PLANNING: CHARACTERS

I have already cast my three main characters, but upon discussing the direction they also wanted the characters to go, we came up with three clear character profiles.

CUPID:

Cupid is traditionally from Mount Olympus, and has the status of God. His moral standing is that he is a pacifist, and believes everyone will find happiness, even if he and his friends have to assist slightly. He has an average age of 300 but on the outside looks 18, or even younger. He is easy going and funny, but is very serious when it comes to his duty. He never thinks about himself and his life, preferring to make everyone around him happy first. Out of all the Gods back on Mount Olympus, he is particularly close with Venus as she saw the potential in him, and is a supportive mother.

KATIE PARKER:

Katie Parker is originally from Earth, and is a mortal in the eyes of the God. She can be feisty but she is mostly sweet and sensitive. She has given up on love as her last relationship turned abusive and she lost all trust in men. She wants to be better with relationships but it never works out. She longs for the perfect guy but doesn't recognise that maybe there is someone just next to her who could give her everything and more.

VENUS:

Venus, another god, and Cupid's mother, is feisty and knows what she wants. She is very assertive but has a sweet spot in her heart for Cupid. She wants the best for her son. She appears much younger than she is as she is also the Goddess of love. She will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

CONSTRUCTION: BBFC CERTIFICATE

Our brief for this part of coursework was to create a film opening. Part of this meant that I had to choose and create a BBFC certificate. I chose the rating PG for my film as it is a light hearted rom-com. This means there is no violence, or nudity. There is the possible 'mild emotional peril' scene but it is not unsuitable for kids over 8.

Once I chose the rating, I took a pg BBFC certificate into photoshop to put my film name in it. This will be inserted into my film before the scenes start.

CONSTRUCTION: FILMING

After complications with my main actor, I decided to recast Cupid as a talent from my school. Unfortunately this meant refilming the entire title sequence. However, upon reviewing my first edit, I found I hadn't been able to produce the overall aesthetic of a rom-com and decided to come up with a new concept for the title sequence.

I took the initiative of contacting my female love interest talent to film some scenes at Claremont Fan Court School, as two of my actors are based there, as well as the equipment required. I also took the opportunity of casting a new character, Venus, with another female talent, as she is also a media student, allowing for easy filming scheduling.

I used several shots, such as an arc pan, an extreme close up and a tracking shot. This will make the film very protagonist based as it is entirely focused on Cupid and Katie.

Below are some photos of the talent as Cupid while I am filming.

PLANNING: CHARACTER PINTEREST

In order to understand my characters I decided to set up several pinterest boards.

The first board is for my piece as a whole. As I continue to develop my film, the aesthetic of this board may change.



The next board is for my main male protagonist, Cupid. This board can be split into 2 categories, how Cupid looks on Mount Olympus as represented through statues and paintings, and the inspiration for Cupid's look on Earth, as inspired by the actor Tom Holland.



Lastly, the next board is for my main female protagonist, Katie Parker. Her aesthetic is chic librarian so I decided to add many notebooks and autumnal themes in order to represent Katie as a whole, rather than just the outside.

PLANNING: HOT-SEATING MY CHARACTERS

In order to further understand my characters, I decided to hot-seat my characters to allow my actors to also understand my characters. In a book by Pen Densham, we found a check list of questions every writer and director should ask themselves when they are developing their characters.

Cupid- Cameron Hardcastle
Katie- Leah O'Grady
Interviewer- Christina Taylor

Cupid has come down from Mount Olympus to help a writer, Katie find love. The idea I had for presenting this interview was a passing notes exchange which represents the love they both have for writing and the covert nature of their friendship and later, relationship.

This did not work out and so I posed it as a text conversation instead, which represented the new age of digital, especially due to the various dating apps that are used nowadays. I have enclosed pictures below of the text messages.

PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT

PLANNING: LOCATION

For my film, I needed a secluded wood near my house so I chose to film in Ham Common Woods.

The
The next location I picked was a 5 minute walk away, on Ham Common. This was nice and easy for open air filming with lots of wide shots.

The last location which I hope to use for the body of my film is the Rose Cafe. This is located in the centre of Kingston, so is easy to get to in off-peak hours. It is a cosy space with already set seats and tables.