Context- Development of ideas

Our group decided to base our film around' The lottery- by Shirley Jackson. We also considered the synopsis about red riding hood, however we had more ideas for the Lottery film. The synopsis of the Lottery film surrounds a farming community that conducts annual rituals to ensure a good harvest. We automatically thought of the films Midsommar and Suspiria as they link to the idea of cults, rituals and witchcraft.

In Suspiria movement of the body, especially the arms is used to reflect the witchcraft in the film and the rituals carried out among the dancers. The movement was also a way of communicating to the audience that a spell was being casted. Our group thought that it would be interesting to show how we can express movement of the cult members in our movie through different mediums i.e through light projection, shadows to make the atmosphere feel even more sinister.

The Midsommar costume design is based on Scandinavian folk history. The main reason the characters in the film wore white with floral garland crowns is to symbolise rebirth and fertility in Swedish culture. Rituals were often performed in this attire. As a group we decided to take inspiration from midsommar and design floral garlands and dresses of our own. Theses garlands were made out of paper,leaves and string. I think that the use of white to reflect a sinister cult is much more effective then using black/red or typical colors we would usually associate with evil and fear because white has innocent angelic connotations so we assume that this cultish group is friendly, However fear comes with the unknown, so not knowing the intentions of the cult is much more sinister in itself. Our cult will silently catch its prey in the film.

Week 1. 13th - 17th November This page is part of the collection 'Part 2 Design for Theatre, Screen and Performance'.

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