Research into final film Idea- Similar films/Characters/Mise en scene

Psychological Thriller

Similar Characters

Samara Morgan- The ring

Samara is a young girl who is out to seek revenge. Typically throughout the film, Samara wears a long white oversized gown and her hair is usually over her face in order to hide her identitiy and her emotions. In our film, the young girl is in a mental Hospital. She will be similar dressed to Samara (picture shown above) and have similar characteristics as her. Samara is a very mysterious character and although in the film, The Ring, we find out more about her past, it's not until the very end we find out more about her as a person and what she want and who she is. This is very similar to our character as we want to be as blunt as possible about who she is and her sense of identity until later on in the film. Samara has very distinctive characteristics, she is blunt, brief and evasive. We hope to recreate a similar character in our film.
Samara's has a sinister disposition, she has an chilling, unearthly presence. Samara lonely and feels lost. She seeks for love and affection and so desperately craves for attention. Although she's vicious, violent and aggressive, we, as an audience also see her naivety and her innocence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0GZ1gRV054

Emily Rose- The exorcism of Emily Rose

Emily Rose is a young girl who has been possessed by the devil. She has a threatening, chilling presence about her which make the audience feel uneasy. Similar to Samara she is usually seen in white night clothes and her hair covering part of her face. Emily's body language is that of a possessed person and seems to not be in control of her own body. She has hypnotic piercing eyes and is ghostly pale. She is a violent, aggressive and vicious. She is also brutal and sadistic as she shows no remorse in hurting and infliction pain upon others. This is similar to our character as she show no remorse over killing the people who have killed her sister. Emily is not in control of her actions, she's not in a stable mind and unaware of what's happening to her. Although, it's not just Emily struggling to control herself, everyone has trouble controlling her because she's become so powerful and becomes too overpowering for anyone to handle. Emily has an evil, haunting disposition. She moves slowly and  has a cold, chilling presence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7emLEzBwdAA



Similar Storylines

I spit on your grave
Genre- Revenge horror film
Brief Plot
Writer Jennifer Hills takes a retreat from the city to a charming cabin in the woods to start on her next book. But Jennifer's presence in the small town attracts the attention of a few morally depraved locals who set out one night to teach this city girl a lesson. They break into her cabin to scare her. However, what starts out as terrifying acts of humiliation and intimidation, quickly and uncontrollably escalates into a night of physical abuse and torturous assault. But before they can kill her, Jennifer sacrifices her broken and beaten body to a raging river that washes her away. As time passes, the men slowly stop searching for her body and try to go back to life as usual. But that isn't about to happen. Against all odds, Jennifer Hills survived her ordeal. Now, with hell bent vengeance, Jennifer's sole purpose is to turn the tables on these animals and to inflict upon them every horrifying and torturous moment they carried out on her... only much, much worse.
Similarities
This film has a very similar story line to ours in the way that the main character is seeking revenge. Jennifer and Lucinda suffer from a unstable sense of mind after suffering a traumatic, tragic incident which has effected their lives. They both become vengeful, violent and sadistic. Also, the men in both films attacked and violated young, innocent and vulnerable girls for no reason but due to their sadistic nature. The consequences of their actions made both Jennifer and Lucinda (from our film) feel like the only way justice will be made is by seeking revenge. Both female characters are very young and have both suffered from horrifying, traumatic experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWwCV75_N9E






The Butterfly effect

 Brief Plot

Genre- Si-fi Psychological Thriller
 In the year 1998, Evan Treborn, who suffered severe sexual abuse and traumas as a boy  and a teenager blacks out frequently, often at moments of high stress. While entertaining a girl in his dorm room, he finds that when he reads from his adolescent journals, he travels back in time, and he is able to "redo" parts of his past, thereby causing the blackouts he experienced as a child. There are consequences to his choices, however, that then propagate back to his present life: his alternate futures vary from college student, to prisoner, to amputee. His efforts are driven by the desire to undo the most unpleasant events of his childhood which coincide with his mysterious blackouts, including saving his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh from being molested by her father  and tormented by her sadistic brother .
The actions he takes, and those he enables others to take during his blackouts, change the timeline in the new future where he awakes. As he continues to do this he realizes that even though his intentions are good his actions have unforeseen consequences. Moreover, the assimilation of dozens of years' worth of new memories from the alternate timelines causes him brain damage and severe nosebleeds. Ultimately, he decides that his attempts to alter the past end up only harming those he cares about. But Evan realizes that the main cause of everyone's suffering in all the different timelines is himself.
At the conclusion of the film, Evan purposely travels back in time one final time to the first day he met Kayleigh. By scaring her away, he makes sure that she is never a part of his life, and thus finally succeeds in saving her life. He then destroys all of his journals and memories so that he is not ever tempted again to make any more changes. The film ends eight years in the future with Evan leaving an office building in Manhattan and passing Kayleigh on a crowded sidewalk. They alternately pause and turn after spotting and passing each other. After a moment of hesitation, Evan lets her walk away without speaking to her.
Similarities
In our film, just like Evan, Lucinda is struggling to come to terms with her past and feels as though there's more to be done. Herself and Evan have both been physically and mentally traumatised by past events which have occurred in their life and both teens struggle to face the reality of them. Although they both find different ways in dealing with their problem's, It's clear that both teens have some sort of psychological issues therefore is easily relatable. Both teens cannot put the past behind them until they feel like some sort of progress to resolve the solutions have been made.
Finally, both teens have a strong relationship with someone that they have lost therefore a main theme in both stories is love and loss.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8_dgqfPXFg








Girl, Interrupted

Brief Plot
Genre- Psychological Thriller
The film is set in the 1960's in a mental Hospital.
Girl, Interrupted is a film about a young girl (Susana) who is sent to a Mental Hospital in 1960. She was said to have attempted suicide and deemed mentally unstable. She befriends the band of troubled women on her ward. She falls under the influence of the biggest sociopath who has a history of escaping and can easily look at medical records. But, what will Susana do? Will she perpetually act out and follow the footsteps of Lisa or will she pull her mind together and leave the institute?
Similarities
This is similar to our theme of psychiatric thriller. Our film also stars a young girl who has been sectioned and put into a mental Hospital. She also faces many choices. Will she stay in and pull her mind together or will she escape from the hospital and seek revenge? Finally, In the film Girl, Interrupted, Susana is depressed and directionless. She's going through a difficult part in her life and is feeling lost and vulnerable. Also, in our film our main character is still suffering from her twin sisters murder and is finding it very difficult to cope. Therefore, both girls can relate to each other in how they are feeling and what they are experiencing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BHHUBZf7y4





Mise en scene

Makeup and Costume

Lucinda

For our film, we want to use similar makeup to the one shown in the above picture. Lucinda needs to look mentally insane and ill. We will make lucinda's face look really pale and emphasise her eyes by making them appear hallow and emotionless, we also want to make her look like she's not had any sleep. We will achieve this by putting red and purple makeup under and around her eyes. We will make her face pale which will make her look really ill, it will also emphasise her eyes and make all her other facial features seem less significant. For Lucinda's hair, we will comb it over her face to somewhat hide part of her identity. Lucinda's hair will be dark brown, this will also emphasise the paleness of her face. For Lucinda's outfit, we will dress her in a long white oversized gown, traditionally worn in mental hospitals. The gown is the only item of clothing Lucinda will be wearing. She will also be barefoot.



Psychologist

The psychologist will need to look professional and smart. She will need to be formally dressed with subtle makeup. We will want to dress her in neutral colours like blacks, greys, whites, browns... Therefore she does not stand out in a white room. Her hair will be neatly pinned back therefore we can focus on her face. She will be wearing a white coat, similar to a lab one along with a pencil skirt, blouse and some small heals. She will also be wearing some glasses for when she is taking the notes.

Translator

The translator will again be smartly dressed but also very plainly. With neutral, dull colours. She will be wearing trousers, a blouse and a cardigan. She will also have small heals on and her hair will be loosely pinned back. Her makeup will be subtle and neutral. She will have a watch around her wrist.

 

Setting

The setting of the film is based in England in a mental hospital. In a room in the hospital is where Lucinda lives. She has the basics, a bed, a bathroom... The room is mostly white and pictures of Lucinda and her sisters are pinned up around to make it look more like her room. Also, bits of newspaper articles have been pinned up. Inside the room is a table and chairs where the interview will take place. There will also be a cupboard which is locked where all Lucinda's tablets are kept. Lucinda will also have a bedside table where items and her belongings are placed. The door is locked where Lucinda stays so she cannot get out unless accompanied by a warden. The room is very basic and very plain.

 Lighting

In our film, we want the lighting in the room to look bright, warm and fresh. This will then contrast with Lucinda's character as she will be dull, sinister and appear out of place. As the scene starts, we want the lighting to be very bright. This will ensure that the audience can see all the small details, also, it will draw in the audience's attention as the bright light will attract them to the screen. Lucinda will also stand out and appear as an outcast this is because everything else will appear light and Lucinda's long, dark hair and ill looking face will appear frightening. Although, as tension begins to rise the light will gradually dimmer until when the psychologist dies it appears very dull and dark. This will mimic the mood and create an atmosphere. As the scene closes the light will begin to fade into darkness, this will suggest impending doom and imply that something is going to happen. An example similar style to the lighting I want to use is The Ring. Examples are shown below.



   

Props

For our film, we will need a table and three chairs. This is for when the psychologist is interviewing Lucinda and the translator is present. Also, we will need a bed, this is to make the room look more like a mental asylum and a room in which Lucinda lives. Around the room, will be personal items belonging to Lucinda, such as photographs, newspapers, drawings... Smaller, more significant props such as a cup, a tape recorder and varies documents will be placed on the table. These props are more significant because they will be on camera more often then the other props. Finally, there will be a clock in the room which Lucinda will often glance at. We will be using minimal props because due to the setting, there would not be many props present, therefore we want to make it as realistic as we possibly can.