Similar Products- Protagonist VS Antagonist

Protagonist and Antagonist help make up the complex story line that thriller films have. They are the basis for any character which are then built on to create unique yet conventional characters. Protagonist characters are always the main characters in a film. They have some traits that are usually always used such as brave, intelligent, daring and ambitious. The plot will be made around this character, and they are who the audience should most identify with. Protagonist's are often shown as normal people in very realistic life setting's for example the film the unborn where Casey is shown as an average teenager, she has a boyfriend, good friends and a part time job nothing seems out of the ordinary. The Unborn is about Casey Beldon who begins to suffer from horrendous hallucinations, she realizes that she is being haunted by the soul of her dead twin brother jumby. He wants to use her death as a way of entering the living world. It's common that something has happened to protagonist characters in the past either a troubled incident or something that is hidden and they do not yet no about. You usually get to know a lot about the protagonist characters life and the details that have happened to them. We find out that Casey's mother had committed suicide after becoming insane from the constant haunting of her son who wanted revenge. 

She is shown as brave yet frightened at some times however this helps the audience to identify to her as a character. She smashes mirrors to prevent herself from seeing him and instead of asking for help and putting others in danger she decides to try and put an end to it herself making her appear the 'hero'. Its also conventional for a protagonist to be a leader of some sort. This could be of a large group or maybe just of one individual they tend to take charge in order for the situation not to get out of control or out of hand. Casey does this by taking charge of the exorcism and preventing the ghost from killing her. Also its very common for their to be a lot of people focusing on helping the Protagonist as shown in the exorcism scene the focus point is always on the protagonist.

An antagonist is generally a group or an individual who is against or causing obstacles for the protagonist character. One obsticle created in the unborn film was when Casey tries to seek help a man in a wheel chair twists his body into a pose and runs after her trying to kill her. They can also be known as the rival or competitor. They don't Nesselrode have to be an actual person they can be an object or even a ghost as shown in unborn. Jumby the unborn twin is haunting Casey and he seeks revenge on his family. He has already taken his mother's life by sending her insane to the brink that she ended up killing herself. Its common for antagonists to do everything in their power to prevent a goal or something from happening which in tern prevent the other character from moving forward and succeeding. Sometimes the protagonist is manipulated so much that they begin to become the antagonist, and pick up some of their traits however this is quickly recovered and they become the heroic main character once again. However most of the time the distinction between the two is clearly seen this is often used by mise en scene. The protagonist will often be situated in a much nicer environment than the antagonist such as the film box, the main characters are a couple the women played by Cameron Diaz live in a lovely area full or green and nice grand houses however the antagonist's home is most dark and not very homey. Protagonist and Antagonist always confront each other when they do this in the box the lighting on each of them will be completely different, low key for the antagonist also the antagonist will be more to the right of the camera and the protagonist will have much more variety in camera shots as they are the main character. As shown in the trailer below it becomes clear that the antagonist will always get in the way of something cause huge obstacles for people to try to over come. Such as in the film the box they were a happy family who seemed perfect however as the antagonist introduces the box everything begins to go wrong and gets out of hand.

Also the distinction is shown more clearly through their costumes that they wear, As in the film the box, a psychological thriller which is about a couple who are having financial difficulties when a man turns up with a box. On the box is a button and they are told that if they press the button then they will receive $1,000,000 dollars however someone somewhere will die. This could be anyone either someone they know or a complete stranger, an old person or a baby. The man who delivers it (the antagonist) is dressed in a black suit and black hat and appears to have half his face missing. He is wearing all dark colours which in contrast to the couple who wear colourful and very realistic, everyday clothes which illustrates that they are the protagonists and allows the audience to relate to them much easier by how they dress and appear to be as individuals.

Similar Products- Character Analysis 1

Nina- Black Swan

Black Swan is a psychological thriller based in New york. Nina Sayers, played by Natalie Portman is a ballet dancer who strives for perfection and will push herself to the extreme to achieve this. To reach the level of flawlessness she seeks so much comes a great deal of sacrifice. Her greatest desire is to play swan queen and she realizes she must transform herself from an innocent girl into a sensual women. At the beginning of the film she is shown to be very obedient, never goes against the rules and is incredibly innocent. She is often referred to as the 'good girl' by her mother, she works hard but rarely achieves anything. She allows people to push her around and will take a great deal of unfair criticism without a single word. You feel how unhappy she is and how she appears to be helpless and childlike especially when she comes home to her mother where she is treated as if she is a baby who is fragile and unready for the harsh reality of the outside world. As the white swan Nina's morals are clear with strict boundaries on anything to do with lust and desire. She has never been with a man before and she has no intention to do so until she begins to transform herself and allow the darker side to her mind out.

When Nina is awarded the part of the swan queen she is still unable to channel the part of the Black swan out of her. Thomas tells her she needs to lose the sense of perfection and must learn to 'lose herself'. Its these moments with Thomas that Nina realizes the darker side to her nature, she realizes she is no longer a little girl like her mother tells her but she is a women with her own sensual desires and needs. They make it appear that the black swan has been locked up inside Nina all along and as her passion and lust begins to appear she begins to lose herself and her morals are clouded. She no longer has boundaries in her life as shown when Nina decides she wants to break away from her mother, but as her mum tries to protect her. Nina becomes angry and aggressive fighting her mother and acting like a completely different person. That night Nina tries ecstasy influencing the darker side of her to emerge, she fantasies and appears older to the audience. It sometimes appears as if she is fighting a double personality as she has scratches on her back that she has done herself yet she is completely unaware she does it. She is often seen as emotionally unstable and constantly fighting herself in order to get perfection. As the black swan she is bad and misbehaving, she now takes risks and doesn't mind what the consequences will be. Nina suffers from hallucinations of herself transforming into the black swan one is when her knee's break and her eyes turn red showing how violent the changes in her life are effecting her. As the audience we can constantly questioning Nina's sanity, from a girl to a women or from good to evil.

Similar Products- Silence Of The Lambs Analysis

A thriller has 3 main elements that create the genre, tension, suspense and excitement. Along with these the conventions hold an heightened level of anticipation and uncertainty. So does Silence of the lambs follow these general conventions?
The film falls into a psychological thriller which includes themes such as mind games however it is a hybrid genre as it also has elements of crime throughout the film. Silence of the lambs is about an FBI cadet who is sent to observe and find out information from a highly dangerous and manipulative killer. He has an incredible ability to get into peoples heads and thoughts unraveling their life's even if he has only met them once. Clarice uses his skills to find out where a serial killer is who skins his victims is hiding. It's a race against time which matches the thrillers main elements.

Silence of the lambs has a very complex story line one way it does this is doesn't clearly explain everything to the audience which means they have to concentrate and figure it out for themselves. It never clearly explains who the real villain is in the film, they are hunting Buffalo Bill however Hannibal Lecter is shown as a monster and his deviance and emotionless approach to life makes him appear more dangerous but he is helping them solve an important case which will save a young girls life. These mixed emotions portrayed to the audience, of is he good or bad, is also shown by the complex relationship him and Clarice have. They have an agreement that if he helps he will be allowed to live in a better environment, however Clarice and him at times seem almost friendly and understanding of each other. Also is not conventional for the main villain to not be a main character in the film, Buffalo Bill is only shown twice. Clarice is the main character, its very uncommon to have a hero as a women. She is brave and enjoys her job and completely committed to it however when Hannibal Lecter gets into her mind and talks about her fathers death it shows the audience a different side to her and how she opens up the Hannibal shows her weaker side.

The story is fiction however they have gone with a very realistic approach when shooting the film, which is shown by the lighting. Normally in a thriller genre they will have very low key lighting which adds to the suspense and the mood of what is happening in the scene. It follows the genre of thriller in the area's that they have shot for different scenes for example. When shooting the scenes in the prison its shown with high security with vicious and disturbed prisoners which heightens the anticipation of what Hannibal Lecter is saying to Clarice.The end scene is also shown in a dark basement which is set out into a mase of rooms with very little light. 

The film does lack suspense sometimes as it is constantly moving however they have continued to add a sense of what will happen next by not uncovering the whole story line. This keeps the audience engaged and interested in the film. Theirs no action or stunts that have been added to the film however this is not needed as the films pace is kept up dues to how the story has been constructed and the lack of romance has been masked by the complex relationships between the characters. The eerie music that is played throughout is very convention it matches what is happening in the scene and makes it very mysterious and makes the situation seem much more dangerous such as when Clarice is on her own in the basement. When Clarice shoots Buffalo Bill is shows how heroic and brave she is and the sudden change from her being completely alone and helpless in the dark to her being fully in control and killing him represents that a women can be just as good a main character then men.

The psychological issues in this film relate perfectly to the thriller conventions as well as the troubled protagonist characters. There aren't always moments of shock however when the lights are turned of and Clarice is left alone with Buffalo Bill we automatically feel the tension and suspense, or when she gets closer than she should do to Hannibal Lecter's cell adds an element of the thriller genre.
Although Silence of the lambs does break some major conventions of the genre and creates some new one's too its still a great example of an iconic psychological thriller.