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Day 10 Assignments
Reply to post your assignment.
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7 Replies
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What I learned is that I hope we learn more about suspense and techniques to build suspense. The cat jumping out of the bathroom or throwing a cat at a character has long been a trope in horror movies and I’m glad that we will be talking about the different levels of fear.
INT. DARK APARTMENT – DAY
Light barely peeks through the blinds. Stacks of newspapers and mail sit on the coffee table.
Empty beer cans litter the floor.
Piles of clothing sit stacked on the couch.
An old dust covered TV sits across from the couch.
MARSHALL, a corpse sits in a leather reclining chair. Marshall wears a work shirt and work pants despite having retired twenty years prior to his death.
His body sits upright in the chair with his chin resting on his chest as though he’s sleeping.
The skin looks dark, wrinkled and peeled back as though he’s been partially mummified.
His hands look like claws resting on the leather arms.
The carcass of what looks like it was once a dog lay on the old area rug next to him.
The sound of a door opening down the hallway filters into the room.
A column of light enters the room from the hallway.
The light falls on Marshall.
The air is fetid and dank. Dust particulates hang in the light.
Two people enter the apartment and their footsteps creak on the hallway floor.
BETTY (O.S.)
Oh my God!
Marshall’s head rises from his chest. The hollow eyes staring at the intruders.
OPENING CREDITS.
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Cameron Martin’s Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned doing this assignment is…to be more aware of what emotions I want to use. I haven’t seen THE PURGE, but decided to read the first act to see how the writer used these three emotions. It’s interesting, because I didn’t notice a lot of the “Surprise” emotion being used, but did see opportunities for the director and cinematographer to build them into a shoot. The other thing I noticed is how long the writer allows tension to build. While I think the premise (as it’s presented) is ridiculous from an economics and political sense, the notion that everyone can be your worst nightmare in a matter of hours does at least create the intrigue to read on, and the built in undertone is very similar to SCREAM, where we are engaged in uncovering who might want to kill the family we’re following. I’d be curious to know how this script would work at a faster, more kinetic pace, as it’s primary strategy seems to be to linger as long as possible, let the tension build to a boiling point, then explode with excitement and horror, before starting the process over again (I’m writing this not knowing how the story proceeds after page 40, so I’m unsure if the writer continues this method or not).
Comparing that to my story where the intent from day 1 was to floor the gas peddle from beginning to end, and the end result is more akin to an action story than the slow burn of dread. I also watched Tyler Mowry’s take on the film in his video “Fixing THE PURGE,” and I have to agree with a lot of his findings, especially when considering the lack of subtext present in the first act. If I had to guess, the original writer’s political beliefs were placed at the forefront of the story decisions, rather than the character arcs and interpersonal conflicts that would’ve made for a stronger narrative. I understand I’m venturing a little further away from the original lesson on level 1 horror emotions, and maybe I’m doing so to justify my fast paced opening.
Still, in trying to uncover more of a breakthrough in this lesson, I am finding a better awareness of how to use each individual emotion to create a more varied experience, while also discovering the necessity for conflict and subtext for a more enjoyable and engaging experience, so that we’re not just watching characters react to a situation, but joining them in their personal quests that reveal who they are. I already use anticipation (foreshadowing) and shock (consequences/minor twists with meaning) in a lot of my work. Surprise, not so much. I’ll be sure to build in more instances of surprise, or, at the very least, instances that a director/cinematographer can use to keep an audience on their toes, aside from the required layers of intrigue, conspiracy, and subtext that keep us wanting to know more.
Scene(s) Chosen:
INT. SPACE COLONY – VARIOUS – DAY
Everyone is moving in a rapid but orderly manner, except Sully who’s fighting against the crowd to get to his son.
A family of three argue to get their very sick teenage son into the bunker with them. The mother and father argue about the virtue of protocol at the expense of humanity, and a doctor who knows the family vouches for them.
INT. BUNKER – DAY
The family of three make it into the bunker and start looking for medical supplies, after their son passes out. The doctor starts administering treatment, telling the other scared colonists that it’s just a bad case of pneumonia, and that some people’s lungs struggle with the artificial air, and that this has been the case with the teenager for months now.
INT. BUNKER – DAY
Teenager wakes up, and his compulsive coughing and vomiting up blood cracks his jaw and tears the seams of his mouth.
INT. SPACE COLONY – BUNKER EXTERIOR – DAY
The family of three sneak through the interior of the crowd. The teenager tries his best to hold back his cough.
A hand lunges out…
and DRAGS the TEENAGER out of the flow of traffic.
TEENAGER
Mom! AAGHCK! AACHGK!
The MOTHER and FATHER fight through the crowd to get to their son.
MOTHER
(to Teenager)
It’s okay baby!
(to GUARD holding Teenager)
He’s just sick.
GUARD
(holding the teen in an armlock)
It’s just proto—
MOTHER
I know you’re going to say “It’s just protocol.” Well, let me tell you something—
GUARD
(walking away with the teen)
Please move along.
FATHER
(Grabbing ahold of the teen’s freehand)
Not without Andrew.
The mother catches sight of a familiar face in the crowd: the teenager’s physician, DR. MICK.
MOTHER
(waving him down)
Dr. Mick! Dr. Mick!
Dr. Mick catches sight of the family and hurries toward them.
DR. MICK
Sir? Sir!
GUARD
No, it’s not happening.
DR. MICK
Listen here you inhuman lemming. This is my patient.
GUARD
I have a hundred people I have to watch for. Shove it doc!
Dr. Mick rummages through his bag. He pulls out a syringe, still wrapped in its container.
DR. MICK
(Holding up the syringe)
Do you know what this is? I’m sure you do, and you know I’m sworn under oath on this godforsaken planet to administer it at the first sight of trouble. Now this is my patient, not yours, and you will leave this poor sick boy in my care!
INT. BUNKER – DAY
The family of three and Dr. Mick squeeze their way into the bunker.
The teenager staggers in his parents’ arms, coughing violently and struggling for air, before…
He collapses – limp.
Mother and Father carry their baby boy to the center of the bunker.
They lay him down. Other COLONISTS notice how sick the teenager is.
COLONIST 1
Wait! What’s he doing here!?
COLONIST 2
He’s sick!
COLONIST 3
They let a sick person in!
Dr. Mick, annoyed, rummages through his bag for supplies. One is a breathing mask and the other item is a syringe.
DR. MICK
Don’t worry!
MOTHER
(seeing the syringe)
That’s not it, is it!?
DR. MICK
It’s a diuretic. It’ll help with the fluid in his lungs. Dry them right out.
Dr. Mick gives the teenager the injection before placing the breathing mask over the teen’s mouth and nose.
COLONIST 1
Get him out of here! He could be infected!
DR. MICK
If by infected, you uneducated twit, you mean pneumonia, then yes! Some people on this floating rock struggle with the artificial air, especially kids. This one has had a bad case of it for months now!
The teenager’s cough subsides and he breathes peacefully.
INT. BUNKER – DAY
The teenager’s eyes flash wide open!
His diaphragm convulses and erupts into a deafening bark. Blood sprays with each cough against the plastic breathing mask.
Dr. Mick, seeing the blood, is struck with horror at the knowledge of what’s coming.
DR. MICK
(pulling out the plastic wrapped syringe)
No, no, no, this isn’t happening.
The mother sees what Dr. Mick is doing and freaks out.
MOTHER
Stop! What’re you doing!?
DR. MICK
He’s infected!
The colony starts up in a panic. Screams are heard everywhere.
Father grabs Mother, holding her back as she fights against him.
MOTHER
Let go of me, Sean! He’s going to kill my baby!!
FATHER
Honey, it’s too late! Listen, it’s too late.
MOTHER
Fuck you! That’s our son!
Dr. Mick, ignoring the two, prepares the syringe, as the poor teenager shakes from having his lungs rended from the inside.
Then, he stabs the syringe into the back of the teenager’s lungs, and injects the full solution.
In moments, the teenager is limp – dead.
The mother pulls off the blood soaked breathing mask.
MOTHER
Baby! Baby!?
Dr. Mick pulls out another syringe, holding the sharp point to his jugular.
DR. MICK
I think we did it in time. I’m sure we did it in time.
Suddenly, the teen vomits up a torrent of blood…
While his jaw opens wider and wider…
CRACKING…
And the seams of his mouth tearing to where the broken jaw bone meets the cranium.
The syringe punctures Dr. Mick’s neck, and injects the full solution.
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Eric Humble’s Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned from this assignment is: how using techniques to create just three emotions can elevate an entire sequence. Prior to this assignment, I’ve always endeavored to use as many interest techniques as I can pack into a scene, but it never occurred to me that certain genres require certain techniques and emotions over others. I think this is another area in which my past horror scripts have failed, because some of the emotions and challenging situations I’ve put into the scenes haven’t generated the most important emotions. Using just these three has created a pretty interesting scene from the first act that delivers on the genre requirements more powerfully than most of the scenes of my other attempts at horror.
INT. LOFT – NIGHT
It’s New Year’s Eve in New York, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, a high roller VIP’s Vegas, and the best fucking prom night ever. Welcome to the party.
The whole group is agape. Mac grabs Bill by the arms and dances him onto the throbbing dance floor.
Rachel takes in the details – smoke machines, laser and strobe lights. The DJ rocks it out from a cage high above. The dance floor is packed. Bremmer approaches her, grins.
BREMMER
Don’t worry – planet Earth will still be there when you get back.
She pushes clear of him, walks the periphery of the dance floor. Tuxedoed bartenders are stationed at different corners of the room. She catches sight of Noah, awkwardly eyeing the activity. They shout over the music:
RACHEL
This is the loudest music I ever heard outside a prayer meeting.
NOAH
Does your… religion… believe in, you know, sex?
Rachel bridles at the mention of her religion.
RACHEL
I’m more than my upbringing, you know.
NOAH
I didn’t… I mean… I guess I’m just trying to ask – do you dance?
She regards him a moment. His awkwardness. She offers her hand. Guides him onto the dance floor. They’re buffeted by bodies. Rachel tenses, regretting what she’s gotten them into… but the shot is kicking in. She’s bleary, the world shimmering around her. She relaxes into the beat, as does Noah. The music takes them.
Elsewhere, Bill and Mac gyrate and grind on the dance floor.
Noah and Rachel get into it, sweaty and sexy…
NOAH
What the hell were in those drinks?
RACHEL
(breathless)
Who cares, just keep going…
But Noah suddenly winces.
NOAH
God, do you smell that?
Rachel breaks from him grimacing, holds her nose. Noah looks over the piping above them.
NOAH
That DJ may have hung his lights on a sewer pipe. If it leaks… We should probably…
But Rachel is already off the dance floor.
INT. CORNER OF THE LOFT – NIGHT
Veronica is keeping to the sidelines, sniffing her saline spray and blowing her nose… but freezes as she catches sight of something… far across the room…
…The Wino. Just a brief glimpse of the canvas “shitface” mask between the gyrating bodies… It’s seated on the opposite sideline, staring at her. And now, it rises, starts toward her… and vanishes amid the dancers.
A hand claps her shoulder, hard – she yelps!
– but it’s only Roach. She shoves him.
VERONICA
Don’t do that!
Roach holds up a glass of liquor.
ROACH
This party’s a total sham. Look.
He nods to a bar station. A handsome tuxedoed bartender dispenses liquor from an array of expensive bottles.
ROACH
That’s about ten thousand dollars’ worth of the best liquor you can get – if you can get them. Some of those are limited editions from exclusive distilleries.
(sniffs his glass)
But this is paint thinner. It’s cheap shit in top-shelf labels.
He hands her a glass. She sets it down on a table without drinking.
VERONICA
I’m on cold medicine.
ROACH
Which brand? You know, you can make meth of that shit.
VERONICA
Take me to the bathroom.
ROACH
What? Why?
VERONICA
Because this place is creepy and I don’t want to be a woman walking alone. Be a gentleman for once.
Roach shrugs, downs his drink. Grimaces at the flavor. Offers his arm. They venture down a hallway.
INT. DARK CORRIDOR – NIGHT
Away from the music. Shadows, rusty piping, crumbling walls. Veronica and Roach wander – and have been at it awhile.
ROACH
Alright, I’m just going to come out and say it…
VERONICA
They wouldn’t not have a bathroom.
ROACH
I mean, they’re not exactly following building codes here…
VERONICA
If I don’t find one soon, I’m peeing in the corner, I don’t care.
Roach suddenly stops in his tracks. Looks around.
ROACH
Do you remember the way we came?
VERONICA
From right back there. Don’t scare me.
ROACH
We didn’t come from back there. I mean, it looked like back there, but I feel like we came from the side, like over there, maybe?
She looks in the direction he’s pointing.
VERONICA
There’s no hallway over there. Stop.
ROACH
But I’m right, right? It feels like we came from that direction.
It’s just a wall where he’s pointing. Both are visibly nervous, but trying their damndest not to show it. Now, Roach recoils.
ROACH
Dude, did you pee yourself?
VERONICA
Ew, no!
ROACH
Because it smells like pee –
VERONICA
I know what it smells like, God! That, what is that?
Shuffling footsteps from the dark. Veronica tenses.
VERONICA
There’s someone there.
ROACH
Bullshit. Probably just some people boning, let’s give them their privacy.
VERONICA
God, that smell’s gonna make me sick.
She turns and bolts down a farther corridor before Roach can stop her…
ROACH
Wait – V!
INT. ANOTHER CHAMBER – NIGHT
Roach chases after her… and ahead, they see the way back to the party.
VERONICA
Thank God.
They start for it –
– When a steel door swings open, blocking their path! A girl staggers out. It’s the bathroom.
DRUNK GIRL
Sorry, were you waiting?
She sashays back toward the dance floor.
VERONICA
Don’t move an inch from this spot. I mean it.
She enters the bathroom.
Roach lingers a moment. Now, takes out a vial of cocaine, sprinkles a line onto his sleeve. Snorts it. Looks up, startled to see the drunk girl is still there, watching him.
DRUNK GIRL
Feel like sharing?
Roach hides the vial behind him, tucks it in his pocket.
ROACH
Sorry – plum out.
The girl nods beyond him –
DRUNK GIRL
Maybe he’s got some of the good shit.
Roach turns to see –
– a looming, unmoving figure. Hooded, ragged clothes, face hidden in shadow, watching him from the far end of the hall. The Wino.
Suddenly, Veronica throws the door open and leaps out, shrieking. T
VERONICA
here’s a fucking rat in there! Next time, I’ll just piss my pants. It’s cleaner.
Roach looks beyond her. The Wino is gone.
INT. DANCE FLOOR – NIGHT
The strobes and laser lights are intoxicating. The beat deafening. Rachel and Noah dance, attached at the waist. Bill caresses Mac’s breast to the beat of the music. It’s bodies, sweat, motion. A clothed orgy. It’s hallucinogenic ecstasy. Until it’s suddenly –
DARKNESS.
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What I learned doing this assignment is to think about the parts of writing a horror scene. Being able weave in apprehension, surprise and shock into scenes will be a big help going forward.
Apprehension – There are weird people in the neighborhood. Africa is suspicious of them.
Surprise – One of the pioneers grabs Africa. She convulses. A bloody hand rests on Malik’s shoulder.
Shock – White Jesus appears, devours Malik as his mother watches.
OPEN ON:
A painting. An image. Like a 19th century fresco of a caucasian Jesus holding a black sheep.
WIDEN TO SEE –
The painting is an accessory hanging from a rear view mirror.
WIDEN EVEN MORE –
A blank white van pulls to a stop.
EXT. APARTMENT COMPLEX – MORNING
The doors to the van slide open. A man steps out of the van whom we will call THE PIONEER. He’s white, clean shaven and blank faced. He’s dressed like s 60’s business man; business suit, fedora and briefcase.
The Pioneer glances over the neighborhood and nods to someone in the van. Another man steps out of the van that is the exact identical twin of the Pioneer.
The men walk in step towards a building as two more men, identical to the Pioneer step out of the van and head towards another building.
INT. APARTMENT – SAME
AFRICA (40’s) African American woman, fastens her ear rings as she opens the door to—
INT. BOYS ROOM
Posters of basketball players and video game characters line the walls. A mound of clothes sits in the middle of the room.
MALIK (13), sleeps, splayed out across the bed. He SNORES loud for a child his size.
Africa, his mom, shakes him.
AFRICA: “Malik, get up.”
Malik wipes the sleep from his eyes and sits up.
MALIK: “I don’t wanna go to school.”
AFRICA: “And I don’t want to go to this job but we both got to do what we have to do.”
Africa darts out of the room.
KNOCK KNOCK.
Malik peeks out of his room towards the front door. He heads for the door when a hand reaches out to grab his shoulder.
It’s Africa, his mom.
AFRICA: “Go get ready.”
Africa goes to the door. Opens it.
EXT. APARTMENT
The two Pioneers stand in the door. When the door opens the two men smile, creepily.
PIONEER: “Good morning, Do you have a moment to talk about Jesus?”
AFRICA: “No.”
INT. APARTMENT
Africa closes the door and heads back to the bathroom.
AFRICA: “I’m leaving in fifteen minutes.”
KITCHEN – FOURTEEN MINUTES LATER
Africa sits at the table sipping coffee. Malik enters dressed and ready for school.
MALIK: “Did you sign my permission slip for the museum trip?”
AFRICA: “I’m waiting to see what that report card is like.”
KNOCK KNOCK.
Africa marches towards the door.
AFRICA: “Why is everyone on my door this morning?”
Swings the door open. It’s the Pioneers again.
AFRICA: “Look I know you ain’t used to taking ‘no’ for an answer but we have our own church we go to.”
The Pioneer reaches out and touches her shoulder. We don’t see what’s happening.
She convulses. Coffee cup drops to the floor. Convulsions get more intense, get worse until…
The convulsions stop. Africa turns, blank stare on her face like the Pioneers. Her eyes and eye sockets are pitch black.
The three begin singing.
AFRICA: “Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong.”
PIONEERS: “Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak, but He is strong.”
Malik steps out. Confused.
MALIK: “Mom?”
They stop singing. Africa looks at her son, smiles creepy.
AFRICA: (speaking the lines) “Little ones to Him belong. They are weak. HE (points behind Malik) is strong.”
A hand rests on Malik’s shoulder. Chalky white with a bloody, fleshy see-through wound.
Malik turns and SCREAMS.
We focus on Africa as we hear Malik’s scream cut short. We push in to her as we hear flesh tearing and bones crunching. Blood splatters on her face. She sheds a single tear.
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Scott Kaplan’s Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned doing this assignment is … the horror emotional scale factors tremendously into the reaction of the audience; to outline the graph that will guide one to the ’emotional map’ of the story is of paramount importance! This has definitely been a challenge to sequence the scenes from Act 1. I can only have faith that I have done so ..
INT. BOATYARD, A.K.A, JEAN’S BACKYARD – DAY
A conversation between Jean and Piper/Clen has turned into an argument over property and power. Because of Piper and Clen’s refusal to move their boat storage from Jean’s backyard(it’s on the border of each one’s property), Jean is now refusing to allow them into his restaurant. Subsequently, he excludes them from the house party he will hold tomorrrow.
EXT. JEAN’S HOUSE – NEXT DAY – NIGHT
A lot of guests attend. Jean reaches down to take the garbage from the bulkhead. His wife looks apprehensive, then tells his friend Greg to accompany her husband. Jean grabs the garbage bags, begins his walk to the curb(above the sewers). Greg follows, but is distracted by a call from his distant son(his ex-wife lives 1,500 miles away). Hence, Jean walks alone. He attempts to dispense of the rubbish. Before he can successfuly lit the lid, Jean hears a suspicious noise as the lid is lifted … Piper and Clen are behind their boats watching, their eyes blackening with oozing oil … as the sewer grates are removed by large, sharp claws. It is high tide as the filthy canal water rises, along with a dense fog. Jean is dragged down, beneath Seminole Street. SCREAMS come from his son, who witnesses his father’s death.
EXT. DAY
Jean Jr. and his best friend Dukes are hanging out in a tree. They are 8 years-old. As Jean Jr tries to explain what happened to his father. Clen’s son, Dukes, is in denial.
Stacy, the third member of the cult, overhears, as he is working on a neighbor’s deck.
CUT TO: Stacy informs Clen and Piper via text message that Jean’s son knows the truth. He receives a message back … suddenly, the whites of his eyes turn black. Stacy raises his arms to the sky, which turns solemnly dark in the brightness of midday. The winds start to swirl at 75 miles per hour. Both children are knocked to the ground.
Fog rises from the sewer grates, as the spirits snatch the children’s ankles. Their screams are drowned out, as they are pulled into the dirty canal water at high tide (12 hours after Jean Sr). Max sees this horrific event from a distance, his eyes wide in SHOCK!
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Marc KOENIG’s Level 1 Horror emotions
What I’ve learned doing this assignment is that using the interest techniques of level 1 horror emotions instantly creates a thrilling atmosphere and makes it easier to write visual scenes. It improves the writing by making it more efficient.
OUTLINE
INT. CAVE – DAY
A team of archeologists excavates an antique cave.
Anxiety: The ground is covered with rusted antique weapons and human remains.
Anxiety: A skeleton is tied up with chains on a granite throne, its skull crushed.
Elizabeth, an archeologist, examines the chained skeleton.
Anxiety: A strange black swelling seems welded to the spine.
Anxiety: As Elizabeth’s hand moves closer to the bones, a row of small black metallic spines raises and points at her skin as if to sting it.
Paul, Elizabeth’s partner, finds a tablet with an inscription in ancient writing.
Anxiety: Elizabeth recognizes the cuneiform symbols of « the primal gates to Hell »
Elizabeth asks Paul to examine the chained skeleton.
Anxiety: Paul removes his glove and approaches his bare fingers to the strange spines.
Surprise: a stone falls from the ceiling and breaks a skull in a loud cracking noise.
Anxiety: The cave is about to collapse
Anxiety: Paul reaches out to the flashlight among the bones with his bare hand
Paul feels a striking pain in his finger. He examines it with the flashlight.
Shock: three small spines imbed into his fingertip as if they were alive.FIRST DRAFT OF SCENE 1
INT. CAVE – DAY
It’s dark.
Muffled thumps against rock sound louder and louder until debris crumbles and sun rays pierce through the darkness and a cloud of dust. A man’s face under a helmet shows in the hole.
A light beam sweeps the ground, hitting rusted antique weapons, shields, then skulls and bones.
MALE VOICE
(in Arabic; subtitled)
Over here! I found something!LATER
The dim light of storm lanterns cast the shadows of a group of workers standing at a distance of human remains.
At the back of the cave, ELIZABETH, her late twenties, in army camouflage trousers, boots, and a dirty teeshirt, uses a torch to examine a skeleton seated on a granite throne.
ELIZABETH
Holy Jesus…The body is tied up with heavy chains sealed in the stone. The skull has been crushed. The light beam stops on the spine in the belly area. A black swelling riddled with slivers of metal and glass seems welded to the bones.
PAUL (O.S.)
Look at that.Elizabeth turns around. A man in his thirties, PAUL, gently wipes off with his glove a tablet hanging on the wall. Under a few lines of the antique alphabet, he reveals the drawing of a black egg out of which black drops seem to pour.
ELIZABETH
Cuneiform?As Elizabeth’s left hand has moved close to the skeleton, a row of tiny metallic spines silently raises from the ribs and points at her hand, a few inches from her skin.
Elizabeth walks away, and the spines lay down in their initial position.
PAUL
Is it what I think it is?Elizabeth slides her fingers along a series of symbols.
ELIZABETH
Oh my God. The primal gates of hell.PAUL
Bingo!He puts an arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders and hugs her with a laugh of joy.
ELIZABETH
Don’t get too excited. Come here, there’s something you need to see.Elizabeth walks Paul to the chained skeleton.
ELIZABETH
See that black bulb? I’ve never seen that before.Paul removes his glove to turn a small flashlight on. He brings his face closer to the hips of the skeleton.
A draft comes through the entry hole of the cave, and sneaks through the workers’ boots, lifting a small cloud of dust.
The small spines on the ribs seem to react to the stream of air and straighten up again as Paul approaches his face.
PAUL
What’s this?Paul points his bare fingers at the spines. They start to shiver imperceptibly. His hand gets closer and —
— CRASH! A big stone falls from the ceiling and crushes a skull, startling everyone. Paul springs backward and drops his flashlight. Elizabeth points her torch up.
Several crevices run through the ceiling.
ELIZABETH
That sucks.PAUL
Let’s take pictures and take out what we can now.Paul looks down. His flashlight lays against the skeleton’s ribs. He reaches out to it.
PAUL
Ouch!Paul withdraws his hand with a sudden move. He looks at his fingers barely visible in the dark.
ELIZABETH
Are you okay?Paul grabs the flashlight with his gloved hand and lightens his finger.
In a fraction of a second, three black shiny shards imbed inside his fingertip. Paul frowns. Rubs his fingertip. Looks again. Nothing.
PAUL
Got a splinter or something.ELIZABETH
The first-aid kit is in the Defender.
Don’t let that get infected.Elizabeth grabs a sophisticated camera from a bag and takes pictures of the tablet.
The flashes shoot metallic glints on the dark bulb and among the spines surrounding it.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Marc KOENIG.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Marc KOENIG.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Brandon’s Level 1 Horror Emotion Scene
What I learned: Lots of small things can be done to set the tone – it can be subtle, just enough to keep the audience uneasy.
Apprehension: As Gordy moves closer and closer to the head in the jar, it moves slightly, scaring him. Outside, he hears the echo of a horse’s neigh. At the lake, the kids hear a bizarre horse neigh but warn Newt not to snoop around. They have a bad feeling about the sound.
Surprise: During the play, lots of little things go wrong, foreshadowing the misfortune: bumping into a setpiece, flubbed lines, etc. At the townsquare, Sofia’s Dad scares her unintentionally.
Shock: We experience shock at the first act turn, when the schoolmaster locks the kisa in the schoolhouse and when they see Newt nearly trampled to death. We also experience shock through the character of the schoolmaster – we learn he’s a spirit with some major PTSD compliments of the Headless Horseman.
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