Breaking down the scene

The next stage is to figure out what the characters are thinking in particular points in the scene. I will first breakdown the patients thoughts and actions in the scene:

• He starts off just waking up as the doctor comes in. For this part he will be feeling tired, he won't know how his procedure has gone and as a result will be fairly relaxed and laid back. Below is an image that portrays the characters mood at this stage:

• Then, when the doctor tells him that his leg has been removed he quickly becomes more alert and looks at his leg to see if it is true or just a mistake.

• When he sees that it is true he focuses his attention on the doctor and tries to tell him that it's a mistake but can't get the words out. He can't believe that this has happened.
  

• When the doctor asks if he is Mr Smith, he leans forward in a slightly aggressive mannor and says "NO!". He is still in shock but is starting to become a bit angry as well and obviously aiming that anger towards the doctor.

Now I will breakdown the thoughts and actions of the doctor in the scene:

• First the doctor is upbeat, putting on his jolly attitude. However he doesn't pay much attention to the patient as he is looking at the chart to tell the patient what has been done. This says a lot for his character as he needs the chart to know who the patient is and what is wrong.

• When the patient says "what?" he doesn't notice that he is puzzled, instead he reinforces that the leg is gone and won't be a bother anymore. He seems very pleased to tell him that it was successfully removed.

• When the patient starts to panic, he finally notices that something is not right and he asks to make sure that he is the right patient. At this moment he is hopeful that this is the right patient and there hasn't been another mistake. He is listening intently for the patients answer.

• When the patient snaps at him he briefly moves back away from the patient. This is because the patient has invaded his personal space very quickly and quite aggressively.

• The penny drops that a mistake has been made. Because of his personality, he doesn't stay with the patient to reassure him or take responsibility, instead he is quick to blame the mix up on the nurse. He totally ignores the patient at this point and aims his anger at the nurse.

At this point I would normally have used a storyboard to plan out my scene but I chose to breakdown the thoughts and actions instead to see if it worked any better for me. I think it has some really good benefits and I would probably use this technique again.

One of the main benefits is that it forces you to breakdown the scene in to beats, i.e. the characters actions and what causes that action. This in turn forces you to think about what the characters mood is and how they would react to a moment. This is very important because to create a believable character performance, you need to animate the characters thoughts rather than just having an action because it's funny or because it goes along with the stereotype for that character. By doing this I hope to create characters that are funny but also easy for the audience to relate to.