Planning Characters - Miss Miller

 The representation of characters is vital during any sequence or film, by creating a certain image for a character the audience is able to build a relationship with them. For example in most thriller films the audience feels empathy or sympathy for the victim, this is usually because they are represented in such a way that the audience feel like they are able to connect with their character and see similar qualities in the victim and themselves. The protagonist usually becomes a well like character who the audience encourages this is created as the protagonist usually takes care of the victim and saves them from any possible danger or harm. The antagonist on the other hand is usually the least favoured character which is also because of how the audience perceives them, the antagonist is seen as the bad guy and usually wants to harm innocent victims which the audience dislike about them. Representations like this build up audience relationships with the characters making them likeable and not likeable spending on their characteristics and how they are portrayed.

The main character which our sequence is based around is our victim, played by a girl aged 17, because of her age the audience are able to decipher that she is a student which fits in with the narrative and setting of our opening sequence, they can tell she is likely to still be in education studying where the sequence is set. This is suitable for the thriller genre as our age certification is set for 15 year olds, so they audience are able to relate to the characters. This builds a closer relationship between the victim and the audience as they are able to position themselves in the victims position and feel targeted by the antagonist making them engage with the film. We have decided that the main character (victim) will be played by a girl as it is more conventional to the thriller genre, in thrillers women are represented as more vulnerable and weaker than the male sex. As women are usually shown as the damsel in distress it helps the audience feel sympathy as they know women are shown as weaker and more vulnerable in thriller films. Th type of clothing our victim will be wearing is her school uniform. We chose this because this would make her look like an ordinary teenager and further make her situation more relatable to the audience.

The antagonist will be wearing dark clothes to signify an element of darkness about his personality further to show the audience that he has had a dark life. The antagonist is also stereotypical to a thriller film as his identity will be covered until the end, he will be masked and quite tall, this will make him appear powerful and intimidating due to his structure. The mask will hide his identity making him appear very mysterious creating suspense, this is commonly used in other thriller films such as scream and the strangers. Masks are usually worn by villains as it hides the identity therefore creates suspense as it could be anyone in the film. This will also be conventional to fit the narrative as the killer is around the same age as our victim and goes to the same school as her. He will disguise himself in order to get closer to the victim in order for the audience to not be able to recognise him, this is conventional as the audience would expect for the killer to be masked. His costume he is wearing will be conventional as the dark colours will symbolise a sinister connotation. He we be around 17 years old which will engage the audience as they can relate to being his age also this will lead the audience to engage further with what goes on in the opening sequence so they are able to pick up on why he is taking on such a challenge. This creates a relationship between the audience and the character as they anticipate all of his moves. When his identity is kept hidden the audience try to spot who he is in everyday life to see if he has any connections to the victim.

In our narrative we have included a red hearing. The victims friend will wear a grey suit conveying that he also goes to the same school as both the killer and the victim, he will come across as weird and strange. In the way he talks and what he says the audience believe it is him to be the stalker all along. The grey suit will be an easy way to confuse the audience to weather he is good or bad, leaving the audience to take their eyes off of the killer and automatically pin the blame on the friend. By all of the characters being the same age it will mislead the audience to frame the wrong person. The audience usually expect to see a red herring in a thriller film to lead them astray. The audience build more of a relationship through this as they do not know the background of this character so they are not aware of what he is capable of. The idea of having the victims friend is in order to confuse the audience as he has the same physical look as the killer, which could lead the audience to think he could have as much power as the victim.

My personal story board is conventional in itself as it will engage the audience due to the codes and conventions commonly used by thriller films.