Radford White
Forum Replies Created
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Rad’s Character Death Track
What I learned:
So many ways to die! A challenge to link the style of death with the character in some way.
Character Death 1: Emma
Why: It Starts the horror
How: She dies alone smothered, suffocated by clothes after craving attention through her OnlyFans instead of caring for her family
Character Death 2: Bentley
Why: Moral reason: Her forgave his girlfriend for cheating on him with an older, richer man and agreed to take her back
How: Crushed under a huge weight
Character Death 3: Jessica, Bentley’s GF
Why: Moral reason: She cheated on Bentley and he forgave her but both must die bc they didnt separate
How: she is pelted to death with gold coins by a baying crowd
Character Death 4: Zoe (M2F trans)
Why: Moral reason: Zoe slept with Jamie’s father and stole a family heirloom
How: Forced to drink alcohol, take drugs and die a lonely death in a cage
Character Death 5: Jamie F2M
Why: Moral reason: Didnt forgive Zoe
How: Charge blindly into action
Character Death 6: Emily escape from death
Why: Betrayed / Character flaw / Moral reason:
How: Emily forgives him and says they cant be friends anymore
Character Death 6: Jaiden escape from Death
Why: Betrayed
How: Confessed to sharing intimate pics and vids of her online. Agree cant be friends
Character Death 6: Cayden
Why: Monster made the decision
How: Surprised / Blindsided because he thought everything was over.
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<b data-pm-slice=”1 1 []” data-en-clipboard=”true”>What I learned from this assignment was to calm your stallions, not race off with glee but work within the model….Trust the model! PS keep the excess notes but come back to the model!
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<b data-pm-slice=”1 1 []” data-en-clipboard=”true”>ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established
Family goes to a modern art gallery and the mother and father are psychologically and physically tortured and killed leaving behind two orphaned children
HORROR SITUATION: Mum & dad tortured and killed
REACTION: The children run and hide & escape
Connect with the characters
10 years later the same exhibition and the Group of friends with the grown up children outside a different gallery at a nearby cafe, taking pics of their food, instagramming, TikTokking & messaging everyone, some laughter.
HORROR SITUATION: Walking into a trap in a Gallery where the same painting is being exhibited
REACTION: Denial of the spirit world
Denial of Horror
They all end up going inside and do some viewing and scope for paintings to throw soup on and that they wont get into any trouble.
HORROR SITUATION: Lured into the horror
REACTION: Denial of the spirit world
Safety taken away
The leader somehow disappears and they cant seem to find him and they panic a little stressed
The characters are warned not to do it.
One of the group, the artist warns the friends group that they should not deface other’s artwork and just get the hell out because he has a bad feeling about the place.
HORROR: PARANOIA: a character refuses to take action
REACTION: Leader denies Artists instincts
Monster: The nature of the beast.
The painting appears to look liquid, shimmering, attracting the attention of the group who go over to look and see the dead Mother and Father from the opening scene
HORROR: Spooky: Environment changing around them
REACTION: Denial of what theyre seeing thinking its a special effect
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
The leader is trapped in a paintingthe friends are trapped in the gallery
HORROR: Isolated – Trapped
REACTION: Try to solve it
One of us killed
The Leader is killed and one of the friends at the same time for not forgiving
HORROR: Torture – tortured physically
REACTION: Denial – Escape
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! <<The WOKE FRIENDS ARE THE MONSTERS>>
Full pursuit by the killer
The spirit starts to pull each person into the painting one at a time
HORROR: Spooky – sucked into a painting / environment changing / impending doom
REACTION: some fight, some deny, some try to escape
Terrorized
Ultimatum given, confessions made, bonds and bridges destroyed bt friends
HORROR: Tormented – friends in danger / Paranoia – internal conflict
REACTION: Denial / Try to solve / Fight
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death
Forced to watch their friends be physically & emotionally tortured
HORROR: Torture – physical & mental
REACTION: Escape / Fight / Denial / Try to solve
Hysteria
The friends are hysterical with physical pain and emotional pain
HORROR: Torture – injured, debilitated, see another killed
The thrilling escape from death
One friend “accidentally forgives” another and released from the painting
HORROR: Torture / Tormented
REACTION: Escape
Death returns to take one or more.
The spirit places one of the friends in a “Force-like” chokehold and demands a confession but doesnt confess and dies
HORROR: Torture – physically tortured
REACTION: FIGHT
Resolution
The artist and the other friends see the lights change, people in the gallery – returned to normal and leave stunned and broken
HORROR: paranoia – unknown motive
REACTION: Try to solve it
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<b data-pm-slice=”1 4 []” data-en-clipboard=”true”>This lesson helped me get the ideas out of my head but return to really get the essence of the story and remove all the flotsam and jetsam, so that I could just trust the process here!
<b data-pm-slice=”1 4 []” data-en-clipboard=”true” style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Concept:
A haunted supernatural painting terrorises people who are deceitful but offers redemption if they confess all sins and gain forgiveness from the people they’ve wronged.
<b data-pm-slice=”1 4 []” data-en-clipboard=”true” style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Rad White’s edited HORROR PLOT
<b data-pm-slice=”1 4 []” data-en-clipboard=”true”>ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established
Family goes to a modern art gallery and the mother and father are psychologically and physically tortured by a haunting painting and killed leaving behind two orphaned children
Connect with the characters
Group of friends outside the gallery at a nearby cafe, taking pics of their food, instagramming, TikTokking & messaging everyone, some laughter.
Denial of Horror
They all end up going inside and do some viewing and scope for paintings to throw soup on and that they wont get into any trouble. [DECEPTIVE: LURED INTO THE HORROR]
Safety taken away
The leader somehow disappears and they cant seem to find him and they panic a little stressed
The characters are warned not to do it.
One of the group, the artist warns the friends group that they should just get the hell out because he has a bad feeling about the place.
Monster: The nature of the beast.
The painting appears to look liquid, shimmering, attracting the attention of the group who go over to look and see the dead Mother and Father from the opening scene
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
The leader is trapped in a paintingthe friends are trapped in the gallery
One of us killed
The Leader is killed and one of the friends at the same time for not forgiving
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought! <<The WOKE FRIENDS ARE THE MONSTERS>>
Full pursuit by the killer
The spirit starts to pull each person into the painting one at a time
Terrorized
Ultimatum given, confessions made, bonds and bridges destroyed bt friends
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death
Forced to watch their friends be physically & emotionally tortured
Hysteria
The friends are hysterical with physical pain and emotional pain
The thrilling escape from death
One friend “accidentally forgives” another
Theyre released from the painting
Death returns to take one or more.
The spirit places one of the friends in a “Force-like” chokehold and demands a confession but doesnt confess and dies
Resolution
The artist and the other friends see the lights change, people in the gallery – returned to normal and leave stunned and broken
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Rad White’s Horror Plot
What I learned:
The process we are working too is amazing and it’s really just a matter of submitting to the process and that then allows the thoughts and writing to flow.
<b data-pm-slice=”1 4 []” data-en-clipboard=”true”>ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established
While wholesome families visits the art gallery, the mother is sending instagram-esque images and videos to her followers, using her family as props for her stories but emotionally neglecting her family.
A strange painting depicting medieval violence on the wall sucks her entire family into the painting.
She receives a DM from her husband/daughter saying “Help!” Mom looks around and a text exchange ensues and she tells the Mom she has to confess her sins of the past, so they can be freed, which sh cant do and she has to watch as her family are mercilessly killed in the style of the violent painting.
After the family is killed, the mother is killed the same way..but in the gallery.
MAYBE JUST THE MUM, NOT THE FAMILY and THEY MUST CONFESS TO ESCAPE THE PAINTING.
Connect with the characters
Group of friends outside the gallery at a nearby cafe, taking pics of their food, gramming & messaging everyone, some laughter.
The characters are warned not to do it.
One of them suggests there is a really cool gallery exhibition of patriarchal violence paintings they can fight back and fuck up with by throwing tins of vegetable soup on them – “totally grammable & F the patriarchy!” Another says “there is a supermarket over there, let;s do it and fuck these wankers!”
One of them says, “I dont know, we shouldnt mess with other people’s art, I mean the times have changed, gotta respect the artist, the way the world was back then is different now. We dont know what the repercussions will be if we mess with it”
Denial of Horror
The leader of the social group tells the artist to stop being a wimp and they are either for or against the patriarchy.
They all end up going inside and do some viewing and scope for paintings to throw soup on.
Safety taken away
The lights go off
They hear strange noises.
Its dimly lit and they look around but no one is in the gallery, and it is like a parallel universe.
They fumble in the dark to the entrance. No one is there and the doors are locked, they run around trying to find an exit but there isnt and they cannot escape.
A couple of the friends raid the cafe, stealing buns, muffins and drinks
Monster: The nature of the beast.
The leader gets dramitically sucked into a painting of her worst nightmare screaming and completely terrorised and experiences long slow painful torture
She given the opportunity to confess
She cannot bring herself to confess, we see flashbacks of the deceit / damage she has been responsible for.
Friends look around and cant find her but the artist spots the friend, being tortured in the painting calling the friends over to see their friend pleading for her life.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
One by one, each of the friends is sucked into different paintings. The only person not sucked into paintings is the artist.
One of us killed
One of the friends rips the painting off the wall and smashes and slashes the painting, disbelieving, however the torture continues of the leader and the others put the pieces together only to watch their leader friend get slaughtered.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
Just then,one friend at a time feels a strange force pulling them into different paintings depicting violence of their worst kind of fears
The try and fight to not get sucked into the painting
They can each hear the confessions of their friends and some are directly implicated in the confessions creating moral outrage and “internal” pain while they are being tortured “externally”.
The artist seems to be spared
The other hear the confessions and start to understand about what terrible people their friends have turned out to be based on their confessions to save themselves
Terrorized
And they can see each other in the paintings and after they have confessed the torture stops but now they are forced to watch their friends be tortured.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death
But then the spirit starts dragging people back into the paintings
The Artist who has been untouched by all this is trying to keep his friends from being taken again
Hysteria
The friends are hysterical as they are betrayed by the painting spirit as it drags them back into the painting, even though they had confessed
The thrilling escape from death
Some are able to run to a different part of the gallery or within the painting hiding from the spirit
The Artist screams at the spirit to leave them alone and throws vegetable soup on each painting and it stops the scene from progressing.
He then realises he can stop the spirit by throwing the tinned soups on the painting
The remaining friends are so grateful and hug and grateful
But then they are suspicious of the Artist and dont know why the artist wasn’t included and start to suspect he had something to do with it and they start to turn on the Artist
Death returns to take one or more.
The spirit then recovers and sucks everyone into a panting, except the Artist and they are all killed quickly
The Artist is spared
Resolution
Turns out the Artist was the only one living their life in integrity, respect and courage
The gallery resets, everything is back to normal, except the paintings has changed and now include his friends as part of the canvas paintwork.
The Artist walks out of the gallery into the sunlight as wholesome families start to enter the gallery.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
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Rad White – I agree to the terms of this release form.
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Rad’s Characters for Horror
What I learned:
Answering the questions really helped me disqualify what didnt seem to work with the concept.
Staying focused on the concept helped me to make sure I didnt move away from the core of the story.
As I go through each stage of the course, I can see the essence of the story get stronger and clearer. But I have to be willing to let go of earlier creative work when it no longer suits the story.
1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen.
THE CONCEPT
A. The monster/villain.
Spirit of a deceased once passive male artist painter who was humiliated by his wife and a fintech entrepreneur who had an affair that everyone else knew about except him and he seeks vengeance on adulterers and deceivers
B. The interesting terror.
Through people viewing his paintings, he detects liars, cheats and dishonest people and he steals the souls of the innocent people the dishonest person is deceiving and the only way they can be saved is through the deceiver giving a full and frank confession of all sins
C. An isolated and horrific environment.
Art gallery, within the frame of his painting, and within the deceiver’s own headspace
D. The people who will be terrorized.
The deceiver’s wife, two children, business partner, golf buddies, friends, his parents and the deceiver/adulterer.
The Group is predominantly SOCIAL GROUP of family, friends and business associates and some SINNERS.
2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie.
The characters experience the terror and survive individually / together, but Bentley / Brandon dies in the end….
3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.
The Carrier: Bentley / Brandon – the main character that brings misery and terror to everyone he knows through his deceptive actions
Innocent – Emma – Bentley’s wife – believes her husband is a good man and a good provider
Innocent – Ryan – Bentley’s 15yo son – knows his dad isnt perfect but has no idea how deceptive his dad is.
Innocent – Hannah – Bentley’s 17yo daughter – doesnt trust her dad around her friends as he is sometimes a bit “too friendly”
Innocent – Lynnette – Bentley’s mother – thinks the world of her son constantly telling him how good he is.
The Rescuer – Gregory – Bentley’s father – knows his son isnt as good as he claims but plays along to keep his wife happy.
Sacrificial Lamb – Alexander – Bentley’s business partner – is the harder worker in the business but sees Bentley as the brains behind the business
Friends:
Red herring – Nick – Bentley’s jealous friend since school who secretly loves Emma his wife
Monster bait – Pete – high anxiety depressed mate too scared to live
Introvert / Loner – Ben – friend from uni days doing well in finance
Rule breaker / Rebel – Parker – Bentley’s long time friend and local dealer
Golf club:
Innocent – Jack – golf club coach who plays with Bentley and Luke
Innocent – Luke – golf club legend & champion who plays with Bentley
Sinners:
Sacrificial Lamb – Madison / Nevaeh – Bentley’s secret love affair / interest
Out of control / obnoxious – Kaden – Nevaeh’s jealous submissive husband
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
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Rad’s Terrifying Monster
What I learned:
This exercise helped me strip back some of the complexity around the monster I was inadvertently adding.
The rules really helped me understand what the monster was doing and why.
Their Terror:
Torment the innocent victims of liars / cheaters / dishonest people by sucking out their souls and depositing them into paintings filled with their worst nightmares and fears
Then they act as the conscience of the cheater / liar dishonest person and show the pain being endured by the innocent victims
They pursue by causing the innocent victims to fall unconscious when they have viewed the painting in the presence of the cheater. Their soul goes into the painting while their body goes to the hospital presumed into a mystery illness / coma
They isolate by taking the innocent people into a painting where no one else can hear them scream or yell against their worst fears Their body physically experiences what their soul / consciousness is going through and ppl see it in the hospital but they cant be reached.
They isolate the cheater by becoming an aggressive conscience connected by cell phone or wifi coverage
The terrible thing they do is they punish the innocent people being deceived by dishonest liars and cheats
The Monster causes death by causing the cheater to confess which releases their innocent people who are then primally traumatised after hearing of the deceptions and kill the dishonest person who just confessed
Its inescapable because wherever there is phone reception, the spirit will be able to travel to haunt the cheater’s conscience to confess their sins
Their Mystery:
How do we release the victims from their worst nightmares and reconnect their souls with their bodies?
The cheater / liar / dishonest must confess all wrongdoings and dishonesty to release the innocent
Their Fear Provoking Appearance:
Iconic visual – “signal strength”, things we normally want in everyday life – a strong signal or wifi connection
The immediate full battery charge on your cell, a particular sequence of blinking blue or red light on all wifi connected devices such as a printer or router meaning the paint spirit has arrived
Any device with a light ie kettle, toaster, tv, heater
Electronic voice – like the ones ghost hunters use to capture ghosts speaking to them amongst the static and white noise
Their Rules:
He wants to show dishonest people who they’re hurting
The dishonest people get punished
It punishes them by putting the innocent victims of their deception into a coma but seizing the consciousness of the innocent victims into a painting full of their worst fears
It hounds the cheater urging confession and acts as a conscience now that they can see who they’re really hurting with their deception.
Once the dishonest person confesses all wrongdoings, the innocent are released by restoring their souls back to their bodies and theyre given the opportunity to cleanse their memory of the experience by killing the dishonest person with help from the spirit
Everything is exposed and on the table and the cheater is permanently punished
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
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What I learned:
This film was more of a thriller than horror, as hardly anybody died and was mainly about mystery, intrigue and suspense instead of panic, terror and hysteria.
The black goo was a great monster device but too much was spent on the relationship between mother and daughter, building suspense.
A bit of a disappointment to realise it wasnt a horror film after committing to it but there will be others!
Title / Concept:
Matriarch
Terrorize The Characters:
Main character is bulimic, alcoholic, drug taking, promiscuous and lonely but presents as “modern woman” in advertising.
Going insane, high anxiety, hysteria at home
Has an overdose episode
Contemplates suicide with a knife
Gets a call from long lost mother
Mother tries to poison, but unwittingly her bulimia helps her get rid of the poison
Isolation:
Lives alone.
Drives out to the isolated countryside to visit Mother at farm
Ran out into a paddock by herself
Death:
Man (Father) disappears underwater in a swamp at intro
Dead animal at driveway entrance of Mother’s farm
Mother dies at the hands of the daughter Laura – smashes head in with butt of rifle
Monster/Villain:
Self abuse – Alcohol, vodka, Cocaine, Casual sex, Loneliness
Mother trying to kill her but never doing it
High Tension:
Black nose bleed, anxiety at work, quit job, home, mother who she hasnt spoken to for 20 years calls and invites home
Mother screamed at Laura the main character when she was asleep
Mother in overcoat chants Laura’s name in her room again, slaps her face. Laura is unconscious from the water her mother gave her, drags her into the garden but wakes up.
Black goo festering in the greenhouse
Laura gets taken by a villager to the greenhouse
Departure from Reality:
When Main character dies from an overdose, black goo spreads across the bathroom floor into her mouth, which then brings her back to life.
Outside, she sees white milk coming towards her on the wet pavement and sees a woman eating a baby, but is a nightmare.
Mother hasnt aged since she saw her 20 years earlier
Black goo coming as period blood
Mother has black goo coming from nose and panics
Mother tries to convince Laura to “talk to father (black goo)” in the greenhouse and attempts to hit her on the head, but hides intention at last minute.
Mother is deteriorating from black goo in mouth
Strange stuff going on under Laura’s skin, and all blackened.
People drink black goo from her mothers breasts in a “church” service, then all have sex.
Tree in greenhouse is “Matriach” eating the villager
Matriacrch is the black good who is released by Laura main character somehow (not clear)
Laura takes herself to the marsh to give herself to the Matriarch like her father did
Moral Statement:
Taking life for granted when others would do anything to keep theirs going.
3. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great horror film?
Four locations – her apartment, her work, her mother’s house and the church. Great contrast between modern life and old life.
MY CONCEPT:
Working Title: The Creative Curse
Monster: Supernatural artist spirit searching for truth
Terror: Sucks people being lied to and cheated into being subject of the painting; they’re painted into and trapped in the canvas together with their worst fears of which they can’t escape.
Environment: Art galleries
Victims: The innocent people deceived by the Liar / cheater into the painting and makes them live their worst fears and the liar watches the pain they’ve inflicted until the liar confesses ALL of their wrong doing in which case the spirit then releases the innocent to carry out their revenge on the Liar / cheater.
Terrorize The Characters:
Having to face their fears whether they’re ready to or not in a truth reckoning
Isolation:
Entombed inside a painting with their worst fears
Death:
Innocent people die when the liar / cheater doesnt confess, also the Cheater dies if they do confess
Monster/Villain:
Artist spirit searching for and playing with perverse rewards for telling the truth
High Tension:
Why are these people taken by a spirit and put into a canvas prison? Will the liar / cheater confess? Will the innocent get out? Are they so innocent after all when it comes to seeking revenge?
Departure from Reality:
Being sucked into a painting, bound within the frame with worst fears.
Moral Statement:
Trust no-one.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
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Hi Cheryl, for some reason, Im not getting my emails for homework. Not in my inbox, nor my junk folder. It’s rad@radfordwhite.com – dont want to fall further behind – or is there another way I should raise this?
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Hi All,
My name is Rad White and Im a professionally trained actor in Australia who loves watching Horror films.
Ive never written a formal script before but have created a lot of story and character work, improvisations etc in developing good stories for stage or short film.
Im wanting to learn how to use the horror framework to create a (hopefully) good horror script for fun and hopefully for profit.
Ive worked in marketing and sales for 30 years and have just started a sales role at a video production company run by a mate who creates amazing documentaries and short films. True story – he cast me in a role for a short film several years ago, because he said I had the right “look” he wanted for the character… yet we worked out improvising that it was far more mysterious and supportive of the story if my character remained mysteriously masked for the entire film…!
Looking forward to getting your feedback on the work, and if i can help anyone, I’d be glad to assist.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Radford White.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by