Character Backgrounds

We realized that we haven't said much about the actual characters themselves in our blogs. One thing that we found very helpful this year was the character background process that we did in a previous project. In that, we created a character and wrote a complete background for them, including their upbringing, relationships, personality, etc. So, we decided to do a less-extensive version of that for this project. This is for our benefit mostly, because this will help us get more in touch with our characters, and it allowed us to develop distinct, realistic stories for each character. We decided to do the main three characters that will be in the opening (Sydney, Ava, and Mrs. Parker) as well as Thomas (he becomes a vital role AFTER the opening, but we still felt it was important to include him. Here are some backgrounds/personality/upbringing descriptions for each character:

Sydney Parker

Sydney is a junior in high school. She was born deaf into a family that is all hearing. She lives with her mother Laura and her older sister Ava. Her father left the family short after Sydney was born because he did not want to deal with raising a deaf daughter. Sydney decided that she does not want a cochlear implant. Ever since elementary school, she has been mainstreamed and attended public schools with other hearing kids. She has not met any other deaf people in her life. Her mother still restricts what Sydney is allowed to do and does not let her do the same things that she allows Ava to do. 

Sydney has a more reserved personality than her older sister. Sydney does not leave the house much due to her mom’s restrictions. The only time she really leaves the house is when she goes to school, and at school she is even more quiet. She does very well in school but she doesn’t interact with any of the other students there. Sydney loves to read books because it allows her to escape and live her life through the characters. Sydney tends to feel more alienated because of her deafness, and is more ashamed than proud because of the environment in which she's grown up in.

Ava Parker

Ava is Sydney's older sister, she is a senior in high school. Even though they are only a year apart, they could not be any more different. Their mother loves Ava and allows her to do basically anything she wants to do. Ava is always out hanging with her friends or at parties. Ava is also very involved in school, she is the cheer captain and does very well in all of her classes. 

Ava’s personality is very different from that of her sister. While her sister is quiet and wears darker color clothes, she is very social and peppy and wears bright colors. Sydney and Ava do not have the best relationship because Sydney is jealous of the life Ava is allowed to live. Ava always tries to talk to Sydney and build their connection but Sydney ignores her attempts because of her extreme jealousy and resentment for her sister.

Thomas Martinez

Thomas is Sydney’s platonic interest/friend that she will meet later in the movie. He is deaf and is fluent in sign language; his mother is also deaf, but his father is hearing. He moved from Rochester, NY– a city with one of the highest populations of deaf people in the country– to South Florida. Thomas’ parents are Colombian, so he has a strong hispanic background involved in his deaf upbringing, and knows only a little Colombian Sign Language.

Thomas grew up in an environment that was very welcoming towards deaf people. He attended a specialized school for the deaf before his move, so he has not been mainstreamed (up until now) like Sydney. Thomas is sound in his deafness and comfortable interacting with both the deaf and hearing communities. He will be the one to bring Sydney “out of her shell” once they meet; he has a lively personality and isn't afraid to speak his mind.

Mrs. Parker

Sydney’s mother is hearing. She grew up from the town in which they live; her and her husband were high school sweethearts. She was very popular back in her high school days: captain of the cheer team, prom queen, etc. So, she can relate a lot more with Ava than with Sydney. She loves Sydney despite her deafness, but she can’t find ways to relate with her like she can with Ava.

Because of Sydney’s deafness, Mrs. Parker tends to try to control every aspect of her life and shelter her from all the “bad people” (people who look down on deaf people). She babies Sydney and gives her little to no freedom, which will become a problem when Sydney meets Thomas. However, she allows Ava unrestricted freedom to “enjoy her high school years”.

These are mood-boards that we created for the main two characters in the opening. We felt this was important to do because we want each character to have a certain "vibe" and "aesthetic" portrayed in the opening.