Of Characters and Collaboration

Well, today I break my alliteration. Notice the C's instead of S's?

But that's not why you're reading... (I don't know, maybe it is). You're reading to find out about characters! Well, here they come!

When I and my fellow conspirators were brainstorming about this project, we wanted to make sure everyone was as involved and excited as the director and producer were. Not only does this mean less work for us (he he), but it means we aren't working with actors and crew who'd rather not be there. That gets old real quick, let me tell you.

So! What do we do? Seeing as this is a character-driven story, we decided to let each actor have a major hand in their own characters! Breggo wrote up this nifty character sheet with a score or so of questions which helped each actor peg down the kind of person they wanted to play. And hey, if someone's asking to play the bad guy (he'd been the good guy for the past three or so movies), by all means!

So, what sort of characters did we come up with?

1. Fengrid, an apprentice hunter. Recently returned from a journey in the lands beyond, he comes back to find his former master dead on his own hearth. Vowing vengeance, he sets out to bring his killer to justice. But his path will take him places he never expected. For 'justice' is not what it seems in these woods.

2. Adelyn, an apprentice hunter. When she finds her new master dead, she is immediately suspicious of Fengrid, and her suspicions seem to be verified when she finds that he has disappeared. Determined to find him, she sets out on his trail. But soon she finds that just as she is tracking Fengrid, so someone appears to be tracking her.

3. Jarl, the Marshall of the forest. The voice and hand of the law in the forest, Jarl continually finds his efforts to bring justice to evildoers hampered by the strict code of the law he upholds. And so he takes up the mask of a vigilante, dealing out to criminals their just deserts. But the code was put in place for a reason, and the power that comes from dealing outside of it soon turns him to even darker decisions.

4. Carldon, a young scamp and thief. An orphan whose brother is off patrolling the forest border. Left without a family, Carldon has been forced to take care of himself. His thievery, however, is mostly allowed, since he always pays... with small piles of feathers. Despite his faults, none know the paths of the forest and the quickest ways better than him.

5. The Lady of Glencott dale. Currently unnamed, this mysterious lady lives alone in a ramshackle hut and is known for not being known. No one ventures near her for reasons not exactly understood, but greatly feared. Except for Carldon, who has been seen trespassing with apparent impunity on the circle of forest she claims. Legend claims, however, that she talks to herself or her teapots, and that, of course, is fair enough reason to stay well away.

Well, those be the cast of characters we plan on bringing to life sometime this summer! And that concludes this short series on the necessary ingredients of a good film. But this film still has a while to go, so there'll be more info popping up here, including, of course, the name of the series... which we still haven't figured out...

What's next, you ask? Well, Breggo's working on the script, we've a few more names to figure out, and I've got some concept sketches I've got to dash off here soon. Maybe I'll put a few up here! Until next time, then;

Farjag