Characters

    The primary characters in my film are the older brother and younger sister. I still don't have names for them yet but that's what this blog post if for! Earlier today, I also thought of another character that joins our main two siblings. This new character is around the same age as the older brother and is extremely interested in the sister's powers. I would think of it as someone who's really into psychics and telekinesis meeting an Esper. This character serves as a middle man for the two siblings and is akin to a super-fan of the younger sister. Assuming they would be included in my opening, they would be minimally. I'm using the random name generator feature of behindthename.com to get name ideas and the meanings behind each name.

    Mika (older brother)

    I decided on the name Mika for the older brother because I like it and it does have a slight double-meaning behind it. Mika is derived from Michael, which is derived from the Hebrew name מִיכָאֵל (Mikha'el). מִיכָאֵל means that there is no one like God. To Mika, there is no one like his younger sister to him. She's the only family he has and the only one in the world who has powers like she does. Mika smokes cigarettes to calm his anxiety/nerves. Living with someone who can end the world at any point is very stressful. He also swears like a sailor, even around his younger sister. Both the cigarettes and swearing are apart of his character to emphasize how irresponsible he his as a parental figure. He's not fit to take care of his sister, though he tries his best, in the end he's just a kid, he shouldn't be in this situation. His irresponsibility also stems from his disliking of his little sister. He loves her, but she makes his life significantly harder and at times he wishes she wasn't apart of his life. It's a depressing and brutal truth, but by the end of the film he grows to love and accept his little sister. During the opening, though, he really doesn't like her. Just because he considers her a burden, doesn't mean he hates her and treats her horribly. He can be harsh at times, but in the end, he wants to take care of her and keep her out of trouble. Since his parents are dead, he does have to work multiple jobs. The money his parents left him in the will was enough to rent out an apartment for a few years, but other needs are barely accounted for. For this reason, he is always tired, drained. This guy cannot catch a break. He has band-aids all over from his little sister's attacks when she's frustrated, wears semi-professional clothing (working jobs practically all-day), and has eye-bags. He has messy mid-length hair, he doesn't have time nor care to fix it or cut it. He does cut his sister's hair though. He also hogs around a guitar at all times, it's used to calm his sister and avoid any meltdowns. Even though it'll never be made, the climax of the film will be Mika letting his sister have a meltdown and let everything out. I'll expand more on that in a bit. Below is a mood board for Mika. I want to achieve this general aesthetic for him for the opening. (I made it too cool. He is significantly less cool than how this mood board depicts. like 80% less cooler than this)

    Aba (younger sister)

    

    Aba is the younger sister's name, it's derived from Abaddon which means destruction/doom. Pretty perfect name. Her powers consist of telekinesis, weather manipulation, pyrokinesis, super strength, super perception, and water manipulation. They are very apocalyptic-based powers.  I want Aba's powers to represent neurological disorders like OSD, ASD, and ODD, but (as I stated before) I don't want to portray these disorders as being rooted in violence or destruction or evilness in any way. This is a struggle. I'm gonna figure this out later, point is, that is what her powers represent. Aba is mostly nonverbal, rarely talking. She's also an outcast at her school, most kids finding her weird or creepy. Like most neurodivergent kids, Aba is very prone to meltdowns, which is where Mika comes in, playing his guitar calmly to avoid any meltdowns. The guitar offers a distraction to Aba to focus on, but it isn't healthy for her. Being never able to express her frustration and anger, Aba's mental health only worsens as the film continues. Mika pushes his sister to act like the other kids, like she doesn't have powers, but it's not good for her. Despite this, Aba does love her brother. He's the only family she has and he cares for her and buys her snacks. She doesn't want to hurt him, and does try to conform to society, but it's impossible for her. In the opening, Aba decides that she wants to destroy the world, and says it out loud. Being a child, she doesn't understand what that really means, all she knows is that the world is cruel, and has been cruel to her. The world took her parents. The world looks down on her. It's not her fault she was born with these powers, and it's not her fault she doesn't know how to control them. Not being able to control her powers leads to people getting hurt, which she also doesn't understand as bad. She was never taught empathy, but it is something she also learns throughout the story. She has murderous tendencies, but that is due to her being uneducated and not understanding right from wrong. She struggles with seeing things from the perceptions of others. The story taking place in the 90's is also important to her and Mika's relationship. In the 90's, people were much less knowledgeable on how to take care of someone with a neurological disorder. The common practice was to hammer these people into society's ways, with no idea on how that could affect them. Lucky for Aba, by the end of the film Mika knows how to take care of her better and Aba learns to be conscious of her powers and know what triggers what. Aba also likes to draw which is nice. She wears primarily black and red, representing her violence. Below is her mood board:

    

    Teddy:

    

    Teddy is addition I made today. He's barely apart of the opening but I feel as if I should mention him so I will. Teddy is incredibly, incredibly interested in the apocalypse and how the world ends in general. The general idea I have for the opening right now implies that there was an incident at Aba's school that she caused that put kids in the hospital. This would be a pretty big event that Teddy eventually hears about. Believing that news of a super-powered individual means the apocalypse is here, Teddy tracks down Aba and Mika. He doesn't want to stop it like Mika because he thinks it is inevitable. He's weird. He also serves as a surrogate for the audience, as he is getting introduced to these established characters just like the audience is. In the opening, I think he would pretty much just show up at the end and scare Mika and Aba by accident. After the apocalypse doesn't happen, Teddy goes off and studies the possibilities of aliens instead. He jumps from weird obsession to weird obsession. He's weird. He also carries around a camera, photographing anything he can that has literally anything top do with the apocalypse. He's a lot more cheerful than the other two. Below is Teddy's mood board.

    That took a lot longer than I expected. I think tomorrow I will fully set up and plan my opening. I am tired. It was fun though I enjoyed developing these characters.