2. A Narrative 180: Development of Our Idea

After receiving approval from Sir Zia, we arranged a WhatsApp call to further develop and refine our concept. During this discussion, one of the first and most significant changes we made was to the protagonist. Due to the unavailability of a female actor, we decided to change the protagonist to male. It also led to a narrative shift to focus on two men: a father, and his son.

This change led us to rework the plot. The revised storyline follows a father who kills his own son under the belief that the son is possessed. In the father’s mind, this act is not driven by hatred or cruelty but by faith and fear; he genuinely believes that killing his son is the only way to save his soul. Crucially, the father believes his actions are justified, which adds a disturbing psychological and moral complexity to the story.

In terms of visual and thematic inspiration, the main image we based our story on is the famous painting Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1885) by Russian artist Ilya Repin. The painting depicts Tsar Ivan IV holding his dying son after fatally wounding him in a moment of rage. The raw emotion, guilt, shock, and irreversible tragedy captured in this artwork became the foundation of our narrative.

Fatima suggested this image, and it strongly influenced the father–son relationship, as well as the theme of a parent committing an unforgivable act while believing it was somehow justified. We later decided that we would recreate this scene in our preliminary, using it as a visual reference for blocking, performance, and emotional intensity.

Alongside this, we also looked at visual inspiration to establish the overall vibe and atmosphere of our film. We chose this image as it reflects the dark, moody, and tense aesthetic we aimed to achieve, with low lighting and a sense of isolation.

To recreate this atmosphere practically, we chose to use Fatima’s kitchen as a location, as it closely matches the unsettling feel shown in the inspiration. The familiarity of a kitchen contrasts with the horror of the events taking place, making the story feel more realistic and disturbing.

Overall, these developments helped us strengthen both the narrative and visual direction of our project, ensuring that our final idea is cohesive, emotionally impactful, and clearly inspired by strong existing imagery.