CRITICAL EVALUATION

I have enjoyed doing this subject as it has been centred on creativity and I am interested in being a Director but also like the Art Direction side of things too as I have studied Interior design which I think can cross over when thinking about set design. For my personal proposal I chose to do a horror and base it on something that I don’t like myself which is slugs. When undertaking research for this genre I looked at other similar films and also got my ideas from observing actual animal habits and adapting them to my story. I think this really helped in giving my story detail, for example I found out that when a certain species of toad lays eggs they go on its back and a layer of skin forms over the top to protect them and so when they hatch they break through the skin membrane and it looks quite gruesome and that’s why I decided the slugs would break out through lumps in the skin. I also discovered that when some species of spiders hatch from their eggs they will eat the mother who sacrifices herself for them and that gave me the idea for the slugs to head back to girl, who they came from, to feed off rather than the father or anyone else. I also read an article about these white slugs that have been found to eat animals, rather than just plants, making them carnivorous and that’s what gave me the idea of the slugs eating human flesh. 

The films I used as my inspiration were ‘Slither’ (2006, James Gunn) and ‘Dreamcatcher’ (2003, Lawrence Kasdan) and once I had the basis for my idea I then discovered that there was actually a film called ‘Slugs’ (Juan Piquer Simon) made in 1988 that was also about flesh eating slugs that had been exposed to toxic waste which had made them evolve into flesh eaters. I found watching the film useful as it was a real B-movie and from the feedback I’d got from my first proposal mine was stuck somewhere in the middle of B-movie and a more serious film so I decided to learn from the film and do mine a bit more darker and serious instead. I also watched 'Evil Dead 2' (1987, Sam Raimi) which was also very over the top and cheesy but it was great for observing the use of special effects.

I think what my research lacked was academic texts in the way of books as sources of inspiration and information and if I could do it again I would definitely do some more reading and find out what books could help me as a lot of good ideas come from books and are adapted from books. I am very passionate about wildlife and nature that’s why I chose to use animals themselves as the main source of inspiration because I think the closer you base your idea on something that is real or actually happens the scarier it makes it. I think this links back to the theory of the uncanny in the way that too is based on the theory of people being afraid of things which look real or like something we know but then have something slightly different about them that makes them uncanny so they are frighteningly similar. The fact that carnivorous slugs have been discovered that can eat meat means there is nothing to say that they wouldn’t be able to eat human flesh now or sometime in the future if they evolve the ability even more. I liked my finished proposal but I think if I was to do it again I would try and think of something more unusual and original than slugs so maybe making up my own creature basing it on the more stranger attributes of other creatures. I also think it would make me engage with it more if I had to think of my own creature, then design what it would look like on a moodboard and it would be more interesting than just finding something that already exists.

If I was to make this film myself I would like to film it on location because I think that would give it a real sense of authenticity and make it more real because I want to base it at the Loch Ness and some people will know what that looks like so if you were to show a different lake people would immediately dismiss it. I also think Scotland would be a great place to film anyway because it is so remote and has so many interesting terrains and landscapes like forests, lakes, mountains, the sea and also plenty of wildlife. Apart from the lake the main location would be the log cabin where the first account of the horror would take place. I would want the cabin to have quite a minimal feel to it but also cosy at the same time because I don’t want the audience to know what’s coming and if the cabin already has a dark creepy feel to it I think they would immediately sense something bad's going to happen. I would want the initial filming to take place on a cloudy but not dull day so the clouds would be quite white because I think too many horrors start on a bright sunny day and it’s too predictable and at first I would like things to appear genuinely normal in the film so the darkness to come is a real shock. The main effects would obviously be centred on the flesh eating slugs so I decided they would be better off being visual effects as I don’t know how you would make them look realistic if you were to make them.  After having a quick go on After Effects and Maya I think the slugs would be more easily achieved on these programmes as Maya is a 3D compositing programme which could be used to make and design the slug and then you could transfer that onto After Effects where it could then be given movement by using the tracking tool and keyframes for each slug. As there would be quite a few slugs (and slugs all look quite similar) I think you could make one generic slug on Maya and duplicate it on After Effects and then give each one individual movement using the tracking device. I also looked at a few tutorials on YouTube to give me ideas on how to create the lumps on the skin which I think would look good as a special effect. I found one video which was really helpful as it showed how to make different types of lumps like spots, boils and blisters and it was actually really simple, all you needed was gelatine, plain flour and then food colour and a bit of water. The results were really realistic as well and all you needed to use to create the different looks for each one was a bit of pink eye shadow so I think I would easily be able to re-create this myself. 

As well as the individual project we also participated in a class project based on the subject of the uncanny and as a group we all came up with ideas for sequences that could happen as part of the film. The first sequence was to be a man who had a bug under his skin and this would link to the next scene which was a man in bed who wakes up to discover the man we have just seen is actually a smaller doppelgänger of himself. The last scene was to be a woman who at first appears to be chopping vegetables but on second glance it is an arm and then a creepy backwards crawling woman. We all helped each other but my main role was to be in charge of the bedroom scene and the man waking up to see his smaller self and then floating out of the bed in a dream like way over to him then knocking him off the mantelpiece with a book. My ideas for this were to have a little doll arm or leg sticking out to make it look like he was squashed under the book. I also thought it might look good because if the leg/arm was plastic the audience would then wonder if this little real man was all just a figment of his imagination. I also came up with the idea of smoke coming through the key-hole (taken from my own uncanny proposal idea) and that would alert the man to the woman in the corridor chopping veg thus leading us on to the next scene. I think I engaged well with this project as, firstly I turned up to every lesson, I also went round helping with anything I could in terms of the set building from helping put up the frames to scraping wallpaper off and decorating it. I think doing the workshop with the tools was a good thing because normally I wouldn't attempt to pick up a drill but now I see how easy it is to use basic tools and make basic frames and skills like that will come in handy for many things not least set building. 

When it came to filming it I tried to do different roles I hadn't done before so for a couple of scenes I helped art direct and I also tried Assistant Directing (AD). I learnt a lot from the sessions with the cinematographers because I realised how important it is for the Art Director to check through the camera also as it helps them see a better picture of what will actually be captured on video as it’s often different to what you see just looking at it. The cinematographers also have a bigger job than I thought and it takes a long time to get everything just so, like the lighting and framing etc. I also learnt a bit about the importance of the AD’s job and how they have a lot to do with keeping everything, including cast and crew, in check while on set. One of my favourite parts was helping dress Alice for the creepy woman part as I felt that with just a few skin coloured stockings it had quite an impact on how she looked and she did actually look quite weird in the film.

The group work we achieved was really good for the time scale and was also quite ambitious considering the amount of stuff we had in there and that none of us had ever really done this type of thing before. I learnt a lot about firstly making do with what you’ve got in a situation and how what the camera sees is the most important thing. 
With more time we should have considered how the green screen was going to be filmed by getting the lighting, framing and angles right so when we put the person with the background it looked less stuck on.  We also could've designed the bedroom set a bit neater because the bed looked a bit stuck on and we didn’t have enough flooring to stick around it so it looked a bit messy.

If I was to do the project again I think I would try and come up with more ideas to try out as I felt although I helped out wherever I could I didn’t really have much input towards the final thing. Usually I do come up with lots of ideas but I think because we were working in such a big group I took a step back and let more vocal people take charge. I would also like to have tried a bit of model making so I could have a play about with different materials and see what can be achieved with them. I think the people that did do this though for the film made a really good first attempt. 

I feel my strengths throughout this subject were my abilities to work with other people and be a productive team member. Also I feel, although they can be improved upon, my ideas and writing skills are good but I need to start doing more academic and other research to support them in future. I think things I need to build upon is taking charge a bit more and being confident in my own ideas and decisions and not just letting others take over. I feel the level of self research I did was all right but this is something I definitely need to start doing more of as it will help me evolve my ideas more and also give me new ones as I believe the more you learn and know about different things the better you become as a story writer and filmmaker because you have a more informed and broader knowledge.

Maya

In our last session we had a look at Maya, I had a feeling it would be slightly complicated and I'd get a bit lost and I did. I think it would be a great thing to learn though as it just gives you so much more scope when making films if you can add visual effects. We learnt some basics in the lesson like how to make a sphere and then using key frames to make it move or change size - this was done using the buttons down the left hand side and then clicking on the timeline and pressing S to put in a keyframe. 

We were also shown how to manipulate the shape, we were meant to make a balloon but I thought mine looked more like a creepy scull in the end which I quite liked. We also learnt how to add effects like fire which is quite simple as you select it from the effects tab and click the small circle next to it which brings up loads of different settings to choose how you want the fire to be. 

We were shown the render button at the top (clapper board) which shows you how the object would really look, mine wasn't working for some reason but because Maya is free for students I have downloaded it now and had a play about and I added the fire effect and could see it in the render box this time. I think if Maya wasn't free I would probably never have got round to using it again but because I have it myself now I will be more inclined to watch tutorials on it and just have a play about on it because it is a very powerful bit of software and I'd love to be able to use it even just basically.

How Effects are going to be achieved in my Horror Film

If I was to make my horror film I think the best way to create the lumps on the legs would be through using special effects. I watched a tutorial on how to create a burn on the skin and even though this is different I think the materials they used could be adapted to create lumps instead. To create the burn they used Lumps gelatine to create the lumpy skin and I thought that if you just used it in blobs to create lumps, rather than spreading it out like you would to create the burn effect. The next step is then to use an acrylic or poster paint and dab it on with a sponge and I was thinking to create the lumps I could create a pink-reddish colour and dab that on over the lumps using a paintbrush or small sponge. I've had a look at a few more video tutorials and found another one for creating boils, spots and blisters which again uses gelatine and just plain flour then all you add is water and pink and blue food colouring to create a fleshy colour. This one was the best as the finished spots she created looked just how I'd like mine to look like and you can then add make up afterwards like pink eye-shadow to make it look sore around the outside. with the gelatine you can mould it into the shape you want so I could make each one look slightly different and have them different sizes. Mine will probably need to be made a bit bigger because a slug will be breaking out of them and I will them to big big enough so after the slug has come out I could put a hole in the centre of the lumps and then use red dye or paint to dab to show it bleeding and pus coming out. For the pus you could play about with different materials and liquids to try and make a liquid that's not too runny.

Video tutorial from YouTube showing how to make fake spots, boils and blisters

I think the best way to do the slugs would be to use a 3D model compositing software programme like Maya which we had a quick lesson on and also After Effects. Maya would be used to create the actual slug and then you could use After effects to animate the slugs. I think you would make one slug on Maya to start with and then duplicate it on After Effects and use the tracking tool to make each one move. Obviously there would be a lot more to it than that but I would need to get to grips with the programme a bit better by watching tutorials and having a play about or find someone that is a professional with the programmes. Slugs normally look quite similar to each other so I think you could get away with just creating one and then multiplying it to get a large group of slugs, I think the movement would have to vary throughout them though to give them a bit more unpredictability. To show the slugs growing bigger and growing teeth Maya could be used again by using the size/scale tool and key frames. I think the slugs eating the flesh on the legs would all be done using visual effects as I think it would be quicker and easier as I'm not sure how you would do it using special effects.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIoD1wJ37eQ - Fake burn tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqhddx2tvYc - Pus infected boil

300 Word Proposal of 'The Uncanny' - REVISED

300 Word Proposal: Subject of The ‘Uncanny’

Tag Line – You can’t swot the fly in your mind

Log Line: - A man enters a room where boundaries between the real and unreal start to get blurred. Things happen that he can see and hear with his own senses but at the end he is left wondering if anything that just happened was real or was he mislead by his own mind.

Short Film Synopsis -

A man exploring an abandoned house walks into a small dark room with no windows but dimly lit by an old lamp. On first glance it appears empty; he stops in the middle of the room on hearing a noise, a buzzing noise that gets louder and louder. A small black fly starts circling around his head, he tries to swipe at it but it goes faster and the buzzing is now almost deafening. Pressure builds in the man’s head until eventually he can’t take the noise and dizzying movement any longer and shouts ‘STOP’. It stops, right in front of his eyes then drops to the ground with a loud thud that echoes around the room, as it hits the ground it bursts into green smoke then is gone. 

The man cautiously walks towards a rustic full length mirror, that’s caught his eye and stares at himself; the pupils of his eyes contract and look like two small black flies. He notices a transparent black balloon floating behind him in the mirror that wasn't there before, within it a fly is buzzing around. He turns around and tries to bat the balloon away; it stays floating on the spot. He goes at it again with aggression, hitting and punching it but with every impact to the balloon the buzzing gets louder and the balloon remains there gently swaying. The man stands looking at it, half perspiring through effort, half through anxiety; it spontaneously bursts without a sound and green smoke engulfs the room. He twists away from the smoke coughing and closing his eyes tight, the buzzing stops so he slowly opens his eyes until he catches the reflection in the mirror which causes his eyes to widen in horror. The room is swarming with flies; the air so thick he can’t see the door he came in through. He braces himself to turn around and face this nightmare but as he does so all he is met with is one solitary fly which flies out the door.

300 Word Proposal on the subject of The Uncanny - Feedback

A really unusual proposal idea. Well done for the originality. The tag line is really good. The log line is a bit weak. Your writing style is clear and you make good consideration of art direction and sound as well as image. Overall I wonder if the language you use could convey a little more of the mental anguish of the man and instil a greater sense of disturbance in the reader. Otherwise really well done.

65%

After reading this feedback I have decided to make some changes to my original proposal, I will change the log line so it makes a bit more sense and try and add a few more bits to describe how the man is feeling and what he is personally going through.

Personal Project Moodboard 2 - Tone and Colour

This is another mood board I did, I feel this one is better for getting across the tone and mood of my film and the sort of colours that I want to be including and looking to achieve if it was to get made.

'Evil Dead 2' (1987, Sam Raimi)

This film is very heavy on special effects and some of the thing were very similar to what we were trying to create within our group film.
What I actually quite liked about the film is that the effects were very over the top which meant they didn't always look very realistic but I think it added to the humour of it and was entertaining from a visual aspect.

I thought the hand that had a life of it's own and was possessed could be seen as uncanny in the way that it's a very ordinary part of the body that everyone has but the thought of it taking on a life of its own and then turning against you and trying to kill you with you not having control is a scary thought.

There was also a lot of blood spurting from things and like our film there was a bit when the blood starting to trickle down the wall which reminded me of our film as that's what we tried to create. Loads of it then starts to spray out of the walls  and it looked less like blood at this point as you could see it was diluted so was just coloured water and didn't have the slightly thicker consistency of real blood which was probably a deliberate thing to add to the comedy of it as this is not a serious horror.

Another part which I linked to our own film was the part when our deer head on the wall starts laughing because one of our main themes was dead, stuffed animals which always seem to give people the creeps as they look so realistic because obviously they were real animals but now it's just the outside of them that remains. I think what makes them weirder is because they look so life like people expecting them to start moving or doing some thing, like it does is this film.
In our film Luke dressed one of the animals up in a dolls dress which I think was a nice touch and gave a weird spin on things.

Blood spurting from walls and laughing scene