Devising (1) - Stimulus Response

In this lesson we were put into two groups and given our stimulus. I am in a group with Rob, Lewis and Ollie and our stimulus is "Ghost Stories".

Our initial thoughts were as follows:

• Story telling -- Campfire Stories
• Stories -- Woman in Black // A Christmas Carol // The Hex Story // The Three Brothers
• Missing people
• War & Soldiers
• Mirrors & reflections
• Objects / items of clothing that are haunted
• Social Media -- Snapchat stories -- Snapchat

Developing one idea - Snapchat:

• Every time you open a certain snap, the screen goes black and the person gets possessed for ten seconds.
• Snaps play themselves
• Projecting live messages and videos -- This would look good but might be unreliable due to internet connection but the videos could be pre-recorded to avoid this.

Inspiration:

• The 2016 film "Lights Out" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnBWYvaDWKA -- Purely for its use of lighting techniques to create silhouettes and figure outlines
• The 2016 film "Ouija: The Origin of Evil" -- Idea of child-like characters, perhaps someone who believes they are younger than what they are
• The 2014 film "Unfriended -- was discussed to say that our idea of snap chat was similar to an already existing film. This made us more aware on how creative and imaginative we shall have to be to ensure that our idea is as original as it can be.

Ideas to include:

• Mirrors and reflections
• 'Magic tricks' - i.e. clever use of lighting / making certain performers soaking wet (in adjacent room to the performance room) to suggest they have been out in the rain) / proxemics with actor-audience relationships
• Sound effects / music

Thoughts:
I like the idea of giving our piece a modern style (by using the idea of social media) as it avoids the stereo-type of people connecting the idea of "ghost stories" to ancient stories or myths. I am finding this stimulus a lot harder than I thought I would, as it is so difficult to make an original idea as well as avoiding clichés.