Concept and creative process
‘Malice Aforethought' was a four-part drama series about a doctor who, in order to marry someone else, plans to poison his wife when she refuses to divorce him. The idea behind the sequence was to reflect the storyline of the drama itself, about a doctor murdering his victims by poisoning them by botulism. The scenario was a tea party which was set up in a film studio. Actresses and hand artists were auditioned for various roles and, wearing period costumes, acted out the role of the unaware victims. The doctor's role was played by a hand artist (an actor specialising in close-up hand work), who was only seen in close-up stirring, mixing and pouring the poison. The two scenes, that of the tea party and the poisoning, were matched visually in order to synchronise with each other. For instance, as sugar was put into a teacup it mixed seamlessly to the poison being dropped in and stirred. This matching was done literally by viewing the rushes of the first shot and visually lining up the second shot to it before shooting the second set-up. Composited on an aerial image rostrum rig by Douglas Adamson, whereby the live action was projected and further alignment of scenes could be undertaken. Shot on 35mm film at Stewart Hardy Films by Doug Adamson.
Editor - Rod Longhurst.
Idea generation, design, props and live action direction - Liz Friedman.
Winner of a Design & Art Direction Wood Pencil for Television Drama Titles 1980.