
🙏🏽