1. ‘Run Lola Run’
Task C: Character

2. Characters to Analyse.
Papa Mama

3. Papa

4. Props

5. • The only prop the Father character interacts
with is a gun that is pointed at him by Lola.
This is a binary opposition to the stereotype of
a female and male character, as the female
character is in the position of power and the
male character is the one under duress (the
Todorov narrative theory suggests that male
characters stereotypically have the power).
This makes the father character appear weak
and not exactly powerful. It also makes him
appear like he has no power or control over
his daughter making him look like a bad father.

6. Costume

7. • His costume is a suit and tie. This makes his
character appear more managerial,
professional and all these things suggests that
he has a job (which as the dialogue shows, he
works in the bank). It also makes him seem
like a strong character, and the fact he has a
Managerial job fits into the same theory of
men having the decent jobs, compared to Lola
who doesn’t appear to have a job.

8. Dialogue
• Most of his lines make him appear to be extremely
defensive. “Lola, why didn’t you knock?” suggests
that his character has things to hide from his
daughter which makes him appear to be a shady and
mysterious character.
• He also answers “Yes” to the question “Do you want
to have a baby with me?”. This suggests he is quite a
dishonourable, lying character because he is having
an affair on Lola’s mum (even though it hasn’t been
explicitly stated their still together, it’s just an
assumption) and this makes him seem like a bad
parental figure to Lola because Lola sees him as an
authority figure and because he is being a dishonest,
lying cheater, it will have negative implications on her.

9. Camera Angle

10. • Most of the shot types this character is in are
close ups or medium shots. This makes him
look like quite an important character because
it is focusing on his reactions and closing in on
them. It also allows him to take up most of the
screen which helps to make him look like an
important character.
• The camera is not looking up at him or down
on him but straight at him, which makes him
seem like an ordinary character but with extra
status due to the shot types.

11. Composition
• Most of the shots he is in have a shallow
depth of field. This makes his character status
seem even more high because it makes the
background out of focus. This means that
Papa will be the only thing in focus in a shot,
and this means the audience will be drawn
into him making him seem very important
because it’s where all the attention of the
audience will be.

12. Camera Movement
• He isn’t really in any panoramic shots or tilting
shots, but this doesn’t really represent or
connote anything about the character.

13. Mama

14. Props

15. • In all of her scenes she is holding a phone and
talking into it. This suggests that she is a very
out going and sociable person because she is
talking to someone on the phone which is
something friends commonly do. It could also
suggest that she doesn’t really care about Lola
or her welfare as she is too busy talking on the
phone to take an interest in Lola and her well
being, she just sits there, on her phone,
talking instead of worrying about Lola who
was running out of the house, but she was too
busy on her phone to notice. The use of the
phone suggests she is a bad mother.

16. Costume

17. • Her costume is a nightie or dressing gown.
This suggests that she is quite a lazy character,
because it’s nearly mid-day (as the clock in a
previous scene showed) as she hasn’t
bothered to get dressed properly, she’s in her
sleep clothes and because she hasn’t
bothered to get dressed it makes her look
quite lazy. This links in with the connotations
from the phone, with her being more worried
about herself and her phone than helping Lola
which is not only selfish but lazy as well.

18. Dialogue
• Her first line in the film, “Lola, are you going
shopping, I need shampoo”, makes her look quite
selfish, because her daughter has just ran outside
quickly and all she can think about is her needs and
what she wants, which again helps her look like a
bad mother.
• Her next line, particularly the phrase “Sagittarius is
your ascendant” makes her appear like she believes
in the spiritual and supernatural levels and maybe
believes in horoscopes as Sagittarius is a star sign.
• “Yeah, but you’re married too” suggests that she is
trying to counsel and help a married couple which
suggests her profession is a therapist.

19. Camera Angle
• The camera angle is high angle, looking down
on her which makes her look like an
unimportant character because it gives the
audience the sense of power and not the
character. This is strongly conveyed by the fact
she gets less than five minutes screen time in
the film. The angle is also a close-up-medium-
shot which does make her look important but
the movement contradicts this.

20. Composition
• It is a deep depth of field, and this means that
the entire image is in focus, this makes her
look like an unimportant character because
everything is in focus and this means attention
is everywhere and not just on the character.
There is nothing in the composition that
makes her stand out so this makes her seem
even less important of a character.

21. Camera Movement
• The camera rotates and pans around her, not
showing any of her reactions of facial
expressions clearly again helping to show her
character status is quite low because nothing
is clearly shown about her.