Notes on character conventions of thriller films

1. Monday 19th September 2016
Character conventions
Character
Narrative films – generally focus on human characters & their struggles
Characters are mostly responsible for cause & effect in narrative
Film Flat – we know little about Round – we know a lot about
Shutter Island Guards Teddy
Dark Knight Gordon’s wife
Gordon’s son
Batman
Gordon
Star Wars Chewbacca
Storm troopers
Hans Solo
Kingsman: The Secret Service Eggsy’s little sister Eggsy
Deapool Old woman that DP lives with Deadpool
The Tooth Fairy Mum Tooth fairy
Mall 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
character
Traits 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

2. 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 Service
Relational – 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 choice
Eggsy’s mum trying to decide between her boyfriend & her son
Societal – Agent against everyone in the church: fighting
Agents against most people who are getting new sim cards
Situational – Interview – they have to choose whether or not to shoot the dog
Bedroom 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