Character Development

Meet Verena and Janus

    Verena is the protagonist in our thriller film opening "The Seventh Lie," and Janus is the antagonist of the film. However, for the film opening this family just sees "Janus" as their "brother" or "son" but little do they realize this isn't their real brother/son. This is because they are grieving the real Janus as he passed away and are unable to accept the harsh reality of their situation.

    As I mentioned in a previous blog coming up with their names was very intentional because we intend this film opening to be as symbolic as possible since "The Seventh Lie" is about about going through the 7 stages of grief with a dramatic plot twist.

    We originally wanted a pretty name for Verena but then quickly switched it to the idea of her name meaning truth and honesty. For Janus, we both agreed we didn't particularly love his name but the symbolism behind it was too good to pass up. His name is "depicted as having two faces looking in opposite directions." This shows his "two faces" as the original Janus and now him, who is acting like him to fit into their family.

    To get a deeper understanding of who our characters are Manuela and I created Vision boards for both of them which will be shown through props and even costuming design once we begin filming.

Creating Verena's personality

Here is Verena's Vision Board that dives deeper into her aesthetic. 

    My partner and I decided to create a vision board that shows a little more to her personality and social identity than what our film opening would show. We created Verena to be a down to earth, friendly, and honest 16 year old teenager. We decided we wanted to give her a color that represents honesty and the internet said blue is commonly associated with themes of trust, power, confidence, and purpose which is exactly how we envisioned Verena to be. So, using this information we gave her a blue aesthetic to be symbolic. Some of the things she likes come from her mother's interests as well such as gardening and her love for music. 

Creating Janus's personality

    Janus on the other hand, was a little more complicated to come up with because we were deciding between making the vibe of the original Janus or the fake replacement of Janus that is now living with Verena and her family as her "brother." Janus was 18 years old, enjoyed playing sports like basketball, and was always with his friends. 

Sources:

Swift Publisher. (n.d.). Marketing psychology of colors: The importance of color meanings.