The document discusses the use of character archetypes from Vladimir Propp's theory in a thriller. The main characters discussed are the princess/damsel in distress, the villain, and the hero. The damsel in distress character subverts stereotypes by being Asian and strong-minded. The villain is portrayed through dark colors and clothing to represent evilness. Character shots and music are used to further develop the archetypes and foreshadow events according to common storytelling conventions.

1. Part Five..

2. For the characters in our thriller we have used Propp’s concept. The characters we have used based on this theory are the princess/damsel in distress, the villain and the hero and his helpers. The hero in our thriller will be the guy who has taken the video, the helpers will be the hero’s friend; the princess/damsel in distress is the victim shown at the start and the villain is the psycho. In our thriller we have used a promiscuous young girl for our damsel in distress who has elements of femininity e.g. heels and lipstick therefore stereotyping Propp’s idea of a damsel in distress. However we have subverted the stereotype through her looks to make her more strong minded and powerful. Also most “damsel in distresses” are blonde. To challenge this concept we have used an Asian girl. This was also used in order to represent and appeal to a multicultural audience as society now is made up of several different cultures.

3. The shot of her walking in heels shows her overpowering side as well as her feminine side. They heels represent her to be authoritative through the sounds of the heels as they are very bold loud and strong. This also gives it the feminine aspects because many women wear heels in order to look sexy. Heels are worn both by authoritative women as well as sexy women which fit into our characters personality. This character subverts the usual stereotype of an Asian girl. This is due to the fact that a lot of young Asian women being seen as weak and less powerful in comparison to men. However this character has challenged those views by presenting herself to be more strong and as equally authoritative as men are seen to be

4. This shot has been used in order present a positive ideology of women. It shows that women are very well presented and as attractive as they make an effort to maintain themselves as well as taking care of themselves. Rapunzel is an archetype of a princess character. We have used this shot through the use of lighting. The lighting from the window silhouettes the character which represents her to be vulnerable, unknown, mysterious and helpless. This reinforces the damsel in distress character type as we as the princess. This shot foreshadows her later entrapment as seen in the common mythology “Rapunzel”. All these representations create a polysemic character of the victim.

5. In contrast to this our villain is an archetype of a killer/psycho through the black colours he is wearing. He is a typical stereotype of a villain as the colour black is mostly associated death, evilness and fear. In many of our shots as well as this one the villain is always wearing a black hoodie. This is iconic because most criminals wear dark hooded tops reinforcing the concept of the psycho being a criminal. Also we have used a black actor as the psycho; this is a negative stereotype of black people as they are associated with crime in society; therefore giving a negative representation of them.

6. The villain from “Scream” also wears similar clothes to what the psycho wears in our thriller. The villain from “Scream” also wears a black hoodie covering his head at all times. However the psycho does not wear a mask to hide his face; however it is still hidden through our camera angles.

7. The sound of the engine starting up foreshadows the crime the villain is about to commit. The engine has a loud roaring sound reflecting it to be some sort of a wild animal waiting to catch his prey

8. In majority of the villain’s shots we have used a dark and dull colour palette of greys and black lighting which reflect his dark personality. Also the lighting contributes in hiding identity as well as hiding his motives and intentions. The dull colour palettes used may reflect his dark pasts which have turned him into a psycho.

9. We have used a close up shot of the villain’s hands. This could be a positive representation of men as it shows that he is in control and everything lies in his hand. This also could reflect the fact that the victims life is not in God’s hand but the villain’s hand.

10. In this shot we’ve used a bunch of boys that wear tracksuits and hoodies which represent what most young men wear these days. Most teenage boys have been stereotyped to wear tracksuit bottoms and big jumpers to give the “rude boy” look. Also by using a gang of boys it instantly connotes that they are messing around due to society stereotyping gangs to be quite mischievous. Also we’ve used a park as out locations due to the fact that a lot of young men go there therefore being quite representative.