So, we have decided that the main character in the film opening has Schizophrenia. Dealing with mental disorders can be a very touchy subject when it comes to film. Because of this, my partner Erica and I have taken to researching the mental disorder intensely. For starters the scientific definition of the disorder:  a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder. 
    "People with the disorder may hear voices other people don't hear. They may believe other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. This can terrify people with the illness and make them withdrawn or extremely agitated.
     People with schizophrenia may not make sense when they talk. They may sit for hours without moving or talking. Sometimes people with schizophrenia seem perfectly fine until they talk about what they are really thinking." (NIMH:Schizophrenia)

    After developing a better understanding for the mental disorder, we looked into the general misconceptions of schizophrenia during fictional writing having to do with written and filmed work. Some misconceptions during the fictional production process are: 
1. Schizophrenia is a behavior or state of mind
2. Schizophrenia is split personality 
3. Schizophrenia is all about delusions and hallucinations and other weird behaviors
4. Schizophrenia means that psycho hiding in your closet with a hatchet
5. Schizophrenia is incurable and means total insanity
6. Schizophrenia (and mental illnesses in general) are all about unhappy childhoods
(Scriptlarva)






   Following creating a better understanding of the misconceptions, we have made sure to incorporate the proper representation of schizophrenia in our film opening. Building off of the definition of the mental disorder as well, we have chosen to portray the extremely agitated nature of a person with schizophrenia as well as incorporate hearing things. We are even incorporating a sense of confusion in the way our character will speak. 
   Today we are going to most likely create a filming schedule, look further into exact filming locations, and begin creating a story-board for our film opening!

Information for this post found on:

Schizophrenia. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from National institute of mental health website: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml

Schizophrenia: Myths and misconceptions of fiction writers. (2012, May 24). Retrieved March 13,2015, from Script Larva website: https://scriptlarva.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/
schizophrenia-myths-and-misconceptions-of-fiction-writers/