Faceless Ghosts

I got the idea for 'eggs' from a short story I read years ago, from a book called Oriental Tales of Terror, one of those super-cheap anthologies that I think I picked up from a car-boot sale or a junk shop. I haven't read it in years, although I think the book is kicking around somewhere in my still unpacked moving boxes. All I really remember is the faceless thing, and how much it freaked me out.

I did some googling the other day, and rediscovered some of the folkloric stories of the Faceless Ghost. The original story of the faceless ghost (Noppera-Bo) is spookily similar to the one I've just written, and I don't mind that, as I think that as it's a retelling of an old story, it fixes it in a tradition of storytelling and film-making (reading it back, it's very J-Horror), and because of that it informs the way I'll approach making, telling and designing the film. I just got The Ghost of Mae Nak on DVD, a retelling of a classic Thai ghost tale. I like these kind of Horrors, I think there's something that sticks in your mind about them, as they feel ancient, heartbreaking and invite lots of psychological ideas about memory. They are often kind of romantic in a way, too, and I think that adds to the appeal. I prefer that kind of horror in many ways to slashers or maniac chainsaw killers, they stay with me longer, and they also scare me more.

I'm thinking that I may go for live action for eggs, rather than animation. The more I visualise it, I'm thinking of places I know - the beach, caravan and cafe in the film are all, in my head, based on very specific locations, and I think that maybe it makes more sense to use those locations, although as there is quite a bit of destruction in the story, I'm not sure how I'd pull it off on my 0p budget. Maybe I should just do it and worry about the arson conviction later.

Egg Fear

I've spent most of today writing an outline for a new horror cartoon called 'eggs'. A while ago, me, Steve, Chris and John started to talk about making a portmanteau horror, basically an excuse for us to make some shorts together, and find a way to package them as a whole.

I've had an idea for some time about a little horror film called 'eggs', so when I came downstairs this morning to discover that all but one of the eggs I had had burst in the carton, I knew that if I didn't write the outline today, I would surely die, or at least become possessed by some unspeakable horror. I just wished that it had been a nicer omen, because I really wanted eggs for breakfast, but that's how horror works, it's no respecter of dietary regimes. Unless it's brains.

I'm a bit worried about the idea of a horror cartoon. In live action, despite the effects involved, we can sympathise with the characters that are being 'horrored', because they're like us, and they live in a real world, so the anomaly that visits them is out of the ordinary, and therefore scary (even in a made up place, like a spaceship, we understand the physicality of the world. In a made up environment in a cartoon, everything is an 'effect', so perhaps we don't feel as creeped out as we would if we watched a real person being scared... I don't know, and as I'm writing this, I'm going 'ah but what about thingy'. A few weeks ago, I saw the Pearce Sisters by Luis Cook, which has just won an award at the British Animation Awards and a BAFTA. I think it works as horror, it's grim and beautifully made, have a look...

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

I just ordered my new computer this week, so I can work on these new films at home. I'm well excited, and can't wait to get started on them. As i was writing the eggs outline, I kept thinking 'How the hell am I going to make that work?'. I've got a feeling that that thought will be bouncing around my head for a good few months...

The Boys of Horror

If I was on some TV talent show, I'd say the last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster. My Nana died a couple of weeks ago, and although it was a long time coming, and ultimately a relief as she was so ill for so long, it's still hit us all hard, especially after the funeral was done. On a positive note, Our Paul asked me to be the godfather for his new baby, which is brilliant, and has given everyone the chance to do awful Marlon Brando impressions, which is no bad thing.

So, it was great to go away last weekend and get my head together, locked in a flat with no heating or hot water in Whitby watching horror films with the Boys of Horror...

Boys of Horror embark on Whitby's inaugral manned Space mission. L-R: Matt, Steve, Chris, John

Whitby is great, and our flat was about 500 yards from the centre of town. We did all the touristy bits; got soaked on a boat trip, climbed the 199 steps up to the church on the hill, and me and Chris went to the Dracula experience - only £1.95 for one of the most shoddily put together exhibitions ever! That's not to say it wasn't absolutely fantastic. Imagine if you had a job lot of old mannequins, and some sensor lights from Wilkos. Then you decided to turn your tiny 2 up 2 down terrace into a leading attraction, you could build this show for about 150 quid and just watch the money roll in. It's essentially the key scenes from Coppolla's Dracula set up in different rooms, which light up when you go in. Nothing about the original story, Stoker or other interpretations, just a few dummies dressed up, with the added bonus of the ghost face killer from Scream jumping out at you (which I think was cut from the original Dracula) now and again, the worst Summer Job in the world.





As I said though, it was great, I'm going to open up my garden as the Honey I shrunk the Kids experience by leaving some Lego and Playmobils on the lawn.

The highlight of the weekend though was watching a rough cut of Steve's film, Mum and Dad. It was, even in its rough state, a great piece of low-budget British horror. I can't wait to see the finished version, as it's already so powerful and shocking. The acting is really good, and it doesn't do the usual characters for 20 minutes, running around for 70 minutes plus tacked on potential sequel scene, it's got strong characterisation and story developmnet throughout.

I also bought myself a Whitby Lucky Duck. I've decided to document Duck-related luck, to see if it works, and so I can get my letter in the window of the lucky duck shop.



Me and Matt have gone into competition to see who's luck works best - he has joined Match.com, I have bought a small piece of duck shaped glass. Surely my wishing on an inanimate object has more chance of bringing luck than practical life altering steps? We shall see...

Must get back to Whitby soon, there's still a fortune teller and a victorian photo studio I have to waste cash on...

The Blog of the Damned

I started a new blog today, The Blog of the Damned, inspired by a blog post by Bruce Mason on the PART blog.

It's called Blog of the Damned as a punning tribute to Charles Fort's Book of the Damned, his collection of tales of weird beasts, strange sightings and odd goings on. The Blog of the Damned aims to find and reblog the odd, spooky and anomalous aspects of the internet...

Have a look, and please contact me if you discover any ghosts out there in Cyberspace....

Rednecks and Wrongness

On Friday, Me and Chris visited the set of Steve's new film, Mum and Dad. It's his first feature and contains some of the wrongest things you could ever hope to see.

It was amazing going round the set. The art direction is brilliant, every room looks horrible, in the best way. We saw some shots that the stills photographer had taken, and they looked really good, even if they were pictures of hardcore gore.

It's weird the hidden places in a city though, the house they are shooting in is massive, and set back from the road - the thing is, it's about 300 yards from my house and I'd never even realised it was there. Maybe I should keep accidentally turning up at 1 o'clock, so I can get fed! - It was strange, I was stood talking to Steve in one of the sets, and John Turrell (one of the runners) came up and asked if I ate meat. I told him er....no, and thought what a strange question, maybe he thought the gore might be too much for my delicate herb munching constitution. About 20 minutes later, he returned with a big sandwich and salad. Bargain! At the lunch break everyone was sat in the garden having a lovely lunch and cups of tea, while inside the house was a den of bloody wrongness. It reminded me of that brilliant picture of Colin Clive and Boris Karloff having tea on the set of Bride of Frankenstein, with Karloff in full on monster gear.

(I just realised I've broken blog rule one here - 'Nobody wants to know what you had for your tea', but to be honest, I can't say anymore about the shoot in detail, because it would ruin the surprise/shock/revulsion)

I took loads of photos on set, but I'm not going to publish any, lest I give the game away, except this one, which I took in the darkness while Steve explained to Chris the workings of Dad's tool room with the aid of a torch...



I'm really pleased the film seems to be going well, and everyone is into it. You can find a detailed day by day account of the shoot at Steve's blog. I know Steve wouldn't ever say it, but I was speaking with Chris afterwards an we're both really excited and confident that Steve is onto something really good here - a genuinely good piece of British horror that will probably reignite some tabloid panic about video nasties! Which is great, because that's exactly what makes people go and watch...

Last night, in a moment of uncharacteristic spontanaeity, I went to Rock City to see Hayseed Dixie. They were fantastic, and amazing musicians. It was humbling to see people who play so well, and make such a brilliant racket. I always liked listening to Hayseed Dixie on the radio or whatever, but I worried that they were just essentially a novelty band, like a bluegrass Barron Knights, and that it'd get quickly boring. It didn't though, it was excellent, as well as funny and raucous - they kind of reminded me of a bluegrass Pogues, in that it was noisy, wild and punk as you like. Best bits - You shook me all night long, Walk this way, and I don't feel like dancin'.

ARGhhh!

When I was writing Digital Me, I had to stop myself including new things and ideas that seemed to pop up on the internet all the time thanks to some excellent blogs I'm subscribed to...

Throughout the last year, I've been stumbling on increasing mentions of ARGs or Alternate Reality Games, mainly through posts on Clickable Culture. ARGs are essentially participatory stories, which we access through layers of media simultaneously, eg, TV, newspaper ads, email etc. In a sense, I guess, they are guided versions of fan cultures, which have always extended, played with, and re-sited favourite shows. The internet has enabled fan cultures to thrive, through forums, fan/slash fiction, and often, in the case of ARGs it's hard to see where the fan culture and corporate product are seperated. I never took part in the Lost Experience, which placed elements of Lost in the real world, led by an online conspiracy theory that suggests that the Dharma initiative and the Hanso foundation are real. Over a period of 6 months, online and TV clues were seeded throughout the media, leading to answers to the meaning if the numbers. Dan Hill wrote an excellent article about it, Why Lost is Genuinely New Media, which describes the layers of participation in the programme and surrounding media.

I think we've always got involved in the wider stories in TV and film, for example, Doctor Who and Star Wars have long since had books and media set in the wider 'universe' of the story, and I remember ages ago some geeky friends of mine who would write, produce and film their own Doctor Who stories. The internet has enabled these communities to develop the stories further, and to create their own world in which the stories exist. It's like an over-developed version of water-cooler gossip, where we can all share our experiences of the shows we love. I think, as we prepare to lose the sense of communal experience that TV can offer as we move into an IPTV future, we potentially will need to create these spaces more. I remember when I first got e4, I didn't watch the Sopranos until it was repeated on terrestrial telly, because I wanted to talk about it with my non digital telly mates! It's a fairly obvious point, but it's not about the programme per se, but about a sense of community, something to talk about, something to oil the wheels of our social interactions. That's why spaces like Second Life and World of Warcraft are so popular, it's not just about the 'game' experience, but about the culture and community that grows around it.

IGDA have just released a white paper about ARGs which explain how they work, and why people play them. Although it focusses on a computer game centred view of ARGs, it's got lots of useful ideas and tips in it. It's easy to see the roots of ARGs all over the place, from Fantasty Football leagues and Celebdaq to the Lost Experience.

A few weeks ago, too there was an SL Future Salon podcast about alternate reality games which was really interesting, especially as the discussion opened up to wider ideas about what ARGs might be, and where they originated, at one point citing the cover art and freebies included with the release of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band as an example of ARG.

As I've been thinking about it more, I've been thinking about ARG as a perfect way of articulating 'convergent media'. Convergence has been a big buzzword that's been floating around for years and always seemed to be relating to the idea that I can watch a movie on my mobile as well as the telly, but I think it's become much more than that, it's become about the possiblity for participation and shared experience, through performance, telly, radio, blogs, games, whatever it takes to tell your story. And sometimes, it's not even obvious you're in an ARG, as the definition is so wooly (not a bad thing, either!). I'm working with John Newling at the moment on a project based around mystery stories in Preston Market. It's weird but exciting, as Preston is my home town, and it's been odd watching documentation of a huge piece of work on a market place that I spent too much of my youth hanging around on! Check out the website at www.lossofmystery.com...

I think this project has all the hallmarks of an ARG, but it's also coming from performance and visual art traditions. I'm thinking that ARG storytelling becomes a perfect stage for a 'theatre' built from all forms of media. I've been increasingly stumbling on links and ideas that seem to fit into the ARG framework, and I'm going to add them here as I go, and perhaps begin a new article for Digital Me, which tries to make sense of them. In the meantime, here's some links to good sites/articles about convergence and ARGs;

Clickable Culture - Tony Walsh's Blog.

Confessions of an Aca/Fan - Henry Jenkins' Blog.


In Real Life:
It's the last week of the shop in Nottingham next week, hence the picture above. It's a shame, because I've really enjoyed it, and it's so full of lovely things which I'm going to miss. I love sitting here listen to my Be Good Tanyas records and nattering with the customers, like an arty Arkwright. Oh well, movin' on... I hope Nicola is able to reopen the shop in Wales, cos it would be such a shame to just let it go. Oh, and I passed my MA with a distinction, which I think makes me clever now (scratches chin, adjusts mortar board). Steven is finally shooting his new film, 'Deliver Me', which promises to be a great lo-budget British horror, and is blogging his progress on his site - see Steve's blog on the sidebar. Read the whole lot if you can, it's a great story of how film-making works, and a great perspective on horror as a genre.

I felt the fear...

Yesterday, Me, Steve Sheil, Chris Cooke and John Ross went to Bradford for the last day of the 5th Fantastic Films Weekend. It was a great day, and we saw some great stuff, and heard some great people speak, all topped off by a great curry before driving home!

Steve's new film, 'Through a Vulture Eye', was on as part of the shorts screening, and there were archive screenings of 'The Final Programme', 'Theatre of Blood', and 'The Wicker Man', with introductions. - A sideshow highlight was an exhibition of original drawings, models and clips by Ray Harryhausen.

There are so many highlights to write about, but the key things that stood out for me were;

• The Harryhausen Exhibit - It goes without saying that one of the formative movie experiences of any child are Harryhausen's films. So it was great to see models of the skeletons, and clips of favourite moments. There qwere some beautiful models of heads from an old hansel and gretel stop motion project and clips of a king midas film I'd not seen before, which were great, with a much more children's look and feel. What was really good was watching a group of kids watching the shorts and loving the dinosaurs, which was something of a relief in our cgi soaked age. It's great to be reminded of how beautiful and effective stop motion is.
• Theatre of Blood - If you've never seen this film, you should treat yourself, because it's a pure delight! Vincent Price is an old ham called Edward Lionheart who exacts bloody revenge on his critics in the form of Shakespearean murders. It's so great to see a film where everybody is clearly loving their work, and acting up like it's the last reel of film left on earth. It's so good, and everyone is great in it, but Eric Sykes quietly steals the show for me, sneaking in comedy business all over the place. If you ever see it in the telly guide, ring in sick, and email me so I can ring in sick too.
• The Final Programme - I've never seen this film before, but the write up sounded great:
  
  The Final Programme is an unsettling slice of apocalyptic future shock that combines the talents of novelist Michael Moorcock and director Robert Fuest. Jon Finch is Jerry Cornelius, a sexually ambiguous anti-hero and playboy scientist seeking a vital piece of microfilm that can assist a giant computer in achieving the final programme: a self-fertilising, self-regenerating, immortal hermaphrodite, retaining all of mankind’s knowledge. With its messianic sub-plot and stunning production design this is a movie that is both of its time and ahead of its time – a psychedelic bad trip with a quasi Avengers feel. Bizarre ain’t the word.
  
  It was one of those great films that could never be made now; completely mad, but filled with it's own bizarre logic, and brilliant characters - my favourite being the three bumbling scientists. If it was made now, it would have to be a spoof, probably with Mike Myers in it. A while a go, Steve wrote a blog post called 'Fear of The Daft', about the fear that film-makers seem to feel now about going out on a limb and trying out mad ideas - funding has led the industry down a road of smoothing out the edgier ideas, and film-makers are seemingly forced to reference previously innovative ideas. None of that here! Robert Feust, the director of the film spoke at the beginning about the film and making it. He regaled us with great stories of how he got the film financed and how they worked around the constraints of a low budget, by coming up with ideas, not by calming his vision down. It was an inspiration to hear those tales, and made even better by the fact that he was a proper old school luvvie, and a bit like the old drunk from the Fast Show!

So, today, I'm inspired - I'm drawing away for 'In Spite of All the Damage..', working on the Bash Street kids - style project, and despite all the hurdles that the university where i work chucks in the way, feeling the fear and doing it anyway! On Friday, I'm off to a creative narrative workshop day in Leicester, as part of a group called NLAB I joined. - I'm really looking forward to it - the previous days I've been to have been great, and coffee is in constant supply, which is worth the admission price (actually, it's free) alone. I'll post about it later, should be good.