Three act structure and proposal

Inspiration: My inspiration for this idea came from psychological thrillers such as ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock and ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane’ by Robert Aldrich. Both do a great job of portraying a sinister and slightly ‘mad’ character. However, this is done in different ways. Hitchcock’s portrayal of this character is more subtle which creates a huge, sinister twist at the end when we realise mother is just a skeleton and he is the one has been murdering people. I wanted to create a twist similar to this, where what we thought was happening has been subverted and we are shown a character in a different light and introduced to the ‘real’ them which in Psycho is a skeleton and in my film is a doll/mannequin. I also wanted to take inspiration from the way that mother is shown as a silhouette before she is revealed, and in my movie use this when concealing the true identity of the girl. In Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Bette Davis plays a woman named Jane Hudson, stuck in her childhood fame and jealous of her sister. She is more clearly presented as ‘mad’ in the way she sings and dresses. However, she is also very sinister and tortures her sister and even goes to the extent of murdering someone. I wanted us to see the mother in my film as similar and expect her to be mad in the same way that Baby Jane Hudson is. However, similarly to in WEHTBJ, there is a twist in which the character who we thought was the innocent one turns out to be the disturbed one at the very end. I also was inspired by the cinematography used. The closeups in WEHTBJ, of her hand lowering the hand brake, inspired the beginning of my short film. I would like to show a closeup of mother’s hands in the car, making her seem sinister and telling us she is on her way. Three act structure 1. Equilibrium is created, in which the reality is a girl and her (human) friend are awaiting the girl's Mother's visit. Mother is an unpredictable character and we assume she may be sinister, in comparison to girl 1, who while she seems a bit snappy, is a believable character. (first scene could be in black and white to create an old, sinister feel similar to that of Whatever happened to Baby Jane) (edit: decided instead of black and white I would use colour expressionistically to act as a warning). We are shown a woman’s hands (mother) starting a car and driving off, but her identity is concealed from us, making her oddly sinister. There are close ups of her hands and body parts as she drives. She seems like a frantic driver and we see her honk the horn as somebody tries to cross the road. This lasts a while, building the tension of who she is and where she is going. Next, we are introduced to Girl 1, from behind, standing on a balcony and looking out at the city. She is speaking, as if she is talking to herself (which it turns out she is). Through the door, or blinds, we see Dorothy, but she doesn’t speak and seems oddly mechanical in her mannerisms which lets the audience know there may be something weird about the situation but we cannot be sure. Girl 1 mentions ‘mother’ visiting to meet her daughter, girl 1’s new friend and talks about how scary her mother is.

2. After girl 1 frantically reveals Mother will be here soon, there is disruption to the equilibrium, in which the narrative structure starts to change, as there is cross cutting back and forth between Mother getting closer and the girls sitting at the table. (This is set in a block of flats so we witness mother walking through the doors, going up the lift and walking across the balcony. To build the tension, it’ll cut back and fourth between the girl and mother getting closer and closer. The reason there is tension throughout this act is because mother is portrayed to us as this oddly sinister and crazy character. However, we do not witness her speak and only gather this information from what girl 1 has told Dorothy. This is accompanied by mother’s extravagant outfit. The whole sequence is a monologue from girl 1 expressing to us how mad her mother is and how she never approves of any of her friends. Dorothy continues to act gradually more and more mechanical and doll like. She only responds with small smiles and nods. She is often only shown from behind, as a silhouette or in close ups. This makes it feel as though her identity is still mostly hidden from the audience. There are small hints that she is like a ‘doll’ due to her perfect appearance, the amount of other dolls in the room and things that girl 1 says such as that Dorothy seems to not eat anything, comments on her perfect appearance and when she helps brush her hair and put on her makeup. 3. In this final act, the tension climaxes when mother presses the buzzer and we are made aware that she has arrived. This whole time we have been awaiting this sinister mother. However, when mother walks through the door, we are shown Dorothy in a different light, in a new equilibrium. She is shown as just a doll/mannequin and we realise that is what she has been for the entire time. Girl 1 is an unreliable narrator, and Dorothy was one of her many dolls. However, there will be a double twist. At the very end as mother runs out, the dolls head will slowly turn to follow her. This will aim to create an ambiguous ending in which the audience cannot be sure whether the Dorothy is alive or not.

However, at this point it is key to mention that neither character is necessarily good or bad. They both see the Girl 2 through different lenses and both see their perception as the reality. The view of Girl 2 is entirely subjective to the characters and the audience. Although we may think that Girl 1 is actually unreliable, we still may feel a sense of understanding for her; perhaps the doll mirrors a person she feels she was expected to be by her mother and by society.