Character introductions, part 2 - the weirdos
Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:50 am
Twin Peaks is often valued very highly for its great gallery of unforgettable characters.
And in the artistic process of creating characters a very important factor is -- the first impression. The first impression, the way we are struck by the first appearance of a character, often has a power to determine the way we feel about the character in the whole of the story. And I believe, too, that Twin Peaks offers a number of excellent character introductions and this topic is devoted to these.
Of course it is not always important; sometimes the idea is that the viewer should get a wrong idea of a charater to begin with, so that later he can be led to discovering the true identity. In Twin Peaks a prime example would be Leland Palmer - what do we get from the first impression in the scene with Ben and the Scandinavians? Nothing. A little more from the remarkable telephone scene ("my daughter is dead") because Leland's immediate comprehension of what had happened indicates that there is more to him than meets the eye. Still, it is only later that we start to find more and more about this character. Well, but that is not what this topic is devoted to , so I'll stick to the point.
Every few days I want to bring up TWO CHARACTERS that for some reason I find similar in the way they were introduced. A few words about how hey were introduced, how I felt about it and if you don't mind - a small poll: which one did you prefer (not the character but the introduction)?
For today:
Laura Palmer and Audrey Horne
Two strikingly beautiful and young girls full of secrets. We see them in a glimpse, actually: a body on the river shore, wrapped in white plastic, ley's-turn-her-around, oh my god it's laura... and this face of hers... stillness (like a formica table alright ), her quite face is so indisputably dead and yet even stronger is a sense of mystery: who IS this girl? and what happened to her?
On the other hand Audrey. Her legs are getting out of the car, than the rest of the girl is shown. She is mesmerising and, again, mysterious: who IS this girl? and what is she going to do? The one thing we have little doubt about is that she is rich, and the second would be that it is trouble. What is she going to do?
I find both these characters perfectly introduced.
I choose Laura's first impression over Audrey's as I found the mystery to be much deeper. From my first viewing of Twin Peaks I knew I could never forget that dead face nor could I stop thinking about her fate.
So what do you say: Laura's face in plastic or Audrey's legs in the car?
And in the artistic process of creating characters a very important factor is -- the first impression. The first impression, the way we are struck by the first appearance of a character, often has a power to determine the way we feel about the character in the whole of the story. And I believe, too, that Twin Peaks offers a number of excellent character introductions and this topic is devoted to these.
Of course it is not always important; sometimes the idea is that the viewer should get a wrong idea of a charater to begin with, so that later he can be led to discovering the true identity. In Twin Peaks a prime example would be Leland Palmer - what do we get from the first impression in the scene with Ben and the Scandinavians? Nothing. A little more from the remarkable telephone scene ("my daughter is dead") because Leland's immediate comprehension of what had happened indicates that there is more to him than meets the eye. Still, it is only later that we start to find more and more about this character. Well, but that is not what this topic is devoted to , so I'll stick to the point.
Every few days I want to bring up TWO CHARACTERS that for some reason I find similar in the way they were introduced. A few words about how hey were introduced, how I felt about it and if you don't mind - a small poll: which one did you prefer (not the character but the introduction)?
For today:
Laura Palmer and Audrey Horne
Two strikingly beautiful and young girls full of secrets. We see them in a glimpse, actually: a body on the river shore, wrapped in white plastic, ley's-turn-her-around, oh my god it's laura... and this face of hers... stillness (like a formica table alright ), her quite face is so indisputably dead and yet even stronger is a sense of mystery: who IS this girl? and what happened to her?
On the other hand Audrey. Her legs are getting out of the car, than the rest of the girl is shown. She is mesmerising and, again, mysterious: who IS this girl? and what is she going to do? The one thing we have little doubt about is that she is rich, and the second would be that it is trouble. What is she going to do?
I find both these characters perfectly introduced.
I choose Laura's first impression over Audrey's as I found the mystery to be much deeper. From my first viewing of Twin Peaks I knew I could never forget that dead face nor could I stop thinking about her fate.
So what do you say: Laura's face in plastic or Audrey's legs in the car?