Character Research

Background
Character: Jack
Role: Lead male, the protagonist, love interest of leading female Emma.
Function: A relatable character who can't quite find his way. A lovable clown who's nervous behaviour often estranges him from other people. People should identify and sympathise with his. They should feel sorry for him and want his to overcome the obstacles in front of him, and finally "get the girl". He should be funny, charming and anxious. His wit should engage the audience and make them like him within the first minute to make them carry on watching.

I am going to study a male character with a similar role/function to Jack, to research the use of mise-en-scene and how they are portrayed.

50 First Dates
Henry is a character which is also repeating events on his first date with Lucy but in a different context. Lucy has a short term memory problem, where she cannot make any new memories, so she replays the same day over and over. In this scene Henry is trying to start a conversation with her, and is persevering to spend time with Lucy and win the bet, even though she won't remember him the next day. This is a similar role to Jack, as he too repeats events out of love for Emma.

Henry is dressed casual for breakfast, and at first appears nervous, shot in high angle through the wire door. He talks to Nick, checking he is okay to come in. As they talk to each other they make jokes, and Henry even imitates Nick's voice. They make a bet and shake on it, in a medium shot showing a friendship forming. It then cuts to Lucy playing with her film. She is shot in soft light which sets a romantic mood. Henry's mood has now changed and appears more cocky, and when Lucy rejects his he appears hurt. The next day starts with a simple fade transition. Lucy is shot in side lighting and ironically at high angle, insinuating Henry has the power even though he doesn't but also that she has two sides, one which may like Henry and the other which could reject him. Henry stands above her and make several attempts to start a conversation, but instead insults her or gets rejected. Soft music with a reggae theme plays as they live in an exotic environment. Desperate, he makes a foul of himself to make her feel sorry for him, but it works as she asks him to join her for breakfast. He looks at Nick, still crying and smiles as he wins the bet.

Relevance to our project

Henry's fun and caring nature is similar to our own character Jack. We need the audience to like Jack and find him charming, the was Henry is in this extract. Our actor can use similar facial expressions, where emotions are slightly animated and exaggerated. We could also try to imitate some of the lighting features used in the extract. The scene is filmed during the day so they used natural light whereas in our film, the film takes place in early evening an we will use electrical lighting. The soft light compliments the actors in shot and creates a relaxed mood and has a slightly feel good feeling. I liked the use of medium shot between Henry and Nick, where it is slightly behind Nick, facing Henry because it still shows Henry as the main character and shows his facial expressions. We could use a similar mise-en-scene on the door step scenes of our film.