Academic Research: Things That Go Bump In The Night

Whilst deciding upon the monster that I wanted to create I came upon this quote; Either way, the attraction of horror derives from its appeal to the 'beast' concealed within the superficially civilized human. (Tudor, 2010, p.48)
This quote got me thinking about the kinds of monsters that this generation has become unfazed by, this ranges from Bigfoot on Harry and The Hendersons (William Dear, 1987) to the more obvious Twilight franchise. Bigfoot acted humane and thus this legendary beast became a loveable household character and the same can be said for the so called monsters in the Twilight franchise.

I aim to make my monster someone to be reckoned with and what can be derived from the quote by Tudor is that; if I was to look at creating a beast that is despicable in its's human form it would garter no sympathy from the audience in it's monstrous form. Thus giving the monster back its power to hold fear over the audience.

The chapter goes on further to say;  Along with  narrative  tension, which is an expectation audiences  have  of  every  kind of horror movie, horror fans also clearly expect monstrosity, though in quite what form is open to question. The genre encompasses everything from monsters present only by suggestion or inference through to graphic portrayals of monstrous creatures and the excesses of their depredations, while audience responses run the gamut from repulsion through ambivalent 
fascination and on to self-conscious, knowing humour. (Tudor, 2010, p.50) 

My interpretation of this text is that the way I choose to express my monster, whether it be going full on "oldschool" by which I mean adding in every detail down to a T. To "New Age" suggestive hints of the beast whereby less is more, it will have a different effect on different members of the audience because though they may all be fans of the horror genre they have different specifications to what that entails and there's no way to gauge such a thing. Therefore I should go about creating whatever beast I feel most comfortable with as there is no way it will please every watcher.

Lesson: Moodboard

My mood-board for our class exercise. This is a visual representation of the elements we want to achieve within the film piece. In a way it gives you a story outline for what will happen. This has been done digitally but it could have also been done physically. Getting pictures or swatches of material and visual links such as I have been done above. Though it is used a lot by Art Directors when they are trying to create a feel for the characters that they are styling this can also be used by other departments for them to depict to others the look or feel they are trying to get across in their field. The plus side about making a physical mood-board is that you can move things around, and easily add other elements.

Proposal For Workshop Piece

Brief Synopsis

An overweight man gets an unusual case of heart burn, which teaches him the error of his unhealthy ways.

Scene Description

A man sits alone in a battered arm chair, watching television. His living room is its own junkyard as there are piles of empty pizza boxes and scattered containers around the room, tastefully watched with the empty cans of cheap beer and spirit bottles. The man suddenly starts too feel agitated, rubbing his chest as his eyes are still glued to the TV. Unable to ignore the pain any longer he doubles over in pain clutching at his chest and falls to the littered floor in agony. Managing to eventually sit up the man rips open his shirt and plunges his hang into his chest. There is a momentary pause before he pulls out his heart. The heart is still beating and dripping with blood, but it is also on fire. The heart doesn’t burn the man’s hand, as he slowly reaches over to the nearby table and picks up a half empty can of beer and starts pouring it over his heart in order to extinguish the flames. This only proceeds to make the flames worse. In a panic he throws the heart to the floor where a few other things slowly start to catch alight.  He then rushes to find a bottle of water and proceeds to chucks it over the flaming heart. This does the trick as the flames slowly die, he then goes around stomping out the few things that have caught alight. Returning to his heat, he picks it up and brushes off a few bits of dirt before placing it back inside his still open chest.  He buttons up what’s left of his shirt and sits back down in his chair. He absent mindedly reaches to pick up the bag of chips he was eating before the whole incident happened. As it slowly heads towards his mouth he gets another clutch of pain. He looks at the bag and slowly puts it down. He goes off screen (To The kitchen) and comes back with a bag of salad. Which he then starts eating, once again engrossed in the TV in front of him.

Audio/ Visual

Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, Editing

The whole film has a blue tinted feel to it which is emulated from the light of the Television in the otherwise dark room.The man is so far being kept at arm’s length as he is being silhouetted against the blue lighting of the TV as the camera surveys the room. The empty boxes are piled at various lengths, giving the illusion that somewhere inside of his a tidy person lives. The cans on the floor are littered as if they were once in an organised tower formation. All that can be heard is the laughter of the man from the show he is watching, where audience laughter chimes along with him. The camera should be fluid, even in transitions, the camera always moving, slowly and gracefully, like a wildlife documentary. The camera tracks round from behind the man to his front where we pan up from his feet. We see more wrappers on and around his chair. Hairy legs that eventually turn into tattered red stripped boxers, the pan continues to a stained white vest, eventually landing on half the man’s face, a closed shot from his left eyebrow to the bottom of his nose. This shot is held for a long period to allow the exploration of emotions: Joy and Laughter at the show then the pain of his heart. The only cut a quick glance of him clutching his chest. Cut to his whole face as it fully contorts in pain and goes out of shot. We hear thump as the audience on the television give a generic laugh. A Birds Eye View of the man withering around in pain on the floor. The camera fluidly comes down to eye level and shows an extreme close up the man diving straight into his chest and pulling out the heard. The next set of shots is seen in one locked off mid-shot as the man holds the heart like Frodo holds the Ring. The trance like state breaks once it sets alight as the camera, like the heart tossed to the ground holds its canted angle as we watch from a part restricted view the water douse the flames and it get picked up and dusted off. TV light casts a shadow on the back wall of the man putting heart back in chest. At the end once the man has decided to go for the healthier option the camera fluidly tracks backwards from whence it came as the man continues to laugh with the audience of the television.

Academic Research: Horror the Genre

The history of the horror film is essentially a history of anxiety in the twentieth century. In the way that fariytales, folktales and Gothic romances articulated the fears of the 'old' world, the contemporary horror film has defined and illustrated the phobia of a 'new' world characterised by a rationale of industrial, technological and economic determinism. (Wells, 2001, p.3)

I have chosen this brief introduction into the horror genre as I think it best helps put into words the kind of Horror movie I want to create in retrospect to the polar opposite of the genre.

This segment talks about how horror can be traced back to old folktales which have been twisted to create gothic romances which has subconsciously made the reader less afraid and more intrigued with monsters. This is more along the lines of what I want to make, a story world that fringes on the balance of disbelief and fear and that of dangerous intrigue. I think it would make more sense when creating such a story world to have it set in the eighteenth century a time of the epitome of stories that keep kids away from the forest at night and scares them into listening to parents, whilst within others a bubbling sense of rebellious starts to simmer over as they go out in search for the truth for themselves.
I think if the story world was set in the present day and time it would lose some of the authenticity and raw fear within its characters who would be less intrigued due to their higher believability, thus eliminating the emotion of fear whereas pre twentieth century and the further back in time you go people are more intrigued but less believing thus having a raw sense of fear.

Research: Pinning Down A Genre

My presentation will be based on a film sequence that comes from the Fantasy Horror genre. When I say Horror, I'm not talking about Leprechaun, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Jack Frost. The Horror is stemmed from the thought of something nonsensical existing in a world that seems real. Or the audience accepting that the world they have chosen to observe is one that fully comprises of the Supernatural.

A few films that can be derived as a form of inspiration include:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter....

...The idea of Vampires existing and the President of the United States being their slayer.

Van Helsing.....

.....A world that the idea of mythical creatures is kept under wraps but at the same time accepted.

Underworld.....

.....The whole idea of the  franchise is based on a world where the monsters exist.

Other films and Television series to name a few include....
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Mans Chest
Beastly
Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton)
Wrath of the Titans
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Supernatural
Teen Wolf
Charmed
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

They were chosen because they reciprocate the mood and tone of the Fantasy Horror genre that I want to achieve as well as the story-world that they make up.

Lesson: Tools Of The Trade/Heartache

In the session we had a tutorial on how to use electric tools such as a drill and a jigsaw, as well as more  basic ones like a chisel and a hammer.

Before the lesson I met up with two other members of the group where we further continued to discuss our idea and what we had to individually produce as part of our roles. Johnny is our Art Director and Jacob in the Producer while I elected myself as Director.

We made a list of the props we would need i.e: Empty Beer cans and junk food packets/containers as well as getting a rough idea of what we wanted the set to look like. As there would be no dialogue a shot list will be written up as an alternative. This will also be useful when we have the session with the Cinematographers.

I was watching an episode of Supernatural (Season 8 Episode 3 - Heartache D: Jenson Ackles 2012) and in this episode they showed a range of people getting their hearts ripped out of their chest.

I noticed that they were happy to show the villains hands in the victims chest as that is easy enough to achieve through green screen, but you can still see the element of computer generation (First Picture Set). There was only one instance where they actually showed the motion taken place. This was done as a side angle (Second Set) and I noticed that because of the mans shirt, the actual heart being removed from his chest is obstructed. Because the motion is so fast we the viewer don't really think about it, and we don't realise we haven't actually seen it even though it feels like we have until we de-construct the scene.

This gives me the idea for when we make our piece, to make the lead character wear an open shirt and to make the motion swift as to cause an emotion reaction in the audience so they are less unaware of the mechanics behind it.

Research: List Of Ideas... Slowly Forming A Subject....

In order to help me decide what short film Idea I wanted to create I considered the type of film I would be interested in making by basically just thinking about all the best type of films I had seen and what would happen if I just put aspects of them all together

Olden Time/Period Films.... Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice, The Duchess

This would just help me to set the scene and help form the basis for the short film piece.

Real Time Slow Motion.... The Matrix, 300

I like the idea of how some characters are going at normal pace whilst others have slowed down and its all happening within the same space so it doesn't just look like it has been manipulated later in post when really it has.

Moving Sets..... Requiem For A Dream, Anna Karenina

In Requiem for a dream they filmed a sequence that, by using lighting made it seemed like a whole day had past, all of which was done in one take, The idea of changing the space or time in a single shot is something I would like to achieve.

Make Up.... The Hunger Games, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban

The transformation from man to beast, which was made possible not only by the use of animatronics and green screen and editing, but had a lot to do with the make up in order to give it a more realistic effect.

Lesson: A Lesson In Producing

In this session we went over a few important points to consider when we take on the role of The Producer as well as understanding their involvement when it comes to not only the post production stage, but on set during the production process.

After reading a short script [War Game by Laurence Gough] We went through the sectors that the producer had to think about before production could start, here are a few of the points we talked about in those sectors

Health and Safety:
Looking after the cast and crew, especially if there were kids involved in the shoot. Thinking about tutors if they were applicable as well as not going over any work hour regulatory laws.

Casting:
Where we would find the actors (Casting agencies, university drama department) consider what our available days for shooting were before we choose the cast, therefore there would be no need to work round their schedule when we were to start. If we would be paying them or not, as the Producer sorts out finance.

Location:
How would we get both the cast and the crew out there, if it local, does the set look right in terms of the script or is that something we would have to look into changing. The key example would be that in the script half of it take place in the Jungle, obviously we couldn't go to the Amazon, so instead the alternative would be to use a local forest. We considered using a jungle soundscape help make the audience make the connection or alternatively just adjusting the script so the scene we were looking to film just took part in a forest.

Lesson: Our Uncanning Idea...

A Person Sits alone in a room, when they develop a pain in their chest. The person splutters, coughing blood and clutches their chest before reaching in and pulling it out.

His heart is on fire, he then reaches for a bottle of water that is on a table by the chair and puts out the fire on his heart before putting it back in his chest and carrying on with his day.

A few points like what the person will be doing, i.e: eating/watching TV need to be decided but that is the main basis of the idea. 

The main point of this will be trying to creatively make it look as though someone is pulling out and putting back in their heart.

I think that a good form of research into the idea would be too look at Doctor type movies or Drama such as Greys Anatomy. When they perform surgery their patients are usually lying down so it might be an idea, in order to simplify things if the character was to lie down in stead of sitting in a chair. Being in an awkward position would make it easier for us to manipulate the camera into making the situation look real.

Research: Movies That Come To Mind When You Hear: Challenging Visual Effects

Anna Karenina (2012) D: Joe Wright
This movie was filmed in a theatrical form, whereby one scene in a room would be changed to another room during one long camera take. It was asethetically pleasing to watch and though effects weren't particularly striking or shocking to the eye I do think it would be quite challenging to create. Espeially in terms of set design/art direction.

The Matrix (1999) D: Andy WachowskiThe first picture indicates one of the first things that comes to mind when someone yells MATRIX! Bending your body to defy gravity in an almost seamless fashion whilst still managing to look cool. In a student production this would prove incredibly difficult without the use of bungee cords and body stabilisers. The same thing can be said for the second picture where two principle characters are suspended in the air as the camera does a 360 degree spin. This would be more achieveable in a low budget film if the characters were on the ground.

The list of films that involved challenging visual effects could go on, ranging from Back to the Future to Jurassic Park. But in order to help me narrow down what I would want to create it's important to consider what grabs my attention when I'm watching a major motion picture, a short film or an installation....

Lesson: The Uncanny

The dictionary definition of The Uncanny is The opposite of what is familiar. It is a Freudian concept that links in with seeing something that you feel is familiar but has an aspect of surrealism that make you feel both uncomfortable yet intrigued at the same time. And example of this could be something as simple as a wax bowl of fruit which mirrors a real bowl of fruit. It can also be something more complicated as a dead dog that looks real. It is unsettling and you feel the need to reject it as it is familiarly unsettling.