Filmmaking / Directing : Writing Based on historical Events - A Personal Experience / Observation (Part One) by Ben Gilani

As we all know, a character is mainly revealed through his/her actions. The character may describe himself or herself or others may speak of his or her positive qualities, such as kindness, forgiveness, spirituality, etc. But if let's say, he suddenly throws his paralyzed grandmother down the stairs, it is the action that will define his character. If the audience feels a contradiction between what he sees a character do in actions and what he hears about him, no words can change his mind and perception of the character, because the character is known in the context of his actions. So, characters are not just talking faces. The audience needs to become familiar with various aspects of a character, including their physical, mental, cultural, and moral characteristics. The audience wants to know what is the reason behind a character's actions and reactions, in other words, what is the character's motivation. In fact, there must be a logical necessity behind the characters' each and every reaction. A character's actions, even if surprising or shocking, must be justified and logical after careful consideration. For this reason, I believe the mentally ill are not dramatically valuable. mentally ill people are irrational. They may do something without a specific motive. Most of the audience is not able to empathize with such characters. They prefer to understand the character, communicate with him, feel him, and have deep empathy with him. Otherwise, what is the point of watching a movie? Each character is nurtured in relation to other characters. He/she must act and react and also be the target of other characters' actions. Personality is formed by two-way confrontation, decision-making, and action/reaction. In the film industry, the main character is very important (because of the importance of the film star's role in the investment and distribution of the film, the producers ask the characters of the film before asking about the story). The film's critics also like to praise the characters rather than the plot, because the audience identifies with the characters. But focusing on actors is not the natural way to work on the script and it causes deviation. 

As I'm now writing a script based on historic events, I'm facing three types of historic characters: The real character, the vague character, and the fictional character.

Historical figures

There are certain fixed criteria in creating a "historical character" such as name, race, his/her positive or negative role in that important historical event, and his/her geographical whereabouts. This means that if such information about a historical figure is mentioned in history, I (the screenwriter) can not touch it and make changes. For example, if historical sources state that Mr. xxx spent the last years of his life in AAA, I cannot mention anywhere in my script/story that Mr. xxx was present in and spent the last years of his life in the YYY location.

Creating a historical character although the screenwriter, due to the innovative nature of art, plays a role in creating the story and its elements, it is necessary to consider the dos and don'ts in creating a character in a particular historical event. Some of these musts go back to the extent of adherence to historical reality and the limits of the imagination. Some define the circle of omission and addition of events and characters to reality and historical reporting, and some determine what effect the audience's assumptions have on the creation of the real character. All of these rules need to be considered when writing a screenplay.

The screenwriter is not allowed to enter and occupy the element of "imagination" in creating historical figures only in cases where historical sources had written about them. So one can fantasize about some outward or inward traits that do not exist in historical texts and add to the characteristics of the main character. The processing of "historical character" can be thought of as an iceberg, half of which is on the water and obvious (this part is documented and exists in history) and the other half is hidden underwater (the screenwriter can use his/her imagination in defining these characteristics). However, an important and basic rule is the "coordination" of augmentations and facts in order to achieve a uniform and coherent personality. In addition, it should not contradict the spirit of history or cause distortion in the historical ambiance.In selecting and processing real characters, it should also be noted that if the story of the film narrates a certain period of history consecutively and continuously, it is appropriate that the choice of characters be equally and in an "equal distribution"; Because the omission of some important historical figures reports the historical narrative incomplete and fragmented, which is a great shortcoming. To create historical characters, another criterion has been introduced and determined, which is related to the knowledge level of the audience. It has been said that the real characters that arise from the heart of history and religious texts are documented and in accordance with external realities, and in the minds of the audience and spectators, they have fixed patterns that these patterns and "assumptions" must be considered and taken into account. Apart from the fact that the patterns are right or wrong, because they are involved in influencing the judgment and belief of the spectator, the director or creator of a historical piece must observe and consider them in creating and depicting real characters.

Vague character

In some cases, the characters have a historical existence, but they have not had an independent and prominent role in history. Therefore, their names and traits are not fully mentioned. Here, with the help of imagination and in accordance with the ambiance of the film, the screenwriter can create additional characteristics for the character and bring him/her to life, so to speak, in the form of a fictional character.

Imaginary character

The screenwriter sometimes uses certain tools in writing historical scripts that are fictional and made-up characters to get the story going. These characters do not exist in historical and foreign sources and are only the fruit of the screenwriter's imagination. In addition to advancing the storyline, "side characters" usually make the story appealing and memorable, empowering and clarifying the main character's role, expanding the theme, and adding details of life to the story. However, it seems that "discovered characters" can also be included in the number of side and sub-characters that were separated from fictional and created characters due to their historical nature. It is clear that in historical-religious films, the main characters can not and should not be recreated. However, if the original story is also fabricated and uses only the historical ambiance of that era and points to the underlying events of a part of history, the protagonist's characters can be made by the screenwriter's imagination. It is worth mentioning that, based on the historical drama and story, as characters are added to the story, other characters are removed so that the storyline continues how the screenwriter wants. It is usually the responsibility of the author and screenwriter to add or remove the character and generally design the character traits, formation, and mood; However, certain elements can make the character's personality more prominent by changing the appearance of these traits. The apparent processing of the character is especially useful when the character has a short presence in the story and the creator of the film can use less of the dialogue and action of the character to introduce him/her more to the audience. In these cases, with the help of face painting and cover, for example, the audience quickly understands what kind of personality they are dealing with (good or evil). I will complete the article and post part two soon.