Our opening was somewhat focused on the portrayal of characters and representation of their mental states to the audience. We did thorough research and planning. Originally we were going to replicate 'Norman Bates'' character from Hitchcocks 'Psycho' (for our killer) in which he is presented as a schizophrenic/dissociative identity disorder victim, The film goes on to describe how Norman dresses and acts as his own deceased mother. In a sense, we wanted to incorporate similar aspects in to our thriller by dressing the killer in typical women's clothing, with jerky awkward movements to symbolise the extent of the mental derangement of the antagonist. Also, by being in a dress, the audience may also
be misled, if in fact the killers face was not revealed, viewers may begin to believe that
the killer is a female assailant,
interestingly contrasting to
the usual male antagonist
and the helpless (female)
victim, with this clever use
of reversing stereotypes, could
make an interesting and entertaining
film. Having a male character acting so strangely, it will be evident of a psychological disturbance, and I believe the audience will soon realise something is not right. Another interpretation could be that this character has no knowledge of social etiquette and somehow believes he is exempt from a democratic humanity. We would also commission the killer to wear a wig, to perpetuate female connotations so that it will be an even bigger shock to the audience when all is revealed, incredibly similar to the plot line in 'Psycho'.
Alternatively, another idea was put forward that we base the character loosely on Heath Ledgers portrayal of 'The Joker' in Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' widely recognised as one of the most awe inspiring movies of all time, which accordingly won the late heath ledger an academy award for his performance. This is the character I most wanted to replicate, due to the fact I have always admired the performance, to be able to depict a crazed persona would improve the believability of our piece tenfold, and the ruthless killings would become some what justifiable. We planned to scrape the killers hair, into a smarter style, giving the impression that the killer has some sense of self worth and pride, and perhaps even wants to impress the victim before their untimely death. Another example of how this is evident, is that the killer wears relatively smart shoes, which is peculiar but a nice technique, the shoes are similar to that of Javier Bardem's character in the Coen brothers 'No Country For Old Men' in which he plays the killer, who is also depicted as mentally 'un-hinged' as it were, what with the cold blooded nature of his murders, and the little remorse and mercy he shows.
Eventually we put our killers costume together, it consisted of brown skinny jeans, brown shoes (western style), a grey and black checked shirt and a black waist coat. This mix of different colours and materials showed a blatant lack of any sense whilst choosing an outfit. A final neck tie was added as we all believed it to be an unusual and unorthodox piece of attire.
To create the killers persona, a lot of thought was put in from every member of the group, and I believe that we eventually put together a wonderful persona that will no doubt prove effective on screen.
The Lonely Boy (Protagonist)
Jakes character, (dubbed 'the lonely boy') was relatively easy to discover the desired persona we wanted him to emulate. We all seemed to agree that Jake should take on certain aspects of the character 'Donnie Darko' from Richard Kelly's ingeniously written 'Donnie Darko' (2001). The character seemed to have the perfect personality, that we all associated with the developing 'lonely boy' character. Mise en scene, associated with main characters is crucial to get right, for overall power of your film. Donnie's iconic hoodie and skeleton costume seemed like the perfect answer to the costume we were searching for. It is unbelievably simple and equally as effective, as it speaks volumes about the wearer. The elementary skeleton t-shirt, depicts a simple but contemplative nature, Whereas the hoodie seems to isolate him from the other characters, showing an invisible segregation as he wants no part of what may be happening around him.
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