Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Character Profiles & Costumes

Name: Sam
Age: 16

[Victim]


A unisex name is assigned to Mel's role as we want her character to represent vulnerability as a concept that is detached from gender. Despite popular misconception created by much of the media, men are victimised by stalkers as well as women. Sam is a name given to both males and females, a name free of stereotypical gender association. Mel, or Sam, therefore represents all those vulnerable, or all those capable of becoming vulnerable, in society. Her name subtly reflects the fact that anyone, regardless of their gender, can fall victim of crime and meet with an unjust fate.



That said, however, Sam's costume was influenced heavily by Paddy Considine's Richard [below] in Dead Man's Shoes [2004]. We wanted to challenge the stereotype Considine's character fits. Richard is a gruff, somewhat scruffy ex-soldier, who is able to handle weapons skilfully and not appear shocked upon witnessing - or even creating - violence. Despite butchering his way to vengeance on the local bullies who seemingly have it coming, he is intended to be received as a good, virtuous protagonist with a strong moral compass.


We thought it would be interesting if Mel wore a similar military fashion. Sam is unlike Richard in the sense that she is victimised and does not reap revenge on our antagonist, but by being dressed in stereotypically more masculine shades of green, the audience will be challenged to associate Sam with a weaker disposition to that of her stalker. Furthermore, Mel plays the 'prey' and, in the animal kingdom, prey must hide, prey must camouflage, in order to survive. This idea ties in nicely with the naturalistic setting [Weybourne beach] of our thriller opening. Mel's khaki attire tells us about our antagonist as well and creates connotations of her follower being an animalistic figure, hunting her down, preparing to perform a crime motivated solely by a natural instinct, a desire for dominance. Sam appears as though she is attempting to blend in with her surroundings, which reiterates a previous point; she could be anyone - predators do not always attack those weakest in a pack. Sometimes by blending in, you stand out.

Name: Ian
Age: 16

[Antagonist]


Stuart embodies Ian, our antagonist. Unlike Sam, Ian fails to challenge or break any antagonistic stereotypes of the thriller convention. He is a young male whose costume consists of 'predictable' layers of ominous dark.

The name Ian was derived from the character of Ian Moone [below], who featured in season eleven of the US hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The name Ian Moone is an anagram of 'I am no one' and so we decided to apply the same name to Stuart's role, as we think it in fitting with the idea that everyone has the potential to be involved - in one way or another - with law-breaking acts. Just as we want to imply this with Mel's character having a name that is not gender specific, we also want to imply that anyone can adopt antagonistic traits and become deviant.


As mentioned above, Ian's costume is intended to reinforce connotations of danger, deviance and menace. Much as his name is inspired by Moone, so is his clothing. One visual element that renders the American antagonist so menacing is the lack of skin he has exposed. This makes him appear inhuman and animalistic. We aimed to recreate these connotations when putting together Stuart's outfit. Our Ian is significantly covered up likewise to Daniel Browning Smith's terrifying portrayal, wearing black leather gloves and his hood up, as well as a hat in the earlier beach scenes.

In terms of Ian and his relation to Sam, we want him to victimise a figure who is not necessarily overtly vulnerable or viewed obviously as 'easy meat'. Sam's costume appears, to a certain extent, no less menacing than Ian's. Sam is androgynous, allowing the viewer to not recognise her as a victim quite so quickly.

1 comment:

  1. An excellent analysis of the connotations of the names and costumes you have given your characters and your links to similar character types in feature films.

    Articulate, focused and interesting; I particularly like the way you have explained Sam's androgynous appearance which gives credibility to the idea that anyone can be a victim of stalking.

    Well done.

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