Characters - Characteristics

January 27th 2017 

Our film will only feature three characters, as well as a narrator who narrates many areas of the film.
The two main characters are the two serial killers who go on the date with each other, Bobby and Poppy. The third character is a lady who works for the dating agency. She briefly features in the film during the scenes where we show a bit of the dating agency office space such as the shots of her answering the phone and flicking through client's files, as well as the scene where she is on the phone to Bobby discussing his date.

The narrator will sound pretty similar to those on shows such as First Dates or The Undateables. Most of the lines for the narrator are plays on the common lines said by narrators in both of these shows, which will make the film sound as much like a real documentary as possible. The same goes for the woman working for the agency, she won't really show a personality, she's just there to fill a blank in the film to make it as similar to these shows as possible. She also will help us to make the story flow more, as she delivers the news about Poppy being Bobby's date.

In order to make sure that our two serial killers are as accurately portrayed as we can possibly make them, I decided to do some research into typical characteristics in serial killers. I used a few sources which I'll link here; 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3169359/How-spot-serial-killer-Criminologists-reveal-five-key-traits-common-notorious-murderers.html

https://listverse.com/2013/01/02/10-most-common-traits-of-potential-serial-killers/

http://twistedminds.creativescapism.com/serial-killers-introduction/holmes-typology/characteristics/

Profile Of A Killer Example from Agrosy University

These articles and facts helped me to mould the characters around the typical traits that serial killers tend to have. 

Bobby the Butcher Bennett
Bobby's character will come across as confident in the way he speaks, however he will be quite psychopathic. We want him to have similar characteristics to a typical killer, which will be made clear by the fact that he has an instability in his relationships (hence why he is using the dating agency) and an inability to maintain long lasting relationships.
Some of his psychopathic characteristics will be displayed by the fact that he has no regret, remorse, or expression of guilt. This is will be shown when he speaks about his previous murders, and shows the camera his murder weapons from those killings - and speaks about them in an almost joyful tone, which comes across as pretty sociopathic and creepy to the audience. From this scene, we can also take from his character that he is a repeat offender.
We can portray his psychopathic tendencies again after he kills Poppy, as he shows no signs of panicking about his actions, he just drags her into another room and proceeds to eat his meal. Bobby is also a very impulsive character, which is a similar characteristic in many killers, which we can show as he originally was looking for love through the dating agency, and instead, he brutally murders his date.

Another common trait that is found in serial killers is the fact that many of them are egotistical braggers, which we have decided to include in Bobby's character. Referring back to the scene where Bobby shows off his collection of 'trophies' to do with his killings, the fact that he is proud and bragging about his crimes and even keeps the murder weapons would make the audience very aware that he again, shows no remorse, and seems to be taking pride in the murders, which lets the audience know that Bobby really is a sociopath.

I would consider Bobby as the organised serial killer, the polar opposite of Poppy. Bobby is socially adequate, and seems to have good housekeeping skills. Although organised killers usually plan their murders a bit more than the average joe, many of them are still quite impulsive which is the type of killer we want to classify Bobby as. Organised killers are also more credible for dismembering bodies and leaving a clean scene - which is why we have the idea of portraying Bobby as a cannibal also as he cleans the scene up by literally dismembering the body and cooking it.

Poppy the Poisoner Parker
Poppy's character actually is based upon a woman who featured on an episode of 'The Undateables', so her character was quite a bit easier to plan in terms of her actions because we could physically see how she acts and the impression she makes on her date. The girl with the dark hair is the character we're basically trying to base Poppy's character around. By watching the clip of their date, especially the beginning of the date, you can see that she is quite awkward, not incredibly sociable and almost a bit shy. She struggles to keep eye contact throughout the date. We want Poppy to show these same sort of signs, such as not being able to hold eye contact or make conversation about anything other than murder - hence why she asks about Bobby's top 3 favourite kills in Wes Craven films.




Poppy's character will be a bit more subtle in terms of showing characteristics of being a serial killer; she will show more characteristics of a shy serial killer, more like an outsider, similar to a mass murderer who had been ostracised for years of their lives. She will appear as a more awkward character, avoiding eye contact and finding it hard to hold conversation. 
Poppy will appear as more of a disorganised serial killer, meaning that she is more socially awkward. She doesn't plan her killings, she is often the type to leave the body where it was attacked and flee the scene. She would be defined as the more dangerous killer, because she's unpredictable, lives on the fringe of society and doesn't have a daily routine. And frankly, people would be scared away by her strange aura and ostracise her because she seems weird and different (which she is). Poppy definitely fits into this category of killer, as they typically are very alone and rarely date, hence why she is at the dating agency. 

Another thing that is pretty common for disorganised killers is that they usually leave the evidence of their crime and flee the scene, which is exactly what Poppy will do after she pours the poison into Bobby's wine. She just leaves the empty poison bottle on the table and quickly goes to the bathroom.