How can you create a character that is both timeless and contemporary?

2 Research your audience

To create a character that is contemporary, you need to know who your audience is and what they expect from your film. You can use market research, surveys, reviews, social media, and other sources to find out what your audience likes, dislikes, dislikes, and relates to. You can also look at similar films in your genre and see how they portray their characters. What are the common traits, themes, and tropes that your audience responds to? How can you use them to make your character appealing and believable?

3 Add some depth

To create a character that is timeless, you need to give them some depth. This means making your character complex, dynamic, and human. You can do this by exploring your character's flaws, fears, desires, and secrets. You can also show how your character changes and grows throughout the story, facing challenges, learning lessons, and overcoming obstacles. By making your character relatable and realistic, you can make them memorable and meaningful for your audience.

4 Use visual cues

Another way to create a character that is both timeless and contemporary is to use visual cues. This means using your character's appearance, clothing, accessories, and props to convey their personality, mood, and status. You can also use visual cues to show how your character fits into the setting, culture, and era of your film. For example, you can use colors, patterns, textures, and styles to create contrast or harmony between your character and their surroundings. You can also use visual cues to show how your character evolves or adapts to different situations.

5 Avoid extremes

Finally, to create a character that is both timeless and contemporary, you need to avoid extremes. This means avoiding making your character too trendy or too traditional, too perfect or too flawed, too familiar or too exotic. You want your character to stand out, but not to alienate or annoy your audience. You also want your character to be consistent, but not to be predictable or boring. You can achieve this by finding a balance between originality and convention, innovation and tradition, and simplicity and complexity.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?