The choice of location to film our short-film application came about when I was walking down Elms Hill (The location for my AS Thriller) and I stubble upon an Victorian antique shop which sold very old items such as oil lamps and specialises in making taxidermy. The thought to set this short in the Queen Victoria's reign was first constructed before seeing the shop, the period that this will be set in will be 1896. The construction for the narrative has begun and speaking intensively with the shop owner about filming permission and the idea of the film he said he agrees with, the shop will also add to the time period along with the costume, the genre of the short will be Horror. Me and Josh Moore both felt that by applying with something that shows of what we're initially applying for will help to show NFTS that we talented and committed in that field, even if we don't get the opportunity to go to the residential we can still use this and place it our portfolio.
I spent an hour firstly in the shop to try and visualise what the scene would look like and tried to think where I would position the camera if we were allowed to film there. I then asked the owner of the shop and talked about the age of the building, what period some of the items were and discussed about the potential idea of being allowed to use his shop, he said yes to the idea and seemed to be excited about the idea. I then spent time explaining my original idea to Josh Moore, who would be assisting me on making the Horror short-film, we then decided to travel down to Elm Hill where the shop is located, and discussed potential ideas while surrounded by the atmosphere of the shop, this added the possibility to visualise where the characters would be positioned and what props from around the shop would aid in creating a horror atmosphere.
We talked with James (The Shop Owner) and asked about if there was any stories about this shop that we could take into consideration, he said that there is a book about a taxidermist who was convinced he could make dead animals live, he thought that by doing this he had a purpose in life, he then talked to each other about the potential of adapting this novel to screen. After making good progress we then walked down Elm Hill and walked around some of the other antique shops, we found that one shop was selling old Victorian penny's, so we thought that as a prop this would be convenient to have, so we purchased 16 to be placed into a velvet coin satchel, this would link into the first suspense for the audience.
Synopsis:
John cheats on his wife (Elizabeth) with a mistress called Helen, while discovering this, Dr Neil Cream spots her and takes advantage of her mental state offering a pill that will make her beautiful. This is poison and has killed her. John grieves over the death of his wife and decides his mistress is no longer a going concern, little does her know hie wife is now watching over him from the dark...
Character Profile Construction
The first thing I did when I thought up the idea to shoot a horror film set in a particular period was to think about character profiles. This then enable me to think about their characters more in depth and to then create their personal identity, this would then enable me to have an exact lifestyle and make them a real character so that they seem believable. By adding their wealth, Traits and backstory it allows the creation of a character that seems more real, the audience would then submerse themselves into the characters life story. As I didn't use the whole of the character profile, it was useful to plan ahead, because then you could reference what their lives are like in the film. I learnt this technique while at the BFI Film Academy, a lady called Bell introduced the technique to me while learning about script writing and creating character profiles from random images we chose. I adapted this technique to aid me in creating the concept for this film, it was easier to create a whole life story so you can understand their actions in the film.
I've incorporated a real life serial killer into this short, his name is Doctor Neil Cream. He is also known ass the Lambeth Poisoner, he was a Scottish-Canadian serial killer, who claimed his first proven victims in the United States by killing a Women and two Children. He then proceeded to kill women in the streets of England and was offering them a pill to make them beautiful but in fact it was poison.
Script
The Lambeth Poisoner Trailer
This will be a fascinating project....stuffed animals are always creepy!!! I put a post on Josh's blog re Psycho, Normal Bates has stuffed birds peering out of dark corners. Marion Crane his victim....note her surname is that of a bird so her fate is sealed!
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