English
Listen or Die: A Tribute to the Accuracy of One's Intuition
Presenter(s): Taylor Holt
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of my creative project, titled Listen or Die, is to establish the importance of listening to an individual’s intuition in the format of a screenplay. Within this piece, I intend to elucidate this reality with terrorizing ghosts and ghouls that appear when the feelings of something being wrong are ignored. As articulated by Julian Holloway and James Kneale, “we are happier with the idea of ghosts as traces of the unknown or unknowable than as a kind of puzzle.” That being said, humans have a tendency of treating everything as part of a puzzle piece that can be solved by science. With the lack of scientific grounds, the significance of one's intuition rises, as does the threat of the ghosts that individual is able to perceive. In this piece, Bea is a very grounded individual who, like most of us, looks for reasoning over the supernatural when strange encounters occur. As these events unfold and Bea’s bad feelings grow stronger, the audience is presented with two differing views: Bea’s friends who are only able to hear the strange things around them and Bea, who can see the terrifying spirits. The combination of the two perspectives will lead the audience to a sense of discontent, fear, and near insanity as they read. Audience members will question their own intuition upon coming to the end of the piece when they realize Bea’s nightmare is not a nightmare at all, but a vision that allows her to prevent disaster by listening to her instincts.
Jump Scares-Horror
Presenter(s): Tatum McGovern
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of the short film “Boo” is to utilize cinematic techniques and psychological fears to create an effective jump scare. The goal is to create suspense through the use of sound, a dark setting, numerous camera angles, and video editing. Christian Gillion, a psychophysiologist points out that “when I make subjects anxious and then I startle them, the startle reflex can be increased by 100 to 300 percent.” By building the scene and focusing on the small details of the film, whether you are expecting the scare or not, it will be effective. Incorporating jump scares shines light into real life fears that occur today when we least expect it. Startling current events pop up randomly, like the Coronavirus, and distract us from our daily activities. My film provokes an emotional response as I capture an average day and then a jump scare appears shaking up the character in the film and the audience as they are not expecting it. I am using inspiration from the movie Lights Out as the director David Sandberg uses darkness and silence to create multiple effective jump scares. My film is intended for a wide audience of students and adults, in hopes they all walk away unknowing what fearful real life event could pop up at any point in their own lives.
In the Mind
Presenter(s): Cameron Pastore
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
My research project is a short story called “In the Mind”. The purpose of this short story is to research why serial killers are able to blend into society so easily. I will be researching common trait between well known serial killers and how that has enabled them to become the people they are. I have studied their background, things like their education, upbringing, jobs and mental health. I haves also studied fictional stories about serial killers and if they have similar traits to real life serial killers. My short story will highlight these traits and will also highlight a common mental illness between well known serial killers. The goal is to show my audience that serial killers can be hiding in plain sight and common people don’t even know it. It is hard to scare someone through writing so the story’s purpose it make people more aware of their surroundings and to make them question their every move. I will be using traits from Robert Yates and Dennis Rader to display how serial killers can have normal jobs, even some that serve the country. I will also be using Ted Bundy for his extensive education. The story will hopefully make the audience think twice before doing something that could cause serial killer to chose them as their next victim.
Writing a Horror Screenplay
Presenter(s): Thomas Rubino
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
My horror film screenplay follows a man and his internal struggle with identity, trauma, and memory while learning that he has been living a second life in his sleep triggered by a mysterious elevator. After switching from a short film to a screenplay, I started fleshing out my previous story but with different intentions. I wanted to focus on dreams due to a great deal of research I conducted on them previously. This research included topics of nightmare and dream production, brain activity during sleep, and trauma in dreams. The most prevalent research I conducted was on nightmare production, as my screenplay dives into the memory and psyche of the main character throughout many experimental sequences involving nightmares. The most important takeaway I found was that nightmares and their origin could come from almost anything that has a psychological effect on a human, like emotional and physical trauma. These concepts I found through scientific experiments and academic journals were significantly used to influence the script, as the main character seeks reasoning behind his nightmares. Stylistically, this script is influenced by Donnie Darko, a film where dreams and mental illness are explored and intertwined to create horror. The objective of this script is to scare audiences through multiple kinds of horror while telling a wildly experimental story that still makes sense. Some traditional horror elements that are implemented into the story include jump scares and paranormal components concerning the elevator (which is a critical element of the story). There is a focus on psychological horror throughout the story that is told through detailed dream sequences that are set to use kaleidoscopic yet horrific visuals. My purpose for this script is to propose that nightmares and their influences are more constructive than destructive, and can be used as a window to view memory differently.
Somniloquy
Presenter(s): Graham Taylor
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of this creative project, the short film Somniloquy, is to demonstrate the role of sleep, subconscious and the unseen in horror. The film uses the blending of sleep science with existential and psychological terror. The idea of sleep talking, and sleepwalking has been a subject of scientific scrutiny for more than three centuries. The high level of brain activity during REM sleep and during parasomnias are still not fully explained by modern science. The idea of the unseen threat in horror is a common device and heightens the tension by letting the imagination do the heavy lifting by not revealing the true nature of the creature. The film is set in one bedroom at various times of night and early morning to create a scenario that plays out in real-time. The antagonist in the film is never seen. Referred to only as The Speaker, this invisible presence is only active when Cal is in a deep state of sleep. The Speaker represents the uncertainty of the subconscious mind. The audience is uncovering the mystery in real-time with the protagonist Cal evoking the same growing suspicion and fear as the story unfolds. Throughout the piece, we follow Cal grasping the idea that something is not only lurking in his room and communicating with him each night after he has let his defenses down and succumbed to the depths of sleep.
The Imagination: A Short Film Exploring How to Effectively Inject Fear and Curiosity into the Audience
Presenter(s): Tyler Udarbe
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of this short film “The Imagination” is to explore how horror films effectively inject both curiosity and fear into the audience by playing with sounds, music, camera angles, camera movements, suspense, and jumpscares whilst blending in some comedy. The short film follows a boy, who is home alone, as he gets trapped in his own world of imagination. He becomes trapped in this world, forced to explore and face his fears. He will help drive the film as he turns every corner, opens every door, or walks towards darkness. The camera angles, camera movements, sounds, and effects will all work together in order to fill the audience with both curiosity and fear as the main character explores this unknown and mysterious world. In order to increase the amount of fear and curiosity felt by the audience, mysterious figures will also be strategically placed in order to make an effective jumpscare. Studies have shown that the most memorable horror films usually stir fear, curiosity, and sometimes a little humor into the audience; therefore, “The Imagination” is purely a film to experiment with multiple elements in order to build fear and curiosity in the audience while also trying to bring some comedy into it. Comedy will not play a big part in the film and will be occasional. “The Imagination” is expected to attract a wider audience as it does bring two genres (horror and comedy) into one film. This film is also expected to not be the same quality as professional films since they do have better equipment, experience, budgets, etc. Although there will be a very low budget for this film, “The Imagination” will definitely be pleasing to the audience’s eyes.