THE LOOK

Little Bird is incredibly subjective, told from a child’s POV. It’s set in the 1980s, but I want to keep any period elements very low key. The films set in Scotland during this period are usually shot in a sort of “sunny” social realist tradition (Restless Natives, Gregory’s Girl), but I’d like to shoot Maggie’s neighbourhood more like the suburban noir of “Halloween” or “Blue Velvet” - with a slightly stark, stylised melancholy.

There are many scenes at night or at dusk and I will use a lot of blue and mist - again keeping with a 1980s look but in an understated way. I also want to use the haar - the thick fog that rolls off the sea in coastal areas like Edinburgh - as a mystical device that swirls in at key moments to add an air of unreality and occlusion.

The darkness will also help to conceal and suggest the creatures that inhabit it - at first the imps and the devil himself (who will be barely more than a silhouette with an evil glint in his eye for much of the film) - and then Maggie, as her neighbours struggle with the fallibility of their own perceptions as they witness Maggie overhead in the night.

THE LOCATION

The unnamed suburb in the script is based on Edinburgh (around Braid Hill) but there are numerous Scottish suburbs that back out onto hillsides so there are options. Another big factor is the flying. One of the most important visual elements is the “witch’s eye view” POV over the neighbourhood. The idea is to use drones at very low height over houses and streets - giving an unusual perspective. This will mean gaining permission for filming over a larger area.