Developing Our Ideas

Second rough story board: 

We have developed our initial ideas of "Schizophrenia" further, including some more features and techniques we want to re-create. These are our finalised ideas.

Plot
Our girl character is mentally ill, caused by traumatic events of her own wrong doing (such as adultery, promiscuity, abuse and excess). In the opening she experiences flash backs to when she tries to drown herself, and to where she is running away, through the tunnel. However, she is trying to escape from herself - although she doesn't realise this - because of her split personality. The focus is on her fears being all in her mind (a psychological pain or separation from her humanity) that she cannot release herself from, building up to a climatical ending in the underground lift (symbolising her oppression) - where she and her darkest side are suddenly face to face, displaying how she can no longer keep running away from her problem.

We are going to use mirrors and eye contact lenses to represent the binary opposition within her alter-egos. The mirror in the first scene displays reflection, where as the black and white contacts we plan to use as part of our costume, differentiate the two personas as slit, despite the character being as one. The white contacts show her mindset through innocent eyes; the black contacts displaying her evil view point, the deranged, confused and dangerous self.
 



Mirror shot inspiration:

The Grudge is a perfect example of mirror reflections having a life of their own, portraying these two figures as completely different through contracting actions and facial expressions.





A similar mirror technique is used in Black Swan, another key psychological thriller we have been inspired by, where we can see the two sides of Nina whilst in the dance studio.

Drowning scene

To emphasise our characters depression, we want to use shots of a suicidal attempt at drowning herself, in the effect of a flash back in between the chase scene. The idea is to send a message across to the audience of how her condition constantly plays with her mind, therefore causing her to spiral out of control, wanting to end part of her life whilst her dark side persistently prevents her capabilities of doing so.

These images are examples of shots we want to create, using a water tank or bath and camera angles from overhead in close up framing. She will blow bubbles and shut her eyes as an action of trying to let herself go, into the water, immersed in a world far from her condition. The atmosphere should be cold and isolated, and we may even use a black and white filter along with this, to really enhance her isolation from the normality of the world.