Task 1

Task 1A 

A narrative is basically a story. It’s a report of events that can be in various different forms such as books or movies or spoken. It can be fiction or non-fiction, possibly even a mix of both. The narrative is not always linear. Sometimes we see the past in the narrative through flashbacks, relating previous events to the story. Non Narrative is something without a story. Instead of being organized into a series of events it’s instead organized into alphabetical order or into a main idea followed by its supporting ideas. It could be an essay or a documentary of some kind. 

Examples of Narrative

The Seven Basic Plots

Overcoming the Monster

A person or a group of people set out to defeat an antagonist threatening their homes. An example of this would be Dracula, where a group of characters battle the Count when he arrives in England or Seven Samurais, where a group of 7 Samurai work together to defend a town against a group of bandits. 

Rags to Riches

A poor person gets money, power and such only to lose it all. An example would be Scarface, where an immigrant arrives in America and works his way up the criminal world and becomes a drug lord. It then goes downhill quickly and he loses his empire.

The Quest 

A group of protagonists sets out to collect an important object or make their way to a location. An example of this is Lord of the Rings in which a group of people set out to drop a powerful ring into a volcano in order to destroy it.  Another example would be any Indiana Jones movie. 

Voyage and Return 

This is where a protagonist ends up in a strange land, overcomes obstacles there and comes out with no reward other than their memories of the place. An example of this would be Alice in Wonderland where a ten year old girl falls down a rabbit hole and meets surreal creatures. 

Comedy

A light and humourus character who gets a happy or cheerful ending. 

Tragedy 

A villainous character falls from grace and it usually ends in death. An example would be Macbeth where a Scottish general is told by three witches that he will become king. After his wife beckons him to kill the king, he does only for it to lead to his downfall. Another example if Filth, where Detective Inspector Bruce Robertson manipulates and cheats his way towards a promotion. It ends with a colleague who Robertson abused getting the job and Bruce committing suicide. 

Rebirth 

The protagonist is a villain or a disliked person is redeemed through a series of events. An example of this is A Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas.

Inspiration

The Last Broadcast 

The Last Broadcast is one of the original found footage movies. It was released in 1998 predating the Blair Witch Project by almost a year and offers a similar premise to the movie. A group of public access TV show hosts are murdered in the woods and a documentary film maker tries to piece together the footage and figure out if the convicted man really did murder them.

The whole movie has an incredible build up. It’s extremely well-paced and the footage of the victims is very realistic. The narrator’s monotone voice and the interviews that were cut in with the other footage make it seem incredibly realistic. It was originally sent to me by a friend who told me it was an actual documentary and it took me awhile before I figured out it wasn’t. The realism of it enhances the creepiness by a huge amount and it only gets creepier and creepier as we delve further into the mystery. Sadly it’s spoiled by a god awful ending which ruins the rest of the movie. I’d recommend stopping before it ends purely to allow yourself to make your own interpretation of what happened.

This inspires the project with the way it’s filmed and edited; as a documentary. By filming like this it’ll both make it look realistic and it’ll allow me to present the story in a very accurate manner. It’ll let me map out the events beforehand and give me an easy way to track where we are in the story.

EverymadHYBRID

EverymanHYBRID is an internet ARG (Alternate Reality Game). This is where the story is spread out across the internet through YouTube, twitter, Facebook and other sites. It allows for a lot of fan interaction and allows fans of the series to help progress the series. It currently has more than 60 episodes and is ongoing.

It at first starts off as a series of health videos that a group of friends made, adding The Slenderman (an internet myth) into the background. This continued until the real Slenderman made an appearance. The group then had to work together to try and survive. The series has a confusing story, which would take up a lot of spare time to track down every part. This leads to a lot of confusion for casual fans who only watch the YouTube videos. A second account set up by one of the antagonists of the series (HABIT) also set up an account to send messages to the main character. The one thing that really makes the show good is the characters themselves. They are the most realistic characters I’ve seen in any of the ARGs and are all likeable, no matter how minor. Evan particularly is an interesting character, able to go from a funny friendly person to a vicious possessed lunatic in seconds.

The series will act as an inspiration for the scenes with the characters messing around together. It’s all very natural looking and despite their situation they still have calm moments. In a few videos they try to go back to their old lives and just hang out with each other but it rarely goes to plan. In “A Day with Green Feathers” the group goes on a hiking trip to try and relax for a little while. Up until the end it’s a very nice video with the group all having fun, this is until we find out that another character, Ryan that was absent was in a car accident (presumably caused by The Rake, a secondary antagonist). Another video in the series that did something similar was “One step forward, Two steps back” in which the guys try to help their friend relax only for his dog to be attacked and another confrontation with the rake.  

It’s common (and effective) in found footage to not have a full script only a description of what is being said in the scene. This is so that it seems more natural, with the dialogue being ad libbed and the reactions of people coming to whatever the other person has said.

Corpse Party: Book of Shadows

Corpse Party: Book of Shadows is the sequel/spin off of Corpse Party: Blood Covered which in turn is a remake of the original Corpse Party. It shows a variety of stories taking place before, after and simultaneously as the main game. It also shows some alternate versions of the stories. The original games story was about a group of school friends who, after doing, a ritual to preserve their friendship end up in a ghostly school. They then have to escape.

The game is tear inducing compared to the predecessor. Instead of being a top down horror game with RPG elements it instead plays as a visual novel, reducing player interaction. It’s separated into 7 normal chapters and one secret chapter which is unlocked by finishing the previous game. I think most of the chapters are god awful. The first chapter’s only redeeming point is seeing a character I despise being killed again, Chapter 2 is boring and pointless, Chapter 5 is mediocre, Chapter 6 caused me to claw my hair out in despair and Chapter 7 was extremely repetitive. Most of the chapters have nothing to add to the story, only showing us stuff we’ve already seen. Chapter 3 is the best chapter with us going back in time to the class teacher’s school days. It’s an extremely creepy chapter with lots of twists. When I first played it I hadn’t realised that any hauntings or ghosts had appeared and believed this to be a ghost free chapter. I was caught by surprise by the sudden decapitation of my character. My favourite character. Why must they all die? Chapter 4 features the backstory of a side character in the main game. She is a paranormal blogger who enters the school to try to track down her mentor in the school. She dies and becomes possessed by the schools evil. We play as her best friend and see the build up to her entering the school. It’s a very interesting chapter and both main characters are very compelling. Finally the secret chapter also offers an interesting finale to the main game. It takes place shortly after and has two of the main characters from the previous game trying to either resurrect or get people to remember the character who died (They were erased from anyone who didn’t go to the school’s memory). It’s a tense and creepy chapter as the girls explore the central villain’s former home.

The part that offers inspiration is chapter 4. Seeing the ritual play out and watching the characters gather information on the school. The way it plays out is similar to the way I have the story playing out in my head.

Misao 

Misao is a freeware game created through the RPGMaker software. It's available to download online and was created by a user called Sen. He also created another game set in the universe called “Mad Father” which is a lot more well known. Despite this I prefer Misao for a few reasons.

The story is similar to Corpse Party in that a group of students suddenly find themselves trapped in another dimension ruled by a malicious ghost (In Corpse Party is Sachiko and in Misao its Misao herself.). The main character has to try and save other students and then appease Misao's soul to escape.

The game is very cryptic. So cryptic to the point where I had to google what to do (Something I usually refuse to do). Nothing is explained and its more of a guessing game than anything with you being unable to interactive with anything due to one very simple reason. The deaths. They are so unpredictable it's actually hilarious. There’s actually a part in the game where if you wander past a phone, it will ring and your character will die of fright. There are some many unfair and unpredictable deaths that it'd be impossible to list them all. The game, again like Corpse Party, allows you only to roam the school with only select cut scenes outside of it.  It’s not a particularly scary game and the author was making it test what he/she could do.

The gives inspiration because of the looks of the other dimension. It has a lot of bizarre imagery and its bizarre sense of humour will no doubt make its way into my work.

The Elevator Game

The Elevator Game is a ritual that seems to have originated from a Korean website.  There are numerous steps and rules to the game. A rough translation will be posted below;

“You must be in a 10+ story building and in the elevator alone. If someone is in the elevator with you, it won't work.

1. Get on the elevator on the 1st floor.
2. Press 4 and when you reach the 4th floor, don't get out and press 2.
3. When you reach 2nd floor, press 6.
4. When you reach 6th floor, press 2.
5. When you reach 2nd floor, press 10.
6. When you reach 10th floor, press 5.
7. When you reach the 5th floor, a girl will come in. That woman is not human. Don't talk or look at the girl. If you do, she'll take you away.
8. Press 1, and if the elevator instead starts going up to the 10th floor, then you have succeeded. You will have reached another world where there is no one except you.
9. If you get off at the 10th floor, the girl will ask, "Where are you going?" But don't answer.

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To return:
1. If the woman doesn't get on AND if you don't get off at the 10th floor.
2. If you don't get off at the 10th floor, then press 1. If it doesn't press, keep on pressing until it works.

To return after you get off:
1. You must use the same elevator to go back.
2. Do the 4-2-6-2-10-5 combo again.
3. After you reach the 5th floor, press 1.
4. As you're going up the 10th floor, press some other number to cancel.
5. After you reach the 1st floor, check your surroundings.

When you return to your house after you faint:
If you were to faint in the process and wake up to find yourself in your own house, there's a high chance that you'll be taken back to the world again.
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What the otherworld looks like:

It looks the same as the town/buildling that you are from, but all the lights are off and you can only see a red cross in the distance.
There is no other living things there except yourself.
Some say electronics (cellphone, camera, etc.) don't work while some say they do.

Also, some say that getting back to the real world is harder for some reason.
You get disorientated and forget the elevator you came on, or somehow the elevator seems to get further and further away as you walk towards it.” - http://hakei1211.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-6.html

Silent Hill

The Silent Hill games are about various characters ending up in a small town called Silent Hill. They sometimes end up their accidently (A car accident causes Harry Mason to end up there), on their own free will (James Sutherland is there because he received a letter from his supposed dead wife) or unlucky circumstances (Travis Grady ended up there after running into a burning building trying to save a girl). The town is separated into three separate dimensions. The real world; which is where most of the characters originate from and also the dimension you spend the least amount of time in. You’re usually only in the dimension before you enter Silent Hill and when you first enter. It eventually becomes the fog world, which is inhabited by the various monsters of Silent Hill.  The entire world is dark and covered with layers of fog (Duh). The fog increases more and more the further you get until the game until it’s practically impossible to see. This world is full of wrecked cars, bloody corpses and the roads suddenly turning into huge cliffs. The otherworld is the scariest. It takes it’s surrounding from the psyches of the characters and envelopes them in their own personal demons. It usually has a factory type setting with blood stains and rusted metal flooring everywhere. 

The Three Kings

The Three Kings is a game to gain access to another dimension.  It’s similar to the elevator game. This is how you play:

“The Three Kings ritual could very well be dangerous, so you are advised not to attempt it. It is said that by performing the ritual, you can access a place they call “The Shadowside”. Its effectiveness depends on how closely you follow the instructions.

To play The Three Kings game, you need a quiet and empty room, preferably without windows. If necessary, you can cover the windows, making sure that the room is in total darkness. This is called the Dark Room.

You also need three chairs, two large mirrors, a candle, a lighter, an electric fan and an alarm clock.

The Three Kings Instructions

Step 1: Place a chair in the center of the room, facing north. This is your throne.

Step 2: Place the other two chairs exactly to the left and right, facing your throne. These two chairs are known as the Queen and the Fool.

Step 3: Place the two large mirrors on the Queen and the Fool chairs. The mirrors should be facing each other. If you sit on the throne, facing straight ahead, you should be able to barely see your own reflection in both of the mirrors. If you see your own reflection in the corner of your eye, just barely there, then you’ve done it right.

Step 4: Place the electric fan behind you, facing the throne, and turn it on. Leave it on.

Step 5: Turn off the lights, leave the door open and go to your bedroom.

Step 6: Put the candles, lighter, alarm clock and cellphone beside you bed. Set the alarm clock for exactly 3:30 AM. Turn off the lights and go to sleep while holding your childhood toy.

Step 7: When the alarm clock goes off at 3:30 AM, turn it off, get out of bed, but don’t turn on the lights. You have exactly three minutes to light your candle and make your way to the dark room to sit in your throne. You should be seated by 3:33 AM.

If the alarm clock did not go off at exactly 3:30 AM, abort the mission.

If the door of the dark room is closed, (remember, you left it open), abort the mission.

If the fan is off, (remember, you left it on), abort the mission.

If you are not seated on your throne by exactly 3:33 AM, abort the mission.

If you have to abort the mission, leave the house immediately. After 4:44 AM, it is safe to return.

If all is going as planned, you can proceed with the ritual. Sit down in your throne. Look straight ahead and stare into the darkness. DO NOT look at the mirrors.

I won’t spoil what happens next. All you need to know is that you won’t be alone. If you have questions, you will get answers. Sometimes those answers will come in the form of new questions.

Whatever you do, make sure you DO NOT look directly at the mirrors or the candle. Just stare straight ahead. Don’t chicken out either. You need to stay seated until 4:44 AM. Just stay still and try not to move. It’s okay to tremble a little bit. You need to stay seated for at least 1 hour and 11 minutes.

I didn’t specify which chair was the Queen and which chair was the Fool. That’s because it’s your job to find out. Also, from their point of view, you are either their queen or their fool too. Hence the name, Three Kings.

DO NOT let the candle go out or the ritual will end. This is a backup measure to protect you. Remember, the fan is behind you. Your body is between the fan and the candle. If your body was suddenly moved or dragged out of the chair, the fan would immediately blow out the candle. That backup measure may save your life.

To end the ritual, you can blow out the candle at 4:44 AM.

If the candle goes out before 4:44 AM, you’re on your own…

Be safe. Don’t play this game.”

-          http://www.scaryforkids.com/three-kings/

Despite the games warning I am totally going to try playing it. 

From Beyond

From Beyond is a 1986 lovecraftian horror movie based off a story of the same name by H.P Lovecraft.  It’s about a couple of scientists who create a machine meant to stimulate the pineal gland. It has the side effect of letting people see creatures from an alternate dimension. The movie deals with one of the scientists (The other was killed), a Doctor and a detective returns to the house to prove the first scientists innocence after he was convicted for the death of the first scientist.