This is all the analysis involved in the casting and costume process of my preliminary task.

1. CASTING AND
COSTUME

2. ANTAGONIST- LITTLE GIRL
Classically the antagonist role is portrayed by a strong,
fierce, aggressive male. I decided to go against the
stereotypical conventions of the thriller genre by using a
young girl as my antagonistic character. A little girl is
able to provoke fear and tension from an audience by
playing upon the traits of innocence and vulnerability.
These lull the audience into a false sense of security as a
‘sweet’ little girl is never looked at as the prime suspect.
Therefore when it becomes evident that this innocent
character is infact the antagonist, the audience are far
more shocked because they are not prepared for it.

3. EXISTING EXAMPLES
Screen shot from
The Ring.
Screen shots from the thriller film
The Woman in Black.
One of the earliest films this idea was
published in was The Bad Seed (1956). It
was a new phenomenon to the thriller
genre, the media and the public, as child
crimes were rarely heard of or exposed.

4. CASTING- LITTLE GIRL
Name:
Abbey Emma Polly Freestone Her curly hair
Age: emphasises
13 years old the idea of a
D.O.B: sweet,
15/06/1999 innocent child.
Nationality:
British
Natural Accent:
English She is generally
Additional accents/languages: quite small
Basic French, Basic German which makes
Height: her look
5ft weak/harmless.
Special skills:
Ballet, Rowing, Horse Riding
Permission (for participation):
Granted

5. BEHIND THE SCENES –
MAKEUP
In order to transform my actress into a ‘scary’
little girl I did some research into the costume
and makeup used in existing films for similar
characters.
(see ‘EXISTING EXAMPLES’ slide).
I used a simple hairstyle, clipping the front
section back on one side as this is typically a very
childish look.
Then to make her seem more creepy, I applied pale
skin makeup to give her a somewhat ghostly feel and
used black eye shadow to darken the area around her
eyes.

6. FINAL COSTUME- LITTLE GIRL
Curly hairstyle emphasises innocence and vulnerability. I removed one
I dressed her in black
to suggest a darkness of the buttons
about her character from the coat
and to encourage the to suggest that
audience to see her something is
as bad or evil. not quite right
with this girl as
it shows that
she is
imperfect.
Knee high
socks are a
classic piece
of costume Pale skin gives
for a little her a
girl. ‘haunting’,
‘ghostly’
appearance
which fits the
Long black coat is almost old fashioned in its style and it looks quite like a dress genre well.
which is a common costume for this character as I found from my research.

7. VICTIM
The victim character is a very flexible part as it can be
portrayed in many different forms, but is most typically
a female role. I wanted to continue with this idea of
going against the stereotypes and chose a young male to
play this part. This is because typically the gender and
youth of this actor would lead the audience to assume
he was a tough, strong character who would therefore
not get attacked. Going against the stereotypical casting
choice creates an uneasy atmosphere and sets the
audience more on edge as it is not something they are
used to seeing, which adds tension to the thriller film.

8. EXISTING EXAMPLES
Ted Grey from
Pathology.
Screen shot of Stuart Shepard from
The Phone Booth.
The best existing example of this type of
casting can be seen in The Woman in
Black, looking at Arthur Kipps.

9. CASTING- VICTIM
Name:
Jake Matthew Freestone Stubble and facial
Age: piercing make him seem
20 years old more intimidating so
D.O.B: audience do not expect
16/01/1993 him to be the victim .
Nationality:
British
Natural Accent:
English Physique of the
Additional accents/languages: average male
Basic French so he does not
Height: look
5ft 10 inches particularly
Permission (for participation): vulnerable.
Granted

10. FINAL COSTUME- VICTIM
The costume is very
natural for this character,
the only specification
being ‘dark clothing’ in
order to stick to the
conventions of the thriller.
I wanted this costume to
be very subtle and realistic
so there wasn’t much to be
changed. I liked the facial
piercing and stubble as it
makes this character look
less vulnerable and was
generally happy with the
costume.

11. CASTING- EXTRAS
My brief for
casting the extra
was simply a
naturalistic
parental figure and
these were my
final two choices.
In the end I cast
the male extra as
he worked better
on camera
because the
female did not
follow direction
correctly.