Costume, props, location and actors research

Joe Bradbury, Joe Cooper, Miles Young, Kyran Smith

Actor research:

In our film, there will be three main characters and each has very different roles to play. There will be the Protagonist (Jason), the damsel in distress (Lucy) and the Antagonist/antagonist’s (kidnappers). Jason, who is a drug dealer/addict by night and a loving boyfriend by day, would need to have a common British accent and be aged in his late teens or early twenties. He would have short scruffy hair along with some scruffy facial hair. His voice would be very hoarse and deep, and he would have average height for a man of his age. The image we are trying to find for this character is someone who has the basic traits of a stereotypical teenager but has grown a little rough due to his addictions.

The character who will be showed at the start of the film and is the person who represents the damsel in distress of our film is a character called Lucy, who is the girlfriend of Jason. She would have to have most of the stereotypical traits of a teenage girl. For example, she would need to have simple blonde or brunette hair that has been put into a common hairstyle (pony tail); she would be very short in height and again, like her boyfriend, have a common British accent. This image that we are trying to create for this character is one of a vulnerable teenage girl that is exposed to the dangers of her boyfriends hidden occupation.

The third sets of characters are the kidnappers. As these characters will always be covering their faces with balaclavas and be wearing very dark clothing, it is difficult to find many characteristics that are needed for the actors that will be playing them. Even so, these characters would need to be tall and very broad to show strength and power, especially over the small, teenage girl. Their voices would need to be very deep and they would have a much stronger commoner accent to the father and his daughter to show their possible harsh background.

Location:

The location the the fathers daughter being tortured will be in a dark, grungy, abandoned garage/toilet. This location connoted the fact that no one is around meaning that you cant be heard. The darkness shown in the garage will represent the danger of the situation that the young girl is in. As the room will have a very simple shape with few pieces of furniture inside, it will be very spacious and allow a lot of camera angles to be used as a result of no obstacles. Our group’s first choice location would be an abandoned garage. however, due to illegal reasons and the fact that no one in the group owns a garage, it will prove very difficult to obtain that specific location. Therefore the school toilet will probably be a more suitable location to use for this scene.

The location of the house will be in an urban area and will be a terraced house to represent the lower class figure. we will be using one of our groups houses which will make it easy to locate and use.

The location of the kidnapping with be on ward royal estate. We have chosen this location due to it looking like a lower class estate. lower class people are more associated with crime than other classes leading to the possibility of criminal action (The kidnapping) taking place. This location also is surrounded by roads which is useful for the van scenes and the estate contains many alleyways. These alleyways are very helpful to achieve our idea.

Costume and make-up:

The character Lucy shall be represented as a standard teenage girl, with no outstanding abnormal features. We plan for her to wear simple clothing that doesn’t stand out, she will wear jeans, t-shirt and a coat, they will be simple colours such as red, blue, black or white. Clothing for Lucy is probably least important because she cant be represented through clothing. Make-up for the character will be simple and wont create much effect in the early scenes. This changes, however, in the Torture scene where she wears a series of dark coloured special effects make up to create a bruised affect.

The character Jason is a relaxed character who is only shot in his home, therefore we will show him wearing very plain, casual clothing. He will wear slightly stereotypical clothing including simple jeens, a white T-shirt and trainers. We believe this choice of clothing shows he is slightly lower in the class system, perhaps C1. Make-up can play a part, for example if we can we would like add tattoos, these would create a stereotypical effect to show he can be aggressive.

The kidnappers are key when we think about clothing, they must be shown in a aggressive and typical manner. We will try to hide the characters identity with items such as balaclavas, hoodies and jeans. All items of clothing will be black as black as usually related with criminals. Make-Up will not be needed with the kidnappers as all skin is covered with clothing.

Props:

Gun: The kidnappers and the drug dealer will have guns. This emphasises the themes of crime and death which are both generic conventions of a thriller we wanted to incorporate into our film. Guns also represent the kidnappers as having power, which is important in our film as it shows that the father of the girl has the odds stacked against him - another convention we wanted to include. Joe Cooper has a BB gun that will be realistic and we can use. Potential hazards when using the gun are that some members of the public may think the gun is real.

Balaclavas: The kidnappers will be wearing balaclavas so that their identities remain unknown to the viewer. this creates an element of mystery and grip the viewer as they will want to find out who the kidnappers are and why they took the drug dealer’s daughter. We will buy these on amazon as they have a wide selection.

Substance replicating cocaine: The film is all about drugs as a drug dealer is in trouble with with old suppliers so it makes sense to include drugs use/deals in the film. We want the viewer to actually see the man doing drugs to make the film more gritty and almost hard to watch at times because this will emphasize the rough life on the council estate. We can use sherbet or sugar to represent the cocaine as it can be bought at any shop.

Phones: The father will have a top up phone like the one above as well as an iPhone. The top up phone shows he is a drug dealer and doesn’t want the drugs to interfere with his personal life. We also want him to have an iPhone to show he earns good money from dealing the drugs. Also when he gets a call from the attackers, it will look good on an iphone when you see the incoming call (as shown in the other picture). Miles has an iPhone and Joe C has brick phone that we can use in the film.The kidnappers will also have brick phones like the one above to show that they are not using their real phones as they do not want their calls to be traced so their identities remain secret.

Car/Van: During the kidnapping the girl will be put in the boot of the car or in the back of a van (depending on what is available to us at the time). This is crucial to the story because it will make the story because it will make the kidnapping look more realistic and it will also connote that the kidnappers are violent people. We will use one of our parents’ cars/vans.

Baseball bat and golf clubs: During the phone call scene, some of the kidnappers will be holding baseball bats and golf clubs to suggest that they have been beating the girl. This again shows they are violent and also very serious about wanting the money from the girl’s father. Joe has a baseball bat and a golf club we will be able to use in this scene.

Duct tape: Duct tape will be used to cover the girl’s mouth when she is being kidnapped to stop her screaming. This will make the kidnapping seem more realistic. Also during the phone call scene the kidnappers will rip the tape off her mouth when they want her to speak to her dad. This allows the viewer to see the kidnappers being violent and inflicting pain on the girl which shows them as being quite powerful. We will buy duct tape from a shop as it is fairly cheap.