Pre-Production Unit: Research - Visual Hierarchy

I saw a video about several scenes in Ex Machina and how the way they were shot suggested subliminal messages.




Such simple placements of the camera and subtle uses of the glass really convey a strong message of the status the two characters have against one another.

Although it sounds like an obvious thing to do, I'd never considered using it myself.

Based on Grit's battle between Sean and Archie, now's as good a time as any to implement this technique into film.

So the film begins with Sean (or more accurately, the delusional side of Archie) in control of his world. Everything is fine. Once Archie appears things change, as Archie gradually gains more and more control of the world and is slowly winning, the camera angles change.

When they meet for the first time the camera angles are level, to show that they are on the same level in terms of how much they know about each other. When they are inside Perry's house and Archie takes control of the situation, the camera puts him higher than Sean.

The following scene where Sean and Zoe meet up with Archie uses a visual sign to show his dominance:

The trio meet up at this fallen tree and Archie sits on top of it whilst the other two stand beside. This is a subliminal suggestion to show Archie's control of the world as they discuss Perry's disappearance as he is physically higher up than they are.

When Sean and Zoe meet Trigg the camera initially places them level, as Trigg tells them where he found the wallet the angle shifts to put Trigg in a more dominant position. Once it's revealed that it wasn't Perry's wallet the camera favours towards Sean as he's regained control of his world.

The next scene has a ransom note come through the letterbox. There an over-the-shoulder shot as Sean reads it: this is predominantly to allow the audience to read the letter but it also shows that the camera is looking down at Sean. He's vulnerable. When Sean and Zoe arrive at the location Zoe is standing whilst Sean is seated: again suggesting vulnerability, especially when the argument between them happens.

The Snorricam sequence will have the camera looking slightly up, giving the impression of Sean being dominant but in fact he's confident because he's drinking.

When Archie comes over after Perry's body has been found the hierarchy chafes briefly: Sean takes on the dominant role as he shouts at Archie and the camera follows suit, looking up at Sean as he stands in front of Archie. Archie is sat down in the centre of the sofa, seemingly taking the submissive role but his body language suggests that he is calm and the more reasonable of the two. When Archie shouts back he stands up and the camera looks slightly down at Sean: Archie has reclaimed the control.

In the final scene where Sean and Archie confront each other the dominant camera angle switches between the two of them. The final shot of Sean moving his face very close to Archie's suggests Sean has the dominance. The camera supports this by tilting very slightly to the right to 'raise' Sean higher than Archie as he kills him.

Sean and Archie face-to-face

Roughly what the same shot would look like if tilted

There is a second idea I have:

Sean is 6 feet tall, Archie is 5 foot 8: a difference of 4 inches. This is a noticeable difference when the characters are together. My idea is to gradually 'shrink' Sean so that by the finale he's the same height as Archie: a hint towards the fact they're the same person.

My solution for this is to cast an actor who is actually 5'8" as Sean and raise his height with heeled shoes; perspective tricks and taking advantage of MCU's and CU's when he's beside other actors.

An example of forced perspective I can think of is in The Lord of The Rings when Gandalf sits down with Frodo. They were in fact several feet apart parallel to one another and pretended to look where the characters would actually be to create the illusion of them being face to face.



The level of extremes the crew went to, to create this effect are beyond our budget so my plan would be to use MCU's and CU's on Sean and have him stand on an object to raise him to the desired height.

Sean would start the film at 6 feet and shrink to 5 foot 8 to show the aspects of reality seeping through. Just like the personality traits of the TP come through: Sean is gradually transforming back into Archie.

One shot inside Perry's house has Sean, Archie and Zoe in a long shot: showing their full heights in relation to one another. To make Sean look taller I will put him in the foreground and move Archie further to the background as shown in a mock-up illustration I've made:

This will create the effect that Sean is taller than the other two just by him being closer. The audience shouldn't notice that Sean is closer to the camera as it will have already been established that he's taller than the others and therefore assume he's taller in this shot.

I will conduct a test mimicking this to see if the technique works.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Writing Research: Fleshing Out The Characters Part 1: Research

One of the key parts of the feedback given in my second tutorial (see 'Tutorial #2 Feedback' post) was that I needed to make my character unique. They all sounded the same.

Now to be honest, when you've known a friend for years you do gradually behave and talk the same when around each other. However I do agree that they do need their own personalities and these said traits need to come through their dialogue and mannerisms.

And this is what this post is about: fleshing out my characters.

Before I can begin I need to research methods used to help make unique characters. I searched online for articles and books and found some interesting tips.

1. 'All Your Characters Talk The Same - And They're Not A Hivemind!'

This article written by author Charlie Jane Anders gives several tips on how to make characters sound different to one-another. The two main tips I took from this were A) listen to other people's conversations to learn how people communicate and B) Your characters will be expecting or hoping for a certain response based on what they say. Basically if we want to get a certain reaction from someone, then we'll word our sentences in a way that provokes that reaction. If I can get this into my dialogue then it may add to my characters' personalities. 

A third tip that was given was the sentence length one which was also suggested in my tutorial.

Article Link: http://io9.com/5379280/all-your-characters-talk-the-same--and-theyre-not-a-hivemind?trending_test_a&utm_expid=66866090-62.H_y_0o51QhmMY_tue7bevQ.1&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fio9.com%2F5379280%2Fall-your-characters-talk-the-same--and-theyre-not-a-hivemind

2. '11 Secrets To Writing Effective Character Description'

I learned some key points from this article, written by Rachel Sheller, mainly these:

- Describing a character can be boring if not done properly. The writer explains after giving a seemingly good example:
"This description is so mundane, it barely qualifies as an “all-points bulletin.” Can you imagine the police searching for this suspect? No identifying marks, no scars or tattoos, nothing to distinguish him. He appears as a cardboard cutout rather than as a living, breathing character. Yes, the details are accurate, but they don’t call forth vivid images. We can barely make out this character’s form; how can we be expected to remember him?"

She makes a good point: if I read the descriptions of my characters now, I don't care about them, there's nothing vivid about them that stays in my head. "Brown haired, brown eyed male" just doesn't tell us anything about Sean. 

- Make certain details really specific.

"In my earlier “all-points bulletin” example, the description of the father’s hair might be improved with a detail such as “a military buzz-cut, prickly to the touch” or “the aging hippie’s last chance—a long ponytail striated with gray.” Either of these descriptions would paint a stronger picture than the bland phrase brown hair. In the same way, his oxford shirt could become “a white oxford button-down that he’d steam-pleated just minutes before” or “the same style of baby blue oxford he’d worn since prep school, rolled carelessly at the elbows.” These descriptions not only bring forth images, they also suggest the background and the personality of the father."

One strong, detailed piece of information could be what's needed in the script to push my characters from the page to 3D.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/11-secrets-to-writing-effective-character-description

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Character Bios

To help flesh out the protagonists I have created individual bios for them. These contain details on physical appearance, their backstory and something I've called 'Situation Tests' which are a set of 5 questions that the characters 'answer' themselves to help further give us an understanding of what sort of person they are.

These bios were written during the summer but have since been updated to coincide with the new version of Grit and were updated a second time after the new script tutorial I had.


New things added:

- Altered back-stories based on the plot change from contract-killer to missing-persons idea.
- Character traits that make each of them stand out from one-another.

Sean

Zoe

Archie

Perry

These bios should help out the scripting process significantly as I can look at these and think "would this person actually say that?"

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Tutorial #2 Feedback

I received feedback a couple of days after sending my script in; below are the notes I made:


- Some locations don't have scene numbers: every new place needs one, regardless if it's the adjacent corridor.
- Archie needs to be more believable.
- The characters all sound the same when talking.
- Do more of an introduction to them as well: it currently sounds like a police report. Make them distinct.
- Sean and/or Zoe should be more questioning of Archie's appearance. It's strange for the audience to notice something odd and the protagonists not question that. Kills some of the believability.
- The gun still isn't convincing.
- Include easter eggs into your script, don't leave them out.
- Trigg needs more fleshing out.
- Show more of the characters in the script (i.e. personality) through their mannerisms and clothing style.
- In scene one it states that the atmosphere is friendly and there's "good vibes". I need to show the good vibes and not just say that there is.
- Be more global in your locations: there's a lot of benches!
- In the finale Sean sums up what Archie's trying to tell him:

This is too much: too much telling the story and not suggesting or making things ambiguous. Don't answer every question essentially.

- Sean and Zoe could be questioning what Perry's up to. He suddenly goes missing and his wallet is found in the woods. Isn't this a little suspicious?

The feedback received I can agree with: mainly the characters sounding too similar. It is tricky to write unique characters although I feel it does lend to the fact they're friends: they have things in common. Despite that I will make each one more unique.

It seems like a lot of work but a lot of it comes under similar headings or mention the same things. So my main issues are characters and believability.

Pre-Production Unit: Pre-Production - Script 1st Draft Number 2

As the film's plot has significantly changed this otherwise 2nd draft is technically a 1st draft due to the previous script being so different. Anyway below is the '1st draft' of the new Grit.

New Grit 1st Draft

I'm very happy with this new script. Compared to the previous version this has it beat in every possible aspect. I feel my ending will require the most changing as I'm not entirely sure how much to give away in the conversation between Sean and Archie.

It flows a lot, lot better than it did last time: here I feel every scene and every word has a purpose. The last script seemed very random and scattered.

I am anticipating 2-4 more drafts but this is definitely a massive step in the right direction.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Setting the Tone Part 2: Film Examples

Part two of setting the tone focuses on films that contain similar tones, themes, plots or characters that are reminiscent of the tones and themes I want to achieve in Grit.



Films:


1. Birdman [Dir. Gonzalez Iñárritu, 2014]

Birdman follows the story of a washed-up actor trying to make a name for themselves in their new play. What's interesting about the film is that the protagonist, Riggan Thomson, converses with a character he once played: Birdman. No-one else can see Birdman aside from Riggan and the conversations they have are very questioning of Riggan. Riggan himself begins to suffer a mental breakdown as he gradually gets more and more desperate for his play to be successful.

The cinematography in Birdman is simply incredible. The 2-hour long film consists of around 12 or so shots which is a challenge in itself. The use of seamless edits and transitions to create the effect of the whole film being one take was very inspiring.




An segment from one of the long takes in Birdman.


2. A Beautiful Mind [Dir. Ron Howard, 2002]

This film is a biopic of the Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash Jr. and includes his struggle with Schizophrenia. Thematically this film and Grit are similar but Nash Jr. suffered from auditory hallucinations and not the visual ones the True Protagonist has. Despite that this film very accurately details the condition and plays with the idea that what the audience are seeing might not necessarily be real.



3. La Haine [Dir. Matthiew Kassovitz, 1995]

La Haine spans a single day post-riots in France. We get a glimpse at the lives of the film's protagonists: Vinz, Said and Hubert, and the "ghetto" lifestyle. The film was shot in colour but changed to black and white in post. This style gives the film a very raw aesthetic and feels very urban and gritty. Very similar visual themes to what I aim to achieve in Grit.

La Haine contains several long takes and cleverly shot scenes that also fit in with my visual style of Grit. I intend to shoot several scenes in a long take and some others in as creative a way as possible.

This particular scene in La Haine when Said visits Vinz showcases how a simple 360 degree spin can tell us so much about one person. In this case, Vinz.




The spin is started with Said going over to Vinz's desk, but instead of the camera then following Said back it continues the spin and rejoins Said from the other side. During this we can see trainers, wrestling posters, some magazines and a small collection of books. Things are generally neat too telling us more about Vinz's personality.

All this in a 10 second spin.


4. Fight Club [Dir. David Fincher, 1999]

Fight club is similar to Grit in terms of its plot: man and 'friend' spend the majority of the film together. [Spoiler warning] The 'friend' turns out to be a figment of the protagonist's imagination. Now Grit wasn't inspired by Fight Club, but it goes on the list because of the similar themes of a false world concocted by the protagonist.


5. Heat [Dir. Michael Mann, 1995]

Heat is a crime drama following an LA detective as he hunts down a gang of dangerous and professional robbers. Heat and Grit are very different films in both plot and visual style but it's the theme of a constant build-up of tension between Al Pacino's detective and Robert De Niro as one tries to attempts do one last heist and the other wants to catch him. They only meet twice in the film but there's enough tension to make the audience anticipate a face-off between the two. A sensation I want to create in Grit.





6. Her [Dir. Spike Jonze, 2013]

Her is about a man who falls in love with his operating system. The colour palette is very muted and certain colours are boosted in saturation to make the shots contrast and pop. A style I would like to create with Grit: the lack of colour will give it a grittier and realistic aesthetic.





7. Ex Machina [Dir. Alex Garland, 2015]

The film, like Her, is A.I. based in terms of plot but it's the clinical aesthetic the corridors of the complex that interest me. Portions of the palette are very muted or contain strong amounts of white. Similar to how Sean and Zoe's house will look at the start: clinical.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - The True Protagonist's Name

With the new changes comes Vision’s new part in the film: pretending to be a friend of Perry’s and helping Sean and Zoe with finding him. This scenario requires Vision to talk to the two of them meaning he can’t go by the name ‘Vision’.

The next step is for Vision to go by another name, one that would help to make Sean snap out of the delusion: his own name. This means the TP now needs a name to be used as Vision’s ‘pseudonym’.

I wanted a name that had a secret meaning or was symbolic: a name that was relevant to the film. So I started looking online to find names that had meanings like ‘real’ ‘false’ ‘truth’ and ‘true’. I found three names that interested me the most: Justin, Archie and Trigg.

Justin:

http://www.meaning-of-names.com/french-names/justin.asp

Justin literally means 'just' or 'true'. It's also a used name in the UK making the name much more convincing.

Trigg:

http://www.meaning-of-names.com/norwegian-names/trigg.asp

Trigg means 'true' in Norwegian. I quite like this name for how unique it is and can be safely assumed to be a nickname for someone. 

Archie:

http://www.meaning-of-names.com/english-names/archie.asp

Archie is the abbreviation for Archibald and is combined from two Germanic words meaning 'genuine' and 'bold'. It can also mean 'true'.

I've chosen to go with the name Archie for the TP and Vision as it's meaning is accurate to the film but it's also a relatively unique name. I didn't want my character's names to disappear and be forgotten about because they're too 'generic' so Archie will fit nicely with this criteria. 

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Setting the Tone Part 1: Music Examples

Below are some songs and films that are similar in tone or style to Grit: I will request to my cast and crew that they listen and watch these to help get a better understanding of Grit and where it’s mind-set is. This post will look at just the music examples and most likely grow throughout the next few weeks.

Music:

1. Crystals by Clam Casino

This song is very manic and feels like a bunch of noises mashed together. These uneven and seemingly random sounds help convey the feeling of disorientation. A complete collapse of the mind which is exactly what I think Grit portrays. Out of all of the examples this song is the closet to the thematic style I want from the film.

2. Lead Me Home by Jamie N. Commons

Lead Me Home has a sense of travelling inside it's calm, brooding tones. As if you were on a journey or there was a building up of something. This song, I feel, fits the film because of the brooding. A lot of thinking goes on in Grit and there is a 'journey' of sorts that Sean undertakes in learning what happens. I aim to have a growing sense of 'something is going to happen' in the film and listening to this song helps with that.

3. Dream by John Cage

This song feels like an audio representation of the happy lifestyle the TP has created in his false world. You can get a sense of sadness and tragedy: like he’s not ready to let go yet; holding on to whatever he can get to prevent the pain and guilt from returning. The almost repeating notes help enforce this fact: he’s been reliving the same thing. The occasional lower notes that play suggest a darker side to the song or that there’s more to this than what we can hear. Therefore this song, I believe, is similar to the tones Grit will utilise: the calm before the storm.

4. Retrograde by James Blake

The song starts peacefully enough but it’s second half that really makes it stand out. I feel this is reminiscent of the plot of Grit. More importantly this second half of the song is how I picture the breaks in the film when aspects of the TP come through Sean. The almost monotonous sounds becoming white noise to Sean as his brain struggles to comprehend everything. The second half is, to me, a very accurate representation of the TP's mind. The lyrics themselves are strangely reminiscent to the film too: as if Vision were having a conversation with Sean.

Pre-Production Unit: Pre-Prodcution - Rules of the World

One thing that was suggested in my script feedback tutorial was to establish the rules of my world: what can and can't be done inside it. This would help me to understand what could be written into the film. As long as the script stuck to these rules: the film will work.




So I went and made a list of 6 rules for the world of Grit. More specifically the FALSE world.



1. Sean and Vision cannot touch each other.


2. Despite the world being false, Sean believes it’s real; therefore everything must be plausible and believable.


3. Vision is trying to bring the delusional side of TP back into reality.


4. Everyone is controlled by both sides of the TP (guilty and delusional).


5. The film is a battle between the delusional and sensible sides of the TP (Sean vs. Vision).

6. Sean and Vision must have the same likes and dislikes.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - New, New Grit

I had my new Grit Idea but I hit a roadblock: I couldn't come up with any content between Perry's body being found and the confrontation at the end. My reason why was that I didn't want it to be a detective film or get too like Sherlock Holmes or CSI with the kind of clues and thinking to solve the problem.

I went back to the white board in the smaller lecture room and wrote up what I had:

Mike came in to give me a hand trying to work the content out and how to create some form of 'investigation' for Sean to conduct. Tim and Sophie also came in, a short while later, to also help out and the four of us stood for some time pondering what to put in the gap: how do we get from Perry's body to Sean killing Vision and everything being revealed?

Mike suggested the idea that instead of being killed at the start, Perry goes missing instead, this idea actually worked well: it automatically created a goal for Sean. Find Perry. This removed any detective elements and brought it down to a more realistic level: our protagonists only knowing as much as we do.

With this proposition in place we then needed to get from a missing Perry to the confrontation. This allowed the idea of leads to come through. If Perry's missing, then his personal effects are too (i.e. phone, wallet, keys) these are potential leads if they're found. We played with this idea and decided that Perry's wallet would be handed it, a meet up with Sean and the person who handed it in would then occur, which would then set up the next part of the story.

We didn't want it to be a Sean-meets-several-people format so for the next 'lead' Mike suggested a ransom note; created by Vision as an attempt to redirect Sean to the crime scene. More ideas were thrown forward but one that stood out was showing the gradual break in the film:

What if traits of the True Protagonist seeped into Sean?

Sean is of course fake, an identity taken on by the delusional part of the TP's mind to escape his own. So what if those aspects began to come back each time Vision tries to break the world?

We inserted these elements in based on already-established traits of the TP (Irresponsible, anger issues, alcoholic, paranoid) and suddenly the film had a new layer to it. Sean's sudden changes of character would lend towards the film's growing frustration and build of tension in trying to find out what happened to Perry. This growing paranoia and anger would help to set up suspicion Sean has against Vision and to make the confrontation happen.

The final idea was then proposed:

Every odd thing, every break and lead, is Vision trying to get Sean to confront what he's done?

Instead of Vision being an imaginary friend or an established character, he's introduced to us and Sean as a friend of Perry's who wants to help find him too. However the entirety of events that happen have been controlled by Vision all along. Perry going missing was Vision's first attempt; then the wallet to try and lead Sean straight to the woods where the murders happened. Then the ransom note tries the same. Vision gets more desperate and straight-up kills off Perry to hammer home the truth. Then Vision takes advantage of Sean's changes and paranoia to lure him to woods where the final confrontation happens.

This idea worked: Sean was happily living in his false world, oblivious to what he'd done and then Vision infiltrates the world and slowly tries to expose the truth. This then allowed a battle to happen between the delusional and guilty sides of the TP's mind: every attempt the guilty side tried (e.g. the leads, the body etc) the delusional side would counter with an alternative method to avoid the truth coming out (changing the ransom note location). We thought of every aspect of the battle and planned it out:

Vision has one goal: get Sean to the location where the murders happened. Sean has one goal: keep the delusion going. Each attempt Vision makes exposes a little bit of the real world to Sean, this then causes real-life traits of the TP to come through.

Happy with this: myself and Mike created a clean timeline of the entire events in the film

After another 4 hours stood at the white board I have a new grit:

Prologue:

True Protagonist is in a relationship with Zoe, they share a house together. Sean and Perry are good friends of theirs.

True Protagonist is irresponsible; has anger issues and a drug abuser. His abuse of drugs leads him to developing the Jealousy Delusional Disorder which causes him to think that Zoe is cheating on him with Sean.

Some time passes (Unknown?) and Zoe organises a camping trip for the four of them. This causes Sean’s paranoia and jealousy to escalate and at the camp site he flies into a rage seeing Sean and Zoe in the same tent and kills them both. Perry witnesses this and tries to run/call the police however Sean kills Perry too.

This triggers a new Delusional Disorder: Grandiose.

TP creates a false world where Perry, Sean and Zoe are still alive but TP has taken the identity of Sean, so he can become the man he thought Zoe wanted. TP does not exist in this false world but is the creator of it instead.

This is where Grit begins: in the fake world.

We join Sean, Zoe and Perry at the house TP and Zoe shared. They’re having a laugh and just casual stuff. Perry leaves after a while.

The next day Sean and Zoe are out and receive a message from Perry inviting them over to his house. They accept and begin to head back.

They reach Perry’s house but find out he’s not home. A new character appears: Vision, who introduces himself as (TP’s name?) he says he’s Perry’s friend and was also invited. Sean suggests they call the police, Vision says he’ll do it and hang about until the police arrive, Sean and Zoe leave, promising that they’ll keep trying to call him.

(Vision's first attempt and first part of TP comes through: quietness)

Next day:

Vision, Sean and Zoe meet up to talk about Perry, they also get to know each other a bit more (Zoe instigates this). Vision says that the police found no suspicious activity and therefore cannot do anything except put him on the missing persons list.

After some discussion Vision says that all they can do it wait for more news.

1 Week Later:

Sean receives a message from Vision: Perry’s wallet has been handed in to the police, he can arrange a meet up with the person who handed it in. Sean obliges and he and Zoe go to meet the person who handed the wallet in. The guy says he found it at [campsite]. Sean asks what was in the wallet and the person begins to describe the contents, getting to a drivers license. Sean then states that Perry doesn’t drive and therefore it mustn’t be his wallet.

With the trail now cold Sean and Zoe head home. Sean makes a nasty comment that Zoe disapproves of and an argument ensues between them.

(Vision's second attempt and second part of TP comes through: anger issues)

Next Day:

A letter comes through the couple’s letterbox, Sean opens it to find a ransom note: it states “If you want to know more come to [campsite]” Sean hands it to Zoe who reads it aloud: the location name is now different.

At location:

Sean and Zoe go to the location and wait: no-one ever arrives and, frustrated, Sean gets drunk.

(Vision's third attempt and third part of TP comes through: alcoholism)

Next day:

A hung-over Sean stands in front of the mirror [Mirror Scene].

He’s interrupted by a phone call from Vision: “You need to take a look at the news”

Sean Turns on the TV: the report is about a body being found: Perry’s body. The person who found the body is being interviewed: Vision.

Sean either leaves the room or throws something in anger and frustration. He switches the TV off and calls Zoe.

Sean asks where she is and if she knew about this, hence why she’s gone.

(Vision's fourth attempt and fourth part of TP comes through: paranoia)

Same Day:

Sean and Vision are together. Vision is sorry that Perry’s body was found. Sean asks how he came across the body. Vision says he was [excuse here] Sean notices that it’s inconsistent with something Vision said when they first got together. He points this out and shouts at Vision, Vision shouts back stating that he’s telling the truth whether Sean likes it or not and storms out.

Immediately after:

Sean talks to himself, pacing back and forth, as he debates what to do, maybe he should follow Vision he thinks. He agrees with himself on this and goes out to see where Vision goes.

(Vision's final attempt and ALL parts of TP have come through ready for the final confrontation)

Campsite:

Vision walks to a campsite, Sean still behind him. Two policemen block a crime scene but Vision walks through: flashing a badge/ID to them. They attempt to stop Sean but he kills them with a suddenly appearing weapon.

(Sean's attempt to stop Vision getting to the tents but Vision counters with fake ID)

Sean has Vision now. The confrontation happens. There in front of them are two tents. Vision gets Sean to unzip it: inside are the dead bodies of Zoe and Sean. This confuses Sean: What’s going on he proclaims. Vision reveals all to Sean: they are the same person; this world is fake and merely a delusion Sean is having. Having this dream to avoid responsibility for what they have both done: killed Sean, Perry and Zoe. Vision states that Perry’s body is in the other tent. “He tried to call the police… we stopped that…”

The world begins to crumble and break around them: unusual camera angles; switching places and broken continuity flood the scene.

Vision lays all the cards on the table. Sean slipping between his true form (TP) and Sean’s body still tries to deny this through the very end: instead accusing Vision of the murders and trying to frame him. “I knew there was something wrong with you…”

Sean kills Vision.

We are suddenly in the TP’s house, what we identify as Vision is lying on the floor: dead. There are cans of alcohol on the floor and what appears to be drugs. The TV is on showing a news broadcast that shows a photo of Sean, Perry and Zoe.

Fade to black.

End.



As you can see: throughout the film Vision's attempts get more severe and harder-hitting. He even makes an attempt when Sean is 'hungover' to really hit him when he's down.

I'm extremely happy with how the film has developed. This version is a lot more clear and believable and contains the same story and the same themes I wanted.

Next up: the scripting process.