AS media research

1. CONVENTIONAL CHARACTERS IN
A THRILLER

2. WHAT DO THRILLER TEXTS REPRESENT?
• Thrillers often present the world and society as dark, dangerous and
corrupt and for this reason the protagonists involved have to be
abnormal to society.
• The characters in thriller texts are usually innocent victims, stalkers,
assassins, menaced women, psychotic individual, police, people
involved in a twisted relationship or terrorists.

3. CONVENTIONAL CHARACTERS IN A
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
• The use of Conventional Characters in a psychological thriller
gives the spectator the “edge of the seat” feeling. Often, an intense
atmosphere can be caused by the protagonist having a secret. In
my film opening, this atmosphere is created as Alice is hiding the
truth about the murder of her mother and its trying to twist the
spectator into thinking she didn’t do it. However, as the opening
continues, the secret slowly reveals and when you are shown the
knife scene the tension of the genre builds up which represents
the mentality of the characters in the film.

4. ORPHAN
• An example of a thriller that creates this intense atmosphere is
Orphan. Esther plays the protagonist in this film and when the
spectator is first introduced to her we feel empathy as we are told
by the narrative that she is a young girl, 9, an orphan and from
Russia. Despite this, as the narrative continues the truth about
Esther is revealed. We start to notice why she wears ribbons on
her wrists and this is to hide her scars. She isn't a innocent young
girl, she is a 33 year old women who as a disorder that makes her
be really shorts. She didn’t come from an orphanage in Russia,
she came from a mental institution.

5. Esther
Kate
Max Daniel
John

6. HAPPY FAMILY...

7. CHARACTERS IN MY OPENING
Carol“The Mother”
The dominant ideology of the mother is someone
who is loving, caring and understanding.
In my thriller opening I have created a juxtaposition
towards this from Alice’s point of view. Alice thinks
her mother is evil as she “killed” her twin brother at
birth and she now hears his voice to get revenge on
her.
The mother only appears once in my opening and
when she does she is introduced with a fade
transition. I did this to emphasis her weakness and
it puts emphasis on a fade of the past as she is no
longer alive.
The nursery rhyme, “Hush little
baby” is sung by the mother and
daughter which creates a bond
between the two and a bond
between the character and
spectator.

8. From the questionnaire that I carried
out, I asked what characters do
people enjoy watching in thrillers. My
main response from this was young
girls. I think this was because girls
especially create that sense of
innocence for the spectator as
women are usually considered to be
weak, vulnerable and an “object”.
Youth was also a high response in
preferred characters. Youth is the
time before you reach an adult. From
this research I think it will be best to
use a younger main protagonist.

9. ALICE
I decided for my main protagonist to be a
young girl as this will ensure that the genre
of a thriller is achieved. Young girls create
panic and vulnerability for the spectator as
we consider them to be weak. From the
questionnaire on audience the response for
preferred characters to watch was young
girls and since this is my chosen audience I
will follow this through.
Alice is acting to be an 11 year old girl. This look was achieved by dressing her in
school uniform, and putting her hair into a school style. The influence I got from this
was from Orphan. The main protagonist here is Esther who is acting to be younger
than her real age. Her costume is very similar to Alice's which tricks the spectator
and hides the truth.

10. ABSENT FATHER
References:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2510371/Britains-130-000-absent-dads-One-fathers-lose-contact-
children-earlier-relationships.html
Over the years, absent fathers are a growing problem in modern day upbringings. In this
century it is It is estimated that up to 97% of single parents are mothers., which leads to 3%
being fathers. Its obvious that women are the main carers of children but this role should be
shared equally between mother and father.
According to the daily mail, In total, 129,000 fathers do not have any contact with their
children and 300,000 do not pay to support them. This suggests another moral panic for the
society that we live in. If this pattern continues then our children will think of single
upbringing to be the norm and would possible consider this route themselves.
We can call these fathers feckless.
What is a definition of a feckless father?
-A man who really doesn't connect with his own fatherhood cannot put his children first.

11. SINGLE PARENTING
This pie chart demonstrates
how 13% of feckless fathers
have no contact with their
children.
Only 21% of fathers see their
children once a week.
28% see their children a few
times a year.
But 38% see their kids several
times a week

12. ALICE
Having an absent father in Alice puts emphasis on the moral panic of
feckless fathers. It will allow the spectator to question themselves
where is the father? which is what society need to be more concerned
about.
Only having two characters in my thriller opening keeps my
production to be at a low cost. In addition, it helps the audience to
known the protagonists well and will avoid any confusion.
Only one character will only be shown at a time which will
also put more emphasis on the movement of the text. As
the camera moves, handheld shots will almost create the
spectator to be another character within the text which is
what adds a twist to this psychological thriller.