Final Major Project - The Interview

As I needed something visual for the end of year Screening, I teamed up with James Ogden, Ashley John and Scott Fisher (all whom were just writing for their projects) and we created a series of interviews for the showing.

These interviews are each of us in turn, talking about our project. We used all of the same questions for each interview, including things such as "How did you think of the idea?" and "What are your hopes for the project in the future?".

In order to do these, we used a green screen. This enabled me to learn how to edit green screens on after effects. We also, rather than a standard boring background, wanted to make it look like we were in locations relevant to each of our pieces - hence the GreenScreen. This is known as Photorealism. We managed to edit the lighting accordingly, and film each of us in a way that we were able to input ourselves into a good location - for example, my piece is very dark and gothic, and a basement features prominently throughout, so I put myself in a very dark basement.

This benefited us greatly, helping me to learn new skills in editing, as well as creating something solid that can be used within the screening.

I will also be submitting this interview as part of my project, as I believe it helps to give a personal opinion of exactly what my project is and why I decided to do it.

Final Major Project - Bible Death Research

Whilst writing my treatments, I needed to find some interesting ways that Edward and Evelyn could murder people. Wanting to keep some form of religious aspect, I found some of the most gruesome Bible deaths I could find, and I either combined or modernised them. Whilst it may have been fun to write these deaths in a script format, I had just as much fun writing them out as treatments.

One death I found, was about a couple being buried alive, this happens in the Old Testament. Thus, I gave Edward and Evelyn a murder in which they bury a couple alive for "sending their son to hell".

Possibly my favourite death I wrote about in the treatments was the combination of two from The Old Testament. The first was about King Eglon - a mad king who suppressed Israel during the time of the Judges. Because of his treachery, he was approached by one of the Judges, Ehud, who promptly said to him "I have a message from God for you" and proceeded to stab him in the stomach - ultimately killing him.

The next one I found was the Third Son of King David, Absolom. After betraying his father, war ensued, and during this war, Absolom was completely routed from his supporters. As he was being chased down, he got his long flowing hair caught in the branches of a tree. Unable to escape, he was found by his pursuers, who executed him by stabbing him multiple times with pikes, leaving his corpse hanging in the tree he was caught in.

I took these two deaths, and combined them. There is a point when the twins are chasing down a Police Officer. Whilst she runs away from them, in the forest, she gets her hair caught in a tree, thus getting stuck there. Upon finding her stuck, Edward quotes Ehud's line "I have a message from God for you" and he plunges a knife into the Officer's stomach. This is then followed by him and his sister mercilessly stabbing her multiple times, leaving her corpse in the tree for the police to find.

I had great fun researching all of this and it really aided me in thinking of creative and interesting new ways to murder someone (within my script of course!), and keeping it Bibular, I stuck to the religious themes of my story overall.

Final Major Project - Treatment writing and editing

Whilst writing the treatments, I had a bit of a problem. I was making things too hard for myself by going into too much detail. I was also not spacing them out enough.

To get around this, as well as spacing them out in order to give the reader an easier read, I actually didn't find it too hard to cut them down. Where I was including every single minor detail, so it would read like a script, I summarised things a lot more.

Also included in a few treatments are some essential lines of dialogue, that I felt needed to be put across, but there aren't too many.

In the end, I feel my treatments tell a good story, and are presented in a way that is interesting and easy to read. There are times when I believe I may have gone into slightly too much detail, but I have summarised as best I could. One of my main issues whilst writing these was getting around having too much detail. As I say, some points are probably too detailed, however, the only reason behind this is because there was no other way to get around saying what I wanted to in order for the story to progress.

Being a crime/thriller drama series, there are many small things that happen, sometimes a lot happens in just one scene, thus I found it hard to summarise it into just one or two 5 line paragraphs. I do however, believe that these have come out to the best of my ability, and I am happy and proud with the story I have come up with, as well as how they are written.

Final Major Project - Final Drafts of Script

When I got to the final few drafts of my script, it was brought to my attention that there was a major flaw within them - the setting.

Initially, I had a very Gothic undertone to the piece. Within this, I had the main setting being the Tamlock residence - a Gothic manor house. This had acres and acres of grounds, was very large itself and even had a butler. This matched the inside of the house, filled with religious iconography and old furniture. This however, as I was informed, seemed too obvious.

The problem was, if you saw this house on a screen, you know exactly what's going to happen on the inside. Something reflective of what you are seeing on the outside. The storyline of my piece would have been obvious and an audience would be able to guess what will happen in this setting. So I changed it.

I changed it to a standard semi-detached house in a suburban estate in the country side. This, I think, would let many people relate, as many people live on a place like this, but I gave it a twist - I kept it the same on the inside. So initially, when the reader were to look at this house, they would think that nothing out of the ordinary is going on here, but when you get to the inside, you realise just how dark and backwards the family and the house really is.

This change led me to having to change Roland as well. Initially, he was the twins Butler, but this was changed to their Grandfather, who lives adjacent to them. This way I was able to keep the paternal instincts Roland felt towards the twins, and have it justified rather than having him as a family friend or neighbour.

Because of this, I felt I had to change Edward slightly as well. Not his personality, but his clothing. Initially he was going to dress himself very gothic - like an old victorian gentleman, complete with cravat. This changed to a slightly emoesque style for him. Dark skinny jeans and dark shirts, with all the buttons done up. I felt by doing this, it modernised the character slightly and it also gave the same feel as the house - normal on the outside, but dark and twisted on the inside.

Another problem that came up was Edward murdering Evelyn's boyfriend, Richard. Reading through, there wasn't any real probable cause for Edward killing him, apart from him not liking him. It was me, as a writer, killing someone for the sake of killing someone. So I decided to give Edward a reason to kill him.

Edward now tries to connect with him, but discovers that Richard is cheating on his sister. Finding this inexcusable, Edward then takes things a step too far and decides to murder him - and the woman he was cheating on Evelyn with - leading to a very dark and disturbing murder/kidnapping couple of scenes.

One major issues I came up all over my piece was being too melodramatic as well (as mentioned in an earlier post). But other than that, I made things too long. A scene that needed to only be a few lines would be drawn out for as long as 4 pages at a time. By finding these scenes and singling them out, I was able to cut them down, making them more dynamic by just being a couple of lines in length - also allowing for more plot lines and things to happen within the story as it gave me more space to write more.

Final Major Project - Character Inclusion

Whilst writing the treatments, there were a few characters I had to introduce in order to improve the story.

The first, was a Detective, originally named John Hastings. The idea of Hastings was to be the Detective set on the murder investigations from the killings that Edward and Evelyn performed. There was a problem with John however and that was the way I introduced him. Initially, he just first appeared in a Police Station, nothing exciting or original at all. It was also pointed out to me, that my script is very Male dominated. So I made a few changes.

The first change I made was turning John into a woman, so I was able to have another central female character in my script. Enter, Detective Charli Hastings. Charli is not your ordinary police detective. She is first introduced whilst having aggressive sex and taking cocaine with a small time mafia leader, Fred. This immediately gives a sense of surprise to the reader and to the audience when they find out she is actually a Detective. She is passionate and driven, but at the same time wrestles with what she wants. On the one hand, she thinks she is in love with Fred, so will do anything for him, but on the other hand, she does love her work and is passionate about doing it correctly, and solving the Michael Yates case (the murder the twins did which she is assigned to investigate).

This leads me to talking about Fred. Initially, I wasn't too sure about where to go with him, whether to just have him as a background character or not. I decided I liked the idea of having a small time mafia/gang involved, as it made for fun and interesting plot devices I could use as both sub-plots and part of the main story.

Fred himself seems quite jolly and charming, but is actually quite sinister. At one point, he even gets Charli to show her loyalty to the gang and to him by murdering someone in cold blood - which she does, despite being a Police Detective. I also included that Fred knows the twins Grandfather, Roland, as they used to work together - Roland used to run Fred's gang with him.

This all lead up to Charli eventually choosing her job over Fred, so a massive Dog-Cat-Mouse chase ensues in the final couple of episodes, between Fred, Charli and the twins. Essentially, I believe bringing Fred into it was a good decision, as it gave the story slightly more depth rather than it just being about the police and twin killers - I could do more with extra supporting characters, making it easier to span over 6 episodes.

The one problem I found with introducing Fred into it, is even though he is used as a plot device mechanic, he was a decision I made to introduce relatively late into the process. This gave the draw back of his character not being developed as much as the other characters. That isn't to say he doesn't help the story, but I do believe if I had more time, or had time to work on him as a character more, then I would have been able to have created a more solid character who perhaps, would have fit in even better with the story.

Final Major Project - Script Length

When it came to writing draft number 5 of my script, I decided not to cut out as much as I had initially planned to do.

There is a variation on a 2-part Pilot episode, which I took into consideration. This is the extended pilot episode, where the first episode of a new series will be around 15 minutes longer than regular episodes in the season.

The reason behind this being, a writer/director is able to tell more of the story in order to draw the audience in to watching more. Examples of an extended hour long pilot, compared to a standard 45 minute episode are, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and more recently, The Flash.

By keeping my script at 60 pages, therefore being an hour in length, it gave me more room to tell more of a story, involving two murders, and showing the downfall of both my major characters, Edward and Evelyn. This then ties in for setting up for the rest of the series, where they are both already killers, allowing the story to move forward quicker in episodes 2 through 6.

Final Major Production - Drafts 3 and 4 of Script

So after receiving feedback for my second draft of the script I have taken the time and since done 2 more drafts of the script.

In my third draft, I took on board the feedback. I was having the problem that many things (including the speech especially) did not fit the overall tone of my piece. The problem being I had scenes that were too melodramatic and over the top, when this is meant to be a serious piece. In order to rectify this, I cut out a lot, almost 11 pages in total. This brought my script down to around 30 pages. I edited some of the speech in scenes that were too melodramatic and brought it to a point where I feel it flows a lot better.

In terms of draft 4, I have now decided rather than doing a 2 part pilot, which would be two individual scripts, I am going to just do one script, along with 5 treatments. I had written the second script already, however it did not reach how long I wanted it to be - it was only 29 pages, so I needed more content. To get over this, I combined the scripts together, coming in at a total of 62 pages. This gives the entire piece a lot more to them, in terms of what happens and how everything comes together, and with around 89/90 scenes, I believe this makes it feel more like a proper pilot episode, where a lot goes on and a lot happens.

It may come to the point with draft 5 where I have to cut out even more, around 15 pages, to bring it back down to 45 pages, however I await feedback. It is possible that the pilot episode be an extended length rather than 2 parts, thus keeping it at the length now.

I am happy with how it has gone so far, and have been looking into Melodrama to see if I do want my piece to continue this way, if it turns out I am still writing quite melodramatically. Blog to follow about melodrama.

Major Production - Second Script Writing

So I posted the plot synopsis of episode 2 the other day, showing exactly what went on in that episode, or what I planned any way.
When it came to writing the actual script, everything went well. I kept the scenes to a good length, some of the characters I introduced, such as Laura, Richard's sister, I believe have clear personality in the short bits they are in, and I also think I portrayed Evelyn quite well.
As the episode focuses in and around Evelyn more so than Edward, I think I did well in properly introducing her character. The foreshadowing at the start, shows something quite dark happening in her life, with her murdering an unknown man. The story then shows how Evelyn's week went leading up to this event - including finding out who the man is. There is a direct contrast between scenes as Evelyn goes from a happy, bubbly girl to becoming severely depressed. This is shown through a couple of montages, about 20 pages apart, both focusing on the exact same scene and things happening, but with two completely different moods.
I have encountered a problem however, the entirety of plot summary, only covers 32 pages and I am meant to have between 40 and 45. I therefore require additional content to place within.

I am thinking to include some Edward scenes, as the focus is practically entirely Evelyn at the minute. In these Edward scenes, I expect to have him dealing with the aftermath of having murdered Richard. This could include him covering things up from Roland, attempting to clean the room and dispose of the body (even though the disposal is shown during an Evelyn scene with many CUT TO:'s as she reads a bible verse out in Church that directly correlates and contradicts Edward in every way)

Once I know how to continue with the second script, I shall post on here what the additional content will be.

Major Production - Script Editing

Having now edited the second draft of the first script, I think I have drastically improved it. With my first draft I received feedback on it that was constructive and helpful. As advised, looking at other pilot episodes of television shows, a lot tends to happen in them. The problem with my first draft was not a lot happened.
To amend this, I took parts of the second script I had started writing, and incorporated that into my second draft. This introduced the meeting of Evelyn and Edward, Edward catching Evelyn's boyfriend and then proceeding to end with him murdering the boyfriend.
The other problem I had was cutting things either down or out entirely, which I found a struggle, but I believe I achieved this well. I set myself a precedent, that each scene should only be between 2-3 pages in length. This is because some scenes dragged on for as much as 7 pages, with speech and things that weren't entirely relevant. Cutting them down helps keep the scenes fresh and quick but still filled with plenty of impact and drama.
My other problem was making the characters sound unique, as many of them sounded the same. While a couple, I was told, do have a firm character to their movements and speech, others really don't. I do not think I have improved this significantly yet, I still need to work on the speech, and edit it to give the characters some quirk, personality and depth, whilst still maintaining what actually happens within their speech.
There are other points I am sure I can improve on, but I await feedback from my tutor and peers in order to take notes and help myself along.

Major Final Project - Pilot Part 2 Synopsis

The following is the synopsis for the 2nd episode - the Pilot: Part 2. The first episode focused mainly on Edward, I wanted to focus on Evelyn, his sister. In episode 1, we see how so soon after Edward is released, he becomes a killer. Part 2 focuses on his sister Evelyn - it tells the story of how she becomes part of Edward's dark and twisted world. This may be subject to change as I continue to write it, but for now, here is the synopsis.

Foreshadowing: The episode begins with police sirens howling. Evelyn is seen, standing static and holding a blood stained candelabra. The screen pans out to see that Edward is stood over the body of a middle-aged man, holding two fingers to the dead man’s neck. Edward declares him dead, before standing up and hugging his sister, who does not respond at all, instead, keeps a look of shock and terror on her face as well as disbelief at what she’s just done. Edward releases her and grabbing her face, he attempts to reassure her.

Cut back to: 1 week earlier. Evelyn is in bed until the alarm on her clock goes off, 6am on the dot.  Her eyes barely open as she rolls over slamming her hand on the snooze button. 6.05 and repeat. 6.10 and repeat. 6.15, she finally gets up.
Once Evelyn is ready for the day she leaves the house, not before kissing a picture of her boyfriend Richard (who the audience now know is dead, which Evelyn is oblivious to) and getting in her small blue VW Beatle to leave.

Shortly after, Evelyn arrives at St. David’s Church, a church local to her. She chirpily heads on in, greeting those who pass her ever so sweetly, crowds of people heading into the Church with her. Once inside, she takes a seat near the front of the hall, and the service begins. Shortly through, Evelyn is called up for a reading, which she does to many a loving eyes.

At the end of the service, Evelyn is thanked before she heads to one of the backrooms of the Church. It resembles an ordinary elementary school classroom, complete with a new interactive white board. It doesn’t take long for the room to fill with children of all different ages, from around 5 to 10. Evelyn is revealed to be the Sunday school teacher, and she begins to teach her class.

When the class finishes, one of her students comes up to her, a boy around 8 years old. He simply thanks her for the lesson, being a polite young man, but as he turns to leave, Evelyn notices a slight scarring down his back. She brings him back and lifts up the back of his shirt, to reveal scars all down it. Asking the boy about it, he says that Daddy told him to be quiet, and he runs off. Upon seeing the scars however, Evelyn has violent flashbacks to her abuse as a child, which leave her a sobbing mess on the floor of her classroom.

When she gets home, she looks more composed, and over what she had just seen. She picks up her phone to call Richard. His phone is off, so she tries his home phone. This time it just rings out. She knows they have a date that night, so she shrugs it off and gets ready as planned, deciding to go to the restaurant alone.

She arrives at the restaurant, looking beautiful in her black dress and heels, her haired tied up in a bun. She is seated at her table and orders a glass of wine while she waits. After waiting a short while she calls his phone again but gets no answer. Just as she puts the phone down, someone sits at her table in front of her. It is her brother, EDWARD. Confused and angry, Evelyn asks Edward where Richard is. Edward plays it innocent saying that he was just passing and saw her in here. Evelyn accepts this, though is upset by the lack of her boyfriend being there. She leaves a message and a text and begins to eat with her brother.

After eating and saying her goodbyes, Evelyn heads home. She spots in her car a key, remembering that Richard gave her one to his apartment not long earlier, so she decides to drive round. His car isn’t in the drive so she decides to head up to his apartment. She is very cautious as she does this but lets herself into his apartment anyway. Calling his name a few times and looking around, she spots nothing, he isn’t home. What she does find strange though is the amount of dirty dishes left over, some with food still on.

Just before she leaves she notices a shadow behind her. She turns around saying Richard’s name, but to her surprise, it is Edward. She gets angry shouting at him asking why he is there. He explains he was following her to make sure she was safe. She then gets even angrier at that statement and accuses him of doing something to Richard. To shut her up, Edward puts his hand over her mouth and forces her onto a sofa, leaning over her. He tells her to calm down and that if she’d just let him explain he will, as long as she promises not to shout. She nods, and he releases her.

Edward then admits that he can’t lie to her, being her sister, and he confesses. This riles her up even more and she starts screaming and sobbing, throwing pillows at Edward, who in return, pulls a large KNIFE out of his trousers and gets down on her level pointing it at her. He threatens her, telling her to hear him out, almost begging her not to make him have to kill her. Terrified, she agrees to listen.

Edward explains that he needed her to be with him, that being with Richard wasn’t in God’s plan and that it was a sin. He tells her that God told him to do it and that as a result; Richard is in a better place now. Terrified, yet calmer and furious, Evelyn calls him crazy. She questions his therapy and his judgement. He brings the knife closer to her, telling her that this isn’t how it works, that she has to be on his side and that if she were to tell anyone, then he would have no choice then to change his plan, and that she would have to die as well. Evelyn understands this, fearful for her life, and agrees, telling him what he wants to hear. That he is her brother and she’ll do as he asks.

The next few days, Evelyn is locked up in her own apartment, looking sad and distressed. She gets a knock on the door, only to answer it to the police, who ask if they can come in to ask her a few questions. Evelyn complies and lets them in. Sitting down with them, they ask her whether she knows anything about Richard’s disappearance. She manages to keep her cool, asking who called it in; finding out it was Richard’s sister, HANNAH.  She knows she can’ tell them what she knows, through fear of her brother finding out, so she tells them that it was there anniversary the other night and he didn’t show up and that she can’t get hold of him. She plays the distressed girlfriend very well, but is able to seem truthful enough as to how ignorant she is towards it. The police seem understanding, eventually leaving asking her to let them know if they hear anything from him and she agrees.

The next day she receives a call from Hannah, asking her to meet her for lunch. She does so and upon arriving finds a distressed Hannah. Hannah is sympathetic but very uncomfortable and upset, asking anything that Richard might have said to her. Evelyn reveals they haven’t had an argument and that it is just as confusing to her as it is to Hannah. The two part ways.

Finding it hard, Evelyn tries to continue about her own ways, and once again heads to Church on the Sunday. We see the same scene, but this time Evelyn seems very different, not really talking to anyone. She doesn’t do a reading during the service and then it is time for class.

As the class finishes she spies a visitor. Edward is in the doorway. As the children leave, Evelyn confronts Edward asking what he is doing here. He explains he just wanted to see how she was doing and that she shouldn’t worry. She whispers to him the police have been round to see her, but that he shouldn’t worry, as she hasn’t told them anything. The boy from before is still sat in his seat, which Evelyn notices and she goes to talk to him. The boy, TIMOTHY, says that he doesn’t want to go home because he is scared. Edward approaches asking him why, but the boy doesn’t tell them why. Eventually, the boys’ father, MIKE, comes to the classroom to collect him. He doesn’t look like a particularly nice man and he grabs Timothy by the arm and strolls him out. As he does so, the boy’s shirt comes up a bit and Edward see’s the scarring on his back. Edward immediately clocks what is going and makes to follow them, but Evelyn stops him. She explains it’s none of their business what goes on at their house and they should just leave it. Edward doesn’t accept this and gets angry, which Evelyn understands as it is reminiscent of when they were younger. She begs Edward, knowing what he is capable of, not to do anything rash.

That night, Evelyn is eating ice cream whilst under a blanket on the sofa and watching television. Her phone goes off and she checks it to see a text from Edward, reading, “I’m going to do it. Don’t try and stop me”. Evelyn immediately jumps up and in a hurried state leaves the house.  – Change the text up a bit, make it more subtle.

Whilst in the car, we see Evelyn pull up to a small neighbourhood. She checks a piece of paper from the Church with contact details, including addresses on, and confirms the right address. There is no sign that Edward might be there so she is reluctant to get out of the car. As she waits, she spies a figure jump the back gate and she clocks that it’s Edward. She jumps out the car and runs near to the front door. She ducks down near some bushes and waits; she can’t just knock, as she doesn’t have a reason to. Suddenly, a loud crash and a bang are heard and she springs up, trying the front door, which happens to be open.

As she treads through the house, she’s hears a loud cry of anguish from a man. She picks up the nearest thing she can find, a medium sized candelabra, bringing it to her head, raised, with the intent of knocking out Edward. As she nears the source of the sound she hears more male voices, from two people.

Entering the kitchen, she see’s something she is not expecting to see. Edward is there, but at a disadvantage to Mike, who has him pinned against a wall with a knife to his throat and looking a bit beaten up. Mike hasn’t noticed Evelyn and continues to threaten Edward’s life, calling him a creep and a pervert. In a sudden rush of adrenaline, Evelyn runs over and hits Mike on the back of the head at full force with the candelabra. He staggers slightly before turning and seeing Evelyn, who immediately smashes him with the candelabra again, sending him toppling over to the floor.

We are now back to the beginning where the foreshadowing took place. Edward confirms that Mike is dead. After hugging her, she remains shocked at what she has just done, but Edward tells her she’s back and that she did the right thing. He then prises the Candelabra out of her hands and keeps hold of it as he walks her outside and back to the car, asking if she is all right to drive.

The final scene we see is Evelyn wrapped up in a blanket, staring into a furnace as Edward breaks up the candelabra as he throws the smaller bits into it. The look on Evelyn’s face is completely solemn. Her years of therapy have been thrown to waste. She is once again, a murderer.

Final Major Production - Channel and Format

My Series is aimed to be a 6-part television drama, with each episode being 40 minutes in length. Researching in to different networks on which my series would be suited to, I decided to go with HBO - and their English Counterpart, Sky Atlantic.

HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Home Box Office Inc., an operating subsidiary of Time Warner. HBO's programming consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television series, along with made-for-cable movies and documentaries, boxing matches and occasional comedy and concert specials.

List of drama series: 

·      Sex and the City

·      The Soprano’s

·      The Wire

·      Entourage

·      Six Feet Under

·      Boardwalk Empire

·      Game of Thrones

·      True Blood

These shows are shown on channels in the United Kingdom such as Sky Atlantic – an extension of HBO. They have been known to show British programming using mainly British casts as well, such as Life’s Too Short and the overly successful Game of Thrones.

Many HBO programmes are intended for audiences of 16-18+ as swearing, violence and nudity is a prominent theme in a lot of the different series. The Book of Tamlock would be aimed at this age group. The more family friendly series are shown on an extension of HBO, HBO Family, to leave room for the more serious and adult dramas and comedies. The main HBO channel mainly airs R-rated films only after 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, but does air certain TV-MA rated programs during the daytime hours.

Seeing as the company do use British actors and locations, which would still appeal to an American demographic, I feel this would be the right network for my show to be on as the network has much more of a wider range of titles then most other networks, such as Showtime and AMC that seem to focus, although with great shows of their own, on very similar styled and themed programming. The broader sense makes HBO, and their expanse of networking to other countries, the prime media format for my show to be on.

Final Major Production - Character Profile, Evelyn

Here is the second complete character profile, this time of Edward's sister, Evelyn, who plays a major role within the entire series.

Character Profiles

Name: Evelyn Tamlock

Gender: Female

Age:  26

Physical Appearance:  Evelyn is quite short compared to her brother, standing at about 5’5”. She has long, flowing, dark brown hair and a very pretty face. Her large eyes are a prominent feature and they are a deep ebony colour – very piercing to look at.

How does the character feel about his appearance: Evelyn likes compliments. Her boyfriend constantly showers her with them, despite not always believing them. She doesn’t mind how she looks at all, but she doesn’t think she’s the best looking person in the world.

Describe the character’s childhood in terms of:

a)    Relationship to parents – Evelyn, along with her brother Edward, never got on very well with her parents. She was abused and beaten by both Mother and Father. This lead to their untimely demise as at the age of 8, Edward and Evelyn committed matricide and patricide, ultimately freeing them from the long-term abuse they suffered.

b)   Relationship to siblings – Evelyn as a child had a very close relationship with her twin brother, Edward. She felt he was a force that could always protect her from scary things. Ultimately, this led to a complete dependency on Edward. Through therapy, she learnt she shouldn’t be so dependent on her brother, and shouldn’t always listen to what he has to say, as it was because of him, she ended up where she did, and ended up murdering her parents. She is now quite scared of the prospect of meeting him, but upon doing so, that dependency and closeness she thought she had gotten rid of over her 14 years of therapy, actually comes flooding back.

Her little brother, Jacob, she believes to be dead, after her and her brother attempted to suffocate him with a pillow when he was only 3.

c)    Relationship to other key people from his youth – The family butler, Roland, played a key part in Evelyn’s growing up. He nursed Evelyn through all illness and injuries acquired from her parents while growing up. He is the closest thing to a father that Evelyn has. Since her release, Roland has helped her sort her new life out and was the one who helped her find her own place and a job. She maintains a close relationship with him, calling him and meeting him for coffee whenever able to.

d)   Lifestyle while growing up – Evelyn had a painful upbringing; her parents beat her, like they did Edward. Being a girl and more fragile, the abuse to her was never as harsh as that towards Edward, though what scarred her more was having to watch what they did to Edward. This scare-factor resulted in her being very polite and submissive, always doing what she was told. She was brought up Catholic, respecting those ways. However, while she maintains some beliefs, she does not follow the religion as closely as others like her brother.

e)    Education – Evelyn attended a private school with her brother. She was never quite at his level of intelligence however, averaging B grades while her brother got top marks. Her education continued during her time in the institution, however she often struggled, due to her shy and reserved nature. When this was worked on and she gained more confidence, her grades improved, but she still remains of average intelligence because of this struggle in education.

f)     Childhood activities – Playing with her brother. Evelyn never wanted to anything without Edward. He would often read her stories from the books he was reading, until she fell asleep in his lap. She would never not be at his side.

g)    Location – Evelyn spent the first 8 years of her life in the same house. A large gothic mansion in West Sussex; very pristine with religious symbolism everywhere (Christian). Following that, she spent the majority of her life, 14 years, in a mental health institute in Liverpool.

Describe the characters current relationships with:

a)    Parents – non-existent, as they are dead.  Evelyn feels much remorse to their murder however.

b)   Siblings – Evelyn, upon making first contact with Edward, is very scared and cautious about meeting him.  She was told in therapy that he too easily manipulates her and she makes a conscious effort not to be dragged in to his old ways, if they are still the same. Upon discovering that he is murdering again, she takes a lot of consoling, but again, she is easily manipulated until she eventually murders someone herself, forcing her right into Edward’s vicious circle of lies and deceit.

c)    Roland– As mentioned earlier, Evelyn and Roland maintain a close relationship. Having helped her get on her feet after leaving therapy, Roland and her now meet on a regular basis, as two old friends would.  He is very protective over her, which she appreciates.

Describe the character’s romantic life and any relevant background: Evelyn is now with a man of around the same age called Richard. It is her first relationship since being out of therapy and it is going well. She feels comfortable around him though he is just a replacement for Edward essentially. She feels protected when around him.

Describe the character’s sex life and moral beliefs: Evelyn used to have strong morals when it came to sex. She only believed in having it before marriage; that is, until she met Richard. Richard isn’t a particularly religious fellow and he managed to bed her in the couple of years they have been together. She succumbed to temptation and ended up having intercourse with him, something that she intends to hide from Edward at all costs, not knowing how he would react to it. She holds many other moral beliefs, being that she doesn’t agree with lying and she doesn’t always agree with hurting someone. It is the fact that Edward, who makes her ditch most of her morals, easily manipulates her.

Does the character have children? If not, how does he feel about children?

Evelyn has no children.  She does however, love children. She believes they are the hope of the future and she works at a Sunday school in order to help children and their affirmation in their belief of God.

What is the character’s religious background? :  Evelyn maintains her beliefs as a Catholic, though doesn’t practice them as well as people like her brother. She still believes in a heaven and a hell and she follows all the commandments as she can. It is Edward who ends up acting like her parents used to, though without the abuse, to make her more willing to act upon her beliefs. She still holds much mental scarring, despite being out of the institution for 4 years, which is all brought up again once reuniting with her brother.

What is the character’s occupation: Volunteers at a Church’s Sunday school.

Describe the character’s philosophy of life: Evelyn believes on the fundamentals. Enjoy the little things. Practice makes perfect. She goes through life doing what she believes to be right, even if sometimes that view can be quite warped. She is easily persuaded and convinced however, and other people’s views tend to rub off on her quite easily, with her then believing they are her own views and beliefs.

Sum up the main aspects of the character’s personality:  Evelyn is a calm and reserved person. She is very shy apart from people she is comfortable around. Easily manipulated and easy to please. She keeps herself to herself and doesn’t let people know about her dark past.

What is this character proud of? Evelyn is proud of herself, for getting over something she never thought she would. She is also proud of how well she has adapted into the real world, unknowing that this will all change.

What is this character ashamed of? Evelyn is deeply ashamed of her past, which is why she tends to never bring it up to anyone.

What is his state of health? Evelyn is of sound mind, but her being easily manipulated into doing things that others wouldn’t, show that she is slightly degenerate in that area. She doesn’t have the same problems that Edward has, though she often has night terrors of her black past.

How intelligent is he or she? Evelyn is of average intelligence. She didn’t get the grades in education she hoped she’d get, but she is very knowledgeable in other areas, such as cooking and her religion.