In thriller films, characters are represented through gender, age, background, costumes and their roles in the sequence. These features are very important as these help the audience to relate to the characters and also foreshadow what is going to happen in the sequence.
Age is important as a younger age makes the characters seem more naive and helpless. It creates an easy target for the killer and makes the killer seem a lot more threatening and powerful.
Gender decides whether the character is going to be weak or powerful. Typically girls are shown to be more vulnerable and weak while males are portrayed to be threatening and strong. They are also shown to be the more powerful sex. Therefore the gender determines who is going to be the victim and who is going to be the killer.
Background is what the character does; for example a student. Typically in thriller films, the victim is a student as they are at a young age and so implied that they are more naive and inexperienced rather than someone of an older age. By making the victim a student, it automatically makes them seem more weak, helpless and innocent and foreshadows their death within the film. Using a student also relates to a lot of people that watch the film, as typically thriller films are aimed at 15's and above so the majority of the people watching the film are students and so therefore can relate to the character more. The audience can easily build more of a relationship with the student and understand how they are feeling as they are placed in the victims shoes. The background of the killer is usually unknown and this is to keep the identity hidden of the killer. It creates an enigma for the audience and builds up suspense and tension as to who the killer is. Keeping the background of the killer hidden means that the audience are more intrigued into the film and feel encouraged to watch till the end just so they find out who the killer is. It also creates surprise and shock for the audience once the killer is finally revealed.
Costume is also very important in thriller films as stereotypically the victim is shown to be wearing white as white connotes innocence and purity. This makes the victim seem helpless and naive as the victim has been represented as pure and so makes them an easy target for the killer. The white also foreshadows the victims death as the audience know straight away that white connotes innocence and so the audience understand that the victim is going to die. In thriller films, the killer usually wears black and this is because black implies death and pain. The black makes the killer seem more threatening and patronising as the audience know what the killer is capable of and the black foreshadows that the killer is going to murder the victim. The black also helps hide the killer especially in dark lighting and so when the killer appears, the audience become more shocked and surprised. This creates an element of suspense and keeps the audience engaged.
In my thriller production, the characters are very stereotypical as I have made the victim a female who has blonde hair and is a teenager. This is a very stereotypical convention as it straight away makes the characters seem weak and helpless and is shown to be an easy target. I have made her a student because it means that the audience can relate with her more and be put in her shoes in order to gain sympathy towards her. The majority of people watching the thriller opening sequence are also teenagers and so can build a stronger relationship with the victim and so therefore can feel exactly how the victim is feeling. Within my production, the victim stands sort of closed in and timid to show thats she's scared and vulnerable. She cry's to show her emotions and her reaction to being isolated in a room and with a killer. The victim has lots of short breaths to show her panic within the situation and to imply that she knows she is in danger.
I have also made the killer very stereotypical. I have a male killer who is middle aged and this makes him seem more powerful and threatening rather than using a teenage boy. His costume is all black and his background is unknown. By making his costume black it creates conventional stereotypical killer that allows the audience to feel threatened and patronised by him straight away. By also making his background unknown, it creates a sinister and mysterious atmosphere as the audience don't know anything about the killer and so this makes him seem overpowering compared to the victim.
I have made the characters stereotypical in order to engage the audience into the thriller film and intrigue them into watching the whole sequence. By making the characters stereotypical, it allows the audience to build a strong relationship with the characters and get placed into the victims shoes and understand how the victim is feeling. I have also made the characters stereotypical so that it can relate well with out narrative and so that that the characters can fit well into what the narrative is actually about. By creating a cliche narrative, the characters also need to be stereotypical so that the sequence flows and so that it creates suspense and tension for the audience. I have made my killer stereotypical as during my production the killer enters with a knife which already makes him powerful and more intimidating than the victim. The killer also has a broad stand which physically makes him seem overpowering compared to the victim and also wears a mask to hide his identity and intimidate the victim.
The audience can build a relationship with the characters through their roles within the narrative. For example the female has been allocated the role as the victim and this straight away relates to half the audience that are watching. The audience immediately get placed into the victims shoes as they can see that she is a female and a teenager. This helps the audience to build a close relationship as they understand the feelings that she is going through and can relate to her emotions. Due to the fact that the female victim is also roughly the same age for the majority of the audience, it also creates more of a dramatic effect and builds up tension for the audience. It enables the audience to build up surprise and shock as when something bad happens to the victim, then they also get affected by it. The audience relate to the victim through feelings and emotions, for instance if the victim feels threatened or scared by the killer then the audience would feel the same way and they will begin to feel exactly like the victim. This is a type of escapism but also encourages the audience to carry on watching the rest of the sequence to find out what happens to the victim. Some types of emotional reactions that my thriller creates is that the audience feel threatened by the killer, just as the victim does and they also feel on edge throughout and begin to feel scared for both themselves and the victim. As the sequence carries on, the audience become more jumpy and feel more tense as they don't know what is going to happen during the sequence and anything that does happen is a surprise to them and so creates shock within the audience.
The audience also build a relationship with the killer because they feel overpowered by the killer and feel threatened. This relates back to the victim, as the victim feels the same way and the audience can see that a relationship is being formed. The audience also begin to understand what the killer is capable of and so therefore they don't want anything bad to happen to the victim. The audience know that the victim is going to die as they have built a relationship with the killer, and the audience feel patronised and feel afraid of the killer. The way the killer is portrayed foreshadows the death of the victim. A male has been allocated the role of the killer and again this relates to the audience as stereotypically men are portrayed to be a lot bigger than females and also are represented to be the much stronger sex. Therefore both men and women watching the film can understand and relate to the characters themselves and the narrative taking place.
I have also made the killer very stereotypical. I have a male killer who is middle aged and this makes him seem more powerful and threatening rather than using a teenage boy. His costume is all black and his background is unknown. By making his costume black it creates conventional stereotypical killer that allows the audience to feel threatened and patronised by him straight away. By also making his background unknown, it creates a sinister and mysterious atmosphere as the audience don't know anything about the killer and so this makes him seem overpowering compared to the victim.
I have made the characters stereotypical in order to engage the audience into the thriller film and intrigue them into watching the whole sequence. By making the characters stereotypical, it allows the audience to build a strong relationship with the characters and get placed into the victims shoes and understand how the victim is feeling. I have also made the characters stereotypical so that it can relate well with out narrative and so that that the characters can fit well into what the narrative is actually about. By creating a cliche narrative, the characters also need to be stereotypical so that the sequence flows and so that it creates suspense and tension for the audience. I have made my killer stereotypical as during my production the killer enters with a knife which already makes him powerful and more intimidating than the victim. The killer also has a broad stand which physically makes him seem overpowering compared to the victim and also wears a mask to hide his identity and intimidate the victim.
The audience can build a relationship with the characters through their roles within the narrative. For example the female has been allocated the role as the victim and this straight away relates to half the audience that are watching. The audience immediately get placed into the victims shoes as they can see that she is a female and a teenager. This helps the audience to build a close relationship as they understand the feelings that she is going through and can relate to her emotions. Due to the fact that the female victim is also roughly the same age for the majority of the audience, it also creates more of a dramatic effect and builds up tension for the audience. It enables the audience to build up surprise and shock as when something bad happens to the victim, then they also get affected by it. The audience relate to the victim through feelings and emotions, for instance if the victim feels threatened or scared by the killer then the audience would feel the same way and they will begin to feel exactly like the victim. This is a type of escapism but also encourages the audience to carry on watching the rest of the sequence to find out what happens to the victim. Some types of emotional reactions that my thriller creates is that the audience feel threatened by the killer, just as the victim does and they also feel on edge throughout and begin to feel scared for both themselves and the victim. As the sequence carries on, the audience become more jumpy and feel more tense as they don't know what is going to happen during the sequence and anything that does happen is a surprise to them and so creates shock within the audience.
The audience also build a relationship with the killer because they feel overpowered by the killer and feel threatened. This relates back to the victim, as the victim feels the same way and the audience can see that a relationship is being formed. The audience also begin to understand what the killer is capable of and so therefore they don't want anything bad to happen to the victim. The audience know that the victim is going to die as they have built a relationship with the killer, and the audience feel patronised and feel afraid of the killer. The way the killer is portrayed foreshadows the death of the victim. A male has been allocated the role of the killer and again this relates to the audience as stereotypically men are portrayed to be a lot bigger than females and also are represented to be the much stronger sex. Therefore both men and women watching the film can understand and relate to the characters themselves and the narrative taking place.
Your analysis of question two, demonstrates a basic understanding of why stereotypes are essential to include. You have made as start with explaining what stereotypes are commonly used within thriller films, but you then need to relate these points to detailed examples from your thriller to demonstrate further udberrsabding. You also need to include images, to support the points that are made.
ReplyDeleteThis now demonstrates a proficient understanding of how you decided to stereotype and represent your chosen characters and this is because you have explained your choices and decisions in more detailed throughout.
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