PLANNING: CHARACTER REPRESENTATIONS- MRS. QUINLAN

 

What are character representations? Why are they important?

Character representations are the specific aspects that create a character, often based off on stereotypes. Each character type has specific connotations and representations that define him and create that role, which allows the audience to identify the different types and respond to each one differently. Protagonists, antagonists and victims are only some of the typical characters that the audience have to encounter in thrillers. All of these have own stereotypical traits that distinguish them from one another. These representations can be conveyed through an accurate use of the micro-elements.  For example an antagonist would wear a black attire to show their evil intensions, in contrast, a victim would wear white costume to exaggerate their innocence because white connotes purity.  Character representations are important because they help the audience to differentiate from one another, thus having a specific reaction and feelings to each one. Without these representations, films would not make as much sense and the audience wouldn’t be able to infer anything, leaving them with frustration and anger.

These are the different representations for our thriller opening character:

Name: Unknown. - We chose to keep our character anonymous because it will create more threat around their character as well as hinting the viewer that this is someone they should be afraid of because they have something to hide and are a secretive person that we should stay away from in order to avoid trouble.

Character Role: Antagonist- we decided that this character will be an antagonist. This is because they are very secretive and try to hide themselves away from everyone, which are typical traits of an antagonist as often someone tries to hide when they’ve done something wrong, as well as they are capable of evil acts and intensions. For example, beheading models on magazine covers is a brutal act, proposing that this person intends on hurting these females, which immediately makes him look like an antagonist.

Gender Stereotype of Role: the character is a male, which the audience learns towards the end of the sequence. Stereotypically males are the antagonists because they tend to be represented as the dominant gender and have power over the subordinate females. Therefore making our antagonist a male will have an impact on the audience who will find this character much more threatening and superior. Additionally, beginning a thriller with a male antagonist will make the audience lose their hope because they are unaware whether there is a protagonist to safe a day which will cause extra audience response.

Age: 30-35. - This is because stereotypically men at this age are usually settled and married, having a family and leading a good life. However by juxtaposing this idea the audience will see that this character is corrupted and leads a completely different life; proposing different morals. It displays an a less idyllic reality which is often explored in the thriller genre. This would make the audience cringe and feel intrigued with the unfamiliar image.

Costume: The character will be wearing black tights with ripped holes in them in order to show that he is trying to be attractive and sexually appealing. The ripped holes on the other side will metaphorically show that the character is somehow missing his personality and has an unfulfilled life and desires. However the holes can show that putting these thighs on was an effort because they do not fit him at all suggesting that he feels like he doesn’t fit in society, as well as has some psychopathic tendencies because of lack of respect and care for his own body and appearance. This would make the audience feel pity towards him because it seems like he is an unhappy and disturbed person who needs a health care professional. On the other hand, knowing that this is someone who is capable of so much hatred and brutality towards the subordinate gender shows that this is a dangerous character that we should beware of and stay away from. Additionally, the character wears a bright dress which seems to be too tight for him, making the audience feel disgust towards him because they feel like this is an obscure obsession or even perversion towards women. The dress will look untidy too, again reinforcing that the character doesn’t care for himself thus making the audience feel uncomfortable about the whole idea of a man dressed in more feminine way.

Hair and Make-Up: we plan to place red lipstick and dark eye shadow on the antagonists face. This is because we want to reinforce this idea of not keeping care for himself because if makes the whole atmosphere less comfortable for the viewer. Additionally this make up will then be heavily smudged which will show the carelessness as well as give the character an evil and psychopathic look. His hair should be messy to reinforce the idea of carelessness and make him look even more threatening and capable of any deed; making the viewer feel insecure and scared about their own and others safety.

Body language and Facial Expression: The character will have a rough body language and movement throughout the opening to try to show his dominance as well as emphasize that he is in fact the antagonist that we should be afraid of. The sharp movement could emphasize on his psychopathic personality and carelessness towards other beings and himself. It will also help to show his neurotic personality which will make the audience feel uncomfortable knowing that this is an unstable character and  cannot control himself at all times. His facial expressions will be full of hatred and anger, especially when looking at the beautiful female models on the front covers of fashion magazines. This will display the true loathing towards the opposite sex, making the audience (especially female viewers) insecure because they will realize the strong feelings that the antagonist has for the female models.

Represented as: psychopathic through his destroyed costume, hair and make-up. This is because all these aspects will look undone and the idea of walking around in this state and manner seems unacceptable and silly on the antagonist’s behalf. This will make the audience feel afraid of the character. Moreover he will be represented as an antagonist because of the implication of beheading young women which is a cruel act and only an antagonist would be capable of that, thus making the audience feel afraid of him.

Role within the Narrative:  He is an antagonist because his role will evoke feelings of disgust and loathe from the audience due to his acts. This will be evident when he seems to plan on beheading models and seem to have so much hatred towards them. We then start to feel disturbed when he picks up the red underwear because it seems controversial and disturbing.  However, when he starts to dress up and smudge his make up the audience will feel confused because they start to pity him a little, as he seems to need urgent care but isn’t going to receive any, which leaves them in dilemma. At the end the audience are left with this dilemma because the character walks out leaving the viewer with wonder.

Conclusion

To conclude, character representations are an extremely important variable when creating a sequence because knowing exact distinctions between each character will allow different audience response and reactions towards these roles. Additionally, if these representations are wrongly planned then you are at risk of losing your audience who will get confused over the inaccurate representation. From this planning task I realized that our antagonist is not the most conventional and stereotypical antagonist however this characterization works for his type of role and his outcome in the opening and will cause the right audience response that will suit the thriller genre. We chose to subvert our character representation as often these are not original and are repeated in films, thus making the veiwer feel bored. By challenging this we have got rid of the monotony in thriller films and can impoact the veiwer intensly as they do not expect such change.