Success of Creation of Horror Movie - Term Paper Example

 «Success of Creation of Horror Movie» Extended Synopsis: Michael Neigh (Neigh), an anthropologist, buys a surprise auction box. In the box is what appears to be an ancient Celtic book with detailed diagram of a back door to another dimension through Stonehenge when the alignment of the crescent moon, Jupiter, and Venus happens once every thousand years. Neigh has recruited his friend, Franklin, to go to Stonehenge with him. They are joined by Sheila, the curator for Stonehenge, who won’t let them go without her. Sheila is the first through the “door”, Franklin is second, and Neigh is third. Once in the next dimension, Franklin and Neigh find that time between the entry of three has been delayed, and Sheila, who was first through the door, has been slaughtered, her bloody remains hanging in a clearing not far from where Franklin and Neigh enter the dimension. Throughout the film, the creature that cannibalized Sheila is never seen. We are aware of the creature by his heavy, labored, snotty sounding breathing as he chases Neigh and Franklin through the forest. The creature has the personality of a cat playing with his “catch.” The film relies on the unseen horror of the creature – however it is manifested in the mind of the viewer based on the creature’s sound effects. The idea is not to make the sound effects as loud, as they are scary – what kind of sounds can the film team create for the creature to scare the daylights out of the audience. Franklin and Neigh have to employ survival techniques as they look for the way out of the violent dimension. They are rescued by Neigh’s girlfriend, who finds a missing page to the ancient book. Armed in a Nora Croft-like fashion, she has only hours left before the back door closes to rescue her boyfriend and Franklin. Summarise what your film is about: This film is about horror, unseen horror, building up the suspense of the horror in the mind of the viewer. Outline Characters: Michael Neigh – “Neigh” is the anthropologist, who makes the first mistake of research – he is in a hurry to win fame and glory. Once in the danger zone, however, he proves himself to be strong, smart, and capable. Sayge – Neigh’s girlfriend. Smart, beautiful, and comes to Neigh’s rescue when she finds the missing page to the ancient Celtic book. The page depicts the way out of the other dimension – but first she must find Neigh and Franklin and do battle with the beast. Franklin is Niegh’s best friend from college, a geologist. His knowledge proves useful to them as they struggle to survive the hostile environment of the new dimension. Sheila – is the curator of the Stonehenge park/museum. She blackmails Neigh and Franklin. If they don’t allow her to join the expedition, they do not get access to the park. Sheila is extremely beautiful, so that the audience makes the emotional investment in her, then she is brutally cannibalized by some unseen creature. Narrative devices used (i.e.non linear, multi strand etc.) DON’T KNOW THIS ONE Rationale/ Audience: The audience targeted is a young PG audience. This audience is the one that the successful horror films have targeted. This targeted audience made the low budget film The Blaire Witch Project (Myrick, Daniel and Sanchez, Eduardo, dirs., 1999, motion picture film). This film is going to employ as many Hitchkock style elements of horror as possible. The driving force behind the film is that which is not seen, is the most terrifying for the audience. This makes it different from most other horror films that show a scary monster, or vampire. This film’s “scary” element is whatever image the sounds of the creature create in the mind of the viewer. That image is of course facilitated by the chase scenes and our two actors, Neigh and Franklin, who must be directed to convey an honest and believable terror as they flee the beast. What they know about the beast is what they have seen: Sheila’s tortured and butchered body, which the audience will see only in a long shot. Other than a clear knowledge of what the beast is capable of, they know as much about the beast as does the audience. It is very important that Sheila be a beautiful and shapely actor, and one with a great acting talent. The idea is that Sheila is so beautiful that the audience will be invested in her on that emotional level when it is time to develop the image of the creature in their minds. What kind of monster ignores Sheila’s kind of beauty, and instead of loving her, brutally tortures her and cannibalizes her. By the time Franklin arrives in the dimension, Sheila has already been captured, tortured, handing from her ankles in a designed, but in the open torture chamber. Franklin immediately sees her bloody body hanging from the torture tree. His immediate reaction is to save her, and he starts to move towards her, he hears the sounds of the beast crashing through the forest behind Sheila’s body. Franklin crouches, laying flat in the prickly bush that rips at his skin, cutting his face, and he stifles the moans of his own pain as he hears Sheila’s blood curdling screams of pain. He can hear the slicing of her body, and he can hear the gurgling of her blood as it pours out of her body. He keeps his face pressed to the ground, doesn’t look up. He never sees the creature. This film will be a combination of four elements: direction, acting, natural stage setting, and most importantly, sound. These four elements alone will make the film a success. These are also the reason that the film can be made on a low budget. The actors will be students, employed for the exposure of what could potentially become a successful cult film. The direction will be from the perspective that this low budget film is going to be a cult success. The distribution of the film will be resolved when the film is entered in a film festival, where it will attract the attention and support of producers who will be interested in seeing this film completed and distributed. The film festival is tangential to the success of the film. It is important to aim for a reputable and high profile film festival like the Sundance Film Festival in Idaho, in the United States; or the Toronto Film Festival in Canada. Without a successful showing at the film festivals, distribution will be difficult for this film. The alternative to failure at the film festival will be to show the short on YouTube, where, again, it might draw the interest of producers who would be interested in supporting the completion of the film, and the distribution. The film festival, however, is the ideal goal for previewing this film because: producers capable of securing financing and distribution for the finished product are in attendance at high profile festivals; and because horror films that can be filmed on a low budget have a long shelf life beyond the theatres, and the return on the theatre box office, the DVD rental, and sales will ensure a low investment with a high return value. Cast: There are just four actors in this film. Neigh’s character is a strong, capable, and handsome, but immature in that he is looking for the quick fix in fame and fortune. He wants to document the back door to the other dimension, go through, explore, and return with verifiable evidence of his discovery – after it is closed and will take a thousand years before anyone else can again enter through it. The experience in the next dimension will teach Neigh the valuable lesson of planning, and his survival and the experience will mature the character. However, Neigh’s character is not the real hero, nor the real main character, so it will be okay that audience loses respect for him if that happens. Franklin is geologist, and he doesn’t actually see Sheila’s death, but he hears it, and it affects him. He struggles with maintaining his sanity throughout the film, and to the extent that he helps at all, it is because he phases in and out of control of his own emotional state and senses. He is very much led by Neigh. Sayge is the girlfriend who at first seems like a clingy, whiny girlfriend who doesn’t want Neigh to go on the expedition. She withholds her true thoughts, that Neigh is impulsive, unprepared, and that he needs to test his hypothesis before he jumps into it. Sheila finds the missing page to the book, which has important information on both sides of the page that Neigh has never seen. When she realizes that Neigh is in trouble, she also realizes that she has only hours to save him. She emerges as a strong, Laura Croft-like woman, and we see that she can handle herself and her weapons. Armed to the max, she drives to Stonehenge arriving after dark, waits for the door to open, and steps through. Her character will encounter the beast – but the audience does not see the actual encounter, only hears it, and hears the weapons, and Sayge emerges from the forest that has suddenly become noticeably quiet – her clothes are torn, she is bleeding, but she is strong, because she shoulders her assault rifle and goes to Neigh and Franklin, who has injured his leg, and she and Neigh on either side of Franklin move quickly to what Sayge knows is the way out of the dimension. Once out, Sayge leaves Sheila’s backpack half in the other dimension, and half in this side. As the stone closes, it looks as if Sheila’s backpack is growing out of the stone. This will be closure for the audience. Filming: The location will be Stonehenge, if possible. It may be less expensive to build a set, using cardboard stones painted to look like the monuments. This is something that will be worked out with the film crew’s set designer. No costumes are necessary, because the film is a contemporary setting. From a direction perspective, it will be important to emphasize the contemporary setting, because then the wild and hostile environment of the other dimension will be strikingly foreign to the viewer who was acclimated to the urban setting. Sound is going to be an essential key element of this film. Production meetings will work out the best sounds for the creature in the different phases. Since the first five to six minutes of the film involve the introduction of his panting, breathing when both Franklin and Neigh are together, special attention will have to be paid to choosing the most frightening sounds possible. Scary is preferable over loud and noisy. Contingency Plan: What could perhaps go wrong with this plan, is that the setting, Stonehenge, as the access for the back door might not be doable. In which case it will be important to have an alternate setting, a historical setting, but one that is equally interesting to the public. One of the reasons Stonehenge is desirable for the back door is because there is so much speculation about the mysteries of it. Also, the ancient Celtic book works with the site. If the site is not doable, the alternative will have to be decided in production meetings. The script will be rewritten for the action to revolve around that new setting. There are no foreseeable health or safety issues. The most taxing activity for the actors will be running. Audio: The ideal audio would be a new piece of music. That will be investigated at the student level, with students majoring in music. Short of that, the other option is mixing sound to get the music that accompanies the action of the scene, and which will convey the difference between the living and dead beast, when the forest goes very quiet. The element of sound is highly important to this film. Production meetings will resolve the issues of music, and permissions. That will be delegated to a production assistant. The five – six minute short of the film will be copyrighted. It will be registered with the National Register to accomplish that. Web-site/ Publicity: None, because the first goal is to introduce the film at the film festival level. Read More