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Post Day 14 Assignment Here
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ROB’S SCARY-AS-HELL SCENE
What I learned: I learned that sequencing your emotions can take the audience on an emotional roller coaster in every scene.
Emotional Range: Dread to Hysteria
Between Emotions: Apprehension, Surprise and Shock
Physical Representation of each emotion
Dread: The Nurse is pulled away from her homework by the Old Man’s bell.
Surprise/Scare: The nurse finds the back door open and sandy feet print heading towards the closet.
Apprehension: The Nurse is apprehensive about checking the closet
Release: The closet is empty.
Surprise: A woman can be heard crying under the bed.
Release: Under the bed is clear.
Shock: The nurse looks into the face of a decomposed woman.
Hysteria: The Nurse abandons the Old Man and flees. Only to be taken.
INT. MASTER BEDROOM – BEACH HOUSE – NIGHT
Carole rushes into the bedroom to find Jerry tangled in his bed sheets, thrashing wildly and screaming. His heart rate monitor beeps rapidly. Carole rushes to his aid.
CAROLE
Jerry. Calm down. Jerry!Jerry fights her.
JERRY
Lemme go! Let. Me. Go!Jerry looks up at her face and begins to calm. The heart rate monitor begins to descend.
JERRY
Oh…oh, it’s…it’s you! Someone…Someone’s in the room!Carole smooths the bed sheets over Jerry and smiles reassuringly. She sits on the edge of his bed.
CAROLE
Jerry. There’s no one here. Just you and me.JERRY
But I saw someone–CAROLE
–Jerry, we talked about this. You’re dying. It’s very common for terminal patients to see relatives or loved ones who have crossed over. They’re here to guide you.Jerry shakes his head “no.”
JERRY
Then who opened the back door?Jerry points to the OPEN FRENCH DOORS leading to the beach.
Shocked, Carole stands up. She quickly regains her composure.
CAROLE
What did I tell you about getting out of bed unassisted? You’re gonna hurt yourself, Jerry.Carole walks across the room to shut the back door, but stops dead in her tracks. Her eye’s filled with SHOCK.
SANDY FEET PRINT stretch from the open doorway and disappear under the closet door.
CAROLE
You been taking walks on the beach, Jerry?Carole throws back the blankets at the foot of the bed and reveals Jerry’s CLEAN FEET. No sign of sand, anywhere.
JERRY
(whispers)
It’s in the closet.CAROLE
C’mon, Jerry. Aint you a little old to be scared of monsters?Jerry raises a bony finger and points to the closet.
JERRY
I said check it.CAROLE
Don’t get snippy with me. I’ve got homework to do, Jerry. I don’t have time for this.Carole approaches the closet. She places a hand on the door knob, then she hears the sound of A CRYING WOMAN from within.
CAROLE
What the…She throws open the closet door. NOTHING THERE except the outdated clothes of an old man.
CAROLE
Jesus, Jerry! These shirts are horrendous!JERRY
Now the bed. Check under the bed!Carole walks to the edge of the bed and kneels down.
CAROLE
Do we have to go through this every night?JERRY
They won’t let me die…The CRYING returns, but now it’s under the bed.
Carole slowly bends down and lifts the bed skirt.
Carole’s POV: The underside of the bed is clear of all but cobwebs and dust.
JERRY (O.C.)
(whispers)
Oh my God. Please…leave me alone.Carole raises up and looks straight into the face of a DECOMPOSED WOMAN, laying next to Jerry.
DECOMPOSED WOMAN
Get out!Carole SCREAMS bloody murder.
CUT TO:
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tony McBride’s Scary-As-Hell Scene.
What I learned doing this assignment is that I can create great scenes using emotion, scares and releases.
ASSIGNMENT
Create a Horror Map for your scene and then write the scene.
1. Use the Scary-As-Hell scene process to create the Horror Map.
• A. Start with a Horror Situation.
A group of friends have dinner the first night at the mansion.
• B. Sequence the emotions, starting with the beginning and ending emotion.
Dread to Hysteria
Anxiety to Shock
• C. Give a physical action that could cause each emotion.
Dread – The dinner guests complain about staying in the house.
Shock – They hear a crashing sound.
Hysteria – The guests think it’s someone breaking into the mansion.
Anxiety – Nobody wants to check on who it is.
Dread – The misfit woman reluctantly volunteers to look in the kitchen—she sees nothing.
Shock – The woman looks outside and sees a dead body.
• D. Add in Scares and Releases.
Dread – The dinner guests complain about staying in the house.
Shock – They hear a crashing sound.
Surprise/Scare – The lights start to flicker.
Hysteria – The guests think it’s someone breaking into the mansion.
Release – They realize that it’s just a window.
Anxiety – Nobody wants to check on who it is.
Dread – The misfit woman reluctantly volunteers to look in the kitchen.
Release – she sees nothing.
Shock – The woman looks outside and sees a dead body.
2. Once you have the Horror Map, write the scene.
INT. MANSION – NIGHT
A group of friends sit and chat over dinner then…
Crash!
A sound comes from the kitchen—the lights begin to flicker.
The friends are startled; they debate over what it is.
They hesitate to check out the cause.
One of the female guests volunteers to check it out.
She heads into the kitchen and sees a tree branch that has burst through the window.
She sighs with relief.
She walks to the window and looks outside to see a dead body—she screams.
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ASSIGNMENT 14 – NADIA’S SCARY-AS-HELL SCENE
(Title: “GRAHAMSTOWN”)
What I learned from this assignment: I learned that there is an internal rhythm to a horror story, made of scares & releases and a wide array of horror emotions to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
ACT 1— SET UP THE HORROR:
EXT – MAIN ROAD – MEANWHILE
Joanna hears some noise behind her and sees movement from behind a trash can; a homeless guy struggles to stand up, sees her and waves an empty wine bottle towards her.
She picks up the pace and he starts to follow.
She turns around and starts to panic; she trips, her bag falls, she quickly picks it up and hurries on while her eyes dart around at the otherwise empty street.
The homeless guy hurries after her; she is now running; he picks up something on the ground and calls out after her ‘hey, don’t go!’
Joanna – looks terrorized – runs around the corner and bumps with full force onto sweet old MARY, the coffee shop owner. She explains to Mary that she is being pursued and Mary quickly hushes her to the safety of the dark coffee shop.
Joanna is so shaken that she doesn’t notice Mary putting the sign CLOSED on the door. When Mary turns on the lights, Joanna notices that they are not alone in the coffee shop which she was closed: a group of old people are standing there, motionless, staring at her and smiling.
Joanna looks at them, then at Mary who came standing right behind her, and closes her eyes as tears roll down her face and the group closes on her.
EXT – COFFEE SHOP, SAME TIME
The homeless guy arrives at the coffee shop, breathless and dragging his dead leg; he is holding Joanna’s thick notebook. He peers inside, his hand on the door handle and pauses. Pure horror spreads on his face; he slowly and quietly retreats and, when far enough, runs away, glancing back towards the coffee shop as he does so, till he reaches a dark narrow alley and stops long enough to throw up behind rubbish bins, still holding Joanna’s notebook.
THE HORROR MAP:
The horror situation: Isolated/ Pursued: Joanna is walking in the street alone when night falls, she sees someone get up from behind a trash bin that starts following her; she thinks it’s one of the monsters!
Sequence the horror emotions:
· Dread, fear, panic, surprise and shock.
The physical action that causes each emotion:
· Dread: As Joanna hears some noise behind her down the road and sees a dark shape rise from behind the trash bin.
· Fear: As she sees that it’s a homeless OLD man and that there’s no one else but her in the street.
· Panic: As she homeless guy starts following her; she picks up the pace and he hurries after her.
· Surprise: When she bumps into MARY, the elderly friendly coffee shop owner.
· Shock: When Joanna realizes that she is not alone in the coffee shop and that she has fallen into a trap – the monster wasn’t the homeless guy after all, the danger comes from inside the coffee shop.
Scares and releases:
· Dread: As Joanna hears some noise behind her down the road and sees a dark shape rise from behind the trash bin.
· Release: It’s just a homeless guy.
· Surprise/ Fear: The homeless guy is an OLD man AND that there’s no one else but her in the street.
· Panic: As she homeless guy starts following her; she picks up the pace and he hurries after her.
· Surprise/ Release: She runs into MARY, the elderly friendly coffee shop owner; she is relieved as she is no longer alone and she sees a friendly face, a familiar trusted person.
· Surprise: Joanna realizes they are not alone in the coffee shop.
· Release: The people in the coffee shop are all familiar faces.
· Dread/ Shock: Joanna realizes the people inside the place are all old and grinning at her; when she turns around towards Mary, she is busy locking the door behind her: she is trapped!
SCENE WRITEN AS 1st DRAFT TO INCLUDE SCARY-AS-HELL SCENES:
EXT – MAIN ROAD – NIGHTFALL
Joanna’s heels click and resonates in the empty street; it’s so silent she can hear her rapid breathing;
Suddenly, SOUND OF METAL CRASHING behind her, further down the street; she jumps at the noise and turns around: it’s only the lead of a large trash bin that fell and is rolling down;
She sighs of relief then she sees A DARK SHAPE RISE FROM BEHIND THE TRASH BIN; she squints in dimly light street; the lamp post light near the bin flickers on and off; she shudders involuntarily then realizes it’s only some homeless guy, probably drunk, who struggles to stand up; he spots her and waves an empty wine bottle towards her, struggling to keep on his feet.
Joanna smiles and starts to wave back at the lamp post light flickers back on and illuminate the GRINNING OLD MAN.
Joanna FREEZES then turns around, picking up the pace; the man’s slow heavy steps echoing hers;
She glances around; HE IS COMING AFTER HER;
Joanna starts to panic, SHE TRIPS TWISTING HER ANCKLE, her bag falling in the process; she quickly grabs the few items that fell, and hurries on, wincing in pain, while her eyes dart around at the otherwise empty street.
The homeless guy hurries after her; as she disappears around the corner, HE PICKS UP HER THICK NOTEBOOK FROM THE GROUND and calls out after her a ‘hey, don’t go!’
Joanna, now moving on in frantic panic and looking behind her, BUMPS FULL FORCE INTO THE ARMS OF SWEET OLD MARY, the coffee shop owner; she screams then laugh in relief when she recognizes the friendly familiar face.
As Joanna explains the situation to Mary, the old woman unlocks the coffee shop and hushes her inside; Mary sighs of relief and relaxes in the safety of the dark coffee shop.
As Mary turns on the lights, Joanna notices that they are not alone in the coffee shop: a group of familiar old town folks are standing there, motionless, grinning at her.
As Joanna turns around with an inquisitive look towards Mary, the grinning old woman is busy putting the sign CLOSED on the door.
Joanna looks back at the small group now narrowing on her and she catches the gleam of butcher knives in their hands; as she turns around towards the door, her only escape route, Mary is standing right behind her, grinning, her eyes shining strangely, she is holding a large BBQ fork;
As Joanna closes her eyes, she takes a glimpse of the old homeless face pressed on the other side of the shop window;
She mouths ‘PLEASE HELP ME’ just before the knives pierce her, again and again, and her screams get muffled.
EXT – COFFEE SHOP – SAME TIME
The homeless guy arrives at the coffee shop, breathless and dragging his dead leg; he is holding Joanna’s thick notebook.
He PEERS INSIDE, his hand on the door handle, about to open and pauses; A LOOK OF UTTER HORROR spreads over his face; he slowly and quietly retreats and, when passes the street corner, he runs as if the devil was chasing him, glancing back towards the coffee shop, till he reaches a dark narrow alley and STOPS TO THROW UP, still holding Joanna’s notebook in his shaky hand.
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BOB KIELY’S SCARY-AS-HELL SCENE
What Iv’e learned in this exercise is that the emotional mapping works well as a foundation for the horror genre. Build the scare and wrap the story details and plot around it. It was a different methodology for me, but seemed to work quite well and in short order.
My Scene: Anne is left alone in the locked sub-basement room while her husband, John, goes into the witch’s tunnel to find a way out.
Beginning emotion: Isolated and Anxiety
In between emotion: Suspense, fear, dread, shock
Ending emotion: Panic and dread
ISOLATION: Anne is left bye herself in the locked sub-basement room.
ANXIETY: She has terrible anxiety when John doesn’t return.
SUSPENSE: Anne ventures into the dangerous tunnel.
FEAR: She has great fear in dealing with the subterranean creatures, spiders, snakes and yuck.
DREAD: She is shocked when she sees ominous shadows cast on the tunnel walls.
RELEASE: The cat emerges as the source of the threatening shadows.
SHOCK: She is grabbed from behind by an unknown person.
PANIC: She fights for her freedom against the strong hold he has her in.
RELEASE: She is released by the man who turns out to be a harmless squatter.
SURPRISE: They find John.
DREAd: Anne fears John may be dead.
RELEASE: They find him.
PANIC: The witch is in pursuit.
HYSTERIA: They run but a hampered by the witch’s power.
DREAD: They make it to the escape hatch and Anne gets out, but John and the squatter are caught by the witch.
John leaves Anne alone in the locked sub-basement room and goes into the dangerous tunnel to find an escape hatch. When he doesn’t return, she boldly ventures forth into the tunnel to find him.
She can hardly see where she’s going int he dark dimly lit tunnel. It’s covered with spiders, a snake and a foul smelling bed of yuck, but she keeps going.
She sees a light further down the tunnel, and ominous shadows being cast against the wall. She holds her breath in fear. The shadows grow bigger until she is about to scream until her cat emerges as the source of the shadow.
She is jumped by a homeless squatter who lives in the tunnel maze. He turns out to be a helper to find John and lead them to an escape hatch.
They do find John deeper in the tunnel and Anne is about to run up to him, but the witch descends on John and he barely escapes her clutches. John and Anne follow the scatter as he runs through the maze of tunnels to the escape hatch with the all-powerful witch in pursuit.
John forces Anne to get out while he and the squatter are captured by the witch. Anne looks down in horror.
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LESSON 14 SCARY-AS-HELL SCENES
PATRICK MALONE SCARY-AS-HELL SCENES
What I learned was how to add physical action to scary emotions. Also, this exercise makes it easy to quickly outline the main details of a scene. Loved it.
1.The horror situation:
Opening Scene: Six Confederate soldiers transporting gold have just been ambushed by a small band of Union soldiers on a dirt trail in a forest.
2. Sequence the Horror Emotions
A. What is the emotional range of this scene-beginning and ending?
Anxiety to Panic
B.
What emotions go in between the bottom and top emotion?Surprise, fear, dread, panic
C.
What is the physical representation of each emotion?Anxiety: Confederate Sergeant Johnson and two privates look out
frombehind their wagon
at the dead bodies from the gun battle.Surprise: Union Colonel Fairfield gets to his feet. Sergeant
assumed he was
deadFear: Fairfield sees Johnson and aims his pistol at him.
Dread: A monstrous creature trudges onto the trail.
Panic: Colonel Fairfield rides away, Sergeant Johnson and his two
privates escape
into the forest.D. Add in Scares and Releases
Scene: Six Confederate soldiers transporting gold have just been ambushed
by a small band of Union soldiers on a dirt trail in a forest.
Anxiety: Confederate Sergeant
Johnson and two privates look out frombehind their wagon
at the dead bodies from the gun battle.Surprise: Union Colonel Fairfield gets to his feet. Sergeant assumed
he wasdead.
Fear: Fairfield aims his pistol at Johnson.
Scare:
A loud thudding
sound moves through the forest causing Fairfield’shorse to whinny
and kick up a fuss.Shock: Fairfield sees something and jumps on his horse and rides
away.Release: Johnson is saved from a bullet. He and his men are safe.
Surprise: A monstrous creature trudges onto the trail.
Dread: The monster picks up and bites into a corpse.
Panic: Terrified, Sergeant Johnson and his two
privates escape into theforest.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Patrick Malone.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by
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Deborah’s Scary as hell scenes
I discovered that working all of these emotions into this scene made it a lot scarier than I thought it would be.
Scene: Isolated/Pursued; inside an Asteroid SpaceCraft a man is hiding in a jungle.
Suspense: The man rests with his back against the tree. He’s sweating profusely, eyes darting around him. Clearly, he’s afraid of something.
Panic: Suddenly the sound of something big coming through the jungle toward him. The man whimpers, gets up, looking back at the noise as he runs in panic through the jungle and falls down a hill. He hides behind a tree.
Release: The sound goes in another direction. The man collapses in tears.
Anxiety: The man begins to crawl through the jungle.
Shock: He comes face to face with the huge skull of some kind of beast.
Dread: The man crawls through the remains of the beast. It is nothing early and everything he sees makes his terror grow.
Histeria: The sound comes back and the man scrambles away until he finds a hollow tree and hides within
Release: All goes quiet. The sounds of the jungle come back.
Anguish: The man looks at a picture of his children. He’s still crying. He squeezes his eyes shut and kisses the picture.
Shock: The tree is sheared away and a monstrous claw reaches in and grabs him. He screams and screams until he doesn’t. Blood seeps down the sides of the tree to the ground, where the picture of his two children lay.
Tracking shot up across the tops of the trees, to a hole that looks out into space, and then out to see the jungle was inside an asteroid.
Opening Scene
EXT. JUNGLE – TWILIGHT
A man rests with his back against a tree. The songs of birds and the buzzing of insects make it difficult to hear anything else. The man seems to be listening, though. He’s sweating profusely and his eyes dart from side to side. A light rain starts and the man opens his mouth to catch some water.
Abruptly, all the sounds stop. The man jumps to his feet and looks around, panic filling his eyes. He doesn’t wait long, for the sound of something big crashing through the jungle in his direction sends him sprinting through the jungle. Never mind that branches tear his clothes or that large leaves slap him in the face, or that the ground beneath his feet is turning to mud.
The mud makes his foot slip, and he tumbles down a hill and into a clump of large plants. He hides there, holding his breath as the sound of pursuit goes by him. Bird song and insects sound resume as the man breaks down crying.
Eventually, he crawls through the jungle as quietly as he can. He’s barely holding it together. He parts some leaves and there is a huge head looking at him. He falls back in shock with a small scream, until he realizes it’s the skull of some kind of giant beast.
The jungle has grown over the bones, so the man crawls through the skeleton of this beast, stopping every now and then to listen. He pauses a moment, perhaps thinking this is a good place to hide when two snakes crawl over the back of his legs.
He crawls as fast as he can out of the tunnel as more and more snakes drop down from above. As he emerges, he can hear the beast crashing nearby. He crawls as fast as he can away from the sound, finds a hollow tree, and presses himself inside, covering the entrance with branches and leaves.
He sits in the tree in pure anguish, crying as he pulls out a picture of his children and looks at it. He squeezes his eyes shut kisses the picture.
The tree is suddenly sheared away and a giant claw reaches in to grab the man. He screams and screams… until he doesn’t. Blood rains down into the stump of the tree, drowning the picture of his children.
The camera now rises above the trees and flies over the jungle until it reaches a spaceport, complete with a ship and mining equipment. It continues past all of this, out the opening into
EXT. SPACE – DOESN’T MATTER
the vastness of space, then reverses to see the jungle is inside an asteroid.
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JAYE’S SCARY-AS-HELL SCENE
What I learned is that it takes a lot of care to make a scene truly scary. I am not sure how well I did this, following the steps as best I could, and also knowing this is a first draft!
This scene takes place at the end of Act 1, where Olivia has opted to wait outside while her friends go into the creepy house to look for Josh.:
EXT. BACKYARD – NIGHT
Olivia stares at her phone; a seltzer in her other one hand.
3 MISSED CALLS from MOM. The upper left READS: NO SERVICE,
this is subtle and only brief as she presses the call button
with her pinky and swiftly raises the phone to her ear.
She looks out across the creek.
She listens as it RINGS in her ear.
Behind her, the door to the house closes.
Another RING.
We hear the phone pick up on the other end, and the sound of
her Mom’s MUFFLED VOICE.
MOM (V.O.)
Hey sweetie.OLIVIA
Hey mom.MOM (V.O.)
It’s getting late.OLIVIA
Mom, it’s still early.MOM (V.O.)
Father is very disappointed.Olivia furrows her brow.
OLIVIA
What did he say?MOM
He said I’m a whore…Mom’s voice is changing. She sounds agonized.
MOM (V.O.)
I heard it crying.Olivia frowns.
OLIVIA
What?MOM (V.O.)
It’s not dead. I heard it crying.Color drains from Olivia’s face and she pulls the phone away
from her ear. She sees it. NO SERVICE on the home screen.
Three more RAVENS fly into the tree above her and she looks
up in terror.
Her phone RINGS.
She stares at it: MOM. No service. Her breathing becomes
shallow and her hand shakes.
She stands. She looks at the house…
OLIVIA
(trembling)
David…?She takes a few steps forward and her eyes grow wide — she
reaches for her neck — something grabs her and pulls her
back with force.
Birds rustle and CAW in the trees as we hear struggling and
gagging; water splashing.
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Pamela’s Scary-As-Hell Scene
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
It is an amazing process to take a scene and layer it with more elements until you have a cycle of emotions that can draw your audience in.
Use the Scary-As-Hell scene process to create the Horror Map.
Anxiety: As the storm rages, electricity goes in and out, and several people in the group were uneasy.
Fear: A clashing sound of metal hitting the ground causes the group to jump.
Release: A distracted volunteer moving a push cart with kitchen pots and the pots fell off. The group is relieved and some very annoyed with the noise.
Suspense: Branches and debris hits the boarded windows. Evacuees are looking around. The lights flicker but stay on. The sounds are cavernous in the large cafeteria. Miles and Chantel look nervous.
Release: Clara gives Miles and Chantel a book and suggests she reads to them to take their mind off the chaos outside.
Dread: As Clara reads to Miles and Chantel, her mind wanders, and she feels like she is outside of herself.
Release: Marie interrupts Clara trance with a sarcastic remark about playing games when there was work to be done. Marie gives her an exasperated look. With Marie’s back turned, Clara does a twirl of her finger for the universal symbol of crazy. The kids giggle.
Panic: Marie, Potter, and Carmel all start to feel dizzy and unwell. They are in the cafeteria in different areas when they immediately need to sit down. Their thoughts are becoming jumbled and eerie.
Once you have the Horror Map, write the scene.
As the storm rages, electricity goes in and out, and several people in the group were uneasy. This was on ordinary hurricane and the increasingly volatile weather was causing anxiety to rise in the people housed in the cafeteria.
A clashing sound of metal hitting the ground causes the group to jump. A distracted volunteer moving a push cart with kitchen pots and the pots fell off. The group is relieved and some very annoyed with the noise. A distracted volunteer moving a push cart with kitchen pots and the pots fell off. The group is relieved and some very annoyed with the noise.
Branches and debris hits the boarded windows. Evacuees are looking around. The lights flicker but stay on. The sounds are cavernous in the large cafeteria. Miles and Chantel look nervous. Clara gives Miles and Chantel a book and suggests she reads to them to take their mind off the chaos outside. As Clara reads to Miles and Chantel, her mind wanders, and she feels like she is outside of herself.
Marie interrupts Clara trance with a sarcastic remark about playing games when there was work to be done. Marie gives her an exasperated look. With Marie’s back turned, Clara does a twirl of her finger for the universal symbol of crazy. The kids giggle. Marie continues reading and finds herself slipping back into her trance.
Marie, Potter, and Carmel all start to feel dizzy and unwell. They are in the cafeteria in different areas when they immediately need to sit down. Their thoughts are becoming jumbled and eerie.
As the storm rages, electricity goes in and out, and several people in the group experience specific and personal reliving of traumas in their past. Clara hears the screams of students at the last school she worked during an active shooting. Marie experiences realistic memories of bullying as a 5th grader at the same school 20 years ago. Potter sees visions of his alcoholic father in a rage. Carmel sees herself as a teenager alone in her room after the high school football captain stood her up for prom. She begins scratching her arm while in the trance.
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