To elevate the severity of imaginary friends and the dark or creepy preconceived notions of it, we decided that our short film will have a lighter take, almost calming in nature and close to the heart. We want to illustrate the story of this innocent young girl and her journey in discovering life outside of her own imagination.

These are snapshots from some films that caught my attention. All of them involve child actors. More than that, though, is the fact that each of them are very visually appealing and warm in tone.

We want our short film to have a warm, homey vibe. Below are some pictures I got off Pinterest to illustrate the sort of places and feelings we are going for.

For the children’s clothes, I decided to go with something basic; nothing too quirky or fancy. The two little girls in the film will possibly be barefoot and wearing pretty dresses – illustrating their innocence.

The boy, on the other hand, will be slightly dishevelled when compared to Stella, away from the conventional neatness that kids at home or school have.

The clothes that they wear need to be in line with the ‘characters’ attitudes, socioeconomic status, self-image, and degree of concern for appearance’ (Gitner 2016). In this case, Sam is somewhat of an outcast, only visible to Stella. He doesn’t exactly have a place in the reality in which the rest of the characters exist – this seemingly ‘perfect’ world – and so by setting this wardrobe, he is depicted as somebody a little out of place.

REFERENCES
Gitner, S 2016, ‘Multimedia Storytelling for Digital Communicators in a Multiplatform World’, Routledge, New York, p. 253.
Late Bloomer 2004, short film, directed by Craig Macneill.
Marry Me 2009, short film, directed by Michelle Lehman.
Moonrise Kingdom 2012, film, American Empirical Pictures, & Indian Paintbrush, USA.
Small Deaths 1996, short film, directed by Lynne Ramsay.