Avoiding Passive Objectives in Scene Analysis

When we are analysing a scene, actors often come to the conclusion that their character wants the other character to ‘understand’, ’see’, ‘know’, ‘comprehend’ ‘realise’. 

This may well be true. But these are passive internal objectives and they are only part of the story. At ACS, we call a character’s objective a ‘want’. It’s what they want the other character to do now. 

When your character wants the other character to ‘realise’ something, that is not the end of their goal. When we want someone to realise something, we want them to take action on the basis of this realisation. 

What your character wants the other character to do should ALWAYS result in meaningful external action.

So if you end up with ‘understand they’ve offended them’ or ‘realise they’ve caused them pain’ - the next question to ask is:

When they ‘realise’ or ‘understand’ what will they do? Apologise? Make amends? Fall to their knees and grovel?

Passive internal objectives cannot be seen, and they only take you half way towards your understanding of the scene. Keeping digging for a meaningful action because active objectives/wants lead to better action/acting.