Key Characters in Thrillers

Key Characters in Thrillers

Vladimir Propp’s Theory

Vladimir Propp developed a character theory in order to study media texts and productions. Propp’s Theory indicates that there were 7 character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media. These were the following:

The villain (struggles against the hero)

The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)

The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)

The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)

The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)

The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess)

In Thrillers there is a clear line between the good and evil characters, there is usually an evil team/character and a good team/character. Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy thrillers.

The primary elements of the thriller genre:

The protagonist(s) faces death, either his and/or her or somebody else's.

The force(s) of the antagonist's must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.

The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character that cannot be put down.

The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.

The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.

All action and characters must be credibly realistic or natural in their representation on screen.

The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.

One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.

The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.

Either by accident or their own curiousness, each character is dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.

Characters usually include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, characters with deep dark pasts, psychotic individuals, spree killers, sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

The protagonists are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger, although commonly in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger such as police officers and detectives. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women lead characters are increasingly common. In psychological thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.

This character from the thriller film ‘Gone Girl’ is perceived as bad but turns out to be innocent therefore making him part of the main plot line. The main plot line of a thriller focuses on a mystery that must be solved, in this particular case the disappearance of his wife. As the story unfolds, we find out his wife is a psycho that planned and faked her own murder.

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Thriller_(genre)?o=2802&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

Grace Blick Produced this.

Evaluation Grace Blick

Georgia DeBranco-Chessum - Evaluation - Question 5-7

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We decided that the best way to attract and address our audience would be to make our film relatable, and not too far-fetched and fake. To do this, we set our film in a sixth form college. This meant that the characters, both main and background, were ‘normal’ and therefore would appeal to our audience because it could be a real life situation, and resembled a ‘based on a true story’ film.

 Also, using the enigma theory, we attracted our audience by using cliff-hangers. Al the end of our film, we are left with the image of a gun pointed to the females head and then a loud scream with the view of the door. This makes the audience think and wonder whether the captor will kill the woman, and make them want to watch on.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learned many things about technologies while constructing our media product. We used a Canon video camera, which none of us had any experience with. All any of us had done before was minor filming on mobile phones or cameras of events such as concerts or everyday activities. Using this camera allowed us to learn about the lighting and angles that we can use to gain an effect, and also allowed us to develop our understanding how to create specific feeling and emotions in the audience. Also, we learned that we did not need a tripod to effectively film our product, as during the filming process we found that using ‘shaky camera’ POV shots and a slightly blurred finish to our shots and filming worked better to create more effect on the audience and a sense of reality. I also learned that professional lighting is not always necessary, and natural lighting can be just as effective if correctly used.

The editing software we used was Adobe Premier Elements 10. This was very useful to us as it enabled us to use a variety of different techniques to make our film appealing and fit for viewing. We were able to cut, merge and order different scenes in order to fit with our plot and timescale, and use varying ways to switch between these cuts, for example a ‘dip to black’ or ‘cross merge’. It also allowed us to add titles to our piece in varying fonts and colours, which enabled us to make it fit with our thriller genre, as well as give the relevant information. We could easily add music to promote emotions from our audience, in our case particularly tension and fear. However, one problem we had with this technology is that it was hard to get the correct scenes in place, cut and in order, and any mistake early in the scene list would mean a total re-do for the rest of the list. We learned that we had to get every scene exactly as we wanted as we went along, as we had no time to make mistakes and lose the entire film. Also, being on a computer means that it must be saved regularly to ensure that it will not be lost if there is a system crash, and so we learned the importance of this.

7) Looking back at you preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at the preliminary task, I would say my understanding of both filming and editing has improved. In many ways. I now understand how to properly use a camera, whereas at the start of the preliminary task I had no knowledge and found it difficult to create an effective shot. However, now I feel as though I am able to do this and I understand how to manipulate angles, lighting and sound in order to create an emotion in an audience, or for entertainment. I have also learnt that a tripod and special lighting equipment is not needed in order to create a believable and entertaining piece. On the editing side of production, I have learned how to use the different functions of Premier Elements 10 in order to create smooth transitions between shots, to cut and edit scenes and to add effects to the shots. Also, I have learned how to add music to a video, and effectively add titles throughout the piece at appropriate times. I feel, in my final piece, I was able to make the piece more fluent and create feeling more effectively due to these new skills I gained between the preliminary task and our final piece.