Props and Costumes

MARY (Faiza Wasim)

Costume- As our thriller opening is based in a real life setting our characters will be dressed rather plainly. Mary is the protagonist in our film which is a powerful role she will be able to portray this through her costumes and the mis-en-scene such as her bedroom in which everything will be considered as a prop. She will be dressed in a basic everyday nightwear as the thriller is supposed to represent her mature yet powerful personality.

Props-

Mary will be wearing an everyday clothing which will suggest her plain self. She doesn't require any special props however she will just need a laptop to be able to communicate with her friend Mary through skype. The time of the day that we are shooting is evening as it is more effective and relevant to the context of our thriller opening. The decoration in Mary's bedroom will be the extra props that will add to the suspense and tension that the thriller piece will create.

Maya (Raima Uddin):

Costume- Mary is the other female protagonist in our piece who will also be dressed in a basic nightwear. We chose her to be wearing black to signify her everyday teenage. She is also a representation for teenage girls who face psychological threats in their everyday lives.

Props- Mary is just in the clip for a few seconds but her presence is significant to Mary who is the target in our thriller piece. She does not require any special props either except for an IPad or an IPhone that will help her to connect with her friend through skype. Both the characters represent everyday teenage life and the level of tensions they face in their real lives.

Character Profile

Characters

Female protagonist(victim)-Maryam(Mary Ayubi)

• Gender: Female. A female who is a typical mean girl through her consisting gossip and her girly fashion sense. She is seen to be someone who intimidates anyone in her way.
• Age: 17 years old- Mary should be around this age as her character and personality is conveyed more abruptly. Also, this age portrays vulnerability as this is conveyed in this character a lot in most aspects in the film.
• Personality: She is a pessimistic, big-headed girl, who likes to make decisions independently for her own self interest. She likes to think she has a big dominance in everyone's life and they all need her to survive and work sufficiently, which is important as she will get attacked on her superiority.
• Ethnic group: White- A typical victim in most thriller-horror movies are white as they are seen to be the most vulnerable.

Mary Ayubi is seen to be a female victim as well as a protagonist of the film and she gets attacked through constant mind games. We wanted her to look like Regina George because she shows that arrogance and big-headness that Maryam has to present.

Female antagonist- Adelina(Mary's sister)

• Age: 6 years old- Adelina should be around this age because this is the main age of innocence and vulnerability, which emphasises she wouldn't do much at such a young age but this sterotype is broken.
• Gender: Female- this gender shows more cuteness and innocence rather than the antagonist being female. An antagonist being a young female girl, as a group, makes us show that we are breaking the sterotype of having a usual old, black man as a Hollywood tradition.
• Personality: vile, sly character that gets what she wants by acting innocent and acting like a little baby, which makes everyone give her what she wants and adore her throughouly. She is a trouble-maker who is a cause of everyone's oppression and misery in life. But, of course, her personality is not shown at the start of the film but there are some aspects where the audience questions her actions.
• Ethnic group- White- This ethnic group is most dominant in typical Hollywood movies and her ethnic group shows more innocence, which makes the audience fall for her as she is so adoring.

Adelina is the main antagonist in the film but there are some other antagonists in the film that we don't know whether they are an antagonist or not. We wanted her to look like Maltida because she is mischievous and cute, which Adelina potrays but she is more mischevious than Maltida was.

Protagonist's friend(extra role)- Maya Mir

• Age: 16 years old - She is Mary's supposedly best friend but in reality, she is a follower of Mary and listens to whatever she says even if it's against her.
• Gender: Female- The hopeless, desperate identity is more presented in female than men so this will be presented more effectively.
• Personality: She is desperate to become popular and wants everyone's attention but everyone's attention is on Mary. She is a back-chatter who talks about everyone, which gives her superiority.
• Ethnic group- White- This character is conveyed more in this ethnic group than other ethnic groups and most hollywood movies present characters like this.

Maya is an extra character, who is part of the reason why the protagonist is all alone with her problems as her friend fails to help her with her misery. We wanted Maya to look like Aubrey because they both are desperate characters but in a different aspect as Maya is desperate to have everyone to remember her name

Cast list

Cast #1
Character: Mariam (Mary) Ayub
Name: Faiza Wasim
Age: 16
Nationality: Asian-Brown
Skin Colour: Brown
Faiza had been selected to the role of the main protagonist Mary. In terms of role suitability she matches the role because she is the same age as the character. She doesn’t reinforce the stereotype though as she is Asian brown and the character is White-American. This is because we couldn’t find someone who was white and American and we also thought it would be a good idea to subvert the stetreotype as these days we hardly see any brown characters playing the role. In order for us to get Faiza in to character she will put some light make up on and will be dressed in a casual yet girly night wear.

Cast #2

Character: Maya Mir
Name: Raima Uddin
Nationality: Asian
Skin colour: Brown

Raima had been selected to play the role of the second main character Maya. In terms of role suitability, she doesn’t really fit the role of the character but we are going to make her look like it with the help of some make up and clothing. She is not the perfect match but she is the same age as the character which makes it easier for her to get in to the character and make it appealing to the audience. We couldn’t find a Filipino brown girl and however as Raima wears a hijab it makes her totally subvert the stereotype of most of the thriller films as we never see a hijabi girl as the main protagonist.

 

Location

 We experimented with different lightings in order to test which one is the most suitable in order to use in the scene.

Location 1: The bedroom

This is an image of the bedroom with the lights turned off however only one small lamp turned on. Out of all of the images, I personally like this the best and will cooperate this lighting into our film. Although taking this picture during the day, due to the dark colour of the curtains the room appears to be dark which makes it look as if it is night. This is beneficial for our group as when we shoot our film the lighting in the room will not be too dark so that the audience can't see what's going on, instead the mixture of dark and the small amount of light coming in from the window,allows perfect lighting in order for the image to come out clear. For our scene we need low lighting as that is one of the conventions which you see in a thriller movie, however with the lights completely off the room appears too dark which makes it hard for the audience to see the image. The small amount of lighting from the lamp and window, allows the room to look clear and mysterious.

This is an image of the room with no lights present expect for the natural light from the window. For our scene we would like to set it in a dark room, this is as darkness connotes with danger and mystery. The use of darkness can foreshadow the upcoming danger that will take place later on in the scene. The darkness of the image makes it look mysterious and unsafe which we are aiming for however I believe that the room seems too dark. This can cause problems as when we are shooting it will be difficult for the camera to clearly capture the video as it will be too dark.

As the lights are switched off and only natural light from the window is present, it makes it obvious that the picture was taken during the day. This is also a problem as the scene is supposed to be set during the night however if we turn the lights completely off it will be evident to the audience that it is not.





Panarama of room

This is an image of the bedroom with the lights turned on. Personally, I don't believe that the lighting is right for the scene. This is as traditionally in a thriller movie the director uses low lighting. This is so the audience are left in mystery as they are not able to fully see what is going, which builds up tension. However with the lights on, too much detail of the room is shown which makes the room appear safe and secure therefore I would not chose this particular lighting for the scene.

In the bedroom scene, at one point Maya points out to Mary that she saw someone walking behind her. However a silhouette will be difficult to create with the lights switched on as the audience will be see the actor clearly which will make it look ametur rather than scary therefore a we need to have a lower lighting in order to create this.

The famous myth of ' Bloody Mary' says that if you repeat Bloody Mary three times in the bathroom mirror with the lights off, when the lights switch back on she will be standing behind you in the mirror. Bathrooms are iconic in thriller and horror movies in order to create suspense and build up tension. In iconic thriller movies, the young, innocent girl goes to the dark bathroom alone, looks into the mirror and opens the cupboard to get something out, the audience warn her not to as they automatically realise that once she closes the cupboard, a killer, a ghost or a monster will be standing behind her starring back at her in the reflection of the mirror.

Bathrooms are mainly used as they are cold and small. The lack of space in a bathroom gives a sense of no escape for the victim, as if they are trapped.





Location 2: The bathroom



This is an image of the bathroom with the lights turned off. I had taken this
picture during early hours in the morning at around 6:00am. Personally, I believe that this image has an element of mystery and gives the audience a disturbing vibe. As the lights are switched off, there is lack of lighting and detail in the picture makes it difficult for the audience to fully see what is taking place, therefore they are always left in mystery and suspense. However, the lack of lighting could also cause problems as it will be hard to shoot the characters clearly as it will be too dark for the camera to pick it up however, we can solve this problem by shooting at 6:30am instead of 6.00am. This is as the bathroom will not be so dark that the characters cannot be seen, however not too light that the audience can tell that it was shot during the day. Instead, there will be enough light to see the characters and the details of the bathroom clearly, however still having the mysterious vibe to it. Shooting at 6:30am also gives us an advantage as if needed we can shoot early in the morning rather than late at night. This is as it makes it easier for our group to meet up and shoot.




In this image I was testing if the silhouette in the mirror is obvious to the audience. The sihouette of the man is ensential to the plot of our film as that is the main aspect of the film that create tension and mystery. In our film, Mary washes her hands however as she looks up she sees a silhouette of a man behind her. In order to create the silhouette, we need to have the right lighting. This is as if there is too much light the audience will see the actor which will not make it a silhouette however if it is too dark as it is in the image, the audience will not be able to clearly see the silhouette. In order to fix this we should shoot at 6:30am as the lighting will be just right.

Why I chose these locations:

The famous myth of ' Bloody Mary' says that if you repeat Bloody Mary three times in the bathroom mirror with the lights off, when the lights switch back on she will be standing behind you in the mirror. Bathrooms are iconic in thriller and horror movies in order to create suspense and build up tension. The location of the bathroom is not only set in thriller movies however are also used in

famous horror myths and legends. In iconic thriller movies, the young, innocent girl goes to the dark bathroom alone, looks into the mirror and opens the cupboard to get something out, the audience warn her not to as they automatically realise that once she closes the cupboard, a killer, a ghost or a monster will be standing behind her starring back at her in the reflection of the mirror.

Bathrooms are mainly used in thriller films as they are cold and small. The lack of space in a bathroom gives a sense of no escape for the victim, as if they are trapped. Bathroom scenes are very common in thriller and horror genre films; instead of a place for privacy, in the thriller aspect it is seen as a place of mystery and horror. As soon as the victim goes into the bathroom, either to take a shower, a bath or the clean up, the audience automatically expect something bad to take place such as a murder or a death. This is as the location foreshadows upcoming danger to the victim.

Bedrooms on the other hand unlike bathrooms are linked to privicy and saftey. The bedroom has a colour scheme which uses, uses bright, traditionally girly colours such as pink and purple which give the audience a false impression that all is well so far.

We used the location of the bedroom in order to almost trick the audience. By purpose, we chose a girly, "happy" looking bedroom rather room full of dark colours which gave a depressing vibe. This is as will make more of an impact on the audience when we subvert the stereotypical view of a bedroom or house and turn it into a place which is not safe.

Script

Script:

INT. MARY’S HOUSE – BEDROOM – EVENING

Mary is in her bedroom talking to her friend, Maya, via webcam gossiping about the day’s events.

MAYA:

“Did you hear about what happened in Maths today?”

MARY:

(Confused)

“No…what happened?

MAYA:

(Overjoyed. Exaggerated hand flap. Talking really fast without a stop for breath)

Oh my god! So basically Daniella found out that Monica’s been trying it with Max telling him to break up with Jess( gasps for breath) so she can have him all to herself so Jess confronts Monica all like (imitating Daniella in a silly voice)” Shut up and stay away from my boyfriend.”

MARY:

(Gasps, slightly giggling)

NO WAY, SHUT U… 

Accidently throwing the cup of coffee in her hand resulting it to spill on the floor

(Eyes closed. Mumbles under her breath)

Shi…

MAYA:

Oi, what happened?

MARY:

Mary squints her eyes in annoyance.

(Speaking slowly through her teeth)

“The stupid coffee spilt everywhere.

As she attempts to wipe the coffee off her of top, Mary’s phone buzzes, she receives a text message.

MAYA:

Oh, but anyway then Je…

(Maya’s voice fades into the background, music gets louder)

MARY:

(Looks at the phone confused. Frowning, whispers to herself)

“Unknown?”

Mary positions herself right on the bed. Unlocks her phone and reads the text message which reads “Aren’t you going to clean that up?” Eyes open wide, frowns, slowly turns her head around, scanning the room

MAYA:

…Don’t you think?

MARY:

(Speaking quickly, still frowning)

Erm—yeah…

MAYA:

(Giving a disapproving look)

Were you even listening to anything I said?

MARY:

(Marry speaks slowly and nods her head)

Yes.

(Looks down, frowning)

Maya’s phone buzzes again, closing her eyes she slowly picks up her phone, she receives another message from the unknown number which reads “I’m not there, look harder”

(Drops her phone onto the bed, frowning harder, exhales loudly through nose)

MAYA:

You’re not even listening to me innit? (Looks up at Mary, curiously) are you okay…?

MARY:

(Speaking quickly, shrugging shoulders)

“Uh—yeah—I’m fin…

(Stops talking, looks at Maya curiously)

Maya squints, face closer to the screen

MARY:

(Squints her eyes, speaks slowly in annoyance)

Maya, what are you doing.
MAYA:

(Smirking, raising right eyebrow)

Swear you’re home alone? You got a boy over innit?

MARY:

(Tilts head to the side, speaking slowly, looks confused)

I am…

MAYA:

Oh, I could have sworn I saw someone walk behind you… (Puts hand on head, thinks hard) but don’t worry I’m probably just seeing things (slightly laughing, shrugs, shakes her head) Anyway what was I saying again?

Mary turns her head really fast. Turns back to the face screen.

(Mary leans in closer to the screen, getting off the bed) “Hold that thought whilst I wash my hands”

(Mary slowly walks half way out of the room)

Maya: (Shouting) Ugh fine then (rolls her eyes) but hurry up, (voice starts to fade) I need to get off in a bit…

INT. MARY’S HOUE – BATHROOM – EVENING

The bathroom is dark and cold,the only visible light which can be seen is the dim light coming from the landing. Walking slowly into the empty bathroom, Mary turns to the sink in order to wash her hands. Mary stands in front of the mirror, looking at the reflection of herself in front of her for a few seconds.

 

MARY:

 

(Humming tunefully under her breath, turning on the tap and starts to wash hands with head hung low)

Mary, finished washing her hands, looks up into the mirror when she sees a silhouette of a man behind her.

(Mary eyes and mouth are wide open. She frowns, placing her hand over her mouth. Mary turns around frantically, leaning her body onto the sink)

 

ELLA:

 

(Standing in silence, holding doll in right hand, starring directly at Mary)

 

MARY:

 

(Gasps. Almost shouting) How--wha--I thought I saw-- (takes a deep breath. Bends down on one knee, still shaking) Ella? What are you doing here?

 

ELLA:

 

(Remains standing in silence, holding doll in right hand, starring directly at Mary)

 

MARY:

 

Ella... (shrugs shoulders. Slowly closes eyes and exhales deeply)

Ah, don’t worry, come on let’s get you to bed.

(picks Ella up aggressively, dropping doll onto the bathroom tiles. Starts to walk out of the bathroom, on the way to the bedroom.

Voice starts to fade and music starts to get louder)

do mum and dad know you’re…

The Doll is left on the bathroom tiles, starring deeply into midair.

Storyboard 2 Animatic

http://goanimate.com/videos/0nUZQFFMe-S8?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent

Storyboard 1

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Treatment

 

Treatment

It is a dark, gloomy day. Mary is in her room sitting on her bed, she is having a conversation with Maya on webcam. They are gossiping like any other teenagers about boys and random stuff. Mary while trying to settle on her bed hits her hand on the cup of coffee and it spills on the floor. Mary sighs as her phone vibrates and she receives a text from an anonymous number saying 'are you going to clean that up?'. She shivers, cold waves traveling through her body, she looks around frightened and bewildered by the text message trying to find someone, Maya gets suspicious about Mary's sudden change in actions, worried Maya with her loud and cheeky voice, louder than usual asks Mary if everything's alright. Mary as she starts to answer Maya's question receives another text from the same source, 'I'm not there, look harder'.

Mary loses her mind as she couldn’t find nobody around her and freaks out. Maya, angrily asks her again to tell her what's going on. Mary by now figures out that whoever it is, is not anywhere near her but still is watching her. She replies saying she is fine and nothing's wrong. However for a bit thinks she's hallucinating and tries to act like nothing happened. Instantly, Maya sees a silhouette behind her dear friend and reaffirms with her of nobody being home. Mary confused tells her again that she is alone, Maya tells her that she saw someone behind her freaked out Mary turns around and finds nobody behind her. Mary gets angry as she thinks her friend is playing a joke on her which she then tells her is not funny. Maya confirms that she seriously saw someone's silhouette behind her.

Mary does not believe her and asks Maya to wait while she leaves the room and goes to the bathroom to clean up the sticky coffee. She enters the bathroom and while washing her face she looks up and sees a silhouette behind her shocked and scared she immediately turns around failing to find anybody or anything. She gets suspicious about the event of things that just happened to her and while thinking about them she turns around and finds her little sister standing there with a doll. Mary takes a deep breathe and calms down after seeing her little sister, but she still couldn’t believe on what she saw and the text messages. However, confused as ever she looks at her sister and the doll which seems a bit unusual to her but ignoring her she takes her little sister to her room and puts her to bed. Meanwhile, wondering how her little sister was home all along and she didn’t notice her.

The doll drops out of her sister's hand while she takes her out of the bathroom to her bedroom. The mystery of the doll stays unknown to Mary and she tries to find out the truth behind the doll. Next morning, she receives another text from the same unknown source and freaks out because she still hasn’t found out who is doing this and why. Mary thinking about the events happened with her recently, walks past a house and sees a board stating 'fortune teller, visit to know more about your past and your future'. The series of texts never stops and next day Mary finally decides to go see the psychic she saw the poster of, she feels that is the only way left to figure out things in her life and the psychic might be able to help her situation as she has a feeling its something to do with her past. When she visits the psychic she is told that she has some bad spirits in her house which are coming after her and she gets really worried. She comes back home thinking about the same and thinks what she can do to get rid of it and move on.

She glances into her sisters room remembering about her instant appearance the other day. Her eyes looking for something in her room see the doll lying on the floor and she moves forward to pick it up and the expressions of the doll aren't very pleasant. She figures there's something wrong with the doll and it is the thing that might have brought the bad spirit into the house. While she glances at the doll and thinks about many stuff related to the same she receives a much weirder text telling her what's going to happen next and she won't be able to do anything about it. Mary decides to go see the psychic again as she feels she is the only one who could help her, Mary tells her everything about what's been happening and how she thinks it’s the doll that’s playing mind games with her. The psychic in return tells her to get rid of the doll as it’s the source to all the disruptions in her life.

Next day, Mary as soon as she wakes up she takes the doll outside and throws it into the bin. She enters her house relieved that the doll is gone and nothing will happen now, when she sees her little sister re-appear with the same doll in her hands. Mary gets confused and quickly runs outside to check the bin and the doll is not there. She gets even more worried now and realizes that the doll is not safe for her at all. She reaffirms with her sister about where she got it from and she tells her that it was there next to her when she woke up. Mary shakes in agony and receives another text saying she can't get rid of it this easily, it came to her life for a purpose and won't leave without fulfilling it.

Mary decides to find out the history of the doll and where it came from. She trying to resolve the mystery of the doll ends up in an isolated house of pictures of a girl with the same doll her sister has. She chases after the story and as she progresses she keeps on receiving the texts from the same anonymous source but she does not stop as she knows for it to end she has to keep looking and get rid of it. The doll actually belonged to the girl whose house it was and whom died few years ago in a car accident. Mary later on comes to find out that the car accident that occurred, her mom and dad and she was involved as well, as her dad was the one who hit the little girls car and the whole family died. That was when her family took the doll and the spirit of the girl is haunting her trying to take revenge. Mary after finding out the whole story goes to the psychiatrist and tells her everything. The psychic tells her the only way to get rid of the doll is to go and leave it to the girls grave whom it belonged to. Mary does what she is told but her fortune hasn’t planned peace for her yet as soon as she leaves the doll she receives the text saying 'am not leaving you so soon' she turns back to the grave and couldn’t see the doll, it's gone. She runs home thinking it would have came back but it hasn’t. she takes a deep breath but the mystery hasn’t been solved and the doll hasn’t left her yet. Its somewhere near her as she keeps receiving text till the end of the movie.