Task 2

Task 2

In the 1800’s a town mysteriously vanished off the map, no mention of the town was made for the next two hundred years until there was mention in a journal showing the existence of the town. These documents led a group of archaeologists to the supposed location of the town, where they try to find the location of the town and unearth the ruins of the town. 

They find a large chest in the remains of the town’s church with a variety of documents inside. They showed the downfall of the town to some mysterious cult. It documents their arrival and the slow engulfing of the town as dozens of town members joined the mysterious cult. As this was happening children and, after all the children had gone, young adults of the town began to go missing. The journal of the priest showed that he believed the cult was taking them for a sacrificial ritual in order to summon an ancient demon. They didn’t succeeded and for some reason the whole town was burnt to the ground. 

Later on government officials found the remains of the town and decided it was best no one ever found out what happened here. They erased all mention of the town in official documents and swore anyone who knew of the town to secrecy or executed them. 

Characters

1800’s

Each character’s appearance comes from what people tell the priest, so it’s all down to his imagination. 

The Stranger

He was the first cult member to arrive in the town. He acted as a merchant for a time and became friends with numerous town members. When the other cult members arrived he started to recruit his friends into the vicious cult. He wears a big black cloak which covers his face. 

Cult Leader

He is the final cult member to arrive in the town. He is utterly merciless and determined in his goal to summon the demon. He doesn’t appear much, but when he does, it’s usually horrific.  His face is a mass of burnt flesh after his last attempt to summon a demon ended with his family and home being burnt to a crisp. He barely escaped with his life. 

Father Bartholomew

The main character in the 1800’s segment, he’s an old crippled priest who watches the slow take over from his bed. He only knows the information told to him by the various villagers. He is eventually killed by the cult.

How it would be done

I would like it to be done in animation as I think it would be the best way to get the feel of the story across. I would like the art style to be similar to Hellboy comic (see below, the story of how Hellboy avoided becoming an evil demon) as it’s a very distinct and creepy style. The shadows are amplified and the characters have distinct shapes, which helps them stand out from the dark and usually quite plain background. The animation would help to show each of the characters in a distinct fashion.

Location

The main action takes place in a town in the 1800’s (See below on the left, from Sleepy Hollow 1999. It would similar to the example given), it’s not a very wealthy town so there isn’t any well-kept or expensive buildings in the town. The colour palette is extremely limited with only grey, black and other dull colours. The only bright colour in the whole movie is blood. It almost glows when it’s onscreen. This is partly because the movie seems to be a tribute to Hammer movies.  I would like to keep this tribute going in the animation.  

Hammer movies

Hammer Studios is a British film production company founded in 1934. They were famous for their gothic horror movies which would be an inspiration for the animation. Its main horror series were the “Frankenstein”, “Dracula” and Mummy series. The “Curse of Frankenstein” (1957) was their first gothic horror movie and an adaption of the Mary Shelley novel “Frankenstein”. They tried to make their version as different from the 1931 Universal movie as they could and was notably more violent for its time.