For my final idea I have decided I want to create a psychological horror, depicting the tragedy of a death of a child and the guilt that consumes the main character whom is at fault. I did not want the concept of my horror to be too cliche, I wanted it to be more abstract and metaphorical. I have visualised my character to be a teenage boy, and the scene opens with him playing a video game and being distracted whilst he is meant to be babysitting a small child. The little boy wanders off and climbs up a chair to reach a toy and gets the string of a blind caught around his neck, he falls off the chair and tragically accidentally hangs himself, this moment coincides with the older boy losing the video game. I have chosen this freak accident because it can happen with small children and is quite shocking and distressing to audiences. As the older boy walks around the house to find the little boy he witnesses what has happened and it is then that the character faces two choices - he either calls 999 and gets help or runs away in fear he will be blamed. I will initially show the character getting help by calling 999 and create a montage showing the little boy being rushed to hospital and being saved, the little boy will live and the main character will be seen as a hero, as audiences we are satisfied with this happy end, at the moment the scene climaxes I will cut back to the choices. The audience will then realise that the scenes that have just been shown never happened, it was a false end, and the true end will be that the character is consumed with guilt and will run away. The character then goes on a path of destruction, making mistakes over and over, I will create a chaotic series of scenes to demonstrate this, this will end in the character dying, we realise that the small child died all along and this leads the main character to his death, it is ironic, bleak and tragic and leaves the audience feeling uncomfortable and perhaps a little distressed.
Actors chosen for Characters
I have decided that I will have one of my younger brothers play the role of the young child. I have two brothers aged 5 and 4, but have decided I will use the four year old because he is more natural in front of the camera because he isn't always aware he is being filmed and he will seem more vulnerable because he is much smaller. I will have to spend a lot of time directing him and making sure he doesn't try and show off in front of the camera which will be difficult. I won't need any specific costume for him as I want it to seem naturalistic and realistic so he will wear his own clothes, I have considered doing a single take/shot of his lips and making them blue with makeup to suggest the idea to audiences that he is losing oxygen and is very much dying. I think he looks innocent enough that audiences will form an emotional connection to his character.
Story Board
