JD. Costume, Casting and Prop Research.

In preparation for the filming of the opening I have decided to look into two areas; props, and costume, these will play a vital role in our production, as a costume can show which character the audience is positioned with, and which character has the power in any situation etc.

Costume

There will be two very different characters featured in our production, and both will require very different costumes, special detail will have to be paid to the antagonist, as we plan on using his appearance as an indicator of the deterioration in his mental welfare.

Allen Daniels (the protagonist) prior to break-down

• At the beginning of the clip, we plan on having Allen Daniels (portrayed by Dan Allen) dressed in ordinary, plain clothing, cloths which you would expect a teen to wear.
• we can see in the image below, thought has been put in when the character got dressed, as he has time to worry about what he looks like. His clothes are clean, his top ironed etc.

Allen Daniels (the protagonist) Post break-down

• at this point we wanted the character to look like he has more things to worry about than getting dressed in the morning, we want his to look like he has thrown on the first thing he saw, clean or not, because he is in such a rush because of the fear of what may happen.
• As can be seen the clothes are dirty, and the items don't match showing a disregard for his appearance.

 


TopHat (the antagonist)

• Throughout the clip we want the villain to remain 'clean cut' and well dressed, like a 'Sherlock' villain or 'The Joker' so we decided a suit and top hat (hence the name) were the best things to get him to wear. the suit should be dark in colour, so that when out of focus on the camera, he almost looks like a shadow.
• as we can see the suit is very smart, it is also like a uniform, so it shows that he should be nothing 'out of the ordinary' thus making him seemingly blend in with his surroundings.
• we could use a red shirt, or red tie to represent blood, a subtle hint of things to come in the full story.

Props

We have decided that props should be kept to a minimum to prevent the story becoming cluttered, therefore we are only having the knife (murder weapon) and TopHat's top hat (which will be featured heavily throughout the clip as it is TopHat's 'calling card')

Knife
The knife could also be left somewhere as a  note of TopHat's positioning throughout the house, for example, when Allen leaves out some food, when he comes back to it we thought a bloody knife could be left on the plate, where the food had once been.

• The knife should be old, to show lots of prior use, this could be used as a subtle hint that TopHat is a serial killer.
• The knife should also look dirty, to make it look unhygienic, adding a sense or 'purpose before pretty' to TopHat's way of thinking.

Top Hat
TopHat's signature is his top hat this makes this prop critical to the story, as it will be featured at the start, all the way through to the end.

• The top hat should be aged like the knife to make it look like it has been around for a long time, adding to the feeling that TopHat has been doing what he is doing for a long time.
• The hat could be bloody, once again in reference to the character being more about the job, than his appearance, adding to the character's scare factor as he would seem like a ruthless, but calculating killer. 

Casting

Casting for the production is fairly simple as only 2 characters will be shown on screen, Allen Daniels, and TopHat.

• Allen Daniels has to look like a weak figure, possibly quiet small and innocent looking, someone who looks like they could be easily overpowered. we can achieve this through casting, but also through costume (a 'My Little Pony' T-shirt wouldn't go amiss)
• TopHat needs to be the opposite of Allen, he needs to be a Tall, Gaunt figure, who is taller than Allen, so that he looks like he could over power him. he could also be slim, to show how he has been living house to house, without much food etc.