Task 2
- 3. Casey from Walking The Halls: Casey Thompson is from the movie, Walking The Halls. The movie is about a teenager who goes off the rails and gets involved with a prostitution and has to put a stop to it before its too late. This is very similar to Ashley. We mimicked the body language Casey uses when she is walking home. She seems very sluggish and disappointed We also looked at the clothing and props used by Casey. We used the purple dress and messy hair look. We also used black heels and a black clutch bag as we think that this is representative of the age group and type of girl we wanted Ashley to be she looks as though she wants to draw attention to herself.
- 4. We used the time frame from Walking The Halls as I think it adds to the shocking behavior of Casey which we wanted to reflect in Ashley. The fact she is dressed the way she is at that time of day in public helps the audience gather connotations of wreck less carefree behavior. Dresses provocatively but her body language suggests that she is shy and perhaps embarrassed. Ashley is wearing similar clothing and has a embarrassed look on her face. Similar scene: outdoors, in public, shows vulnerability
- 5. BODY LANGUAGE: Looks shy and embarrassed. We used Casey's body language in our opening as we think like Ashley, she dresses as she thinks she should and to get attention but deep down is very vulnerable and concerned about the way she is dressed. COSTUME: We dressed Ashley in similar costume to Casey as we thought the colour purple had connotations of wealth and richness which in reality is a huge contrast to both girls in the example as neither of them have wealth and it is almost a disguise as to how they want to be and act like something they're not. CAMERA SHOTS: In Walking The Halls they use lots of long shots to isolate the character and almost reflect their vulnerability. We used similar shots for Ashley as we wanted to firstly show her outfit and begin to give the viewer a idea of Ashley and her appearance and secondly to imitate the innocence and danger the character was in. Ashley obviously stands out from the crowd at this time of day dressed as she is and by using these shots we are able to show this.
- 6. SUMMARY: Having used Casey from Walking The Halls as a guideline for Ashley's behavior and appearance in the first few scenes I think that we were able to present the social group that Ashley is a part of. Ashley is represented as a wreck less teen who doesn't care about anyone other than herself. She obviously goes out a lot and acts as though she hasn't got a care in the world when she is walking home. I think she is a very stereotypical example of someone who has gone of the rails and we got inspiration for this from Walking The Halls with he character Casey.
- 8. Ann from My Life Without Me, this is the story of a young woman who conceals the fact of her terminal cancer to live her life with a passion she never had before. This is very much like Ashley who once she finds out she has cancer decides to live her life to the full, correct all her mistakes and tie up any “Loose Ends”.
- 9. CAMERA SHOTS: The movie My Life Without me uses lots of close ups when Ann is told she has cancer. We chose to mimic this in our opening when Ashley opens her letter. The close up shot allows the viewer to feel the atmosphere is very tense and sad. It makes the piece feel more dramatic and personal. The close up shot also allowed us to show the emotions the patient may be feeling and like in the My Life Without Me scene we chose to make the character the main focus point of the shot but have other distractions in the back ground almost blurred out to show the viewpoint of the character; that nothing else matters just the news they are receiving.
- 10. BODY LANGUAGE: Ann's character has a emotional, shocked expression on her face. In order to represent the true image of someone in this unfortunate situation we got Gemma (Ashley) to mirror the emotions on her face. They show shock, heartbreak, pain confusion. The viewer feels drawn to the characters face and begins to feel emotional with them.
- 11. The actor from 50/50 also conveys the character who finds out they have cancer. The movie involves him trying to improve his life throughout the movie. There is a 50/50 chance that his medication will work and he is faced with the possibility he might not make it. This character is relatable to Ashley as she too finds out she has cancer in our opening. We used elements of 50/50 in our opening as it is very similar to the atmosphere we wanted to create. We used the part when he finds out he has cancer in our opening by using the body language he has. When he finds out he pauses for a long time and doesn’t talk. There is lots of walking in the movie of him trying to clear his mind and that is why we felt it was a good idea to use a scene of Ashley walking a long distance before she receives the news as it is metaphorically as though she already knows.