Character Research

Captain Jack Sparrow

Captain Jack Sparrow was played by Johnny Depp in the films 'The Pirates of the Caribbean'. Many people believe that he made the films the successes they were as he took playing the role to a unique level basing it on the edgy rock star, Keith Richards.
To make him seem like a true rugged pirate he was given dreadlocks and his skin and clothes always looked dirty and unwashed. To the audience this connotes uncleanliness which is what we would expect to see from a pirate. It gives it a sense of realism even though we all know that pirates like Captain Jack do not exist.
When there are ECU shots of his hands you see him wearing many gold rings. These are supposed to connote to the audience that he is a very good thief and that he wouldn't be able to afford them by buying them as only wealthy people would have been able to own jewelry like that in those days, therefore he must have stolen them from people on his travels. It shows the audience snippets of his cunning personality without having to tell it in the story.
The way Johnny Depp plays the character of Jack Sparrow tells us a lot about his personality. He is played in a very laid back, blase way which to the audience connotes he is very care-free. He always acts as if he is doing things spur of the moment and hasn't really though them through properly. This tells us that he is no ordinary pirate but instead quite quirky and flamboyant.
However as the film progresses Jack Sparrow's desicions and choices do not seem so mad after all because they do end up leading the characters to success. This tells the audience that despite his relaxed and eccentric attitude to situations he is a clever and skilled pirate and does know what hes doing.
The characterisation of Jack Sparrow is not nessicerily what we would expect to see in a pirate as we would normally expect them to be more serious and menacing without any emotions apart from anger and hate. However Johnny Depp's breaks all these conventions when he plays Jack Sparrow and he does so very successfully. He does not move to far away from the 'typical' pirate image but yet far enough away to create a unique, fun character that the audience build up a relationship with and can love, unlike pirates in other films where the audience are just onlookers and do not really get involved emotionally.
There are many ECU, CU and MCU shots of Jack Sparrow displaying his emotions and quirky facial expressions. The director has done this because Johnny Depp's facial expressions when playing the role tell a lot about the character of Jack Sparrow. They tell the audience a lot about what he is feeling and thinking because he has very obvious, expressive facial expressions. The framing of these shots are tight because the directors want to draw attention to these emotive expressions and make us notice them. It therefore tells the audience what hes feeling without having to add in speech and sometimes creates lots of humour because they are such dramatic expressions that show us exactly his views at a particular point.
When there are Mid Shots and LS of Jack, these are to show off his eccentric movements, the scenery and his tatty clothes. They are usually establishing shots to set the scene for the audience making them understand the story and situation more. It also shows the audience the whole persona and image of Jack Sparrow, his actions and his clothes, and how they fit with his wacky personality. It creates a 3 dimensional character so that the audience can feel as if they are watching a real person with the elements of a real person rather than a made up character.

Forrest Gump

Tom Hanks played the character of Forrest Gump in the successful comedy film 'Forrest Gump'. It was both emotional and laughable at the same time due to the character of Forrest and the acting of Tom Hanks to create such a deep character. The film is based around the life of Forrest Gump as he is not a regualar human being as he does not hold the same intellegence as them. Tom Hanks creates a character which is truely fascinating and keeps you watching for hours.
Forrest in many scenes is seen wearing beige chinos, a plaid shirt and a beige jacket. His clothing is not always appropriate for where he is and it makes the audience feel sorry for him as we know he cannot help it and that his intentions are really good. They are very plain, simple clothes which reflect his personality which isnt very complex. It connotes to the audience that he is a very basic person and doesn't really care about his appearance.
The character of Forrest, although the audience cannot personally relate to him or the problems he faces in his life throughout the film, the way he acts makes the audience feel sorry for him and emotionally connect with him. We can tell that he is a very naive, innocent person and from many of the things he says he doesn't really understand much about the world. From this the audience can take pity on him and when bad things do happen we can side with him as we believe he is the less fortunate one in every case. When he is talking many of the shots are either CU or MCU so that the audience can really see his facial expressions and can therefore react to what hes doing and saying. It draws attention to him and therefore, despite some of his comments being funny, we laugh at them rather than at him because from his facial expressions the audience can tell that he thinks what he is saying really does make sense. It makes us empathize with him because it brings us as an audience closer to him and gives us a more personal role. It makes us think how we would react if we were in the position of the other character talking to him.
The way Forrest acts tells the audience a lot about his character. He is talented at things which many people cannot do yet he takes it as a pinch of salt. But despite him being talented, he lacks the basic intelligence of an average human. Many of his actions are done through the kindness of his heart, which is shown most of the time with him doing something extremely heroic but yet to the audience it was stupid and risky. Tom Hank's plays the character in a very blank way so that when he carries out these actions he seems as if he has no thoughts or emotions running through his head. He has a blank expression and doesn't listen to the other characters if they are advising him otherwise. This connotes to the audience that it is not his head leading him through all these decisions but his heart which makes us warm to him and almost want to mother him as we know that he is very vulnerable.
Throughout the film we hear his story from his point of view with a narrative voice over. The audience can therefore relate to him much more as we know exactly how he was feeling at specific points in the story and as his storytelling is so simple and unexaggerated it makes the story a lot more comical as most of the time what is going on in the scene is so much more dramatic than what he is narrating. It is as if his version of the story is a very dumbed down, modest version which makes the audience warm to him a lot more as we prefer to make our on judgements on his achievements rather than him telling us they were fantastic. The narrative voiceover gives us an insight into him as a character which gives the audience a more personal relationship with him, therefore when things to occur in his life we almost want to protect him and sympathize with him because a bond has been built up throughout the film as he is sharing things with the audience.

Elle Woods

Elle Woods was played by Reese Witherspoon in the films 'Legally Blonde'. The characters personality and traits formed the base of a box office hit.
The film was built up around the fact the Elle Woods is a stereotypical american blonde who is quite ditzy and girly but yet holds qualities which make her stand out from the others. These parts of her personality are shown to the audience via what Elle says and how she acts.
Throughout the film we are constantly reminded of Elle's girly side with her obsession to pink. Everything she wears and everything she owns seems to be pink and there is even a famous line from the film 'Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed'. These things connote to the audience that she is a very stereotypical girl, being in love with pink. It tells us that she is quite innocent and young at heart because normally you associate a love of pink with a little girl. This makes the audience empathise with her a lot more and also turns her into a more cute and loveable character.
Elle's clothes are all bright colours in contrast to the lawyers dull coloured, formal clothing. It shows the fun, bubbly side to Elle and tells the audience that she is very out there and doesn't like to go un-noticed. The directors have purposely done this to make her stand out from the crowd. It connotes that she is different and not your regular stuck-up clever student. In a way it singles her from the rest of the group and the audience can notice this isolation a lot more with the different fashion sense. It makes the audience feel sympathy towards her because we can tell immediately that she just is not going to fit in without the character's even having to say or do anything.
Most of the scenes in the film have Elle carrying her Chihuahua , Bruiser, around in her handbag. This is a very stereotypical thing for an air-headed blonde to do and it adds to the side of her character that is very iconic and not unique. However it also tells the audience that Elle is a big fan of animals and this plays a huge part in 'Legally Blonde 2'. When the directors do want you to focus on the fact that she carries her dog around they always film her in either Mid Shot, MCU or MLS. This is because the audience aren't so close that you can't see the dog at all but yet close enough as that you can tell what type of dog it is, where Elle is carrying it and their expressions and reactions to certain things. We are also close enough to notice that Elle dresses her dog up so that he colour co-ordinates with her own outfit, another very typical girly thing that most people would associate with american, young, famous girls like Paris Hilton.
Elle's general appearance tells the audience a lot about what she is like as well. For example many of the law students at Harvard do not bother to dress nicely for class, however Elle always looks as if she has made a conscious effort and looks fashionable and immaculate all the time. This tells the audience that she is very concerned about the way she looks and she obviously cares just as much about her appearance as her studies. Many scenes during the film are of Elle pampering herself in someway while talking about a law case and the director uses these scenes to emphasise the fact that she looks at the two things as being of equal importance whereas most of the other students see law as being their first priority, again showing the divide between her and the school.
The fact that Elle Woods also has blonde hair plays a big role. Many people believe that blonde hair makes you stupid and fashion obsessed. On one hand Elle fits well with these assumptions as she is made out to be very ditzy and involved with her looks by the way that she carries round her dog everywhere and by how she acts. For example, she does the iconic head tilt that signifies she is confused and the director draws attention to these movements with the framings of the camera being in either CU or MCU. It makes the audience notice them more and therefore we can pick up on them and immediately identify them as part of the stereotypical 'dumb blonde' character. However on the other hand, she becomes a very successful lawyer which goes against the stereotype and breaks that boundary. This catches the audience by surprise in someway because Elle's appearance and the way Reese Witherspoon plays her sets her up to be a failure but when she achieves her goal we see her in a different light and gain a whole new respect for her.
A good way to describe the character of Elle Woods at the beginning of the film is like a barbie doll. On the surface she seems perfect and immaculate but on the inside she is hollow and empty. Reese Witherspoon creates a character to the audience where the only thing that matters to her is what is on the outside and not that she lacks intellegance. However as the film progresses she breaks free of the plastic mould and becomes a person in her own right. She learns that there is a lot more to life than just looks and boyfriends and she finds this through law and meeting a new guy. These changes are reflected in the way Elle acts and dresses and the audience can begin to empathise and react to her as they feel she is more human rather than fake. We begin to notice just how kind a heart she has and how deep inside she is quite intelligent. We gain an audience relationship and bond with her because instead of being the stereotypical character at the beginning that we can't really relate to into a deep character with many different sides, like a normal human being, so we as an audience get a bigger sense of realism and can therefore emotionally attach ourselves to her.