Main Task - Pre-Production - Script, draft 1

Fade in.

1. Ext – ROOFTOP - DAY

JAMES WATSON pushes open the door to the roof-top of the building after having run up several stairs; he is out of breath and walks slowly. He approaches the edge of the roof and looks over.

V.O. Sister

Everything happens for a reason, that’s what they say, but have you ever wondered what it really means? I guess you could say that one simple event leads to what happens next and then the next and so on but maybe it’s what we do, who we are and the way we react that determines the reason. It’s our mental state; it’s our personality, its individuality.

TITLES

2. INT – BEDROOM – MORNING

JAMES WATSON, aged 15, wakes up in bed around 6:00am. He tries to be quiet walking around the house not to wake anyone up, tiptoeing as he walks.

3. INT – LIVING ROOM –MORNING

He puts on the TV and turns it down and soon his sister, aged 11, comes to join him, they quietly sit and watch TV. They soon hear footsteps and their breathing gets heavier as their fear increases, their dad angrily walks round the corner, clenching his fists.

DAD

(Shouting)

(Clenched fists)
(Walking over to the children fast)

How dare you wake me up at this time! You know how busy I am during the week why can’t you understand! You Stupid child!

(He hits JAMES)

3. EXT – CAR – DAY

JAMES, aged 18, is walking out of the house holding a box of his belongings, in the car sits his sister.

They pull away.

4. INT – NEW HOUSE – EVENING

The car pulls up to the block of flats, and they both get out the car looking up at their new home. A smile comes across his sister’s face, a sign of relief.

JAMES WATSON

(Gets out of car)

(Looks up)

Well this is home now

5. EXT – CAR – DAY

JAMES’ sister is driving, singing to music and seems quite happy. Although something happens, she slams the breaks on as she hears the tires screech along the floor her face is filled with fear and panic.

CAMERA shows her face during the accident, then goes to show an explosion of the car crash.

SISTER

(Singing to music)

(Looks up and face is in panic)

(Tears fall down her face)

!!SHIT!!

6. INT – HOUSE – NIGHT

The POLICE knock on the door; they take off their hats with sympathy, and ask to come in. JAMES’ heart drops and his throat goes dry but he welcomes them in to sit down.

POLICE

(Taking off hat)

Hello, Mr.Watson?

JAMES WATSON

(Shocked)

(Welcomes into home)

Yes, is everything okay? Come in.

POLICE

(Walk in house)

(Sit on sofa)

Mr.Watson we have some very unfortunate news for you.

Your sister has been involved in a fatal car accident. We tried to revive her but were not able to do so.

JAMES WATSON

(Tears begin to roll down his face)

(His hands cover his mouth)

(Voice is shaky)

What?! What do you mean?

POLICE

(Sympathetic)

We’re so sorry Mr.Watson.

(They leave quietly)

7. INT – LOUNGE – DAY

JAMES is lying on the sofa staring at the wall; it is a mess with rubbish everywhere. He has red eyes from crying and is depressed.

8. INT – BEDROOM – NIGHT

JAMES is asleep, restless. He is dreaming about memories with his sister, but not ones that he recalls being there. He is very confused as he wakes up as to why they seem so real but he can’t remember being there.

JAMES WATSON

(Rolls around in bed)

(Wakes up rubbing eyes and looking confused)

(Whispering)

What? I don’t remember.

9. EXT – STREET – DAY

JAMES approaches a tall, posh looking building and looks up at it curiously. He walks in the doors.

10. INT – OFFICE – DAY

He walks into a quiet office, with a desk and sits down. The woman behind the desk lets him go through to the next room where another woman awaits, a psychiatrist.

JAMES WATSON

(Walks in quietly)

(Sits down)

Receptionist

You can go in when you’re ready

JAMES WATSON

(Gets up)

Thank you

PSYCHIATRIST

(Sitting in a chair with clipboard)

Hello James, please take a seat.

What is it you want to talk about?

JAMES WATSON

(Sits down)

Hi, thanks.

It’s just that … well it’s hard I guess.

I will start from the beginning…

My sister died a few months ago, but since I keep having dreams of moments that seem so real yet I don’t remember being there, but it’s not just that ya’know like I’m dreaming about her death, as though I was there.

PSYCHIATRIST

(Writes information down)

Oh, I see what you mean. But in my experience the only way to really discover what’s happening to you is through hypnotism. Do you agree?

JAMES WATSON

(Thinks about it)

I guess so, yea.

11. INT – OFFICE – DAY

JAMES and the PSYCHIATRIST begin to set up for the hypnotism, with the use of a camera, clipboard, swinging balls and with JAMES lying comfortably on the sofa. 

JAMES WATSON

(Lies down on the sofa)

(Breathes deeply)

PSYCHIATRIST

(Sits down in chair, with clipboard)

(Starts the balls)

Okay, please close your eyes, and clear your mind. Focus on the centre of your fore-head; I will now begin counting down from 5 where you will feel more and more tired. 5…4…3…2…1…

JAMES WATSON

(Closes eyes)

(Head drops)

12. EXT – STREET – DAY

JAMES has a flashback which takes him to the day of his sister’s death; he is watching her drive but then suddenly walks out in front of her with anger in his eyes. She slams the breaks on and swerves but unfortunately dies as a result of the car rolling and then an explosion.

JAMES WATSON

(Anger in his eyes)

(Slowly walks into the road)

SISTER

(Screams)

13. INT – OFFICE – DAY

He then wakes up, realising what he’s done, he is distraught. The psychiatrist diagnoses him with MPD, a mental illness which gives him black outs.

JAMES WATSON

(Out of breath)

(Puts his head in his hands)

PSYCHIATRIST

(Looks worried)

James, forgive me. I didn’t realise, but it was needed, you have a treatable illness called MPD, it means that you get blackouts whilst it seems “someone else” takes over your body, it can happen from maybe a childhood trauma such as abuse or elsewhere. We can put you on medication to deal with this.

JAMES WATSON

(Tears running down his face)

(Runs out of room)

FADE OUT.

FADE IN.

14. EXT – ROOFTOP – DAY

JAMES WATSON pushes open the door to the roof-top of the building after having run up several stairs; he is out of breath and walks slowly. He approaches the edge of the roof and looks over.

V.O. Sister

Everything happens for a reason, that’s what they say, but have you ever wondered what it really means? I guess you could say that one simple event leads to what happens next and then the next and so on but maybe it’s what we do, who we are and the way we react that determines the reason. It’s our mental state; it’s our personality, its individuality.

FADE TO BLACK.

Main Task - Pre-production - Special effects

In my film I will aim to use a variety of special effects, particularly in terms of emphasising his sister's death
        -  by this I mean that it will be impossible for me to film an actual car accident as a result of health and safety as well as pure ethical reasons, therefore i must be able to find a way to film this possibly with an explosion in the background or something else.

I may also use background effects in order to make the film seem more realistic such as traffic or birds etc.

Main Task - Pre-production - Film Pitch

Mentality

Not all of the video was displayed here; the rest spoke about:
The story - "well without giving too much away it's quite deep and emotional with a kind of mental focus. I guess you will have to wait and see".
The interest - "personally I liked seeing the effect of the storyline on my character, but I also enjoyed the realism that is used within the story and the effects of the other characters, it connects well with the audience".

James is a very isolated person, he doesn't have many friends but is very close with his sister. He often doesn't remember things that happen, as though he wasn't even there.
He is the protagonist in this film but does he become the antagonist towards the end?

My pitch:
- Mentality  
"The mystery lies within"
They lived in an abusive home, got beaten up nearly everyday, but finally when he was old enough James took his sister and left.
Years later she sadly died in a fatal car accident, unknown to everyone of why or how it has happened.
However, James soon got flashbacks of his life and more importantly of his sisters' death whilst in his sleep. As a result he decides to visit a psychiatrist for help where he soon learns some interesting but terrifying facts.
BUT what did he find out?

Pre-production - Thriller Poster analysis

P.S I LOVE YOU

TAKEN

INCEPTION

SALT

FLIGHTPLAN

    

Main Task - Pre-production - Research

In order to get my ideas clear, I thought it would be a good idea to do a mind-map and possible elaborate on my current ideas, link in new ones and finally to have a good idea how my film should look:

Main Task - Similar Products - New Characters

I began planning my "plot" for the main task and decided to continue the film on from my preliminary task, using the same storyline and characters.. although this would now be used to essentially tell the story as my preliminary task was just the beginning.
The idea of my film is that James Watson grew up in an abusive family with a drunk mother and violent father, making him and his younger sister go into care although they became very close and protective as a result. However a few years later she unfortunately dies in a car accident, which is just the beginning of James' flashbacks.. he remembers things from when he was younger, he remembers things that he didn't know before, and finally he remembers what happened to his sister in the accident. It was him, something had come over him and caused the accident although he blacked out at this stage and couldn't remember it until now.. we then later find out that he has a psychological disorder which has caused these black outs.

Looking at real media texts I think that James is fairly similar to Marshall Edward "teddy" Daniels in Shutter island.

His character is unaware of his past, he is completely oblivious and it is a result of a traumatic experience in his past, therefore making him similar to James in the way that they both do not know that they firstly have an illness and secondly that it has anything to do with them.. they immediately blame outside factors although both from a normal life making it follow the thriller convention.

One of the theorists that can apply to the characters is:
Vladimir Propp - Character Types (the seven spheres)
This is because they believe that they follow the character of the hero.. as they try to solve the case of what happened to James' sister or to what is happening at the "prison". although it comes to light that they are both the villain as opposed to the hero of the story.

During the course of this project I will be using a variety of technology such as; camera, lighting, premier pro, photo-shop, internet research, recording interviews with people, making radio trailers, conducting a pod-cast, using email to communicate with those helping me as well as trying to find out opinions of the target audience.

Finally; the plot applies to many theories although the main one being Barthes - Enigma Code, this theory suggests that films make the audience ask questions, as they do not fully tell the story until essentially the end, for example this is used in "sin city" in the opening scene where a woman is killed by the man that says he loves her, he also claims that he "will help her".. leaving the audience question 'if he loves her, why would he kill her.. also why does she need saving'.
My film uses this theory in the way that the audience are unaware that James has a psychological illness, or that it would cause him to kill his sister.. to whom he is so close with.

Preliminary Task - Individuality

This is the final version of my film "Individuality"

The final stage of my production was to make a poster that would intially be shown to "advertise" my production. It should show both emotion and attempt to intrigue the audience; I decided that as my film is based up-on a fairly sad emotion that my poster to convey this also.

As a result I decided to use "sepia" tone effects to connote the sadness and lack of 'coloured emotion', giving the image somewhat an old feel.

The image that was used in my poster is intended to display confusion of what to do next, should he jump or not? the aim was generally to attract the audience by not telling the whole story or what lead to him feeling this way.

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

How effective is the combination of your main product and your film poster?
My film of individuality and the poster that goes with it combine well in terms of connoting the emotion that is meant to be displayed. By this I mean that the emotion that intentionally conveyed in the film is meant to be that of sadness, with slow, meaningful moments and soft music and the character showing true emotion, this is then shown in the poster with the use of low colouring and an image that allows the audience to wonder "if he's going to jump?"
The idea is that as a result of the genre, thriller, it is important to make the audience question what is going to happen, in order to keep them entertained. Does he jump or doesn't he?

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
From showing both my film and my poster to an audience I found that people generally understood the idea that I was essentially trying to convey, which is very good. Particularly they enjoyed the use of colourising to emphasise the mood within the scene. For example; in the film I darkened the colouring slightly to make it seem "dark" and "dull", and essentially display how the character felt, I also used "sepia" in my poster as this is often seen as somewhat an emotion tone, to show sadness, etc.
Overall I learnt that it may have been better for me to explain the story a bit more within the film as it was very confusing in terms of why the character was actually there, however the initial idea of this is important as I have decided to continue this in my Main task and therefore use this particular scene as the opening.

What have you learnt during the course of this project and what targets for improvement do you need to set for the main task?
Over the duration of this project I learnt the importance of organisation skills in terms of planning before to ensure that everyone knows exactly what is going to happen, this may be in terms of schedules being clearer or making sure that everyone "sticks" to the original script/planning. I have also learnt further skills in premier pro and photo-shop, as I struggled with these before from being unaware of exactly what I could do on them as well as not knowing how to use any of it. From firstly being shown basic skills on these programmes I was then able to go away on my own and "try it out" for myself which essentially helped me to work independently throughout.
In the future I would like to improve even more on my skills in these programmes to ensure that I fully understand the potential that can done to my project and therefore make it the best that it can be. I would also like to spend more time in terms of research, for example; being able to watch example films in order to give me an idea of what story-line I could possibly use in my main task. By this it will also mean that I can make sure the scripting I decide to use is the best one for my task!

Post- Production - storyboard

After realising that I may have to re-film some of my movie I decided to make another storyboard to clearly show what changes I have made and how I am now hoping for my film to look.

Post-Production - Editing

Whilst going through my rushes as I was preparing to edit I realised that some scenes may need to be re-filmed as they we're not shown in the way that I wanted or they were difficult shots to edit well.

The first one that I aim to change is as James is running up the stairs he should pass people and in a way push past them.
Also I want to change the shot as he reaches the top of the stairs, as I found that this would become very difficult to edit and connect to other shots, without this looking un-usual. Therefore I have decided to add another shot from behind James as he reaches for the door to the roof.
Finally one of the last shots of James looking over the edge of the building as if he wants to jump, i could add a POV shot onto that to emphasise what he's looking at.

Production - Location Shots

Whilst on location and during the filming on my product I took various photos:

I took a variety of different stills,  each were taken during production

Making them as accurate to the actual film as possible.

Pre-production - Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Contact details of crew: Ashleigh Hughes 07519076992

                                                Sami Bean              07540101630

                                                Amy Batten            07939402677

                                                Fern Clarke  

                                      

Location: Peterborough, Queensgate Car park

Technical requirements: -   camera

-          tripod

-          SD Card

-          Lighting

-          Sound (Microphone)

Scene Breakdown:

Scene 1 -       James is running up the fire-escape stairs, in order to reach the roof-top

Scene 2 –      He approaches the door to the roof, and pushes it open

Scene 3 -       He walks out onto the roof, towards the wall on the edge

Scene 4 -       He looks around the area – POV, Pan, etc.

Scene 5 -       A monologue begins from James’ mother (deceased), Janet.

Pre-production - Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Production Name: Individuality

Film Location: Peterborough, Queensgate Car park

Crew cast call time: 18:00

Setup start time: 18:10

Setup finish time: 18:15

Shooting start time: 18:20

Shooting finish time: 19:00

Time moved to a new location: N/A

Property Requirements:  -     Staircase

-          Open roof-top

Pre-Production - New Script

FADE IN.

1. INT – Staircase – Day.

JAMES WATSON is running up the fire-escape staircase, he is panting, and gradually slowing down through getting tired. He looks up to the top questioning how much further he must go, as he approaches the top he pushes the door open.
CAMERA tilts upward emphasising the distance left. Approaching the door James firmly pushes the door open to get onto the roof-top.

 

2. EXT – Roof of building – Day.

The Sunset is beautiful and glistens as he walks out of the doors. Slowly JAMES walks out approaching the edge of the roof towards the wall surrounding it, he loosens his top button and black tie. He pulls out an old hanker-chief that belonged to his mother and looks down at it, then raises his head and looks over the wall.

CAMERA uses various shots of over-the-shoulder, POV and close-ups also with panning movements.

3. EXT – Roof of building – Day.

Approaching the wall JAMES stops mid-way and begins to look around at where he is, the view and the beauty of it all.

Non-diegetic music begins to play.

V.O begins of JAMES addressing the audience.

 

JANET WATSON

                                                          (V.O.)

Isn't it funny, in this world, how everything we do can affect everything else that happens and believe me it can happen without us even knowing, take it from someone who knows. I mean one single event can change everything we know or do, we learn this from a young age whether we realise it or not; from forgetting to do your homework at school and then the following events lead to getting punished, rather than having our free time and essentially missing out on what could be an important opportunity. Life does it to us repeatedly yet we don’t realise this until it’s too late, unfortunately I'm experienced in these occurrences. But I've come to find that what's important is how we react and deal with these events… it's what makes us who we are… it’s what makes us individual.

FADE TO BLACK.

Pre-Production - Storyboard

I made a storyboard to help visualise my idea and essentially to make it clearer within my head:

Pre-Production - The Script

INDIVIDUALITY

FADE IN.

1. INT – Staircase – Day.

JAMES WATSON is running up the fire-escape staircase, he is panting, and gradually slowing down through getting tired. He looks up to the top questioning how much further he must go, CAMERA tilts upward emphasising the distance left. Approaching the door James firmly pushes the door open to get onto the roof-top, he is blinded by the sunlight.

JAMES WATSON

(Panting, sweating and gradually slowing down)

(Looks up to see how much further)

(Push door open)

2. EXT – Roof of building – Day.

He is blinded by the sunlight as he walks out of the doors and shields his eyes with his hand to help him to see. Slowly JAMES walks out approaching the edge of the roof towards the wall surrounding it. CAMERA uses various shots of over-the-shoulder, POV and close-ups also with panning movements.

JAMES WATSON

(Holds hand to block the sun)

(Slowly walks towards the wall)

3. EXT – Roof of building – Day.

Approaching the wall JAMES stops mid-way and begins to look around at where he is, the view and the beauty of it all. V.O begins of JAMES addressing the audience.

JAMES WATSON V.O

Isn't it funny, in this world, how everything we do can affect everything else that happens and believe me it can happen without us even knowing. I mean one single event can change everything we know or do, we learn this from a young age whether we realise it or not; from forgetting to do your homework at school and then the following events lead to getting punished, rather than having our free time and essentially missing out on what could be an important opportunity. Life does it to us repeatedly yet we don’t realise this until it’s too late, take it from a personal experience. But what is important is how we react and deal with these… it's what makes us who we are… it’s what makes us individual.

JAMES WATSON

(Looks around)

(Music plays in the background – dramatic, soft and quiet.)

FADE TO BLACK.

Pre-Production - The Plot

Individuality

- It begins with James running up the stairs to the roof-top of a tall building, he is sweating and distressed. When he reaches the top he slowly walks out getting closer to the edge, possibly debating to jump... But then he stops and looks around. It then begins a voice-over monologue in which James begins to talk about life; how every single event effects everything else, how everyone is different as a result of these events and how individuality makes us who we are but also is the basis of our actions. 

We don't actually know why James is on top of the roof but we do know that what has lead to this very moment has left him feeling very distressed, confused and questioning a great deal of things he once believed in. He is dressed in a suit, however it is very "scruffy" as a result of running & sweating.. with his shirt crumpled and un-tucked and his buttons done up wrong. 

The sequence is basic and follows the general "fabula" tone of a chronological order (a-b-c-d), where he runs up the stairs, to the roof and then begins his monologue. 

Similar Products - Linking characters to theory

Theorists:
There are four Theorists for thriller films;
- Goffman
- Propp
- Campbell, Flecture and Greenhill
- Bishop
Each believe that there are certain "types" of character that are within thriller movies and have specific roles or "characteristics". For example; Campbell, Flecture and Greenhill believed that there was three types of character; the big man, the sorcerer and the trickstar.

James Watson falls under the theory of Erving Goffman where he believed there were four main types of character:
- The Protagonist (Leading Character)
- The Deuteragonist (Secondary Character)
- The Bit Player (the audience is unaware of their background)
- The Fool (Uses humour)

Personally I think that James falls under various characters within this theory such as the protagonist and the bit player. This is because he is the main character of the film as it is directly centered around him, but he also the bit player as a result of the audience being very unaware of his past and how he got to where he is now.

Similar Products - Research - Thriller Character Creation

James Watson:
Title: - Mr.
Full Name: - James Michael Andrew Watson
D.O.B: - 12th June 1989
Age: - 22
Height: - 5ft. 8
Weight: - 13st
Shoe Size:- 10
Hair colour: - Brown
Eye colour: - Blue
Ethnicity: - White, British
Occupation: - Builder/construction worker
Sexual orientation: - Heterosexual
Maritial Status: - Single

Appearance:
James, is a fairly fashionable individual that generally will keep up-to-date with the different and new styles, he takes a lot of pride with his appearance although with his current occupation it makes it a great deal harder for him to do this, and therefore will "dress-up" when he goes out instead. His hair is short, chocolate brown and often styled.
Hobbies:
He enjoys anything physically exerting such as; going to the gym to get a good workout after a long day in order to get rid of steam or playing rugby with his friends. He used to like spending time with his girlfriend, however that recently ended as a result of career clash from her busy and successful career as a lawyer contrasting with his "flexible" shift work as a builder.
Family:
He grew up with a simple family life of his single mother (Martha), older sister (Danielle) and younger brother (Charlie). However life quickly changed at the age of 15 when an accident happened and tragic events followed which affected the rest of his life and actions.
Ethics:
James looks at life very different compared to how he used to as a results of his past where he previously would be a very moral person for example; by helping the elderly and volunteer work. However this changed and although he isn't a bad person James still does his bit but sometimes not all the way, a while back he was visiting a friend in hospital and found £50 in the hall he decided to keep £30 of this and handed in the remaining £20.. his ethics being intentionally bad however not completely. He believes that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes it's very wrong but others, when it's beneficial to him there is nothing wrong with that.


Thriller characters that share similar characteristics include:
- Paul Sheldon in Misery, as he is shown very isolated
- Jason Bourne in Bourne Identity, as he has to "discover" himself
- Dom Cobb in Inception, as he has a past that affects his future

Different characteristics:
- Dr. Hannibal Lector in Silence of the lambs, as his ethics and morals are that of non-existent as he eats people. However this behaviour arose from his past trauma of his sister being eaten which may somewhat link with the recent ethics of James.

Similar Products - Misery Characters

Paul Sheldon:

Paul Sheldon is a famous author of a series of books known as "misery", which is about a girl and her life. He returns to the very same "silver creek lodge" in western Colorado in order to write the drafts of his book, therefore promoting himself as very superstitious in terms of sticking to a routine/ritual in the hope that his books will be successful. However when he attempts to begin another novel, of which is not from the misery selection things begin to change and he becomes very unlucky and is a victim of a dangerous car accident as a result of bad weather, then is his luck gradually gets from bad to worse when his "number 1 fan" saves him and keeps him hostage.
Paul's morality and ethics shown are generally to be "making the best out of a bad situation", where he compliments, obeys and abides by the rules set out by Annie, this is a result of his fear of what could happen.. from the pills she gives him to the abusive behaviour she provides. He aims to find a way out of his situation through the easiest way possible, however he is fairly naive at the beginning to believe her "nice" ways and that she will look out for him.. this changes when he realises she is no longer a nurse at the hospital due to a series of killings that occurred.

I think Paul is a genuine person to whom is desperate to get home from the bad situation that he finds himself in, he is very scared but stays calm throughout as he knows that is only way to survive. As he is attempting to begin another book, it shows that Paul is experimental and willing to try something new, however this is rejected by Annie and her love for Misery therefore he is persuaded to "bring Misery back to life".
The way in which Paul went about surviving was what helped him to get out of there, although i feel that he should've been a great deal more careful when hiding & disguising his plans.. such as the knife in which she found and he was painfully punished for as she broke his ankles.

Annie Wilkes:

Annie Wilkes is an ex-nurse, living her on her own and the number one fan of Paul Sheldon's series of books "Misery", she is a very controlling, condescending and abusive person that knows exactly what she wants and will go to any cost in order to get it. Over the course of the story we see Annie in different lights, firstly as a caring nurse that saved Paul's life, however over time this changes as she becomes angry and aggressive towards him and orders him to re-write and bring back to life Misery. Her obsession with the character and Paul means that she will do anything to get what she wants, which is proven at the end when she attempts to kill him and herself.
I don't think that she has many strong morals and ethics except her passion for the books and to do anything in order to get what she wants making her a very independent yet selfish individual. She does not take into account the consequences of her serious actions and is also very naive to what could happen and will happen.

In my opinion I think that Annie has "mental issues" in terms of giving both physical and psychological harm to Paul, particularly in shooting a random person (police officer) and by being able to tie Paul up, putting a block between his legs and using a large hammer to break his ankles to stop him from getting away.
i believe if Annie had been given severe help from the outside world previous to this then it would've possibly prevented all of this.. however i also think that Annie doesn't see that she needs this help and therefore without that help cannot be made.

Similar Products - protagonist VS antagonist

All films use various types of characters and plot however in every story there is a protagonist and an antagonist character, these are generally main characters within the film.

Protagonist:

A protagonist character is generally the “main character“ of a film in which may be the hero, the villain or even the bystander. It is the person to whom the film is evolved around, in which the story is about. One example of a protagonist would be Paul Sheldon (James Caan) in Misery as he is the character to whom everyone is looking for but is captured by the antagonist character. We know that Paul is the protagonist because he is shown to be the main character in which the audience revolve around this is done by following his career at the beginning, the accident occurrence, being held against his will, trying to escape and finally dealing with his “problem”.

Another example of the protagonist character within thriller may be Liam Neeson in Taken as he must try to save his daughter from being trafficked in Europe; he is the protagonist character generally because he is the main character to whom the storyline follows, particularly in terms of getting revenge.

Antagonist:

An antagonist character is the opposite of the protagonist, in the way that they provide obstacles for them, for example the protagonist could be a criminal making the antagonist possibly a police officer. There can be more than one antagonist meaning that it varies however with thriller there is generally just the one, such as; misery Annie Wilks is the antagonist preventing Paul from escaping and living his life freely.

Also an example of the antagonist character may be Malorie Cobb in inception as she constantly aims to prevent Dom from living his life and being with his children, but also within the dreams she becomes an important element to trying to “ruin” the occurrence of the dreams/project/inception.

Similar Products - Character Analysis 1

Taken - Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson)
Plot:
Bryan is an ex-CIA agent who retired in order to build upon his relationship with his daughter Kim although after her 17th birthday she goes travelling with a friend after being given "forced" permission from Bryan from extensive pressure given by his ex-wife Lenore. Whilst in Paris Kim is kidnapped in order to be trafficked by an Albanian pimp, but just before she notices people in her house and phones her father to help, he hears the entire kidnapping. He must then try to figure out how to get his daughter back...

Bryan Mills: - Retired CIA officer, highly trained
                   - Father of Kim (Maggie Grace)
                   - Divorcee of Lenore (Famke Janssen)

The clip above shows Bryan on the phone to his daughter's kidnappers as he threatens them, I feel that it shows him personally as determined, angry and protective of his family.

From the beginning of the film we see Bryan visiting his daughter on her 17th birthday as he brings her an expensive karaoke set knowing that since she was little she wanted to be a singer, however he is "down-staged" by her step-dad who buys her a horse, this shows Bryan to be not as lucrative and slightly unable to treat his daughter as well as others.
We then see him being fairly resistant to letting his daughter go travelling with her friend due to knowledge and therefore fear of what could happen, however his ex-wife, Lenore, persists on letting her "live her life". By this Bryan then is shown to be fairly persuasive with his decisions although still very protecting as he insists on Kim keeping constant contact with him throughout the trip.
Next we see Kim phoning her dad as she knows there are people in her apartment, but then with Bryan previous knowledge of working with the CIA he must tell her to let them take her and shout out as many physical details as possible for him to hear. By this I feel that it shows him to be prepared for sacrifice if it means he can succeed and get his daughter back as quickly and safely as possible.

As Bryan searched France and Europe for his daughter Kim we see him fighting for her at fast pace, as he pushed himself to reach his "aim" ... his determination shows to get back his daughter before it's too late. Until eventually his high skill from the CIA helps him to find her traffickers.. soon to be punished for it.

From this clip we learn that Bryan is a very clever man and will not be patronised or condisended in anyway at all, this is good for his values as it displays himself to be a man who is in control of the situation whether it is bad or good and also that he won't take any "nonsense" from anyone. This "in control" image that is portrayed shows a side of Byran that makes him dominant in many if not all aspects of his life such as protecting his daughter (being the situation he deals with in this film).

Similar Products - Task 1 (A)

What is Thriller?

Thriller is a genre of literature, film, video gaming and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as; a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, terror. Literary devices such as red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fright/chase sense are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre ahs its own characteristics and methods.

Common methods 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, paranoia and sometimes action are common in paranoid thrillers.