Sketched Compositions for 'The Lady in White'

Sketching 'The Lady in White'

This is the establishing shot for the subject of this short film; the letter. The significance with this shot will be to emphasise the fact that the narration is in fact the letter being read by the female character. What's also important in this frame is to establish the murder weapon and to set up the later events.

This sketch will be the first image we see of the main character. Note that the high angle will gradually become lower throughout the edit as she becomes a stronger woman away from her former lover.

Using this shot, it will just clarify that the main character is on a train heading away from her partner to start a new life. It will also offer a variety of shot types for the sequence; being an extreme long shot.

This image is designed to reflect the secrecy of the couple's affair through pure reflections of film noir to establish the dark themes of murder and control that are foreshadowing the ending of the film.

Based on David Lynch's representation of Dorothy from 'Blue Velvet' (1986), I wanted to show the main character entraunced with love when he puts the necklace around her. The undertones of sexual fantasy are also present within this shot to show the seductive/manipulative effect the male character has over his mistress through such a simple action; this will be reflected for the murder scene.

After hiding in the wardrobe, the mistress of the film encounters her lover's fiance, who is seen dressed in white; and of course is the reason for the film title changing to 'The Lady in White'. The themes of sex are inflicted through the use of this composition to emphasise the greed of the male character and to emphasise the motive of the mistress to ruin their marriage. Within the last sentence of the voice-over, the dialouge will end with "I always knew I could never be, the woman in white." By having this line it will convey how the main character wanted to be the other woman, but also the line refers to the image of a wedding dress; and so she acknowleges that her fantasies are simply broken dreams.

Very much a typical noir inspired image that has been used to emphasise her broken heart through the use of the lighting. The animation isn't the only tool that will be used to enhaunce the drama, but the way noir lighting can create a cinematic feel towards the final outcome of each shot.

The killing: Illustrated through shadow to emphasise the violence and create a horrific distortion using a tilted angle and not showing the brutality of the actions. After watching Psycho it inspired me to work with the power of suggestion and allow some psychological impact on the audience. The idea for the shadows was based on the way the killer is introduced in Fritz Lang's 'M'.

Disposing of the body; a sketch illustrating the woman's body being thrown from a jetty by the docks. The set will likely become more crowded with cranes and buildings to fill in the scene more so than this sketch.