Costuming

Costuming of the Psychopath

For our psychopath, we thought it would be suitable if he was wearing fairly ordinary clothes, as this shows that he seems like an ordinary man, who is only insane on the inside. We decided that he should also wear fairly plain clothing so he doesn't look like he cares a lot about how he looks. Plus, he is wearing dark shades of clothing, as this gives connotations of evil and fear, opposed to him wearing yellow, which has connotations of happiness and sunshine. However, some psychopaths in films do wear white, which contradicts the connotation of purity, so makes the audience feel uneasy, as well as adding to the use of plain clothing.

When looking at other thrillers, the psychopaths similarly match this costuming:

Shutter Island



Henry: Portrait of a serial Killer

Se7en




Fatal Attraction



Basic Narrative Outline

After researching what is included in a thriller, we found out that some of the key themes are perception, isolation and violence. We based our narrative around these themes.

• Our film opening will start with an extreme close-up of our protagonist's face, with no sound. (Black and white)
• The film will cut to the production title, after a blackout.
• We will have our child actor sitting on the stairs with violent commotion in the background. "You're a cancer to this family"
• He runs to his room, shuts the door and turns off the light. This action leads to a sudden black screen.
• Then we cut to a close-up of a woman's face, in a canted view, of her screaming and crying. (Black and white)
• Then we cut to a close-up of the woman's hands tied behind a tree. This then cuts to black again. (Black and White)
• We then have a sudden close-up of our young adult actor's face. The light in this shot is only from him struggling to, then switching on a lighter.
• We then have a close-up of our main character's hands imaginarily trying to flick the lighter with the same action as the previous shot. (Black and White)
• Cuts to a close-up of a woman's neck, muddy and clearly struggling. (Black and White)
• Close up of the woman's face again. "I've got a..." and "You're a cancer to this..." (Black and White)
• Extreme close up of main characters eyes opening suddenly. (Black and White). Heavy breathing and sobbing is the only sounds you can hear with a few birds also. "...Family"
• Longshot with main character in the foreground out of focus, and woman in the background in focus distressing. (Black and White)
• The main character is then rummaging in a tool box, and pulling out a hammer. (Black and White)
• The woman is in the background, in focus, screaming. You can then see his hand in the shot, but it's out of focus. He then becomes in focus, and she goes out of focus, as a focus pull. Then as he walks closer to the woman, you can see he's holding the hammer and eventually the majority of his body can be seen. (Black and White)
• Cuts to a extreme close-up of his mouth and he just smiles with no guilt, very much like a psychopath. (Black and white)

There is a build up of sound as the opening progresses that stops at the point of the main character opening his eyes.

Below is our rough storyboard plan.

What Makes A Fictional Psychopath

As we know that our narrative and film opening will be based around the life/experiences of a psychopath, we decided to research the typical qualities and expectations of a fictional character of a psychopath. This will help us when we decide in further detail what our main character's portrayal and features will be like in order to make it as accurate and mature as possible.

Our Actors

For our film opening we will have 2-4 characters, the main character being a boy/man as he grows up. To find our actors we attended a casting of drama students held at school however, seeing as only one of the actors was male and didn't fit our description, we later decided to find actors outside of school. For our main character we will need three different actors in order to show his progress as he ages; one will be a child, one a young adult and one a grown man. In our opening we also plan to have one hostage and the child's parents, who will be arguing.

Our actor for the main character as a child is Kian:

We chose Kian because we wanted our actor to have dark hair throughout the opening as he progresses in age in order to indicate that it is the same person. As Kian is our child actor we need him to look sweet and vulnerable in order to evoke sympathy from the viewer. We believe Kian fits our description and as he is a close relative to our group (Amelia's cousin), we are able to fully and comfortably cooperate with him. 

Actor as a grown adult is John:

We believe that John would be suitable to play the role of our main character as an adult as he fits the requirements we need. He has dark hair which will continue the flow throughout the three different ages, he is also middle aged and will be able to wear the correct male asserting costume we wish to use. As he is also a relative of the group (Georgia's Dad) it will be easy to find out when he is available to film and is easy to cooperate with.

Our actress to play the hostage is Debbie:

Debbie is a suitable actress for the part of the hostage, she is the appropriate age to deal with the dialogue and situation. Debbie is also a relative of one of the group (Georgia's Mum) so it will be easy to indicate when she is available to film and easy to cooperate with.

Our actors to play the child parents are Amanda and Neil:

Amanda and Neil are suitable to play the parents of the child as they will be present at the same time the child actor is being filmed and therefore are easy to film. They're of the suitable age to deal with the dialogue and situation and are the parents of one of the group (Amelia) and therefore are easy to cooperate with.

Iconic Directors

Psychological thrillers cover a wide variety of problems and issues and different directors and screenwriters specialise in individual aspects. 

Perhaps one of the most iconic and well known directors of psychological thrillers is Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock was among the most successful directors of his time and remains as one of the most popular and well known of all time. Some of his most famous films are 'Psycho', 'Rear Window', 'Vertigo'.

Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. 'Four Flies on Grey Velvet' and 'The Cat o'Nine Tails' are two of his most successful thriller films both released in the 1970's. Argento is often referred to the Italian Hitchcock. 

Christopher Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer who received a considerable amount of attention from his earlier on thriller films such as 'Momento' and 'Insomnia'. He then went on to become even more well know by directing 'Inception' and 'The Dark Knight Trilogy.'