Interesting Facts about slugs - Proposal Research

Since I wanted to base my horror around slugs I thought I'd do a bit of research into them and I found this interesting fact sheet  I chose slugs because I think they're one of the most disgusting and freaky creatures and the thought of touching one makes me go cold never mind the thought of loads of them nesting inside me.
What I also found interesting is that I wanted my slugs to have 2 vicious protruding teeth and discovered slugs actually do have thousands of teeth which I didnt realise, I knew they ate plants and leave marks where they've been munching but never really pictured them having teeth. I thought it would be could to change it from having teeth used for eating plants and to give them teeth which are capable of eating into human flesh.
They also have green blood which gave me the idea for them to emerge from a sickly-green pus as yellow-green makes people think of things that are not very pleasant like sometimes sick, snot and slime in films is nearly always shown as being green. Green or an off yellowy-green is a colour that people associate with something not being quite right or not functioning properly which again links to the uncanny because people are repulsed and scared of things that aren't quite right or aren't behaving/functioning in the usual manner.


This is an extract taken from an article I read a while ago it's about a white slug that's been discovered in Wales and is carnivorous which is actually unusual for slugs, I like the description they use for its teeth about being blade-like and sucking in like spaghetti. I think it sounds like something from a horror film yet they actually exist and are living in Wales and probably many other places.

'Carnivorous slugsUnlike most slugs, the Ghost Slug is carnivorous and kills earthworms at night with powerful, blade-like teeth, sucking them in like spaghetti. It has no eyes, is completely white, and lives underground, squeezing its flexible body into cracks to get at the worms.' 

The slug’s blade-like teeth (total width 5mm) copyright National Museum Wales

Did you know...

• Only 5% of the slug pop­u­la­tion is above ground at any one time. The oth­er 95% is un­der­ground di­gest­ing your seed­lings, lay­ing eggs, and feed­ing on roots and seed sprouts.
• A slug’s blood is green.
• Most Brit­ish slugs eat rot­ting ve­get­a­tion, but a few are car­ni­vor­ous.
• Slugs do play an im­port­ant role in eco­logy by eat­ing de­com­pos­ing ve­get­a­tion.
• A slug lays 20-100 eggs sev­er­al times a year.
• Slug eggs can lay dormant in the soil for years and then hatch when con­di­tions are right.
• Gast­ro­pods form the second largest class in the an­im­al king­dom, the largest be­ing the in­sects.
• Slugs are herm­aph­rod­ite, hav­ing both male and fe­male re­pro­duct­ive or­gans.
• Slugs have been present in the Brit­ish Isles since the end of the last ice age.
• In fa­vour­able con­di­tions a slug can live for up to 6 years.
• A slug is ba­sic­ally a mus­cu­lar foot, and the name ‘gast­ro­pod’ lit­er­ally means stom­ach foot.
• Un­like snails that hi­bern­ate dur­ing winter, slugs are act­ive whenev­er the tem­per­at­ure is above 5°C.
• A slug is es­sen­tially a snail without a shell.
• Slugs used to live in the ocean, which is why they still need to keep moist.
• One in­di­vidu­al field slug has the po­ten­tial to pro­duce about 90,000 grand­chil­dren.
• Brit­ish garden­ers use over 400 bil­lion slug pel­lets every year.
• It’s been es­tim­ated that an acre of farm­land may sup­port over 250,000 slugs.
• Re­search has shown that the av­er­age UK garden has a pop­u­la­tion of over 20,000 slugs and snails.
• A cu­bic metre of garden will on av­er­age con­tain up to 200 slugs.
• A slug’s slime en­ables it to glide without dif­fi­culty over glass shards, or even the edge of a razor blade.
• Slugs have the cap­ab­il­ity to re­pro­duce by them­selves, al­though a mate is pre­ferred.
• When picked up or touched, the Black Slug will con­tract into a hemi­spher­ic­al shape and be­gin to rock from side to side. This be­ha­viour con­fuses pred­at­ors.
• Slugs leave their own in­di­vidu­al scent trail so they can find their way home.
• A slug’s slime ab­sorbs wa­ter, which is why it’s nearly im­possible to wash it off your hands.
• A slug’s slime con­tains fibres which pre­vents it from slid­ing down ver­tic­al sur­faces.
• A slug smells with its body.
• Bri­tain is home to around 30 spe­cies of slug.
• A slug can stretch out to 20 times its nor­mal length, en­abling it to squeeze through the smal­lest of open­ings.
• A slug has ap­prox­im­ately 27,000 teeth – that’s more teeth than a shark.
• Like sharks, slugs routinely lose and re­place their teeth.
• When a slug loses one of its sens­ory tentacles it grows an­oth­er, usu­ally with­in a few months.
• Vin­eg­ar is a good in­gredi­ent for slug sprays, and for re­mov­ing slug slime.

Source:

 Slug-Facts [Internet] http://www.slugoff.co.uk/slug-facts/facts - Accessed 31/3/2013

Wildlife Extra [Internet] http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ghost-slug728.html#cr - Accessed 31/3/2013

Proposal Inspiration

When writing my proposal I wanted to think of something that was creepy but also based on things that really happen because I think the best ideas originate from what is real because the fact that something like that could or does actually happen makes something seem even scarier. I got some of the ideas from watching things on TV and reading things on the Internet. The first thing that gave me an initial idea was when I watched a programme called Easter Eggs Live which was a programme featured over Easter and was focused on watching different eggs hatching and giving people information on different animals and how their eggs and hatchlings behave. One that stood out to me was there was a species of toad and the eggs end up going beneath the skin on the toads back and then when the eggs hatch they have to push through the skin to get out which I thought was quite weird so this gave me the idea for the slugs burying themselves under the skin until they've grown and ready to emerge. I then got the idea of the slugs turning on the girl (that gave life to them in a sense) and trying to eat her from seeing spiderlings hatch out of eggs and then eating their mother because she sacrifices herself to give them food and more chance of survival.  

I'm really interested in nature and wildlife and I think some of the most weird and creepy ideas can originate just from observing the natural world.

'The female releases 60-100 eggs, which are fertilized by the male and then embedded in the skin of the female’s back by the male’s movements. After implantation the eggs sink into the skin and form pockets over a period of several days, eventually taking on the appearance of an irregular honeycomb. The larvae develop through the tadpole stage inside these pockets, eventually pushing out from the membrane on the mother’s back as fully developed frogs.'

Sources:

http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/freaky-frog-reproduction/ - Accessed 30/3/2013

Uncanny Project - Second Shoot

The second shoot was centred around filming the green screen parts of the film, which made it a bit easier in terms of set as we didn't need it as it was all filmed in front of the green screen.
The first thing we filmed was the part for the bedroom scene which was Paul - the little guy getting knocked off the fireplace so we had to do a few different shots of him scratching his arm and then jumping forward for the bit where the book would be knocking him off. The arm scratching was to mimic that of what he does when he's in bed scratching his arm because he is smaller doppelgänger and he scratches his arm because later in the film he realises there is a bug under his skin. We got mid and long shots of Paul from different angles as well to cover having to then place him on the fireplace during the edit because if filmed wrong it might not look very convincing when we then transport his image onto the fireplace. We also placed a mattress for Paul to fall on so he could convincingly look like he was falling. Another thing that Paul the director and the camera man needed to take into consideration was where Paul was looking because his eye-line needed to be at the right level for looking at his larger self and also looking behind at the book coming towards him so he needed to judge where to look. We wont know if this is right until we put the image of him into the fireplace shot when editing.

We then filmed the crazy woman chopping scene so the art directors set up the table with the potatoes, cooking dish,  chopping board and chopping implements which were a metal scraper and saw. The potatoes had lots of sprouty bits which I thought was good and looked a bit like twisted fingers which linked to the fact that she would also be chopping fingers off a hand. Having the scraper and saw as well for the things to chop was I think worked well as it helped to make the character look even madder that she uses these sort of tools to chop with.
She started off by chopping the potatoes and placing them in the dish, Paul then sat down at the table and we took a shot of Ali (crazy woman) about to cut one of Pauls fingers off with pliers. We then swapped Pauls real hand for the fake one so she could actually chop the fingers off. Inside the hand was a tube which was fed down Pauls sleeve so out of shot someone could squirt the fake blood down it which would start to spurt out as Ali was cutting the fingers of the hand. I think this worked well but we had a bit of a problem with cutting the fingers off because the hand was made out of rubber I think which was hard to cut through with the scraper, a couple of us suggested using the saw instead which was a bit better and then finally she used the pliers again to pull the fingers off. This was something to learn from as we know for next time to use a different material if making a hand that needs to be cut up.

I think what will be one of the best shots from this scene though will be when the cut off fingers are in the dish with the chopped up potatoes because when looking at it I thought it looked more gruesome and realistic when they were in there then when they were being cut off.

For the last part which involved Alice acting out a 'Jacobs ladder' scene I was one of the art directors so me and Luke helped Susannah dress Alice in a creepy costume. At first she had a cream coloured corset that looked a bit like a straight jacket on which I thought looked good but it was on over her jacket which ruined it a bit so I suggested she take the jacket off and put it back on so she had more of a smoother seamless outline and then I asked her to see what the stockings looked like on her hands as I thought it might look weird with no defined fingers and also add to the smooth outline of her body. We then used stockings to put over her face and head which pulled on her eyes a bit which looked creepy and made it look like she had no hair accept at the back of her head which again added to that look of smooth and roundness of the character as her head looked bald with just a bit of crazy messed up hair spurting out the back.

she then had to move her head from side to side so this could be sped up in post and look like she was losing her mind or something. Susannah then asked her to crawl backwards as she said it would look good when reversed because the body movement would look unnatural and her hair would look like its not following the conventions of gravity.
I enjoyed doing this scene as I like being creative and it was a weird scene to plan. If we had had more time I would have liked to experiment even more with costumes and also make up for the actors. I think we did well with what we had though and it just shows it's not about having a big budget but using your mind and being creative by making the most out of what you've got. I think it applies to all aspects of film as well that is the imagination, creativity and problem solving are some of the most important things not having the most expensive camera or props etc.

Mike Kelley: The Uncanny

This is one of Mike Kelley's pieces which is part of an exhibition, The Uncanny, in Tate Liverpool.
He is a sculptor, performance and installation artist based in LA and is described as someone who ..."has dissected the moral and cultural conventions and practices of contemporary society with deadpan humour in performances, installations, architectural models..."
In this exhibition there are a number of polychrome figurative sculptures "that embody the feeling of the uncanny through their scale and use of colour, form and material". As you can see the model above of the leg is extremely life like in every way. His pieces relate to the idea of the 'double' in the subject of the uncanny and how things that look very familiar or real aren't real or are a copy of the real thing - 'the realistic representation of the human figure suspended between life and death.'
The exhibition contains anatomical models, wax figures, animatronic puppets and mounted animals which are all things that evoke a sense of the uncanny as they look superficially very real.

"Sigmund Freud described the uncanny as ‘a hidden, familiar thing that has undergone repression and then emerged from it’. In The Uncanny, Kelley explores memory, recollection, horror and anxiety through the juxtaposition of a highly personal collection of objects with realist figurative sculpture."

Source:

Tate [Internet] http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/exhibition/mike-kelley-uncanny/mike-kelley-uncanny-room-guide-readymade-and - Accessed 15/3/2013

Uncanny Project - First Shoot

Today we had the 6 hour shoot which was to predominantly film the bedroom scene with the guy drifting out of the bed. For the first 3 hours we also had the assistance of the cinematography group who were in charge of filming it and setting up the lighting.
ur first job was to make sure the bedroom set was ready and to assemble the bed covers onto the wall and put lino wooden flooring around it to make it look like it was on the floor and not a wall.

I also got to learn a little bit about cinematography as I'm not taking that as a skill, and I think it is useful to see the processes they have to go through because being a director, something I am interested in, you need to know how much time you need to allow for filming and how long processes might take like art direction or camera. With camera or cinematography there is certainly a lot more to it then just white balancing, putting it in the right position then shooting they were sorting out the focus, checking the light levels, setting up the track and the lighting and also using reflectors to get the right level of light for different shots. It seemed quite a delicate and long process trying to get everything right and opened my eyes to how long each shot must take when doing a professional feature length film.

A few of us were in charge of the art direction for this scene so we had to work together putting the stuff up and then checking it through the camera to make sure it looked good in the frame. We were limited with props and time so it was a bit of a rushed job but I think we did our best with what we could. One of the main things I learnt from this first scene was that the art director needs to check it through the camera as well because that's the most important thing as it is all going to been seen and shot through the perspective of the camera and there's no point in making a set look all pretty if it doesn't look like that through the camera.

Within the group we all took turns doing the different roles - Director, AD (Assistant Director) and Art Director/s so some times we weren't needed. I thought this would have meant people would be sitting around and it would have been all over the place but I think it actually went quite smoothly and because we were working quite quickly, as time was limited, we were never sat around too long and everyone was helping each other out.

In our own personal projects there's never usually enough people to need an AD so it was interesting to get just a small insight to what their job is and they do have quite an important role because they have to keep everything in check and push people to get ready so it seems like it is a very hands on job.

When reading about 1st AD Chris Newman, who has been a 1st AD on films including 'Love Actually' and 'Sleepy Hollow', he said that "Being an assistant director is a jack-of-all-trades job. On a film set everybody has better knowledge about his or her own speciality than you do, whereas you know a little bit about everybody's job. You have to make educated guesses to see you through - and that is the difficult bit."
Also from looking at How to Film School website it seems the AD has a lot of responsibility from the onset of a production as they not only help with the actual shoot but are there right through dealing with the script stages and much more in-between.

I carried out this role for one of the scenes and I learnt what an AD has to say on set before a take to make sure crew and cast are ready and also to keep things moving.
One thing we didn't get told to say but I read somewhere is that sometimes the AD will say 'Waiting on..' so that the crew and director will know who we're still waiting for before they can start rolling.
They may also say 'final checks please' which means people should do any last minute adjustments if they need to.
Some AD's may say 'lock up' or lock it down' to make sure nothing else interupts when just about to go for a take.
They will then say 'quiet on set' which indicates they are about to go for a take so everyone needs to stop what they're doing and be quiet.
They will then say 'roll camera' and 'roll sound' or 'turnover' which signals both camera and sound to start rolling. The sound recordist should then reply with speed to confirm the sound equipment is running at the correct speed and then the camera operator will shout set so they know the camera is rolling.
It is then the job of the Director or sometimes the AD to say action.
Afterwards the AD should check with the director if they were satisfied with that take if not the AD might say 'going again' or if everything has been successful they will say 'moving on' or 'next scene'.



After filming the bedroom scene the cinematography group left so we were in charge of camera and lighting for the next scene which was the bleeding walls. In preparation we had to put up four grey flats, using the A-frames and weights to steady them, once they were in position holes were drilled into the top of them for the blood to be squirted through. While this was being done, others were working on mixing up the fake blood concoction and putting it into syringes to be squirted through. The rest of the group were getting the camera ready and preparing the lighting. Once we were ready most of the group had to go behind the walls so we could squeeze the blood through so that it would trickle down and seem like the walls were bleeding. 

When we'd finished I went round to look at it and was a little disappointed with how it looked because the blood had just trickled down in a long thin line so it wasn't very effective on camera. We discussed it afterwards and said that if we were to do it again we would have used a different technique like having some sort of guttering rigged at the top and pouring it from there or maybe could have just carefully tipped it down the wall straight from a jug so more would flow at once making it look more effective. I'm glad we did it though as it was good to try it out and then learn how we could do it better next time.

Sources:

http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/stories/production/article_3410_1.asp


http://howtofilmschool.com/working-as-a-1st-assistant-director/

Joel Peter Witkin

Witkin is a photographer who likes to shock and unnerve people with his visual themes of life and death. He is certainly not afraid of using images that will shock people and they are certainly not the everyday sort of photos you might see on someone's walls. What I like about his work is I bet anyone you showed it to would have an opinion, whether they thought it was grotesque or intriguing and I think it's important for art to evoke strong feelings within people. He also uses dwarves, transsexuals and hermaphrodites a lot in his work which is always going to be a subject of taboo for some peoples as there's still a lot of people out there who would feel uncomfortable and put out to look at some or all of these images because it is not something most people face everyday so that are not used to it which links back to the uncanny and people being afraid of things that are different. These people that he depicts are all people but because there is something a bit different about them people are unsure of it.

I chose to put these few images on my blog because for me these were all close to the feeling of uncanny with the dolls head and what looks like an older mans' head on a young girls body I think is very strange.

 

I quite like the image below which is a woman's face that has been made to look like vase holding flowers.

Sources:

http://www.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/witkin2/state.html

http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkin.htm

Uncanny Art

This is taken from the article listed below, I didn't want to re-write it as I thought it was already explained really well. These two pieces of work are from the Ronchini Gallery, the cloud suspended in the room called 'Nimbus D'Aspremont was created by Berndnaut Smilde and the 'Hairy Eye Ball' by Adeline de Monseignat. I really like the cloud one because I think clouds are quite interesting things to observe anyway and seeing one within a room I think is visually very interesting but at the same time there's also something a bit strange about it, I guess that's why they describe their work as 'creating a sense of unease by using familiar out of context.' The fur in the ball I find less striking but in the article it mentions that these 'Creaptures' (creatures and sculptures) 'elicit in the spectator an unfulfilled desire to touch them' and when looking at it I did actually think I'd like to touch it even though I know what glass and fur both feel like.

"The Uncanny draws on each artist’s relationship with their materials and the ways in which they create a sense of unease for the viewer by using the familiar out of context.

The exhibition’s theme is partly inspired by Sigmund Freud’s celebrated 1919 essay of the same title. Based on the notion that the strange could not exist without the non-strange, Freud’s study pioneered the distinctive nature of the uncanny as a feeling of something not simply weird or mysterious but, more specifically, as something strangely familiar. Freud’s concept of the uncanny and his interpretation of dreams had a significant influence on the Surrealist movement and their depiction of the unnatural and strange."

Berndnaut Smilde
Nimbus D’Aspremont
2012
Cloud in room
Lambda print on Dibond
125 x 184 cm
Courtesy the artist and Ronchini Gallery
Photo Cassander Eeftinck Schattenkerk

These clouds suspended within a room are created using a fog machine and adjusting the temperature and humidity of the room so the clouds remain there long enough to be photographed and capture the short moment before they disappear. 

These sculptures or 'creaptures are creating using organic materials, in the case below fur, 'a material suspended between life and death' and the fur is encased within glass. She aims to create uncertainty within the spectator as to whether they are animate or inanimate objects.


Adeline de Monseignat
Hairy Eye Ball
2011
Vintage Fur, pillow filler and glass
30 x 30 x 26 cm
Courtesy the artist and Ronchini Galley












Source:

Yareah [Internet] - http://yareah.com/ronchini-gallery-adeline-de-monseignat-and-berndnaut-smilde-0276/  - Accessed 25/2/2013