ALBA DIAZ GRACIE
the ghost of the well
Watch here.
Ghost of the well production process
​
The first individual project in year 11 as part of my GCSE Film and Photography Moving Image was an assignment to produce a piece of work to fit the 'ghost film' genre, based on the premise "I didn't expect that to happen". This was a solo project therefore I was in charge of writing, directing, producing and editing. The only help I received was from one of the other students who was my camera operator and he also did the sound for some scenes.
​
The story is about two girls who are playing around a well, Emily and Susan, one dares the other to go in it. The lid falls and Emily is trapped. i didn't have the time to make the full film so I made a shorter version as if it was a 'sneak peak' or a trailer.
​
I found a location with an old well, the issue was the lid could not be opened, for this reason I had to look for a location with a lid that opened. I maganed to find a drain to simulate the inside of the well shown in the wide shots.
​
I found the locations by asking people in my enviroment and then visited them to see how suitable or not they were.
​
Well used in the wide shots.
Drain lid used for the close ups.
This shot of the closing lid is a reference to the film The Ring, 2002.
Image source: http://thering.wikia.com/wiki/File:The_ring_well.jpg
The other location used was my house. It was ideal as my bathroom was perfect to film the scene where the ghost of Emily appears behind Susan when she is brushing her hair. The idea behind this scene came from me researching into how monsters, demons and ghosts can be shown in films, specifically how they use mirrors to reveil them to the audience and often frighten the main character. The examples I found are the following:
​
​
The Omen, 2006. Image: https://www.thedigitalfix.com/film/content/69280/the-omen-2006-remake/
Black Swan, 2010. Image: https://joshuaqnelson.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/decoding-symbols-in-black-swan-destruction-for-perfection/
The Ring 2, 2005.
Screenshot source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkVlC2WgEwc
I was influenced by the 'video tape' video from The Ring. I wanted a close up of the hair going through Susan's hair, she had to be doing something in the bathroom as it is there were the mirror is in my house and where she sees Emily's ghost, then turns petrified to look behind her expecting to find Emily, however Emily's ghost vanishes and her neibourgh has entered the house and is standing behind her. I did this to suggest that the ghost takes over the neighbour's body , this also occurs in The Ring 2, 2011.
The film The Awakening, 2011 gave the idea to blurr the face of Emily's ghost . In the school photo the ghost comes up blurry in an old photo.
Costume and make-up
The first part of the trailer is set in the past, the 1970's. For this reason I researched the style, colours and patterns from the decade.
​
The second part shown in the trailer is set in the present time (2012), the actress who played the older version of Susan any relatively modern looking clothes. In the end the actress (Hermione) and I decided she should wear a long skirt and black blouse with some ruffles.
​
I wanted to include a rare piece of jewellery for Susan's older character, for this she wore a similar piece from the one used in the ring.
​
Emily's character (Lila) wrote a white nighty to add to the 'ghostly look'. I made the nighty look old by putting dirt and mud on it and then rinsin it so the dirt marks were not so harsh but more natural and difused.
Visual influences for the costumes
Location still. In this scene Lila's lower half is not in shot, meaning she could wear trousers.
The Ring, 2002. Source: http://www.etonline.com/news/161645_the_ring_scary_girl_is_super_cute_now
I wanted Emily to have a ghostly apperance. I achived this by making her face and hands pale by using a water based grey face paint and by adding a darker tone of grey under her eyes so the apperance was more effective. I styled her hair so it was down and messy.
Storyboards
Examples of the shooting scripts
Shooting scripts
A floor plan for very useful for the shoot as it made me more efficient.
An example of one of the talent release forms
