Orphan movie influence

A lot of the inspiration for many parts of the film in derived from the movie Orphan. Both some of the influence of Judith and her child comes from the character Esther. Her mannerisms are influences of how I see Judith’s child being (however it is yet not clear how much her son will actually feature) and her dress and overall look is how I see Judith as a child being.

This also shares the theme of having nuns in the movie. They took in Ester as an orphan. In our film they take in Judith as one of them.

They’re both also psychological thrillers that focus deeply on the mind of a child and their relationship with others in their family. Orphan looks a lot at how Ester as an adopted child and the relationship she shares with the mother in the family and how this is a broken relationship. This is similar to how ours will look at the relationship between a mother and her son and how this is a broken relationship.

BARE:2015

Released: October 30th 2015 (USA), currently not been released within the UK.
Written by: Natalie Leite
Production company: Purple Milk, Indion Entertainment Group
Established cast: Paz de la Huerta (Pepper), Dianna Agron (Sarah)
The film Is initially about a young girl; Sarah, who appears to be placed within a job that is vastly unentertaining and vastly unchallenging whilst her mother establishes a distant relationship with Sarah. Therefore Sarah seeks a mother relationship which is interpreted through her relationship with the women she catches steeling;  Pepper. Pepper sees the vulnerability within Sarah and takes her on as her own by allowing Sarah to experience the exotic side to what life can offer. Another factor to take into consideration is that through Sarah's life consisting of a classic, job, heterosexual relationship. Therefore this additionally drives her to counteract her 'normal' life choices as she entails a homosexual relationship with Pepper and resorts to  drugs and becoming a show girl.

Screen shots from the trailer that is featured:

when Sarah first meet Pepper

When Pepper gets caught steeling by Sarah but Sarah ignores the accident



Sarah indulges herself within an exotic occupation- vastly out of character.

The scene before Sarah and Pepper encounter a sexual relationship(affair)

Foreshows the blossoming bond between Pepper and Sarah

The establishing relationship between Sarah and Pepper is what the ideal romance between sister Judith and father Abraham should reflect; how they meet due to Sarah's vulnerability which Pepper latches onto consciously but on the contrary Sarah establishes this through realising what her reality had become through meeting her; living life dangerously and becoming something she never imagined.

Father Abraham-Profile (so far)

Father Abraham’s character’s personality is based upon a variety of prior characters; Mr Humbert Humbert from the novel ‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nabokov. Later adapted in film by Stanley Kubrick. The key essence to take from his character, is his adornment upon literature and how he devotes his entire soul and physical body to one female in particular: the nymphet Lolita. However within our film ‘Purity’ no erotic motifs will be featured as Sister Judith is over the legal age of consent. Moreover, another pre-existing character is Patrick Bateman within American Psycho novel by Bret Easton Ellis. The character trait that will be featured is Bateman’s obsession with having vast superiority over his unknowing victims and being in control of the present situation. This will be established within his relationship with Sister Judith, as he sees her as an inferior partner who needs to be controlled rather than giving her the option. He is able to carry out this deviant act as he establishes that she possess low confidence and is easily conformed through an authoritative figure.

 

Initially these two pre-established characters will be the main components for Father Abraham's character. However there are still a few more personality traits to complement the others- which will be done by further research.

American Psycho: Establishing that he identifies with two hidden personas.

Lolita: Dolores and Mr Humbert . Fondling over one another.

The attire of Mr Humbert: highlight the simplicity that Mr Humbert's exterior establishes to his prior social connections. However hidden within his personality is a child fascination with differs from the norm. This will be interpreted within  father Abraham's personality as he appears to be rather caring however the actions he takes out are to only satisfy his hidden desires.

Romantic scene between Dolores and Mr Humbert. This will be how the establishing relationship between Sister Judith and Father Abrahams secret affair will be foreshow.

Certification of film

Certification of film

We have agree upon the likelihood that our film will receive a 15 classification. It has elements of psychological horror and thriller that may disturb some audiences and be above the comprehensive level of preceding classifications. Furthermore, there may be strong language as well as strong verbal references to sex. Indeed, there will also be brief scenes of sexual violence and sexual activity in a hetereosexual and homosexual context. We feel younger viewers may find this challenging and/or disturbing and so we feel a minium age of 15 would be best for the viewers full enjoyment and comprehension.

What may be seen in a 15?
a) strong violence b) frequent strong language c) portrayals of sexual activity d) strong verbal references to sex e) sexual nudity f) brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence g) discriminatory language or behaviour h) drug taking

Horryfiying childhood myths.

Possible distributor

Our preferred and most realistic choice for a distributor would be Warp Films as they are an independent production and distribution company fairly locally based. Furthermore, many of their films are distinctly regional and we are toying with the idea of making ours in a specific Barnsley dialect. We appreciate the quirky nature of many of their films but even more so the social realism aspect, so, we feel our project could be an opportunity for them to further widen their arsenal of genres, somewhat following on from the complex nature of ‘Kill list’. Moreover, Warp Films have won a whole host of independent film awards and we acknowledge and appreciate the creative license given to the film makers in order to accomplish this, specifically screenplay, of which a favourite film of mine ‘Submarine’ won an award for and we feel it will be of utmost in importance to our project.

Click this link to view the trailer for 'Kill list'

Judith: Age/Dress transformation

Music in film

Genres and direct influences

Genre(s) and direct influences Our film is a psychological thriller with some elements that border on horror. It aims to emphasise the psychology and unstable state of our main character, Sister Judith, who is afflicted by her life choices, being in the nunnery yet getting pregnant, as well as the murder of her son. A technique from this genre that we wish to incorporate into our film is an unreliable narrator and plot twist. The themes that broadly feature in psychological horrors will be found in our film such as reality, death and perception. Moreover, the moth represents reincarnation and the opportunity for change which contrasts with our characters as for two successive generations the adult has abused the child.

A film we have taken a more obvious direct influence from is Orphan. Our main character, Sister Judith, will exhibit many of the mannerisms and characteristics that Esther, the main character from Orphan, she is aloof and harbouring a terrible secret that becomes more apparent as the film progresses. On a more thematic note, Esther has a twisted love for her adoptive family, specifically the father, our film, ‘purity’, follows in a similar fashion as there is a twisted and unbreakable bond between Sister Judith and her son through a mother’s love and dark secrets.

Story idea

Story idea The scene opens with a medium long shot of a woman laid on the ground and she is awake but clearly hurt and distressed. The setting is within nature and establishes an aura of uncertainty and fear. The camera then cuts to her eye perspective and it is hazy around the edges as well as shaking occasionally cutting to black indicating her loss and regaining of consciousness. There is an internal monologue but we have yet to decide and finalise the script. The main influence for my story idea was the scene in ‘Kill Bill’ where the woman has been shot by Bill on her wedding day and drifts in and out of consciousness. We would like to incorporate a scene of this nature for the opening sequence as it will set the tone nicely and it gives us the opportunity to use a variety of effects with the camera such as: cutting to black representing the loss of consciousness and making the camera the direct eye perspective of the person. We all had films of a similar nature and so combined our ideas to complete the story.

Genre research- Psychological thriller

What is a Psychological thriller- 

The genre of film I will be researching is psychological thriller as our film is likely be a psychological thriller or incorporate a lot of elements from this genre.

A thriller is a story that centres around anticipation and suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. A psychological thriller is a sub-genre of a thriller genre. A psychological thriller is a story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. Psychological thrillers often have a big emphasis on the characters as much as, if not more so, than on the plot. They also often incorporate an element of mystery.

Common themes in psychological thrillers-

·         Reality

·         Perception

·         Mind

·         Existence

·         Purpose

·         Identity

·         Death

Literary devices and techniques frequented by psychological thrillers-

Stream of consciousness-

This is where the character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are shown in a continuous flow. In Psychological thrillers the narrative often focuses on the main characters psyche.

First person narrative-

This is where things are shared from the point of view of the person telling the story. Usually the main character. The story is narrated by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about him or herself or sharing events that he or she is experiencing. This technique is often used to help the audience connect with the character and therefore to show how the characters mind works.

Back story-

Back story is the history or background of the character. This shows the development of the story to this point. It also deepens the psychological aspect of the film and fully understand the character and their motivations.

Costumes in psychological thrillers-

Costumes in this genre of film are usually true to day to day life due to the fact that themes are usually very surreal and this gives the audience a connection of day to day life and realism. However sometimes characters dress oddly in order to give an insight into their mind or to signify something is wrong with them. E.g. Esther from Orphan.

Locations in psychological thrillers-

Again like in costumes, locations are usually true to realism. However they can be overly theatrical and stereotypical of the area or country where he film is set. 

Young Judith style ideas

Many of my ideas for young Judith costume idea is influenced by the movie Orphan and Esters costumes. This character often wears older style dresses and her hair curled in ribbons. This gives her and young yet old fashioned look. A satin and or ribbon choker.
She often wears a pinafore dress which gives her a young almost school girl style look. The pig tails gives her an innocent look.




It is later revealed that she is in fact a lot older than she looks and having this style does make her a lot younger. This is helpful to us as if we do include younger Judith in our film it would be an older actor paying her that the age I would like her to be in the film.

There is a common theme in this genre of film of young girls wearing older style dresses. As this is a similar theme to what our films genre may be. e,g, The shining As it s a similar theme  think that it would fit our project well.

However it is yet not certain we will feature and younger Judith in our film as we may not have the time nor the resources.

Title sequence idea: Children's drawings

Just had an idea that I thought would be rather interesting to foreshow within the film's title sequence.
Through numerous research into films and TV shows that have a psychological genre, the images of children's drawings seems to have a key relevance within. I thought what we could do was to have a children's drawing of a key event, as for firstly due to resources, the budget, location and digital editing we have access to - it will be rather difficult for us to be able to have select images and acting scenes due to these mitigating factors. Therefore what I am proposing is to have the drawings to enhance the integrity and mystery of the film. These images would be behind when the credits etc are being highlighted. It also allows the viewers own interpretation to imagine how the select scenes will be filmed.

(Screenshot off the 'MAMA' title sequence)

(Screenshot off the film 'Sinister') 

Mama trailer:

                          
A key relevant theme throughout our film 'Purity' is a mothers bond to a child. The Film 'Mama' highlights this concept excellency, as it elaborates on the prospect of how a mother will go beyond the basic needs to ensure the safety of her child, even if there is no biological connection. This reoccurring theme is traditionally foreshown in numerous of psychological films i.e. The women in black, Orphan, and The conjuring. It foreshows how the spirt (the mother) sees how her main purpose is to diagnose any possible threat and therefore sees the need to execute it within the film Mama. This concept led onto the idea of how when Sister Judith gives birth to her child: the connection and bond between them overrides any other emotional connection she has within her social connections. Her mental state seems to degenerate, due to how her fixation has become somewhat psychotic which starts to have an effect upon her mental state.

This is one of the clips within the trailer that is linked above that again just reinforces how a bond is connection that lasts an eternity. We want to try to portray this within our film as then it allows us to draw in a vast demographic audience but allows the viewer to also feel an emotional connection to the film.

Children in film.

CH I L D R E N     I N     F I L M-

Children in film have got a lot of different traits. One of these are their facial expressions. In films to begin with children have an innocent look to them to signify that they are more vulnerable. They usually use the body language of skipping and jumping around to show their youth and how young they are. This gives the audience a positive impression on them to start with. Then as the film progresses they begin to portray unexplained behaviour like talking to walls or drawing pictures. Usually children can make up a fantasy as they have a vivid imagination but things like this make them seem far from normal. Also they hide behind a lot of things to at times show that they are scared, again showing their innocence.

The characteristics of the children sometimes range. The general hair colour for children is blonde or dark brown to black hair, this is because it can make them either seem ordinary or indifferent to others. In all horror films children either have piercing eyes or dark eyes to make them seem more scary. This is done to make them look like they at first may have been innocent but something has changed the way that they act.

Costume is a very important aspect of children in film. This is because the clothes that they wear will suit the character or role that they are playing. For example the little girl in orphan wears a lot of black and white. Within the film there is a continuing pattern of black coats and black shirts.

 

Carrie birth scene influence

 

A further influence on the film in the birth scene where Margret gives birth to Carrie. This scene influenced the idea of when Judith gives birth to her son.

This scene has a lot of religious symbolism for example when the shot goes up the staires you can see a bible covered in embotic fluid. This shows suggests a lot without outright saying it. This I believe will influence our own scene a lot however I wouldn't want it to be as intense as this and as violent as this. As it would be way too difficult to capture it in the same way. However I would like to show that there are religious stymbols around.

I would like to capture the same shock and disblife that was shown in this scene as well. Instead of an active giving birth scene I think it would be better if it was a post birth scene where it shows a lot of symbolism. I want it to capture the shock and disbelife and the anger of Judith but also the new love that she has for her child. However this may be a little difficult to do as we don't have the resources and it would be difficult to act and obviously we wouldn't have a real new born to do this with.

The returned-

Influences for select scenes of the film: Particularly focusing upon the The Returned (French: Les Revenants), the French supernatural drama television series created by Fabrice Gobert.

This particular scene foreshows a women entering the water, through losing the only importance in her life; the unknown child that had returned to her prior (Victor). The significance upon this in relation to the film is that the main focus is upon the relationship between the young women and the infant in question. The relationship in particular is the key essence upon the film, as the film needs to highlight how a women’s adornment for her supposed ‘son’ is the overruling aspect throughout. Another factor to take into vast consideration, is that due to the season when we film the scene, it will be rather difficult to film a women and an infant devouring both of their bodies within the water due to a numerous of mitigating circumstances 1) weather, 2) reoccurring ethical issues 3) safety of both the actors and the unknowing of what remains are within the lake. Therefore we have decided to interpret this scene by having both women and the infant eroding into a wood or forest of some kind, also highlight the significance upon an additional recurring theme: nature, which will be thoroughly discussed on another blog post. The scene is in retrospect portrayed to represent a rather significant part upon the film and the women’s mental state. The initial point of when the women enters into the woods is to represent the crucial emotional moment when her fervent exodus has become no longer abhorrent or prolonged and her fuel to life has abolished. The women comes to the final conclusion due to  enforcement upon natures natural process of dispersal and how she initially foresees that her life no longer entails being on earth surrounded by humanity or the confinements and stigmatisation she has been rigorously forced to endure. Rather she sees a life that is to live in soul with God and the young child due to her religious devotion but on the contrary allowing her soul to be free of the unjust misery she has torturously endured throughout numerous miss-happenings; indigence, entanglement of charisma, devotion.  

Additional links;

This is additionally another scene from the returned which the child star ‘Victor’ draws events that will occur in the future and connotes how death is a recurring life expectance that one must somehow and somewhere occupy. Another factor that will be portrayed within the film is that the drawings vastly influenced select parts of the infant’s mannerism and what characteristics he will portray throughout. Therefore this led onto the idea that the infant drawings will link onto actual key events within select parts of the title sequence, highlighting to the viewer what they’re about to endure their selves into and again signifying that psychological themes will occur vastly from numerous perspectives.