Deconstruction of The Lovely Bones - Journal

Mise en Scene

'The Lovely Bones' is a supernatural drama directed by Peter Jackson however the film itself features elements of stalking and obssessive behaviour which we hope to use in our plot for our film opening. My primary focus when looking at 'The Lovely Bones' will be the antagonist's, George Harvey, journal, which show his plans and observation to capture his victim 'Suzy Salmon'.

Firstly when looking into the film I looked for scenes where the antagonist uses the journal to make notes and sketches. When he makes notes in his journal he does it within the own comfort of his home. He usually does this within his bedroom whilst sitting on/in his bed.

The most common type of entry in his journal is architectural sketches of houses and concepts to lure his victim in. Along with these there are also observations of the everyday activities of his 'victim' and snippets of pictures of his victim and a clipping of hair.

Clipping of hair and image of victim

Observations and time keeping of his victim and family  

 Another entry in the journal is of a map plotting a route. This could be used to mark the typical route home in order to follow his victim. The use of the map would be a good concept within our film opening to show the stalker's attention to the fine details and obsessive behaviour to feel the need to keep taking the lives of other people. Another type of entry was sketches of scenes. This image below is of the lair that George Harvey will lure his victim into. Either this was sketched to be the interior design or capturing a memory the the lair he once made. Again this would be an interesting concept to use within our short film opening.

 

Another point that I observed is the location where the journal was kept within the antagonist's home. The place he kept it within was his draw, which isn't the safest of places. The other location where the journal was kept was under the floorboards in which you had to pull up a loose wood panel. This location has been carefully as well as cleverly sourced as it is very much hidden. This again is another concept to consider for the film opening.

The final factor I want to look at is the overall appearance of the journal itself. The journal has a very solid and classic structure being plain black canvas with a red binder. What I liked about this journal used it the seemingly innocent look of the journal when in fact it contains deeply disturbing and obsessive information and observations. The pages within the journal are creamy cartridge paper. Making it more designed for the user to be using for drawings. By this it showing that the antagonist is in touch with his creative arts side this is also shown in the film with his hobby of dollhouses.

Overall I think 'The Lovely Bones' is of great inspiration to the film opening that we hope to create. The use of the journal throughout the film provides interesting ideas and concepts which we can interpret if we were to create our own journal to be used for the film opening sequence.