Protagonists serve as the emotional focal point of a story. How deeply we engage with a story is often informed by how well we identify with, sympathize for, or otherwise emotionally invest in the protagonist. How much harder do you find it to enjoy a story when you have no investment in the protagonist? Conversely, how much more do you tend to like a story when you do?
One of the most compelling ways to create audience investment is through dramatization, whereby character is expressed and revealed through choice and action. Providing an economical form of rhetorical persuasion, audiences are direct witnesses to WHO a character is based on their interactions with the world and relationships around them.
In contrast, non-dramatized character is expressed through dialogue, and is presented to audiences not as evidentiary, but as here-say that risks diminishing the audience's active emotional engagement through a more passive intellectual engagement.
Within the traditional cinematic 3-Act structure, it is typical to introduce the protagonist by the 1st Act as a way of anchoring the audiences' emotional engagement with the character in the pursuit of their desire(s) that embody the plot of the film.
Taking into account the narrative convention of introducing a compelling protagonist with the purpose of emotionally engaging the audience in the story, let's compare these two films based on the same source material to compare and contrast how align narrative and visual choices in service of the audience experience:
Based on the 1964 children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl, Willy Wonka is an earnest musical film adaptation. Somewhat dated from its 1971 release, the film still offers a great use case for seeing how simple but thoughtful narrative and visual design choices enhance story intent in contrast to its more boldly stylized successor.
Following the opening titles, the first sequence introduces the story's protagonist, Charlie Bucket. Although he is very poor and unremarkable, his ethics and innocence ultimately raise him above the entitled competition of his remarkable peers to inherit the coveted magical Chocolate Factory from Willy Wonka.
Surmising from the source material, we can assert the narrative goal is to engage the audience with the character and his sincere love for Wonka's chocolate and personage.
This sequence economically introduces Charlie to the audience through dramatization that shows us exactly WHO he is:
We are introduced to Charlie in context of how he is different from the other kids able to buy all the candy they want.
Charlie is so broke he never even enters the store--only watches longingly from the window--creating sympathy.
Charlie then goes to work with pride, skill and a positive attitude--earning the money to buy the candy we know he so desperately wants.
He pauses longingly in front of the locked Chocolate Factory before being frightened off.
Returning home, we learn he is fatherless and used his hard-earned money to buy food for his hungry family.
He then gives the change to his mother and grandfather, revealing selflessness, integrity, and love--the values absent in the other Golden Ticket holders--that will earn Charlie the Chocolate Factory.
All of this is directly witnessed by the audience as observed truth within the narrative, revealing Charlie's character in a way that makes us more emotionally sympathetic towards him.
In contrast to its naively earnest predecessor, the 2005 release/remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by director Tim Burton yields a far more stylized and cinematic expression of the book.
Similar to the other film, we are immediately introduced to Charlie following an extended title sequence that highlights the mechanics of the Chocolate Factory and the distribution of the Golden Tickets.
With this introduction of the protagonist however, we are only witness to Charlie doing his homework. Any other information provided about Charlie is purely expositional or dramatic hearsay.
Instead of showing to the audience WHO Charlie IS by virtue of what he DOES, the bulk of this entire sequence is focused on Willy Wonka and the history of the Chocolate Factory. By the end of this sequence, the audience learns:
Charlie and his family are poor
Charlie's dad works at the Toothpaste Factory but is still unable to provide food for that family
Charlie is studious
Charlie has been constructing a model of Willy Wonka and his Chocolate Factory
Grandpa Joe worked for Willy Wonka
Eccentric Willy Wonka made a palace out of chocolate
Willy Wonka fired all the factory workers after being betrayed by corporate spying
It's resumption of operations is a mystery
Fourteen minutes into the film, and halfway into Act 1, the audience has been offered more information about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory than the film's protagonist, limiting the depth of the audience's engagement around superficial aspects of character like casting, costuming, set dressing and exposition
These cases studies are a brief example of the design-centric, goal-oriented approach to analyzing how story and visual design choices work together to effectively engage the audience.