Today myself and Charlie concentrated on creating characters for our film. We wanted to give the impression that the events that occur in our film could realistically happen to anyone in the world, and so we chose for the central characters of our film to be a family of three.
Douglas Reed- 35 Years Old
Douglas is a father in his mid-30s. He is an incredibly hard working and devoted father who cares very much for his wife Delany and his daughter. He is also very passive, and as such it is shocking when he reacts violently or aggressive towards anything. When he discovers that Abigail has become ill with a fatal sickness, he is heartbroken and immediately signs her up for an experimental drug trial which could hold a cure.
As the events of the film unfold, we see how his relationship with his wife, Delaney begins to fracture, and how he ultimate ends up hating her for her polar opposite opinion on what should be done about the situation.
Delaney Reed- 35 Years Old
She is very loving towards her husband, but less so towards Abigail. This is mostly because she feels a certain disconnect with her because she is not her own child. Delaney does her best to be a proper wife, and does all the motherly duties she should do in terms of taking care of Abigail, but she seems to treat her very much as though she comes as part of the package, with Douglas being her main priority.
Abigail Reed- 15 Years Old
Abigail is a girl in her teens. She is very mild mannered in her approach to life, and doesn't quite seem to really comprehend the severity of the illness she has become afflicted with. The only time she really begins to understand how much the situation is affecting the people around her is when the people around her begin to resent her because she is making them ill.
All in all, I am very happy with the way these characters are developing. I intend for the rift between Douglas and Delaney to be one of the main subjects of the film besides Abigail's illness, and the pressure of society telling Delaney to kill her step-daughter for their sake is something I want to feature prominently in terms of how her character develops throughout the film. I believe it will be important for me to create a realistic "evolution" of Delaney's character, and by this I mean it will be important for Delaney to gradually come around to the idea of ending Abigail's life as opposed to outright jumping to that conclusion as soon as the idea is suggested.
I do not believe that any parent would immediately decide to kill their only child for the benefit of others, and so I believe that having Delaney come around to the idea over time, and reluctantly is the only realistically feasible way.
I also believe the dynamic between Delaney and Abigail could be quite interesting, as it very much mirrors the recognisable fairy-tale character "evil stepmother" stereotype, albeit in a much more subtle way. This is something viewers may be able to immediately recognise, as the idea of an uneasy step-mother/step child relationship is something that has been represented in many classic fairy-tales such as Snow white and even to an extent in the modern day Harry Potter series, with Harry's relationship with his Uncle and Aunt, who treat him very unfairly because he is not their actual child, and instead lavish all their love and attention on their own child, Dudley.
I think this dynamic would add a nice, subtle subplot to my story that could be expanded upon through the ways in which Abigail and Delaney's characters act around each other.
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