Unit 2 Suspense
Task 1 Research
Lighting Research: A basic lighting kit suffices, horror isn’t usually well, the colour tones can sometimes be warm which can be replicated easily by adjusting the yellow hues on the fill light. As for the dim lighting, facing a low-key light away from the subject with a low level fill light on them with a back light placed on the floor can help create a very suspenseful and dark type of lighting, casting shadowy hues on the subject but not totally obscuring them. Diffusers also hugely help. The lighting equipment we have access to will be fine, we need
3 tripods,
one big light two panel lights and one or two diffusers.
“Horror scenes are rarely brightly lit. Usually set at
night, they feel mysterious, closed in, and tense because of the limited amount
of light in use.”
As well as the lighting research, I wrote a scene breakdown.
Scene Breakdown: Scene 1: Couple walking up the stairs, into the abbey, across the graveyard and into the hostel. Get room from receptionist.
Scene 2:
Walking to the room with receptionist, see lobotomised person staring blankly
at wall, slowly turn towards them, receptionist quickly shuts door, couple
looked confused as receptionist gives them a creepy smile and ushers them on.
Scene 3:
Couple getting ready to leave hostel, as they’re getting ready to leave they
hear a nearby scream, they look to the source and see a clan of robed figures
surrounding person on the floor, the figures back away after the person stops
resisting to reveal he is bleeding from the eyes and nostrils, he appears dead
at first and the couple are alarmed, after a few more still seconds the person
slowly rises without a sound and unblinking, the figures and the freshly
lobotomised person walk back towards the hostel. As the couple are about to
make a run for it, two robed figures grab them from behind and dose them with
chloroform on cloths, knocking them out and dragging them to the ritual site.
Scene 4: couple wake up to find themselves restrained by members of the cult, the one acting as leader stands before them both with a hammer and screwdriver covered in blood. He explains to them what he is going to do (explain to them that he will provide salvation with a procedure that he has perfected that will free them from the pains of awareness of self, individuality and the capacity for higher thought. Explains he sees himself as a martyr, he cannot undergo the procedure so that he may cure as many people as he can and maintain care for his subjects and disciples, sees this as a noble sacrifice). Couple plead with him as he moves in closer with his instruments but he doesn’t utter a word as he closes in on his first victim. The woman screams watching her partner lobotomised as he thrashes on the ground. Slowly he resists less and less until he is completely still until the cult members release him. At first he is unmoving but slowly sits up, unblinking, unthinking and complacent. The leader moves towards the crying woman and fade to black.
Scene 5: a record of 1940’s music plays, it begins to skip and as the camera pans out, it is revealed to be playing for a full room of the lobotomy subjects, not one reacts to the record skipping as they sit staring blankly, the original are amongst those in this room, staring with no emotion at each other. The receptionist walks into the room, flips the record and promptly leaves we are then shown rooms full of these subjects, and the receptionist is shown around the corner, smiling and dangling a pair of keys. The keys are the same as the original given to the first couple.
Task 2 Design
Due to the subject matter of our film, we decided it would be a good opportunity to pay homage to Midsommar. We decided that the cultists would wear red robes with Nigel wearing a black robe during their cult scenes. When at reception, Nigel would wear normal old man type of clothes like a sweater vest, button up shirt and slacks. We spoke to makeup and they told us it was also possible for them to apply ageing makeup to the actor who played Nigel. As for the victims, we had the main couple dressed in normal walking clothes with rucksacks to make them look like they are the kind of people who enjoy travelling. The lobotomised people dressed all in white to symbolise their new lack of individuality, those who were freshly lobotomised had blood coming from their eyes and nose to give the process a truly brutal feeling.
Task 3 Planning
Images of my group's production folder can be seen at the top, this includes release forms, our schedule, risk assessments etc.
Task 4 Production
https://stocktoncollege-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/02100913_stockton_ac_uk/EXN64CkwL7tEqQqSwPup_IIBn9tr-mu8HF7hiwmO7_tRdA
Task 5 Evaluation
We travelled to a hostel at the Whitby Abbey where we spent the night, most of our filming was done on the day that we arrived. Our first scene was filmed in the ruins of the Abbey, using both the tripod and the shoulder mount, lights were not necessary at this point due to the time of day. We tried to follow the shot list and schedule we had drafted up to the best of our ability but due to clashing schedules with other groups, the weather and some other outside factors this was not always possible. Our first scene ran over schedule due to pedestrians carelessly wandering into shot and the director ordering far too many run throughs as well as the actors wandering off. Communication with the director was weak as he seemed to not fully understand what it was he wanted out of the project. Despite these obstacles, we still managed to film a full piece. I think we had a strong initial idea but the teamwork on all fronts simply wasn't good enough. Overall, this project has served as more of a learning experience than anything else and shown me where I've gone wrong and how I can I'm prove in future. I will say that I was very happy with the design of our cast's costumes, everybody looked great and makeup did an excellent job, Harry also had some really nice shots in parts. Improvisation around obstacles was good too.
This is the final film THE CULT - YouTube
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