Character Representation

The main character in the film is Sophie. Sophie is a 14 year girl, suffering with the illness depression. She is struggling with dealing with life and so self harms to release the pain. She has nobody to turn to so uses her diary as a way to express her feelings. She has become very down and can see no hope she wants to commit suicide and often has suicidal thoughts.

Her Father is very strict and uncaring where Sophie is concerned. He can not understand her behaviour at all and has no symphathy for people sufferign with depression, including his own daughter. And gets very angry and frustrated with her lack of eating at mealtime and lots of other things she does. This doesn't help Sophie at all. He is cruel and may be one of the causes leading to Sophie to be depressed.

Her Mother is more reserved, shy and timid. She is a peacemaker and wants everyone to be happy in her home. However she is very frightened of her husband as he overreacts and can sometimes lash out at her and her daughter. She doesn't want to upset him, so she dislikes Sophie not obeying his orders and seeming so down.

Location Location Location

We used two different houses when filming Sophie in her house. We filmed some of the scenes and Kay and Sam's house and some scenes at my house.

These are the pictures taken at their house along with a description about why we filmed the scene there.
Sam and Kay's house

This is Sophie's bed, we filmed a scene with Sophie screaming into her pillow on this bed

This is the desk area, where Sophie writes her diary entries.

These are the stairs which Sophie storms up after a row in the kitchen with her parents.

The outside of Sam and Kay's house just to show the location, however we will not film outside in the actual opening film sequence.
My House

This is the bathroom, where Sophie cuts herself


This is a picture of the sofa in the living room where Sophie takes the pills


This is the kitchen where the dinner scene occurs

Storyboardy...

Credits

We have worked the credits into our opening sequence.
First of all we decided to have all of the following credits in our opening film sequence:

Starring...Lucy Formby
Written by...Ruth Halliday and Kayleigh Protheroe
Directed by...Samantha Protheroe, Kayleigh Protheroe and Ruth Halliday
Produced by...Samantha Protheroe, Kayleigh Protheroe, Lucy Formby and Ruth Halliday
Camera Operators...Samantha Protheroe, Kayleigh Protheroe and Ruth Halliday
Costume Manager...Kayleigh Protheroe
Prop Managers...Samantha Protheroe, Kayleigh Protheroe, Lucy Formby and Ruth Halliday
Make-Up...Lucy Formby and Kayleigh Protheroe
Music - Lucy Formby and Chris Formby
Special Effects...Samantha Protheroe, Kayleigh Protheroe, Lucy Formby and Ruth Halliday
Edited by...Samantha Protheroe, Kayleigh Protheroe, Lucy Formby and Ruth Halliday

Despite this, we decided that there was too much, as it seemed like an overload of information for the viewer, and took away from the contents of the film. So we changed it into something more simple.

Starring... Lucy Formby
Produced by... Lucy Formby and Samantha Protheroe
Directed by... Kayleigh Protheroe and Ruth Halliday
Music by... Lucy Formby and Chris Formby

Safety Hazards...*sighs*

There comes a time when we must consider all the tedious elements to do with making a film. Oh, but yes of course it's very important that we take the appropriate health and safety precautions to make sure that our safety isn't at risk...
Possible safety hazards include
Scissors: These have sharp blades and we must make sure that we are careful when handling the equipment. Have to ensure that we use a blunt blade.
Paracetamol: Consume something with similar appearance, but doesn't contain and drugs in the film process, or mime taking them.
Food: This is a possible choking hazard, for the parents of Sophie, especially if there is shouting involved. There is also a possibility that they might get food poisoning from the fish they were eating.
Cutlery: Knives and forks, plates are breakable so we must be careful when using the equipment to prevent them from breaking.
Stairs: I could of fallen down the stairs, whilst/running stomping up them as Sophie. So I ensured that I didn't wear any unsuitable footwear

Props

The Props/Equipment we are using...

1. Scissors
2. Paracetamol
3. Television remotes
4. Other sharp objects
5. Food
6. Cutlery
7. Blanket
8. Paper
9. Pen
10. Sofa
11. Charis
12. Table
13. Bed
14. Pillow
15. Fake blood

Sources

Most of the topics in our film are really difficult and serious issues to show (eg. depression, domestic violence, self-harm). We wanted to represent what it is like for someone facing these problems as realistically as possible...
When researching we used the following sources:

The Mood Foundation is a charity, run by Rupert Young, it provides treatment for people suffering with depression, drug addictions and self harm; offering talking and alternative therapies. I'm a supporter of the charity. It provided us with good factual information on depression and what it is like for people suffering. It helped us a lot when developing the film.

Mind is a leading charity in this country for mental health. It was great for gain new insight into all types of mental health issues as well as depression, by providing information we were unable to find anywhere else.



Women's Aid This charity is set up to help women and children who are or have experienced domestic violence. It believes everyone has a right to live freely and without violence and abuse. Through the website we found out more about the abuse and how it feels for the victims.

beat This charity deals with eating disorders, despite Sophie's depression being the cause of why she isn't eating we also wanted more information about the various types of eating disorders and what that entails.

The hideout

This charity is the children's section of women's aid website. It provided us with a very clear idea of what exactly domestic violence can be classed as and videos of people with real life stories.

Dear Diary...

Here is some entries from Sophie diary that have been used to shape our film.

Dear diary....I know I’m not the most perfect person in the world and to be quite frank, nobody is but I’m the one that feels all the hate is on me. The past few days have been difficult, I don’t know how to deal with it so I just get angry with everyone and then they get angry with me and I wonder why. School is the worst thing ever but I suppose it does take my mind off of things for a little while. My friends are close to me but ever since things changed, for me, they have drifted, especially now when I need them most. I feel they now hate me or, at least, the person I’ve become because they judge on what they see and not how they feel, deep down inside. The pain is unbearable and the only way I’m free from it is if I take pills to numb the feeling of what’s going on around me. I feel safe when the pain is numb, as if nothing or no-one can get to me. It’s a way to keep my emotions bottled up inside of me although, one day I know I’ll have to let them out – or not. Lying in my bed at night allows me to let a little emotion run from me so there is room for more when I find something else that bothers me. It’s confusing as to how I get through each day and away from the feeling of hatred when I’m in my sleep. All of my barriers, I feel have failed and the people I love are drifting further and further away in each minute of my life.

Dear diary....Every day is a new day although I can’t feel anything as the pills have taken control over what emotions I can and can’t experience. I take these pills to help me but I don’t think they are working. I just feel tired and want to go to sleep for every hour of every day, it’s like my life choices have control of every move I make. I do think of my family and friends and how they respond to my ways but they don’t understand me anymore, it’s like they are the different colours of a rainbow and all I see is black. The hardest thing to deal with is my health and my friends and family. Since a few weeks ago, I will only eat about a third of what my family do. It’s hard to communicate with them because my parents recently divorced and I feel that I can’t talk to them because they are no longer together. My whole world is falling apart in front of me and the only thing that I can think of is, well, myself. I’m being so selfish and I refuse to do any social activities because I feel like, what’s the point really? I’m finding it hard to trust everyone, especially me. There is nothing I do, that I can compliment about. I think my family have given up trying to help me because all I do is ignore their advice. A week back they found cuts on both my arms, which is when they really gave up on me.

Dear diary.... No-one knows what to do with me anymore, friends or family. Each day at school gets worse as the term goes on. My friends try to help me, have a one-on-one with me but I’m not stupid and I know what they were trying to do so I avoided them. To be honest at this moment I don’t care if I have no friends or family to help, I prefer being by myself. My thoughts tend to run away with me and I’ve done a lot of thinking recently that maybe if I hurt myself on purpose, the pain won’t be so excruciating. With the way things are going, I’m considering running away because my tolerance level has been put on its lowest due to everyone trying to help me with my ‘problem’ as they say. I don’t see it as a problem, I see it as a way of life and I’m sure that I will soon enough be over it but I wouldn’t go to the extreme of calling the mental institution and sending me away which is what my parents have threatened me with. This is because, the other day I tried to rightly accuse my step-dad of abusing me, to my mum and did she believe me? No, not at all!

Dear diary...I want my dad back. Ever since the divorce and when mom met my step-dad I knew there would be something wrong – and I was right. He tells me that he does it because he loves me or would I rather he did it to my mother? It’s kind of bribery as well as abuse but I have had enough and when I tried telling my mother he laughed out loud. How do you laugh out loud at something as serious as that? My mom refuses to believe there is something weird about her ‘boyfriend’ but if she knew the truth, only if she knew...

Shooting script

Welcome to My World

SOPHIE (V.O., THROUGHOUT)
(Various words picked out from the diary, finishing with
“And I just feel so alone”.)

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie walks into her bedroom and sits at the desk. She opens the diary, which has the title “Welcome to MY World” on the cover, and flicks through several pages, which contain the credits and the first page of writing.

INT. BATHROOM – EARLY EVENING

Sophie is sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, holding an open pair of scissors to her arm, preparing to cut herself. She hesitates, then closes the scissors, putting them down on the edge of the sink.

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie turns the page of her diary and picks up the scissors on her desk with her left hand, looks at them, and puts them back again.

INT. DINING ROOM – EARLY EVENING

Sophie is sitting at the table at dinner with her parents. She is not eating; instead pushing the food around on her plate.

FATHER
Sophie, eat your dinner.

SOPHIE
I'm not hungry.

FATHER
I don't care if you're hungry or not, eat it!

MOTHER
Just eat it, sweetheart.

SOPHIE
I'm not hungry!

Sophie gets up to leave.

FATHER
Sit down and eat it.

Sophie runs out of the room.

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie looks down at her right hand, wrapped in a bandage. She pulls down her sleeve to cover it, and turns another page of her diary.

INT. BATHROOM – EARLY EVENING

Sophie slits her right wrist.

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie's tears fall on the diary and smudge the ink.

EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND – LUNCH

Sophie is leaning against a wall, standing with a group of friends, who are talking amongst themselves. None of them speaks to Sophie.

EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND – EARLY AFTERNOON

Sophie is still where she was earlier, but the playground is now empty. Sophie pushes herself up and walks across the empty playground to the gates.

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie gets up and walks to her bed, lifts a sheet and takes a bottle of alcohol. There are several other bottles, full and empty, under the bed. Sophie walks back to the desk, opens the bottle, and drinks. She turns another page of the diary.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT (ALT #1)

Sophie is lying on her bed, face down, screaming into her pillow.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT (ALT #2)

Sophie is lying face down on her bed, crying.

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie turns another page of the diary, and removes a plaster from her arm. Blood drips onto the diary. She puts the plaster back on.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

Sophie's father is standing in the doorway to her bedroom. Sophie is sat on the bed, duvet pulled around her, looking scared.

INT. BEDROOM – LATE EVENING

Sophie closes the diary, turns off the light, and gets into bed. She lies awake, staring at the ceiling.

Start of film

Mise-en-sceney...basic ideas...

The Mise-en-scene
Characters
Sophie = She is a 14 year old girl suffering with major depression. She is also a victim of domestic violence. She self-harms to release the pain she is feeling. She is down and dejected the majority of the time, doesn’t enjoy life, cries often and gets angry easily.
Actors
I will be acting in it as the central character Sophie. We will also require two adults to play her parents.
Costumes
Sophie = jeans, long sleeves tops, little/or no make-up. The long sleeves top is because she wants to hide her scars, she doesn't care much about her appearance due to her depression so no make up a simple clothes. However we want to portray as a normal girl, so the clothes are going to be those that could be worn by a 14 year old.
Props
We will be using some equipment as props in our films opening sequence. We will need the following items:
Scissors = these are will be used to when we show a shot of the character Sophie cutting herself.
Diary = Sophie will be seen writing her thoughts down in a diary.
Cutlery and food = Sophie will be shown with her parents not being able to eat her food.
Music
We have been discussing music we will want playing for some parts of our opening film sequence. We came up with numerous song possibilities including ‘Concrete Angel’, ‘Low’, ‘Be my escape’.
However, as I can play the piano, we will probably record our own score for the film sequence.

The real deal has begun!!!!

We have started the work for our opening sequence. The title of our film is going to be called 'Welcome to my world.'

We came up with a few ideas for the title diary design, the above picture is the one we decided to use...the rest, below, are so design ideas we came up with but didn't use in the end. We chose the first design because it was simple and we didn't think the character would have fancy writing.