Your philosophies and ideas about character amount in film/series/game.

Personally, I find large numbers of characters (7+, maybe?) to be too distracting, as it tends to spread movies, games, or stories far too thin. Of course, if each character has an important, well-developed role, then by all means, pile on the characters. The number gets too high when characters start becoming just characters thrown in with no real, vital hold into the main point. But then again, when you have too few characters, there's always a chance that the audience becomes tired of this one character. Perhaps you'll have to find a way to find what appeals to the most people, so if there's one character, that character better be interesting, and there should probably be other elements that would draw in the audience in the event that the character fails to do so for some. Or, if you have many characters, the plot and the characters' importance should be something concrete. Perhaps each character is fully developed, important, and memorable, or perhaps you have a set of supporting characters what serve to bring out parts of your main character. Regardless, developed or useful character makes for a memorable character. Depending on the plot and time constraints, it may be more difficult to develop multiple characters.

I guess Castaway would be a rather extreme example of a movie with 1 main character--2 if you're counting Wilson. Even with one character, the movie still managed to hook viewers. I wouldn't say there was much character development, even though there was only one character, but the plot was both interesting as well as appealing. Perhaps there was something the audience could identify with as the film focused on a single man trying to survive in the wilderness.


For films with many characters, I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, by Lord of the Rings was particularly good. Sure, there were countless characters on top of the 9 in the fellowship, but this worked out. While some characters weren't as developed to their fullest, quite a handful were, and if that weren't enough, there was a compelling story, thought-provoking parts, and, quite frankly, fanservice. Furthermore, the characters were all rather unique, from hobbits, to elves, and even talking trees. And each wasn't unique for the sake of being unique, either. But regardless, you had characters that appealed to a wide range of audiences, as well as an entertaining plot. But then again, each movie was about 3 hours long.

As for personal preference, I really can't say, as it depends on various other factors. When it comes to shows, it's usually the epic ones with many characters that I find myself glued to, from one episode to the next, but it's always the ones centered around a small group of people that I keep coming back to.

Jam it back in, in the dark.