Monday 19th September 2016

Character conventionsCharacterNarrative films – generally focus on human characters & their strugglesCharacters are mostly responsible for cause & effect in narrative

Film Flat – we know little about Round – we know a lot aboutShutter Island Guards TeddyDark Knight Gordon’s wife

Gordon’s sonBatmanGordon

Star Wars ChewbaccaStorm troopers

Hans Solo

Kingsman: The Secret Service Eggsy’s little sister EggsyDeapool Old woman that DP lives with DeadpoolThe Tooth Fairy Mum Tooth fairyMall Cop Paul’s mum Paul Blart (round in more than one

way )

Flat – Minor characters, don’t go through much change in the story, don’t have much substance to them (stereotypes), sometimes help to drive the narrative forward

Round – More fully developed characters – may experience a change, main characters usually

Developing characters - How are round and dynamic characters created? – how can you communicate things about your character without just having them talking?

Through conversations with other characters Through group associations (e.g. the fact that Teddy in Shutter Island is a member of

the police force, etc) Through direct physical description of that character (e.g. “Oh yeah, Teddy Daniels,

the legend”) Through reactions to conflict (the way they react to situations)

Character Traits (i.e. personality)Traits = attitudes, skills, habits, tastes, psychological drives, any other qualities of a characterTraits in opening scenes are relevant to later scenes – this is related to cause and effect

Example: Eggsy – strong-willed, stands up to people (e.g. in pub)- later pays off when he fights the group in the pub.Teddy – looks for his cigarettes – can’t find them because he doesn’t have any

Character: Goals, choices and obstacles Goals might include locating treasure, choosing a foster parent or looking for love. Characters encounter obstacles in pursuing these goals – cause and effect ties in:

goals and obstacles coming together create conflict and drama Probably no more than 2 obstacles in your opening, but we need to know what the

character’s goal is -> remember to show it rather than tell it

Choices Characters create the cause and effect through choices that lead to consequences

and conflict. These patterns are designed so that the audience clearly sees and understands

them. Characters possess traits, face conflicts, make choices and undergo changes that

enable or hinder pursuit of a specific goal- all leading towards the ultimate goal or confrontation

Conflict – central to any narrative, but is created by characters Relational conflict – conflict between characters over goals Inner conflict – conflict within a character = e.g. self esteem, insecurities,

uncertainties (e.g. in Shutter Island, Teddy had a lot of inner conflict) Societal – conflict between a person and a group – e.g. government, gang, family,

army, country (maybe they disagree, someone going against the family- 1 person against a lot of other people)

Situational – conflict that develops as a result of a situation – used in disaster films a lot (least used in thriller films – good example of this: Titanic)

Cosmic – conflict between the main character and a supernatural force (not used much in thriller films – not quite the right thing that thriller films deal with)

Conflict in Kingsman: The Secret ServiceRelational – Eggsy competing with other people to become an agent

Eggsy against Samuel L Jackson toward the end of the film Inner – Eggsy wondering whether he is good enough for the secret service

Agent wondering whether Eggsy was the right choiceEggsy’s mum trying to decide between her boyfriend & her son

Societal – Agent against everyone in the church: fightingAgents against most people who are getting new sim cards

Situational – Interview – they have to choose whether or not to shoot the dogBedroom filling with water – they have to escape

Cosmic - N / A

Diegetic & Non-diegetic elements- Diegetic elements are everything that exists in the world of the film- including

everything implied off screen- Non diegetic elements are elements within the film but not within the films world –

e.g. music or voice-over narration- Characters are unaware of non diegetic elements. A director can use non-diegetic

elements to suggest narrative - using non diegetic to communicate narrative in your film is a good technique to use