Depict: 'Past' - Character Profiles and Storyboards

Shaun Howard

A man who has witnessed a burglar break into his home and murder his wife. He is now living his everyday life haunted by this past, he cannot let go and constantly sees the traumatic event everywhere he goes in reflections.

Time seems to drag out for longer than it should, when he is at work he is riled by the constant repetitive clicking of a mouse, keyboards and the ticking of the clock. His life turns around once a girl walks into a café and speaks to him.

Shaun has dark hair, he looks distressed and restless, he has insomnia and bags under his eyes. He wears his work clothes which is a white shirt, dark tie, suit trousers, a pair of formal shoes and a dark coat. His shirt is slightly creased as he doesn't always iron his clothes and his hair is slightly messy. Shaun always drinks coffee at work and doesn’t drink alcohol.

Burglar

Burglar breaks into Shaun Howard's home and murders his wife. This character haunts Shaun in his reflections, he will wear a balaclava, a black leather jacket and black gloves. He will have a knife which he will show in the reflections. The burglar will look evil and merciful.

Jean Howard

Wife of Shaun Howard who is murdered by a burglar who breaks into their home. She only appears in his reflections which haunt him, showing her eyes and face which clashes with the face of the burglar. There will be fades between the reflections but I will show how his memory of her is damaged by the image of the burglar who killed her. Jean wears casual clothes such as jeans and a long sleeve top.

Emma White

Meets Shaun Howard in a café and releases him from his haunted past. Her appearance is very brief. She enters the café Shaun is in at the end of the film and approaches him. They both glance at each other smiling and they introduce themselves as the screen fades to black. She has long hair and wears a dress.

Storyboard 1

I decided to change this storyboard as I wanted more tension when he's sees the burglar in the mirror. I want to make this scene more intense. I will focus on him panicking; with sounds of a fast heart rate, heavy breathing and showing  him shaking. I also decided I wanted an extra character in my film, giving Shaun a friend who is supportive towards him as I didn't want him entirely alone.

Storyboard 2

I have removed the time lapse of the clock for this storyboard as I think that shows time moving quickly rather that showing it move slowly for Shaun as he is suffering and bored. I have changed some of the reflections focusing more on faces rather than the event. In the bathroom mirror I have changed it so the burglar is standing behind him instead of being his reflection as I don't want the audience to think that Shaun is the burglar. The car wing mirror will show Jean Howard's eyes, the car door glass will show the side of her face and the puddle will show her face fading to the face of the masked burglar. I have changed my storyboard to this as I believe it's more powerful, he loves his wife and keeps thinking about her face but the burglar's image invades some of these memories. I am pleased I added a new character, Stuart who is Shaun's friend as I found the story was too sad for him to be alone as well, he needs someone to support him. I didn't want to make his life seem so hopeless.

Storyboard 3

I have changed my idea slightly so that instead of Shaun witnessing the burglar kill his wife he only witnesses her dead after the break in. I wanted the image of the burglar to be what he imagines the killer to look like as he doesn't know who he is. He is living with anger with a thirst for revenge. I have also changed a lot of the scenes so the memory of his wife is behind him in the reflections, like she is watching over him, which I think is more effective. I have also changed it so he is speaking to a female colleague at the end who suddenly changes into his wife representing how he sees his wife in this new girl and how he finds it hard to move on.

Why my idea is appropriate for production in terms of context, available resources, expertise and time.

I believe this idea is appropriate as it gets the audience involved with the character's emotions. Instead of showing this traumatic event of a burglar breaking into his home and murdering his wife I am showing how it haunts him everywhere he goes; he is always thinking about his wife as well as his anger towards the killer. I am showing how in his world time seems to drag out and just getting through the day is painful enough. He speaks to a female colleague through a webcam conference call and sees his wife appear in the exact same position wearing her clothes, this represents how he sees his wife in her and finds it hard to move on.

I have learned a lot by experimenting myself through editing and finding new techniques which I would like to show through this project. Creating the reflections could be a challenge but I am willing to accept that to achieve what I want and create something I could be proud of. I have learned about blending options in Premiere which I will use in my project and adjusting the colours for dramatic effect. From my previous project I have experimented with layering and I will use that in this project, layering cracks over the top of my main character to represent that he is a broken man. I will layer sound effects when editing to make the film more intense such as screams, heavily breathing and a heartbeat.

I could create a lot of the reflections digitally by filming the characters in front of the green screen and overlaying them as casting reflections on glass and water could be difficult to capture. However I think if I film it right I could record the killer or wife standing behind the main character in the reflections. We have the available resources such as the camera, tripod, tracks, lighting and sound to create this short film. I have only briefly used the tracks and it has created some great smooth camera movements which I would love to use in this project. I want to use some smaller lighting kit however as I am not using a studio and using the large lights in small spaces would not be appropriate, I will also not use a boom pole if need be for the same reason.

Time is one of the things I am most worried about as it would take a while to film and longer to edit, I am also hoping I can get the help I need in terms of cast and crew. Fitting filming around when the actors are free or when I can get help with equipment could hold me back and take longer than I want. I am also a little worried about locations, I need a place that looks like an office so I'm hoping to use somewhere in  university for this.

It took me a while to come up this idea, I always wanted to create something surreal and this is perfect as a short. This project will be great for showing some of the skills and techniques I have picked up, I'll also learn more during the process which will help with any future projects.

I believe I haven't really taken film to my full potential yet, I have explored through effects in editing but I would like to focus a bit more on cinematography, even though this will have effects in  it I want to make it seem more raw and original. Although I have worked with actors before in my 'Malac' film I haven't really directed them myself which is a challenge I have set myself for this project. I will be working with four actors and I'm hoping for some good performances, I will have several takes for each scene until I get the right outcome as I want this piece of work to feel intense.