Inspiration 2

Jess had watch a film called 'Speak', starring Kristen Stewart, and this inspired us to research the topic of sexual abuse and rape.

The film deals with a teenagers struggle to talk about how she was raped.  We liked how the director portrayed the rape scene.  They did this suggestively, rather than giving a detailed visual.  The director suggests her rape through sound, and close-ups that fragment the scene.  All the audience can hear are her screams.  The visuals show no nudity, but it is a series of close ups that only show the character's facial expressions and her arms trying to get him off her.

After watching Andrea Arnold's work, we saw that she used many establishing shots of nature, and landscapes.  We thought that we could film establishing shots of the surrounding environment, and have the sound of the rape.  This would be more disturbing to the audience, and would create a tenser atmosphere.

We started planning thoughts and opinions on the topic.

I researched the opinions of the rapist.  I felt that not many films focus on the other side's opinion.  I found that many teenage boys rape their girlfriends because their friends are picking on them, accusing of being a homosexual.  Instead of ignoring these childish remarks, they sexual abuse their girlfriends, and force them to have sex with them.

Jess had also analysed a film at the beginning of our course based on the same topic.



We liked how the rapist talks directly to the audience.  This created an eerie, awkward feeling for the audience.  The actors tone is also cocky, and almost friendly.  This adds to the awkward atmosphere is creating.  The first shot, is a close up of the rapist, Gordan.  His face is not completely visable.  This suggests that there is something about his personality that has been hidden from the audience.  I liked how the character was surrounded by darkness, and how the director has already implied that Gordan is a dark, misleading character in the plot.

We could not find any teenage actors that were comfortable with the idea of acting within a film of this strong theme.  We therefore needed to research and find other ideas.