Project Development

A screenshot from my project.

During the Development stage of my adaptation, I was sure to revisit the sonnet on numerous occasions, reiterating the mood that I was trying to conjure and the themes of internal conflict and external hostility, a man and his existential struggle. 

The development stage began for me as soon as we were presented with the sonnets. After watching some of the previous years' adaptations, I was inspired mostly by those who had adapted sonnet 100 and who had tried to grapple with its unrelentingly sombre tone. The Horror genre has never really been my thing, so that's exactly why I chose to take it on. There was a real emphasis on this unit to try something different, so- as I always strive to do- I took a step outside of my comfort zone and thought I'd have a shot at creating a psychological horror. 

After reading some analyses of the sonnet, and developing my own interpretation, (more on that in the contextual research blog post) new ideas began to emerge about how I might approach this story; it had to be in the night-time and had to deal with ideas of self-contemplation/loathing and a lack of contentment. My Character needed to be deeply flawed to get into the headspace of the poem, so there needed to be some evidence of past trauma; "Which hurt imaginations only see". I new that I also needed a catalyst for these feelings, something for which the protagonist could project these feelings, and I decided to bring a baby into the mix- an unusual source of antagony, it served as a juxtaposition to my protagonist, innocent and unflawed. The inclusion of a child in Horror is often deeply unsettling, and I was acutely aware that undertones of violence towards a child would be uncomfortable for most to watch- which is what made it so perfect. Creating a feeling of turmoil in a viewer is exactly what I aimed to do. Film should always be a reflection of one's self, drawing distinctions between the viewer and the viewed and manifesting a mirror image of our own realities. In this way, I wanted the 'feel' of the film to extend to the audience, a perpetual cycle of discontent; the protagonist projects his feeling of resentment towards the baby on screen; the audience projects their feelings of resentment towards the protagonist in response.

"For many, the meeting of 'horror' and 'children' is an inherent contradiction on account of the horror genre's stereotypical associations with violence, depravity and other 'adult' content being incompatible with the cultural construction of childhood in Western modernity as a distinct stage of life defined by innocence, naiveté and vulnerability" (Lester, 2023)

I had also thought of the idea of a wishbone, this would be the macguffin that helped inject the story with some vague mysticism, though at this point, I'd not thought any more about why this appears, or from who/what. It was, at first, purely a device that acted as a propellant to drive the story forward

This story is a tale of the troubled conscience and how this can begin to envelop and tarnish everything around you.  I thought of Robert Eggers 'The Lighthouse', a fantastic surrealist and psychological contemplation of two people battling when caught in the confines of a space. I liked the idea of establishing a feeling of 'cabin fever' and not being able to escape your own reality, the claustrophobic nature of your environment pitting the characters against one another. I thought about having the entire story play over the space of one night, establishing this night as the breaking point being reached by the protagonist but I was unsure how this would naturally reach such a finale. After my first tutorial with Kat, it became clear that I needed to weave more into the story than just "He's finally had enough of this baby crying on this particular night." I needed to establish who this Character was, why they were in this situation, why might they feel this way? These were all incredibly helpful signposts to further develop my story with greater precision and stronger foundations. Kat suggested perhaps building on the mysticism of the wishbone, which initially I was opposed to, but the more I thought about it, the more I began to like the idea of an unknown malevolent force playing God with the life of the Protagonist. I looked at Irish mythology and liked the idea of changelings- evil fairies who steal babies. This seemed like an appropriate premise that could serve loosely as a basis for the intentions of the force. I started writing in the abstract, plotting bullet points and ideas before putting this all together to create this short character brief. In its final state, this became a brief for myself and my Actor to refer to, to fully understand what the story was about.

Once I had written this, I knew that the story had to expand its timeline in order to be able to establish these ideas, so I started to work on developing how I could progress through time in a way that felt natural to the viewer. I had originally planned to have the protagonist waking up day after day, following the same routine, time and again, gradually cutting between shots at a faster pace. I felt in some ways this idea felt comical, and, when it came to my editing phase, I found this to be true. It felt too snappy and energetic for a slow-burning psychological horror. I had completed a frustratingly limited amount of storyboarding prior to filming, so many of the scenes were developed as ideas in literary format, so that they could be referred to during filming. You can view that file here.

An excerpt from my shot/story planning.

I also knew that I'd have to plan to integrate music and sound effects into the story for it to achieve its horror credentials. With the absence of anything explicitly 'scary', the soundscape would be absolutely vital to emphasise the tone of the film and evoke emotions in the audience. During my research, I came across a journal article that investigated the responses in viewers when watching horror, and how music can be used to elevate the audience response. (Meinel & Bullerjahn, 2022) Sound is something that I tend to steer away from, as someone who is largely focussed on visual language and storytelling through seeing, but I knew I wouldn't get away with it so easily through horror so began to watch films and take note of the specifics of the music; when the sound came in, how long it lasted, whether it was symbolic or a recurring motif. All of these things would need to be considered when it came to creating my own auditory landscape. I wanted to create a blend of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound that immersed the viewers in the space with a subtle underscore to begin, gradually becoming more disjointed and unusual as the story progressed and the protagonist became more unhinged.

There was a lot to consider during this development phase, but as with any other unit, it was the change in direction that made it enjoyable for me and bolstered my learning. Becoming familiar with certain tropes and conventions of the genre, and how some contemporary Directors are challenging these with by defying the usual expectations, was hugely interesting and it helped me feel as though my experimental foray could pay off. It's also positive that I felt encouraged as a viewer to broaden my viewing tastes and engage in things that I otherwise wouldn't have- many of which I have thoroughly enjoyed and have helped to shape or clarify some of the ideas that exist within my own adaptation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lester, Catherine (2023) “Children and horror: A contradiction of terms?,” in Horror films for Children: Fear and pleasure in American cinema. S.l.: BLOOMSBURY, pp. 2–2. 

Meinel, L.S. and Bullerjahn, C. (2022) “More horror due to specific music placement? effects of film music on psychophysiological responses to a horror film,” Psychology of Music, 50(6), pp. 1837–1852. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356211073478.