The PlayHouse
[The house is lit in the night, and cuts to a view from outside the window. Inside, Mother is in the kitchen what appears to be preparing dinner. She begins to cut apples for dinner hastily. As she does so she slips and cuts her finger. While washing the cut her phone rings which appears to be her Husband on caller ID. The voice on the other end cannot be heard as it is insignificant to this opening]
Mother: Hello? [4s pause] It looks like it's getting there I guess. [4s pause].
[The phone call pauses as footsteps are heard banging upstairs, with the lightshade shaking]
Mother: Oh sorry, I think Stevie's messing up... [footsteps continue] around upstairs. I-I'll see you later. Bye.
[Mother walks upstairs, aware and confused. She ventures into every room and notices no one is actually upstairs. She sees the state of the presumably young boys room and begins to tidy. She hangs clothes onto coat hangers and opens the wardrobe. As she steps away, there is a small figure in the wardrobe which isn't obvious. She continues as if oblivious to the figure. She walks out the room and knocks on the bathroom door to find the son making the noise.]
Mother: [Knocks on bathroom door] Stevie, you in there? [Knocks again] You left your clothes on the bed. [Knocks again].
[The young boy appears at the bottom of the stairs showing there was no one upstairs at the time.]
Stevie: [Appears from downstairs] What?
Mother: I thought you were upstairs?...
Stevie: I've been down here?
[The mother looks around upstairs confused by the noises shes been hearing and proceeds downstairs. As she walks downstairs, the figure appears at the top of the stairs and vanishes again, cutting to a black screen]
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
5.0: Old Script
The Cellar
Casting
Antonia Georgio - Damsel in Distress (No Name Given)
Coming home from work on a dark night, the streets are lined with dim streetlamps and city like settings. Cars pass by on the road.
DiD: [ locking up a door to the workplace, and walking through the streets casually. Types a number in her phone and talks on the phone to a relative]
DiD: Hello, I'll be home soon. Did you want anything from the shops while I'm out? [continues to walk into the car park towards her car.] Okay, see you later,... bye!
DiD: [enters into the car and tries to start it. It fails to do so so she leaves and looks into a frosted window, seeking help. A worried expression appears on her face as she goes to knock on the cellar door. The door creaks open, and she enters inside. She turns on a torch. A knife is seen in the sink inside, covered in blood. A door with a white glowing light is seen, and she decides to enter. The door slams shut behind her.]
DiD: Help! Let me out! Arghhhhh! [She bangs on the door viciously, trying to escape.]
DiD: [enters into the car and tries to start it. It fails to do so so she leaves and looks into a frosted window, seeking help. A worried expression appears on her face as she goes to knock on the cellar door. The door creaks open, and she enters inside. She turns on a torch. A knife is seen in the sink inside, covered in blood. A door with a white glowing light is seen, and she decides to enter. The door slams shut behind her.]
DiD: Help! Let me out! Arghhhhh! [She bangs on the door viciously, trying to escape.]
*End*
Sunday, 5 October 2014
4.3: Characters
Characters
We decided to keep the number of actors to a minimum. We chose to focus on the mother and son in the opening film as this lets the audience realise that these are the protagonists in the movie.
Our first protagonist we see is 'The Mother' played by Antonia Georgiou. She features as the protagonist. The actress playing the character is of 16 years of age but could pass off as a few years older. We couldn't get any slightly older actresses to play the character so we used more mature costume and mature make up to make the actress look older. If we was to do this task again we would spend more time on casting more older actors for more a more authentic approach. We decided on a female protagonist due to when doing target audience research we discovered that females were the main viewers of horror movies. This means by casting a female protagonists, female audience members could relate more to the situation especially those with families of their own or younger siblings.
Our second protagonist is the foil character to the doppelganger. This young boy is performed by Stevie Georgiou who is of 11 years of age. We decided on this age as they become aware of what is happening in a 'horror situation/traumatic situation' so makes more of a story instead of casting more immature ages. We decided to base the horror on a young child as many horror movies with large box offices have young children as the evil within. This is because we see children as innocent and cheerful so by showing them as evil or dark creates fear of the unknown. We chose a young boy as young boys try to be older and more brave in horrific situations. This creates a sense of sympathy for any mothers in the audience. We also decided to cast siblings as they would look alike and more believable of being related.
We decided to keep the number of actors to a minimum. We chose to focus on the mother and son in the opening film as this lets the audience realise that these are the protagonists in the movie.
Our first protagonist we see is 'The Mother' played by Antonia Georgiou. She features as the protagonist. The actress playing the character is of 16 years of age but could pass off as a few years older. We couldn't get any slightly older actresses to play the character so we used more mature costume and mature make up to make the actress look older. If we was to do this task again we would spend more time on casting more older actors for more a more authentic approach. We decided on a female protagonist due to when doing target audience research we discovered that females were the main viewers of horror movies. This means by casting a female protagonists, female audience members could relate more to the situation especially those with families of their own or younger siblings.
Our second protagonist is the foil character to the doppelganger. This young boy is performed by Stevie Georgiou who is of 11 years of age. We decided on this age as they become aware of what is happening in a 'horror situation/traumatic situation' so makes more of a story instead of casting more immature ages. We decided to base the horror on a young child as many horror movies with large box offices have young children as the evil within. This is because we see children as innocent and cheerful so by showing them as evil or dark creates fear of the unknown. We chose a young boy as young boys try to be older and more brave in horrific situations. This creates a sense of sympathy for any mothers in the audience. We also decided to cast siblings as they would look alike and more believable of being related.
Saturday, 4 October 2014
4.2: The Storylines
The Story Line
Opening the story with a female damsel in distress which explores the depths of the cellar. Her death leads to many murder mysteries and what is actually happening in this cellar. A group of archaeologists uncover the secrets of the catacombs that lay beneath the cellar.
Who
At the start we decided on a young female role to show the damsel in distress side of the horror conventions. This sort of character would be played by Emily Perkins who features in films such as Insomnia (2002) and Ginger Snaps (2000).
For one of the archaeologists we was thinking of an actress such as Jodie Foster as she appears in physiological horrors such as The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Panic Room (2002).
Where
We chose a cellar as many horrors such as The Conjuring and The Hole. This features many horror conventions such as dark places, cobwebs and white bed sheets.
When
It doesn't specifically have to be dark as in the night time as the cellar/basement usually is a dark gloomy place anyway so the filming can be done whenever we need. The room should be dark with low lighting to set the dramatic horror mood.
Our New Storyline
During editing our first movie, we decided to change the plot as it didn't work and didn't look like a horror movie. We changed all of our old work and started from scratch with a new plot and setting. The plot is as follows;
A new family have moved into a regular house. Little do they know that they have moved into a nightmare. When the mother starts to notice strange happenings in the house, she begins to investigate finding out her son is causing all the problems. The family begins to fall apart, but is it really the son or someone else?...
In the opening scene, we will show the mother and son as the father isn't a protagonist in this film. We decided this because it narrows the actors down so the audience can become more attached to two protagonists rather than a lot creating a more emotional bond. By portraying a female protagonist, this brings the females which we researched to be the main viewers of horror movies like our new movie, creating a bigger chance for a bigger audience. By casting a female as the main person, this gives chance for the female audiences to relate to the character as many viewers were between 14 years - 24 years which may be the age for young mothers or having siblings of the same age as the boy cast with the horrible curse. The audiences will see glimpses of the 'doppelganger' type ghost which haunts the house in the wardrobe and the stairway which isn't obvious but when seen will create a jump scare, a main convention of present horror movies. This will create tension and make the audience want to know the history of the house or what the doppelganger is, or what it is. This will make them want to watch the hidden boy again meaning more views for our movie and also the jump scares will make audiences want to share it with friends for the nervous laughter which horror movies bring when scared in a group.
Instead of the original actors we would cast someone like Ty Simpkins who stared as the possessed boy in Incidious (2010) making him 4 years older in our movie.
For the mother, we would cast Lili Taylor who stars as the mother in The Conjuring, a horror movie a lot like our new plot. She looks like a mature normal mother which is why we chose her.
Friday, 3 October 2014
Thursday, 2 October 2014
4.0: Presenting to a Class
This was our original ideas for our first movie. We changed these to a more easier approach when coming to filming. We changed the plot to fewer actors so production was more efficient and a different setting for the film went from a cellar to a house due to lighting difficulties.
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