This blog analyses the first of many personal explorations into how the life experiences of an individual can be personified and translated into entertaining horror fiction.
It looks at how the story came to be, where the inspiration was drawn from, outlines the film's plot and breaks down how the personal experience of my client was infused into the story's DNA through the theme, inciting incident and setting.
Origins
Recently my girlfriend expressed an interest in making a short film sometime during the year, when she brought it up to me I suggested I could write something for her and she outlined some very tough limitations to follow.
She wanted the film to be focused on just one or two people, preferably something simple to film (with no need for extravagant locations, costumes, props or anything of that sort).
These are very tough limitations to place on a writer because it is keeping the filming in mind first, the restrictions prevent certain story potential from coming to fruition, however, this type of limiting does often result in very tight and focused stories.
External Inspiration
The first film I thought of as an artist model was the Danish movie from 2018 called The Guilty.
The entire run-time of this feature film stays on a single location with one man making a series of phone calls and remains engaging throughout by using dialogue and sound design that paints a picture in the viewer's mind, while also having a strong thematic throughline that makes the film feel more pertinent than just its effective use of suspense.
The main thing I took away from this film when watching it was that giving a film a central message or by exploring a specific idea, that in some way affects the progression of the character(s), you can make a contained thriller feel much more impactful and fulfilling than if it lacks this element. I have seen quite a lot of contained thrillers (some of which I explored in my Screenwriting blog last year: https://bomyburgh2again.blogspot.com/search/label/BSA204) and the biggest drawback that they usually have is that they feel inconsequential and become forgettable by the time the credits roll. Suspense and tension can only be stretched that far before an audience becomes desensitized and they need something more concrete to latch on to.
Going into making this short story isn't the same as writing a feature, but its a skill worth practicing and can make a short film similarly more important than its confined nature.
The film also supports itself by changing the cinematography at key points in the story, mirroring the characters' development.
So what I want to take away from this artist model before starting the writing process:
- Inform your story with a thematic throughline, something that affects the characters and forces them to change before the end.
- Suspense can only be entertaining for so long, the story needs to subvert, update or change to keep an audience engaged.
- Mirror the characters' development through a change in imagery.
Personalization
I wanted to play the story to the strengths of Marcella's (my girlfriend) situation, having visited her in Germany over the Christmas break, I knew what kind of locations she had access to and even the possible talent.
The talent was probably how I came to finding a narrative foundation, thinking that in her current situation she might just use her sister as an actress (the girl is into drama and Marcella's other friends - who fit the same kinda description anyway - are quite spread out over the country and not that easily accessible).
This spawned the idea of making it a story about a schoolgirl journeying to visit her older sister, who studies away from home.
Logline
A girl goes to visit her older sister and finds that she might have changed more than she could have imagined during her time studying.
Work in Progress
The sounds of a tram stopping and people getting out over the black, small wheels on cobblestones can be heard as we transition from the darkness to the image of a girl walking, her feet carrying her surely from the cobbles onto the dirt of a park as her bag follows behind.
She has her phone in hand, a message pops up on the screen. She says she has just arrived and asks for the apartment number again, someone named Kat replies and she makes her way to a house. She also gets a message saying what the keycode to the flat is.
(Our protagonist who we are calling Olive, calls her Mother straight off the train, she talks to her mother whilst simultaneously texting her older sister (Kat) to make sure of the address and notify of her arrival.
She calls her mum and says that she has arrived, she texts this to her sister as well, the mother says thank goodness that she is safe, and the sister sends an excited emoji thing, saying she’s gonna love it.
The mother asks where she is now, and Olive texts the sister asking if she has the address right (she gets it wrong by one number and the sister corrects her), , sister asks where she is now, in the text she also mentions that she’s just calling their mum. She tells her mum that she just got off and is going towards the apartment, the mum asks her if she knows where it is and she says she just asked the sister again. The mother is surprised asking if the sister is there and asks if she can talk to her, she says no and that she’s in the process of texting her.
The mother asks how she’s talking and texting at the same time, goes too far, assuming she has two phones and asks in which hand she has her bag, she explains that she is using headphones and has her bag in her right hand (its actually her left).
The mother asks when the sister will be home and the sister asks her via text, the mother starts immediately complaining that she shouldn’t have been so irresponsible with Olive and the sister replies saying when she’ll be home, Olive covers for her saying she did say and that she would be home at 8 (or whatever she texts).
The mother says she is worried for Kat and wants Olive to make sure she’s okay, she says of course she will and that her mother had already asked that like 15 times, the mum scolds her for talking back saying she shouldn't be acting like Kat now that she’s away from home as well. Olive says she wasn’t talking back, just saying that she knows that the mum is so worried.
Kat is asking what the mum is saying and Olive texts back saying she wants her to check up on Kat, the mum is now asking her to just go through her things and check that she’s not sick or something, she is worried about and STD or something, with the kind of activities that her sister gets up to those things are very easily contracted - the last time she and mum talked Kat looked pretty sick to her. Kat texts back with a jab at how their mum just needs to get laid.
Olive says she’ll make sure Kat is okay, she’ll even send a pic of her when she sees her, the mum says thats good and then says to send pics of the house and her room as well, Olive protests, as she does this Kat sends a text saying that she can just chill at home and to just not go through her stuff (with a laugh crying emoji), the mum expresses concern about drugs and that she might not notice since they use very specific tools, Olive says she knows what a bong is and the mom is confused by this term.
Olive says nvm and tells her mom she’s almost there and is gonna hang up, she also texts Kat this, the mom stops her making sure she knows that she has money, in case she needs to eat something, Olive says of course she does and Kat’ll probably have some food as well, the mum says probably just cheap chemically infused 2 minute noodles shit and that she should buy herself something healthier. Kat texts her there should be some 2 minute noodles for her if she’s hungry and asks if the front door is open.
Olive says goodbye to her mom and has to go through a bit of a process to hang up, all the while texting Kat that it looks closed.
Kat expressed concern with a confused face saying its always supposed to be open.
Her legs are framed looking up at a big yellow building, made intimidating by its low angled composition on the screen. We focus on a pole in the foreground of a paper flapping, on it the picture of a young boy, the writing asks for help finding him as he has gone missing. Through the window bars we can see the girl approaching down below.
She goes to the front door and looks around a bit, confused. She gives it a shove, it’s locked. She texts her sister again, saying the front door is locked. A POV from someone looking down from the same window as before to where the sister stands in front of the door. She gets a text saying to try and ring one of the neighbours and just explain. She clicks one of the buzzers and gets a response, and older lady’s voice answers and as she describes the lady seems aware of her presence already, she lets her in.
She texts her sister asking where the house is, it establishes that the sister’s not home and still at uni, that she is visiting her and that there is a keycode to get into the flat. She says the front door shouldn’t be closed, but if it is to just try and buzz one of the other tenants. When she gets there it is locked, so she buzzes another one, the woman answers and sounds friendly, she seems to know that the sister should be arriving and welcomes her in. The young girl ascends the stairs, she looks at each door in turn, one has a wooden braid hung in front of it, in red painted letters the other proudly displays the number 5. She enters the code her sister gave her, there is a delay and then suddenly it unlocks.
She opens the door and steps through, her bag follows her inside. She observes the place, it is quite cluttered. She observes some decorations, strange kinds of paintings, which seem to have been made by the tenant themselves.
She puts her bag away and hangs her jacket, she looks around a bit, peeking into her sister’s bedroom.
Hungry, she decides to inspect the kitchen, and grabs herself some grub.
She goes to sit and watch TV, waiting for her sister’s return, when she asks her sister says to just use the laptop.
She starts watching some old tapes, which she takes to be her sister’s art shit (she tells her sister this and the sister protests claiming it to be embarrassing).
The first thing goes bump, it seems almost as if the place might be haunted, she sits back down, unsettled. Texts her sis and then the power dies.
By the time the power gives we have to be enough on the edge of our seats that it works almost as a sudden jump scare, and she can sit lost in the sudden silent world that now exists without the eternal hum of electricity.
She asks her sister about this, looking up every now and then, but not spotting the shadow that moves in the hallway as she just looks back down at her phone. The sister texts her that the power box is just outside the door and she goes to check, another message comes through, something like “I don’t have a tv…”
She can’t open the door and some things add up (mainly that she should have gone to the right), we zoom through the door to the other one with the wooden braid, behind it, somewhat obscured is the letter 5.
_______________________________________________
She freezes for a bit and starts to run back to the living room to get her phone, jumping over the loose chord from where she plugged in the TV. But as she enters the room a witch figure looms closes the curtain and holds her phone in hand. She screams and runs back - this time tripping over the chord. The witch follows and she throws over the rickety bookstand she saw before. She tries kicking the door and shit but nothing happens, the witch climbs the case and comes around the corner, saying she is welcome in, and some kind of threat, the girl isn’t having it and blinds the witch with her jacket. She jumps over her and returns to the kitchen where she tries the balcony door but it doesn’t help, she returns to where she found the sharp knife (or something), the witch crawls closer, grabbing the girls ankle, but dropping the phone when she cuts her. She picks it up and runs back into the lounge where she enters a closet and dials her sister - who answers and says that she’s almost home. She describes the situation and asks that the sister turn the power on again. The sister is downstairs and looking for her key (annoyingly), in this time the witch works her way back to the closet and taunts the girl by scraping the door, inside there is revealed to be a lot of children’s clothes. She panics and when the power goes on again vaults out, at full speed running towards the front door. She bursts out and falls into her sisters’ arms. They exit the building quickly and contact the police. Fade to: A news report where it says the witch has been arrested and pan to reveal the sister letting her into the proper house now, she asks why she didn’t find things strange and she explains that she thought the sister might've changed being away from college and all, she says not that much. They both laugh, pan further and reveal that the sister is actually into cannibalism or something. // They are already in the room and eating on the couch or kitchen, the younger sister complimenting her older sister’s cooking, and then the line and then pan down to reveal cannibalism.
A tram pulls up. A girl steps out, bag in hand, and walks down the cobbled pathway. She passes a wooden pole, under the graffiti there is a picture of a missing child. She texts her sister asking where the house is, it establishes that the sister’s not home and still at uni, that she is visiting her and that there is a keycode to get into the flat. She says the front door shouldn’t be closed, but if it is to just try and buzz one of the other tenants. When she gets there it is locked, so she buzzes another one, the woman answers and sounds friendly, she seems to know that the sister should be arriving and welcomes her in. The young girl ascends the stairs, she looks at each door in turn, one has a wooden braid hung in front of it, in red painted letters the other proudly displays the number 5. She enters the code her sister gave her, there is a delay and then suddenly it unlocks.
She opens the door and steps through, her bag follows her inside. She observes the place, it is quite cluttered. She observes some decorations, strange kinds of paintings, which seem to have been made by the tenant themselves.
She puts her bag away and hangs her jacket, she looks around a bit, peeking into her sister’s bedroom.
Hungry, she decides to inspect the kitchen, and grabs herself some grub.
She goes to sit and watch TV, waiting for her sister’s return, when she asks her sister says to just use the laptop.
She starts watching some old tapes, which she takes to be her sister’s art shit (she tells her sister this and the sister protests claiming it to be embarrassing).
The first thing goes bump, it seems almost as if the place might be haunted, she sits back down, unsettled. Texts her sis and then the power dies.
By the time the power gives we have to be enough on the edge of our seats that it works almost as a sudden jump scare, and she can sit lost in the sudden silent world that now exists without the eternal hum of electricity.
She asks her sister about this, looking up every now and then, but not spotting the shadow that moves in the hallway as she just looks back down at her phone. The sister texts her that the power box is just outside the door and she goes to check, another message comes through, something like “I don’t have a tv…”
She can’t open the door and some things add up (mainly that she should have gone to the right), we zoom through the door to the other one with the wooden braid, behind it, somewhat obscured is the letter 5.
She freezes for a bit and starts to run back to the living room to get her phone, jumping over the loose chord from where she plugged in the TV. But as she enters the room a witch figure looms closes the curtain and holds her phone in hand. She screams and runs back - this time tripping over the chord. The witch follows and she throws over the rickety bookstand she saw before. She tries kicking the door and shit but nothing happens, the witch climbs the case and comes around the corner, saying she is welcome in, and some kind of threat, the girl isn’t having it and blinds the witch with her jacket. She jumps over her and returns to the kitchen where she tries the balcony door but it doesn’t help, she returns to where she found the sharp knife (or something), the witch crawls closer, grabbing the girls ankle, but dropping the phone when she cuts her. She picks it up and runs back into the lounge where she enters a closet and dials her sister - who answers and says that she’s almost home. She describes the situation and asks that the sister turn the power on again. The sister is downstairs and looking for her key (annoyingly), in this time the witch works her way back to the closet and taunts the girl by scraping the door, inside there is revealed to be a lot of children’s clothes. She panics and when the power goes on again vaults out, at full speed running towards the front door. She bursts out and falls into her sisters’ arms. They exit the building quickly and contact the police. Fade to: A news report where it says the witch has been arrested and pan to reveal the sister letting her into the proper house now, she asks why she didn’t find things strange and she explains that she thought the sister might've changed being away from college and all, she says not that much. They both laugh, pan further and reveal that the sister is actually into cannibalism or something. // They are already in the room and eating on the couch or kitchen, the younger sister complimenting her older sister’s cooking, and then the line and then pan down to reveal cannibalism.
____________________________________
Big changes:
In act 2 Olive realises something is very wrong and loses her phone by the time the power cuts and she finds a young girl imprisoned in a cupboard. It turns into a race against time for her to escape with this prisoner before her sister gets back in time. The reveal is when the sister does actually get home we see that she’s in a different apartment. This transitions into the chase, where she shows her productivity with the things she’s picked up in the apartment.
Arrival and Set-Up
Mystery and build up
Race against Time
Chase
End
____________________________________
Metaphor
The movie is about how in Christian families our opinion of older siblings who have lost faith changes upon getting to know them, we learn that they are also just normal people and not the threat our parents might have led us to believe they are.
Key Emotions:
Chaotic Fun
Tension Builds; Dread
Suspense
Shock
Terror
It looks at how the story came to be, where the inspiration was drawn from, outlines the film's plot and breaks down how the personal experience of my client was infused into the story's DNA through the theme, inciting incident and setting.
Origins
Recently my girlfriend expressed an interest in making a short film sometime during the year, when she brought it up to me I suggested I could write something for her and she outlined some very tough limitations to follow.
She wanted the film to be focused on just one or two people, preferably something simple to film (with no need for extravagant locations, costumes, props or anything of that sort).
These are very tough limitations to place on a writer because it is keeping the filming in mind first, the restrictions prevent certain story potential from coming to fruition, however, this type of limiting does often result in very tight and focused stories.
External Inspiration
The first film I thought of as an artist model was the Danish movie from 2018 called The Guilty.
The entire run-time of this feature film stays on a single location with one man making a series of phone calls and remains engaging throughout by using dialogue and sound design that paints a picture in the viewer's mind, while also having a strong thematic throughline that makes the film feel more pertinent than just its effective use of suspense.
The main thing I took away from this film when watching it was that giving a film a central message or by exploring a specific idea, that in some way affects the progression of the character(s), you can make a contained thriller feel much more impactful and fulfilling than if it lacks this element. I have seen quite a lot of contained thrillers (some of which I explored in my Screenwriting blog last year: https://bomyburgh2again.blogspot.com/search/label/BSA204) and the biggest drawback that they usually have is that they feel inconsequential and become forgettable by the time the credits roll. Suspense and tension can only be stretched that far before an audience becomes desensitized and they need something more concrete to latch on to.
Going into making this short story isn't the same as writing a feature, but its a skill worth practicing and can make a short film similarly more important than its confined nature.
The film also supports itself by changing the cinematography at key points in the story, mirroring the characters' development.
So what I want to take away from this artist model before starting the writing process:
- Inform your story with a thematic throughline, something that affects the characters and forces them to change before the end.
- Suspense can only be entertaining for so long, the story needs to subvert, update or change to keep an audience engaged.
- Mirror the characters' development through a change in imagery.
Personalization
I wanted to play the story to the strengths of Marcella's (my girlfriend) situation, having visited her in Germany over the Christmas break, I knew what kind of locations she had access to and even the possible talent.
The talent was probably how I came to finding a narrative foundation, thinking that in her current situation she might just use her sister as an actress (the girl is into drama and Marcella's other friends - who fit the same kinda description anyway - are quite spread out over the country and not that easily accessible).
This spawned the idea of making it a story about a schoolgirl journeying to visit her older sister, who studies away from home.
Logline
A girl goes to visit her older sister and finds that she might have changed more than she could have imagined during her time studying.
Work in Progress
The sounds of a tram stopping and people getting out over the black, small wheels on cobblestones can be heard as we transition from the darkness to the image of a girl walking, her feet carrying her surely from the cobbles onto the dirt of a park as her bag follows behind.
She has her phone in hand, a message pops up on the screen. She says she has just arrived and asks for the apartment number again, someone named Kat replies and she makes her way to a house. She also gets a message saying what the keycode to the flat is.
(Our protagonist who we are calling Olive, calls her Mother straight off the train, she talks to her mother whilst simultaneously texting her older sister (Kat) to make sure of the address and notify of her arrival.
She calls her mum and says that she has arrived, she texts this to her sister as well, the mother says thank goodness that she is safe, and the sister sends an excited emoji thing, saying she’s gonna love it.
The mother asks where she is now, and Olive texts the sister asking if she has the address right (she gets it wrong by one number and the sister corrects her), , sister asks where she is now, in the text she also mentions that she’s just calling their mum. She tells her mum that she just got off and is going towards the apartment, the mum asks her if she knows where it is and she says she just asked the sister again. The mother is surprised asking if the sister is there and asks if she can talk to her, she says no and that she’s in the process of texting her.
The mother asks how she’s talking and texting at the same time, goes too far, assuming she has two phones and asks in which hand she has her bag, she explains that she is using headphones and has her bag in her right hand (its actually her left).
The mother asks when the sister will be home and the sister asks her via text, the mother starts immediately complaining that she shouldn’t have been so irresponsible with Olive and the sister replies saying when she’ll be home, Olive covers for her saying she did say and that she would be home at 8 (or whatever she texts).
The mother says she is worried for Kat and wants Olive to make sure she’s okay, she says of course she will and that her mother had already asked that like 15 times, the mum scolds her for talking back saying she shouldn't be acting like Kat now that she’s away from home as well. Olive says she wasn’t talking back, just saying that she knows that the mum is so worried.
Kat is asking what the mum is saying and Olive texts back saying she wants her to check up on Kat, the mum is now asking her to just go through her things and check that she’s not sick or something, she is worried about and STD or something, with the kind of activities that her sister gets up to those things are very easily contracted - the last time she and mum talked Kat looked pretty sick to her. Kat texts back with a jab at how their mum just needs to get laid.
Olive says she’ll make sure Kat is okay, she’ll even send a pic of her when she sees her, the mum says thats good and then says to send pics of the house and her room as well, Olive protests, as she does this Kat sends a text saying that she can just chill at home and to just not go through her stuff (with a laugh crying emoji), the mum expresses concern about drugs and that she might not notice since they use very specific tools, Olive says she knows what a bong is and the mom is confused by this term.
Olive says nvm and tells her mom she’s almost there and is gonna hang up, she also texts Kat this, the mom stops her making sure she knows that she has money, in case she needs to eat something, Olive says of course she does and Kat’ll probably have some food as well, the mum says probably just cheap chemically infused 2 minute noodles shit and that she should buy herself something healthier. Kat texts her there should be some 2 minute noodles for her if she’s hungry and asks if the front door is open.
Olive says goodbye to her mom and has to go through a bit of a process to hang up, all the while texting Kat that it looks closed.
Kat expressed concern with a confused face saying its always supposed to be open.
Her legs are framed looking up at a big yellow building, made intimidating by its low angled composition on the screen. We focus on a pole in the foreground of a paper flapping, on it the picture of a young boy, the writing asks for help finding him as he has gone missing. Through the window bars we can see the girl approaching down below.
She goes to the front door and looks around a bit, confused. She gives it a shove, it’s locked. She texts her sister again, saying the front door is locked. A POV from someone looking down from the same window as before to where the sister stands in front of the door. She gets a text saying to try and ring one of the neighbours and just explain. She clicks one of the buzzers and gets a response, and older lady’s voice answers and as she describes the lady seems aware of her presence already, she lets her in.
She texts her sister asking where the house is, it establishes that the sister’s not home and still at uni, that she is visiting her and that there is a keycode to get into the flat. She says the front door shouldn’t be closed, but if it is to just try and buzz one of the other tenants. When she gets there it is locked, so she buzzes another one, the woman answers and sounds friendly, she seems to know that the sister should be arriving and welcomes her in. The young girl ascends the stairs, she looks at each door in turn, one has a wooden braid hung in front of it, in red painted letters the other proudly displays the number 5. She enters the code her sister gave her, there is a delay and then suddenly it unlocks.
She opens the door and steps through, her bag follows her inside. She observes the place, it is quite cluttered. She observes some decorations, strange kinds of paintings, which seem to have been made by the tenant themselves.
She puts her bag away and hangs her jacket, she looks around a bit, peeking into her sister’s bedroom.
Hungry, she decides to inspect the kitchen, and grabs herself some grub.
She goes to sit and watch TV, waiting for her sister’s return, when she asks her sister says to just use the laptop.
She starts watching some old tapes, which she takes to be her sister’s art shit (she tells her sister this and the sister protests claiming it to be embarrassing).
The first thing goes bump, it seems almost as if the place might be haunted, she sits back down, unsettled. Texts her sis and then the power dies.
By the time the power gives we have to be enough on the edge of our seats that it works almost as a sudden jump scare, and she can sit lost in the sudden silent world that now exists without the eternal hum of electricity.
She asks her sister about this, looking up every now and then, but not spotting the shadow that moves in the hallway as she just looks back down at her phone. The sister texts her that the power box is just outside the door and she goes to check, another message comes through, something like “I don’t have a tv…”
She can’t open the door and some things add up (mainly that she should have gone to the right), we zoom through the door to the other one with the wooden braid, behind it, somewhat obscured is the letter 5.
_______________________________________________
She freezes for a bit and starts to run back to the living room to get her phone, jumping over the loose chord from where she plugged in the TV. But as she enters the room a witch figure looms closes the curtain and holds her phone in hand. She screams and runs back - this time tripping over the chord. The witch follows and she throws over the rickety bookstand she saw before. She tries kicking the door and shit but nothing happens, the witch climbs the case and comes around the corner, saying she is welcome in, and some kind of threat, the girl isn’t having it and blinds the witch with her jacket. She jumps over her and returns to the kitchen where she tries the balcony door but it doesn’t help, she returns to where she found the sharp knife (or something), the witch crawls closer, grabbing the girls ankle, but dropping the phone when she cuts her. She picks it up and runs back into the lounge where she enters a closet and dials her sister - who answers and says that she’s almost home. She describes the situation and asks that the sister turn the power on again. The sister is downstairs and looking for her key (annoyingly), in this time the witch works her way back to the closet and taunts the girl by scraping the door, inside there is revealed to be a lot of children’s clothes. She panics and when the power goes on again vaults out, at full speed running towards the front door. She bursts out and falls into her sisters’ arms. They exit the building quickly and contact the police. Fade to: A news report where it says the witch has been arrested and pan to reveal the sister letting her into the proper house now, she asks why she didn’t find things strange and she explains that she thought the sister might've changed being away from college and all, she says not that much. They both laugh, pan further and reveal that the sister is actually into cannibalism or something. // They are already in the room and eating on the couch or kitchen, the younger sister complimenting her older sister’s cooking, and then the line and then pan down to reveal cannibalism.
A tram pulls up. A girl steps out, bag in hand, and walks down the cobbled pathway. She passes a wooden pole, under the graffiti there is a picture of a missing child. She texts her sister asking where the house is, it establishes that the sister’s not home and still at uni, that she is visiting her and that there is a keycode to get into the flat. She says the front door shouldn’t be closed, but if it is to just try and buzz one of the other tenants. When she gets there it is locked, so she buzzes another one, the woman answers and sounds friendly, she seems to know that the sister should be arriving and welcomes her in. The young girl ascends the stairs, she looks at each door in turn, one has a wooden braid hung in front of it, in red painted letters the other proudly displays the number 5. She enters the code her sister gave her, there is a delay and then suddenly it unlocks.
She opens the door and steps through, her bag follows her inside. She observes the place, it is quite cluttered. She observes some decorations, strange kinds of paintings, which seem to have been made by the tenant themselves.
She puts her bag away and hangs her jacket, she looks around a bit, peeking into her sister’s bedroom.
Hungry, she decides to inspect the kitchen, and grabs herself some grub.
She goes to sit and watch TV, waiting for her sister’s return, when she asks her sister says to just use the laptop.
She starts watching some old tapes, which she takes to be her sister’s art shit (she tells her sister this and the sister protests claiming it to be embarrassing).
The first thing goes bump, it seems almost as if the place might be haunted, she sits back down, unsettled. Texts her sis and then the power dies.
By the time the power gives we have to be enough on the edge of our seats that it works almost as a sudden jump scare, and she can sit lost in the sudden silent world that now exists without the eternal hum of electricity.
She asks her sister about this, looking up every now and then, but not spotting the shadow that moves in the hallway as she just looks back down at her phone. The sister texts her that the power box is just outside the door and she goes to check, another message comes through, something like “I don’t have a tv…”
She can’t open the door and some things add up (mainly that she should have gone to the right), we zoom through the door to the other one with the wooden braid, behind it, somewhat obscured is the letter 5.
She freezes for a bit and starts to run back to the living room to get her phone, jumping over the loose chord from where she plugged in the TV. But as she enters the room a witch figure looms closes the curtain and holds her phone in hand. She screams and runs back - this time tripping over the chord. The witch follows and she throws over the rickety bookstand she saw before. She tries kicking the door and shit but nothing happens, the witch climbs the case and comes around the corner, saying she is welcome in, and some kind of threat, the girl isn’t having it and blinds the witch with her jacket. She jumps over her and returns to the kitchen where she tries the balcony door but it doesn’t help, she returns to where she found the sharp knife (or something), the witch crawls closer, grabbing the girls ankle, but dropping the phone when she cuts her. She picks it up and runs back into the lounge where she enters a closet and dials her sister - who answers and says that she’s almost home. She describes the situation and asks that the sister turn the power on again. The sister is downstairs and looking for her key (annoyingly), in this time the witch works her way back to the closet and taunts the girl by scraping the door, inside there is revealed to be a lot of children’s clothes. She panics and when the power goes on again vaults out, at full speed running towards the front door. She bursts out and falls into her sisters’ arms. They exit the building quickly and contact the police. Fade to: A news report where it says the witch has been arrested and pan to reveal the sister letting her into the proper house now, she asks why she didn’t find things strange and she explains that she thought the sister might've changed being away from college and all, she says not that much. They both laugh, pan further and reveal that the sister is actually into cannibalism or something. // They are already in the room and eating on the couch or kitchen, the younger sister complimenting her older sister’s cooking, and then the line and then pan down to reveal cannibalism.
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Big changes:
In act 2 Olive realises something is very wrong and loses her phone by the time the power cuts and she finds a young girl imprisoned in a cupboard. It turns into a race against time for her to escape with this prisoner before her sister gets back in time. The reveal is when the sister does actually get home we see that she’s in a different apartment. This transitions into the chase, where she shows her productivity with the things she’s picked up in the apartment.
Arrival and Set-Up
Mystery and build up
Race against Time
Chase
End
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Metaphor
The movie is about how in Christian families our opinion of older siblings who have lost faith changes upon getting to know them, we learn that they are also just normal people and not the threat our parents might have led us to believe they are.
Key Emotions:
Chaotic Fun
Tension Builds; Dread
Suspense
Shock
Terror
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