Sarah Ghile

Character Representation

Thriller Movies
Generally thrillers show justice and injustice fighting (good vs. evil) fighting against one
another with an overall feel of suspense and anticipation. The identity of the antagonist is
more often known and the protagonist must intervene with their plans. A thriller movie
usually has a growing sense of suspense and threat, and an apparent theme of pursuit
although they sometimes begin with a sense of equilibrium.
The story of a typical thriller will be shown through the protagonists point of view,
following the events that the heroes faces and has to overcome. This point of view allows
the audience to become more involved in the events themselves and therefore closer to the
characters as they see how the characters interact with each other in different situations.
Often, there will be short clips portraying the antagonists point of view and telling of the
plot. Through the use of a flashback or allowing the audience insight on perhaps a trigger or
event in the antagonist life that has led to them becoming evil, allows the audience to
sympathise with the antagonist or understand them more. Depending on the character and
contexts the audience could even feel some guilt for their previous judgment and dislike of
the character.
Most typically, events covered by the film are important to the films progression and lead
directly from a previous scene. There are usually lots of action scenes between characters,
which keep the audience enticed, and guessing what will occur next. If the audience can
understand the plot but are still miss lead and a revelation that no one anticipated then it
usually makes for a better film.
During scenes where the characters are simply talking, the audience is general clued in,
however they may not get the full explanation and parts of what is important to the
conversation may not something the audience have seen yet. This allows the film to retain
its mystery and suspense until later. Usually the motives of the villain and hero is revealed
towards the end of the film, the reveal of their motives helps the audience understand why
the characters have acted the way that they have. If the motive is left unrevealed the film
will end with a note of suspense and confusion, this could lead to a frustrated audience but
could also be a perfect way to end for a sequel.



Sarah Ghile

Characters
Jake (the main character), is a young man with questionable morals in life, he has a
tendency to manipulate and exploit everyone around him for his own amusement. All
though he seems to conflict with society and sometimes feel alienated, he is liked, sociable
and conforms to many of societies tendencies. Jake is not a depressed character however he
does struggle with processing and accepting that he may never find the answers to his big
questions, such as what is the meaning of life? What does it all mean? As he struggles to
cope with the frustration of not understanding his own existence, Jake takes to seeing life as
one big game, he decides that his struggles are nothing but a series of challenges that are
followed by rewards, and sometimes this reward can be the grant to continue playing. His
unusual outlook on life explains his narcissistic manipulative behaviour as hes ego leads him
to believe that others around him are all players of his game.
In the opening scene, Jake is speaking on the phone to someone. He says Thats your
challenge; you have one day. before hanging up the phone. Jake hanging up the phone
prior to any conventional goodbye or farewell that you would typically expect before
ending a phone call, presents the seriousness of their discussion and Jakes character. The
dialogue is representative of Jakes manipulative and controlling nature as he instructs the
caller of what they have to do. This empathises on how Jake although being the protagonist,
he does not hold all the qualities of a stereotypical good guy but does poses a lot of the
characteristics associated with a bad guy.
We also present Jakes distress in the opening scene of the film where he sits on his bed and
sighs in a way that communicates discontent.
Jake, our main character could be compared to the iconic character of Jason Bourne played
by Matt Damon. Jason Bourne is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of films.
In the Bourne Identity, he gives the impression of someone who has been severely
traumatized and is attempted to regain knowledge of who and what he is. This is conveyed
in the film through the use of flash backs. An example of this would be a scene were Jason is
standing by a running tap and the motion of the water triggers a flashback, the cut conveys
a notion of mentally instability as it suggests that anything could trigger a flashback. His
flashbacks throughout the film are often distorted and cut from reality to his flashbacks
suggesting Jason had trouble separating the two. All though this mental instability will not
be apparent in Jake during our opening sequence; it will follow later during our film.


Sarah Ghile
A characteristic of Jakes that will be made apparent within the opening sequence will be
that Jake is flawed. Jason in the Bourne Identity is also portrayed as a protagonist that is
heavily flawed due to his past of brutal murders.

Our antagonist who remains anonymous and only features in our opening sequence through
a phone call is comparable to the character Jigsaw from the movies Saw. Jigsaw was a
psychotic killer (technically he never directly harmed anyone, instead putting victims in
situations where they must go through physical and/or psychological torture to survive and
escape with better appreciation of life. He was a clever and cunning, he used traps for his
victims, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, hebecame irritated by the fact that
people don't appreciate the life they are living. These traps were set up in the hope that
people would stop taking their lives for granted; the aim was so teach people a lesson. A
quote from the film shows this as Jigsaw saysYes, I'm sick, officer. Sick from the disease
eating away at me inside.Sick of people who don't appreciate their blessings.Sick of those
who scoff at the suffering of others. I'm sick of it all!
Our antagonist treats Jake in a very similar way, he wants to teach Jake a lesson and does so
by creating challenges for Jake that are torturous mentally or physically.