Characters and Costumes

Tom

Initial ideas for Tom's character.

Tom is the main character in Dystopia. His outfit was planned carefully. It had to be believable that he was sitting around in it, but it also had to be suitable for surviving in the forest, so that the film did not seem completely unrealistic.

Equipped with a backpack, glasses, and his trademark red sleeping bag, he has quite a distinguished outfit. When creating this character, I had in my mind that I wanted him to have a trademark, memorable appearance, like the Doctor from Doctor Who, only with glasses and a red sleeping bag rather than a bow tie.

As a character, Tom is a hero, eager to keep battling on to survive. Despite losing his companions, he still shows a positive attitude, as if he will be able to make a difference.

He is a smart, fairly subdued character. He is very cautious before he  makes any movies, and this is demonstrated towards the end of the film, when he is able to break into the lodge, and silently escape with some food.

Throughout the film, he speaks no dialogue, only the few lines of a voice over. This could be symbolic of his character.

Tom, taken on set in Spires Bank.

Mark

Mark is the villain of Dystopia, and is only in it for a very short portion of the film. He is the owner of the lodge in the woods, and due to the outbreak of the virus, he is forced to guard his home from any intruders, infected or not.

His costume was designed to leave it open to the viewer to decide whether they though he had the virus, and was covering up the physical effects of it with his scarf, and the sun glasses to protect his eyes from the light, or whether he used these to protect himself from getting the virus.

His clothes are torn, and dirty. This shows not only that he has been living out there for a while now, but that he is not afraid to get dirty and will stop at nothing to protect what little he has left.

The fact that he shot at Tom in an attempt to kill him, simply because he stole some food, shows the severity of the situation, and shows how this character has resorted to violence to keep himself alive.

Mark, taken on set in Spires Bank.