Our chosen theme (circus)

Circus theme for trailer:

As a group we have decided to base our trailer around a circus theme, during my research I came across a story about a red room called 'The Monkey House'. A room based upon a carnival/circus theme, features of the story interested us and inspired us for areas of our trailer.

Relevant films to circus themes:

Clown released in 2014 is an American supernatural horror film directed by Jon Watts and produced by Mac Cappuccio.

It is relevant to our circus theme firstly from the obvious name 'clown' and the use of mise en scene, the makeup/props.

The film presents the circus theme very visually via as previously stated the makeup, but also the use of costume the clown like wig and costume.

It is a film adaption of the 1986 horror novel written by Stephen King. Alike 'clown' it is very centred around the visual aspects of a circus theme. Conforming to the common conventions of pale skin, curly hair and a red nose.

This visual use is something we will take into account, ensuring that our costumes present the theme well alike these two movies.

Another film that could possibly be used for inspiration is Gacy, released in 2003 was based on 'real-life serial killer John Wayne Gacy (Mark Holton) is the subject of this disturbing biographical drama.

 

The Monkey House story-(our main inspiration for our theme/film concept in general)

A ghost hacker was using the dark web, when one of his net friends alerted him stating he had come across something interesting. It was a series of black boxes, that when opened lead you down another web directory. He passed the information onto him knowing he would want to find our more, his net friend had got stuck on the seventh box and the ghost hacker wanted to do better, taking it as a challenge.

The hacker used ip address scrambles and activated his encryptions to try and ensure his safety and keep anonymity. He began to go through the different black boxes and try to break the encryptions, he finally got to the last directory and a link remained with the letters 'wttmh'. Out of curiosity he clicked the link and let it re direct him, he then realised he had entered through a back door, something which is very risky to do since usually only the site manager will enter through this. Soft creepy carnival music began to play in the background, barely above a whisper. The window read the words, 'WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE'.

A chat box appeared on the bottom of the screen, stating, 'welcome to the monkey house, home of all the thrills and chills you can imagine, some even beyond your wildest dreams, would you like a guided tour?'. He began to realise that this may not be a bot but a real person. Possibly the site manager tracking the traffic flow through the website. He stated he did not want a tour and the chat box stated he hadn't seen him round before, assuming he was a guest of a member of 'The Monkey House' or knowing he was a ghost hacker and toying with him.He told him of the 'special event' not revealing any specific details, and left a link.

The hacker knew it wasn't the safest option but wanted to find out more, so clicked the link. When he did a chat box appeared allowing the members and guests to talk and express their excitement for the upcoming event. A video box appeared and a countdown was shown, written in blood red text.

The video was a live stream and it began to play, a man dressed in a carnival type outfit with a top hat, cane and red suit was shown. He was wearing a mask, and stated that he was the ring leader of the carnival. A man was then showed strapped to a table with leather straps, he was wearing an elephant mask and attempted to be struggling.

The ghost hacker began to feel scared, however he did not want to leave at the risk of giving away his identity and finding himself in trouble. He began to hear cheering and clapping in the video, as if not only was it being watched live on line, but in real life, like a carnival. The ringmaster then told the audience about how last week there was a competition to see who would get to choose how the three participants would die this week.

A woman was told she was the winner and seemed very excited and everyone congratulated her, she then stated that she wanted the man to be slowly pushed towards the buzz saw, her wish came true. The ghost hacker couldn't look and felt sick, he could hear the 'participants' screams and the cracking and ripping of flesh and bones and said to this day he can remember the sound exactly.

A second victim was then brought into screen, a woman in a tiger mask. At this point he knew he could no longer take it and tried to escape the room, but he couldn't the script was preventing anyone from leaving, they were trapped.

He decided to begin killing scripts to attempt to get out, he thought no one would notice, but the second he killed a single one a separate chat box appeared stating, 'I was waiting for you to make your move'. He then found out that the site manager knew he was a ghost hacker and knew his ip address displayed was not his. The manager was also a hacker, and intended to find out who he was and his real ip address. If this happened the hacker would be in extreme danger. Out of fear he pulled out his computer and completely dismembered each part and then threw it in water. He removed all of his online activity and went off the grid for at least six months and was very careful to ensure the safety of himself, and those around him.

There are similar stories to this surrounding the dark web, no one knows which are true and which are not. However the great secrecy of the dark web would allow for events like this to occur, masked to the outside world. Making an disturbing, yet interesting inspiration for our trailer.