Assassin Project: Vivian Mallory

PROFILE OF PROTAGONIST:

Name: Vivian Qistina Mallory

Name Meanings: life (ironic), justice, war counsellor
Age: 27
Height: 160cm
Weight: 57kg

Style of ‘elimination’: Organised and premeditated, she follows a set of rules in order to maintain her sanity. For example, she refuses to know any information about the victim’s family.

Character Inspirations: Assassin’s Creed (Fiora Cavazza), Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Catwoman (Selina Kyle).

BACKGROUND:

She is a trained female assassin who kills certain men in positions of high power, as they pose a threat to the country and the government. Her mother was murdered when she was only 3 years of age. She did not have the best relationship with her father, as he was absent in her life due to the fact that he was busy as an assassin as well. Her father did not realise that she knew what he really does. As a teenager she would often follow him and witness some of his ‘work’.

Her traits include; stubborn, patient, assertive, solitary, pragmatic, organised, meticulous and brave. Audience members who possess the same traits as Vivian will be able to relate to her.

Vivian typically has a serious attitude and a bold nature, creating many boundaries for herself in order to maintain her mind. She attempts to remain preoccupied and detached from society. She is distant from others because she is worried that if she lets her guard down, people will take advantage of her or somehow discover who she really is.

Her relationship with Jim, her mentor, is inspired by two films. Firstly, the father-daughter relationship in Hanna (2011) between Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) and Erik (Eric Bana). They have a deep trust in each other and we see how he trains his daughter to be an assassin. Secondly, the character portrayed by Kurt Russell in Furious 7 (2015) who provides weapons for the team. He refers to himself as “Mr. Nobody”.

Assassin Project: Research

Each character/victim is inspired by characters from other film and television products. This is in order to ensure three dimensional characters, as it is the best way to pour meaning into the narrative and to stay true to the ideal concept of justice. The inspiration behind each character/victim will be explored in their profile descriptions (a blog coming soon).

The binary code that exists within the concept is death versus peace and the irony behind it. In the protagonist’s mind, the only way to achieve peace in the country is through death. This is a character-driven story because the protagonist initiates the events of the story and causes them to happen (Schmidt, 2005: 5).

The character psychology is inspired by the series, ‘Dexter’, as it portrays a protagonist in a similar mindset to that of this story. The mood of the photoshoot is inspired by Taylor Swift’s music video, ‘Bad Blood’, because it has an underlying theme of betrayal, which is relatable to this story.

Schmidt, V. (2005). Story Structure Architect. 1st ed. [ebook] Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, p.5. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/storystructurearchitect [Accessed 18 May 2015].

Assassin Project: Introduction

OBJECTIVE:

To research, design and envision characters for a CSI Drama film product in order to pitch to the Fox Crime Network on DSTV. The crime scene investigative drama will air on DSTV at 22:00 pm every Friday. The research intends to identify characterisation that seeks to be effective in affecting a target audience.

For the purposes of this project, my protagonist will be a trained female assassin. The concept behind this approach is justice, which will be further explored below, through research and character exploration. This project serves as a basis for learning and developing new, practical skills.

Target Audience: The key ‘specimen’ are single females, ages 18-30, who attend university or have a full-time job, a middle-high income and are attracted to television series that involve suspense.

The story is established through the eyes of Vivian Mallory. We see that she is an ordinary 27-year-old female complying to her everyday routine and job. Or so we think.

We follow her through a series of compromising events. We learn that she is one way by day and another by night. She works an arbitrary job as an assistant printing helper at a crime investigation agency. The agency is located in a tall business building in the Cape Town City Centre. This is due to the fact that she secretly works for the government as a trained assassin, ready to eliminate any person who poses as a threat to the country or (actually) the exposure of confidential information and secrets in government.

Her mentor, Jim Washington (and boss) gives her all the information she requires for the next ‘elimination’, as well as providing her with gear, weapons and further training. These two characters share an unbreakable trust.

The motivation behind this concept was to explore the psychology behind an organised, premeditated murder – especially when the protagonist refuses to see it as murder, but rather, as justice.