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Film & Television vocabulary · Genres and Storytelling

Character arc

Meaning in film & television, with examples

/ˈkærəktər ɑːk/nounCommon term

In film & television, character arc means: The inner change a character goes through during a story, from who they are at the beginning to who they become at the end.

In Turkish: karakter yayı, karakter gelişimi, karakter dönüşümü

How it is used

Used by screenwriters, script editors and critics. A character can have a strong, weak, positive or negative arc; in series, arcs can run across a whole season. Writers talk about giving a character an arc and completing the arc.

Example sentences

  1. Her character arc goes from a selfish lawyer to someone who risks everything for a stranger.

  2. The father has no real character arc; he is the same in the last scene as in the first.

Common collocations

  • strong character arc
  • complete character arc
  • story arc
  • season arc
  • plotThe series of connected events that make up the story of a film or series, and the order in which they are shown.
  • screenplayThe written plan of a film in a standard format, with scene headings, descriptions of action, character names and dialogue.
  • lead roleThe most important part in a film or series, played by the actor whose character the story mainly follows.
  • seasonA group of episodes of a TV series produced and released as one set, usually once a year.

More terms: Genres and Storytelling

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