GRACE POSTER DESIGNS - ADJUSTMENTS

As part of my peer feedback, some people suggested some adjustments that could be made to improve the posters.

Original

With adjustments

Original

With adjustments

PEER FEEDBACK - FILM POSTER DESIGNS

PEER FEEDBACK
After asking some peers for feedback on the initial posters I've designed so far, I have gained some insight as to what some people may think of my ideas.


POSTER DESIGN 1
A majority of the people I asked about this design, liked the use of the tree as a backdrop. They thought it was suitably creepy for a horror film and hinted at the English countryside setting.

However, people did say that it doesn't really provide much, if any, insight as to what the film is about. This could lead to some confusion as to what the poster advertises.

The tagline of the film received mixed reactions- with some saying it was good and some saying it was too long and doesn't relate to what is going on in the rest of the poster. Overall, people thought the idea behind this poster was good, but they didn't think it worked as an advertisement to my story.


POSTER DESIGN 2
This poster design was better received than the first one. People commented saying that they liked the way in which the tagline and title complemented each other. The inclusion of the bath gives more of an indication as to what the film is about- especially with the tagline. Surprisingly, not that many people recognised the tagline. I know the phrase 'Patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace, Grace is a little girl who wouldn't wash her face' from a children's story I read when I was younger, but not that many people had heard of it before.

People liked the way Grace looks in the poster. It suggests a supernatural element to the story, which was what I was going for.

However, something some people commented on negatively was the light. A lot of people thought that the poster was too light for a horror film and didn't reflect the mood of the proposed film. I will take these suggestions into account when I come to improve these bits of work.

People did think that it was an improvement over the last poster.

POSTER DESIGN 3
In regards to the lighting of the previous posters, people thought that this poster was a significant improvement over the others as the darker light of the poster better represented the mood of the proposed film.

Almost everyone liked the creepiness of the hand coming over the edge of the stone bath. Some people also commented on the bloodstains on the bath. They said this was a nice effect and added to the mood of the poster.

Some constructive criticisms that were mentioned include the following: the vignette (darkness around the edges of the poster) is too dark and not subtle enough and the writing at the bottom is too bright.

People said that the writing at the bottom of the poster made it look more professional- as with all of the poster designs.

INITIAL FILM POSTER IDEAS SELF REFLECTION

INITIAL FILM POSTER IDEAS REFLECTION

After producing these designs it is important to reflect on how well they worked as posters.

Tree idea

POSTER DESIGN 1

This poster design has an interesting backdrop with the large tree, which is equally eerie and beautiful. Its long, spindly branches are not uncommon in other horror posters, which means the genre of the film is fairly recognisable at a glance.

The red colour of the title suggests there might be an emphasis on blood in the film- as the colour red is an indicator of blood, violence and death. The fact that it is a different colour and size to the tagline means that it stands out and viewers' gaze is immediately drawn to it. However, there are some negative points to be made about the title though. It is situated over part of the tree, which does make it more difficult to read than if it was against the plain sky.

The tagline is relevant to the story as it is what the main antagonist supposedly says in the story. This provides the viewers with context.

The writing at the bottom of the poster makes the aesthetic of the poster more professional, as this font and type of writing is always seen at the bottom of movie posters.

Stone bath idea

POSTER DESIGN 2

This poster design has a different visual look than the previous poster, which plays to its advantage as it looks like more of a horror than the previous poster design. It is light and has a nice backdrop, which presents a dichotomy to the plot of the film. The plot of the film is quite dark. This fact can both be seen as a positive and a negative, due to the fact that horror films are supposed to be dark and the fact that this is light might put people off.

The inclusion of the stone bath presents a better backdrop than the tree, because, although the tree in the previous poster design has a fairly creepy look, the stone bath is more relevant to the story- as the main antagonist is said to have died in a bath.

The main title and the tagline of the proposed film has been tweaked a little bit from the previous design. The tagline is in a different font (the same font as the title). This creates a little bit more conformity for the title, which, overall, makes it seem more like a proper movie poster title. The word 'dead' has been highlighted in a red colour, which further indicates the fact that there will be both blood and death in the film- both of which are pillars of the horror genre, because they are both expected and essential to the genre. The tagline itself looks more dynamic than before, as the separate lines of the tagline are in different positions, which gives the illusion of movement.

The blurry, faded multiple Graces in the movie poster suggest a supernatural element to her character. I wanted to give the viewers the impression that there was something ethereal to her character to give the viewers some context as to what the film is about.

As with the previous poster, the writing at the bottom of the film poster provides the poster with an overall more professional look than without it.

Stone bath with arm idea

POSTER DESIGN 3

This poster has a completely different feel than the other posters. This different feel as been created by drastically altering the brightness of the poster. This has had the effect of creating a moody, dark-looking poster which better encapsulates the tone of a horror film than the previous posters. The lack of brightness of the poster makes it easily recognisable as a horror film.

Unlike the previous posters, this poster design doesn't explicitly show the main antagonist- instead it shows just an arm. This is both creepy and has the added effect of producing some suspense and, possibly, some fear amongst the viewers of the poster, because they don't know what the main antagonist looks like. The arm coming over the side of the stone bath is a suitably creepy indication of what occurs in the plot. This visual style of the arm coming over the side of an object is not unlike another horror film -'The Ring'. It was an inspiration for the idea of my story.

The dried bloodstains on the side of the bath are very subtle, which creates the notion that something awful happened at the site of this bath. It provides the viewers, again, with some context as to what the plot is about- without giving too much away about what actually happens. This balance is very beneficial to a good movie poster, as it would intrigue viewers enough that they would want to see the film- which is the basic idea behind movie posters.

As with the previous poster, the writing at the bottom of the film poster provides the poster with an overall more professional look than without it.

GRACE FILM POSTERS

INITIAL FILM POSTER IDEAS

After taking some photographs at Polesdon Lacey, I have produced some initial movie poster designs for my proposed film idea.

Tree idea

Stone bath idea

Stone bath with arm idea

GRACE INITIAL MUSINGS

INITIAL PITCH
For one of my interviews for university, I was asked to bring a screenplay pitch to demonstrate my creativity. I chose to write a small pitch about this horror film idea, revolving around a girl called Grace who drowned and came back to haunt her old home. The pitch is as follows:

It’s a supernatural horror focusing on the conflict between a newly-wed couple and a vengeful spirit of a drowned girl.

In a semi-rural English town, a newly-wed couple move into a new home to start a new chapter in their lives. They soon discover that the house is not all it seems to be, as it is home to a vengeful spirit of a young girl who is hell-bent on defending the house against its new residents. She was the daughter of a young woman who was left by her husband for a younger girl. This left the woman in an emotionally vulnerable state of mind, which led her to start to rely heavily on alcohol. Her daughter was neglected and mistreated and eventually the woman cracked and drowned her young daughter, whilst reciting the ‘Patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace, Grace is a little girl who wouldn't wash her face’. As she died a violent death, Grace’s spirit remained in the realm of the living to terrorise new occupants of her house. The couple have to somehow find a way to stop Grace, holding on to their humanity and each other as they do so. The more they investigate, the more truths about the house’s history they find. This leads them to believe that they only way to stop Grace, is by killing the woman that originally killed her- Grace’s mother, Heather.

From this initial pitch, I realised that I really liked this idea and, thus, ideas stemmed from this screenplay pitch.

INITIAL ROUGH STORY

From my first brief pitch about this idea, I created a rough outline of what I envisioned a finished film or story about this idea to look like.

A newly-wed couple (Chaz and Brooke Wilson) move into a new house soon after their wedding in order to start the next stage of their life. They are first seen on the road, talking and laughing whilst on their way to the new house. As they pull up to the driveway, those of keen eyesight can briefly spot a girl standing at one of the top floor windows of the house.

The couple unpack and explore the house. Apart from a few puddles of water, everything is fine and this remains so for the first couple of weeks of the residence. One day, as Brooke is taking a bath, she closes her eyes and relaxes into the bubbles. She hears creaking, so opens her eyes. However, she sees nothing so closes them again and starts to relax once more. This is followed by more creaking. She opens her eyes again and is shocked to see a little girl standing in the corner of the room. After the initial shock wears off, she settles down, but is noticeably a little scared. She asks the girl her name, to which the girl replies: ‘Grace.’ Brooke asks her how she got in to which Grace replies ‘I live here, silly.’ This confuses Brooke who tries to tell her that she doesn’t and that she and Chaz live there. This upsets Grace and, as she starts screaming, her face becomes greyer and she becomes drenched in water, with her mouth opening wider than should have been possible.

The camera cuts to Brooke opening her eyes, gasping for breath and sitting up out of the bath. There is water all over the floor and her husband is sitting with her, clutching her hand- clearly concerned. He says that she must have hit her head and gone underwater. Brooke tries to convince him of the little girl, but Chaz doesn’t believe her. She eventually concludes that she must have hit her head, even though, in her head, she knows what she saw. Brooke seems to be the only one who notices some strange things happening around the house and Chaz refuses to believe that there’s anything wrong. This results in a few arguments and puts a strain on their relationship.

As the days go by, both Brooke and Chaz begin to notice strange happenings around the house. They hear a child reciting ‘Patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace, Grace is a little girl who wouldn’t wash her face’ in the night. Whenever a supernatural occurrence happens (such as wailing, belongings flying of their own volition, etc), they are accompanied by the presence of puddles of water- indicating Grace’s involvement in them. The Wilsons call a plumber who inspects the pipes and find nothing out of the ordinary.

After this, Grace becomes more aggressive and starts attacking them during the night. They barely manage to escape and after a few nights like this they book a room in a nearby motel. They start investigating the house’s past and look through county records and old internet sites to try to piece together the history of the house. It’s there that they learn about the house’s sinister past. Earlier in her life, when she was in her early 30s and Grace was 7 or 8, the previous owner’s husband (several decades ago) of 11 years left her for another woman. This event left her mentally unstable and prone to aggressive outbursts of anger. She began to drink heavily and neglected her daughter. One day, she drowned her daughter whilst reciting the ‘Patience is a virtue...etc’ phrase. Chaz and Brooke are horrified and livid at their salesman, who neglected to mention this when they bought the house. They confront him at his office and he is apologetic and points them in the direction of the previous owner of the house- Heather Pastor. The Wilsons decide to pay her a visit in the care home for the mentally ill where she resides. They believe that as long as Heather lives, so does Grace.

Upon arriving at the care home, they discover that the woman (Heather Pastor) is wheelchair-bound and seemingly unable to move. Her mouth is agape and she can only make gurgling sounds (noises one would make if drowning). Upon further inspection, the couple notice a puddle of water around the wheelchair.

Suddenly, Heather’s body jumps up and violently assaults Chaz, all the while wailing in her gurgling voice. Chaz fights back, but is overwhelmed by Heather (who is possessed by the spirit of Grace). The nurse attending to Heather screams, which prompts hospital guards to burst into the room. They pry Heather off of Chaz and try to hold them back as the nurse and the Wilsons make their escape. As they leave the room, Heather tears the guards apart and flings their lifeless bodies across the room. During the fight, the nurse had managed to call the police. The Wilsons run hand-in-hand towards the exit, with Heather in pursuit- levitating off the ground hurtling towards them with one arm outstretched. They manage to reach the exit and fling open the doors. The police, who had arrived shortly before, start shooting- not realising who is coming out. Chaz is caught in the leg and falls. Brooke screams and tries to help him, but Heather reaches him first. Heather claws at Chaz a bit, before being shot in the head by one of the police. (The camera could follow the bullet as it torpedoes towards her head). Heather’s body crumples to the ground and, what seems like bathwater, gushes out of her body- indicating that Grace is finished.

A few close-up camera shots of the shocked police and couple could follow this. A monologue in Chaz’s voices starts in these close-ups.

Cuts to Heather’s room in the care home, where there is blood and water everywhere along with the bodies of the guards. The shot fades and cuts to the care home several days after the ordeal, where everyone is going about their daily business now the Heather/Grace has gone.

Cuts to people gently lowering Heather’s body in an unmarked grave- whilst Chaz and Brooke look on.

Cuts to the couple signing the papers that put the house back on the market.

Cuts to Chaz finishing off writing a note, as the monologue finishes as well. He leaves it on the kitchen table, for the next owners of the house to find. The note’s title read:

‘A warning

To whom it may concern’.

In the monologue, he recounts Grace’s grisly demise and warns of the possible dangers of the house- even though everyone believes Grace to have disappeared.

Back in the kitchen, Chaz hears Brooke’s voice telling him to hurry up. The camera follows Chaz as he leaves the house and meets his wife. The drive out of the driveway behind a couple of mover’s vans. The camera turns back towards the now empty house. Cuts to the front hallway, cuts to the kitchen, cuts to the living room (with each cut, a new room is displayed), as serene music plays. Cuts to the bathroom last. In the corner of the bathroom, those of keen eyesight can briefly see a small puddle of water.

Credits roll.

After the credits roll, Grace’s voice can be heard over the black screen reciting the ‘Patience is a virtue...etc’ phrase. After the phrase finishes, the screen cuts immediately to a close-up of Grace’s face looking out the top floor of the window.

'GRACE' KEY MOMENTS IN THE STORY

The rough outline of the story gave me the opportunity to pick out the key moments in the story.

> Chaz & Brooke arriving at their new home for the first time.

> Brooke meeting Grace for the first time.

> Initial supernatural occurrences, such as levitation & breaking of household objects.

> Grace becoming more aggressive in her acts of the supernatural.

> Chaz & Brooke arguing about the existence of Grace.

> Grace violently attacking Chaz & Brooke, leading them to flee the house.

> Chaz & Brooke researching the history of their home.

> Flashback to Heather drowning Grace.

> Chaz & Brooke meeting Heather for the first time.

> Heather attacking Chaz, the nurse & guards in the hospital for the mentally ill.

> Heather chasing Chaz & Brooke outside.

> Heather getting shot by the police outside the hospital.

> Chaz writing the warning back at the house.

> Chaz & Brooke leaving the house, as Grace looks on from a window.

LOCATION RESEARCH

LOCATION RESEARCH

Hatchlands Park House

When originally planning this idea, I wanted to use a fairly grand, old location- as the story is meant to be set in an old house.

For exterior shots, I scouted various National Trust properties as they all have grand houses and gardens, which would be ideal for the type of building I am looking for. I visited Claremont Landscape Gardens in Esher and Polesden Lacey in Bookham to determine where to take exterior shots. Another location I wanted to visit is Hatchlands (pictured right), however it is closed for winter.

Even though both these locations have grand houses, it would be impossible to take photos inside them as, at Claremont, the house is closed to the public and, at Polesden, photographs are prohibited from being taken.

CLAREMONT LANDSCAPE GARDENS
The first location I visited was Claremont Landscape Gardens. Here are some locations at that property that could work well with the story of my idea:

This house upon the lake could be the location which Grace
(the ghost) originally died. Instead of being drowned in a
bath, as the initial idea states, she could be drowned in the
lake.

This the Belvedere Tower. This could be the exterior of the
the grand old house that the couple in the story move into.
I could Photoshop Grace standing in one of the towers as the
couple walk towards the property.

The long driveway of the house creates a feeling of suspense,
as the audience can see Grace in the tower but the couple
can't.

As it is gated, the use of Photoshop will be required. If this
was used, then another location will be required for interior
photographs.

The surrounding gardens offer stunning views of the lake.

POLESDEN LACEY

The other property I went to was Polesden Lacey. As the following photos show, there is a lot more on offer at Polesden, than Claremont. However, both would be suitable for my project. Here are some locations at Polesden that I think would be suitable for my story:

Polesden Lacey is home to a huge mansion, which would be
perfect for the grand old house in the initial story idea.

As the house is so big, each angle offers a different visual
perspective of the house. The opportunity to produce a
variety of different photographs is very real.

One problem with taking photos at Polesden Lacey is the
fact that it is seemingly very popular with the public. Taking
photos will prove difficult with a lot of people walking around.

This is the front of the house. Everything about the house is grand.

The pet cemetery on the grounds produces a creepy atmosphere,
perfect for a horror project. In relation to the story, this
could be where Grace's body is buried.

The gargoyles and other decorations scattered around the
gardens help to create an eerie, ominous atmosphere.

Polesden Lacey as a variety of different grounds- including
a herb garden.

This stone bath is ideal for this project, as it is in an area
of the property that is often not frequented by the public.

In relation to the story, it could be the bath in which Grace
was drowned by her mother.

Overall, out of these 2 National Trust properties, I would say that Polesden Lacey lends itself the best to my project as there are lots of locations on the premises.