Final Film Idea

We decided to create a horror film where the protagonist is killed in the beginning of the film, but they do not realise this until the end. They live in their ouse believing that it is haunted, however, the so called "ghosts" turn out to be the new home owners and the protagonist is in fact the ghost!

The protagonist -
Name - Agnes
Age - 16/17

Similar characters in well known horror films that we will base Agnes on -
Grace from The Others:

The character of Grace in "The Others" can be similar to Agnes in our film. This is because neither of the characters realise that they are dead, and believe that there are ghosts in their house; but, in reality they are in fact dead.

Renai from Insidious:

We could also base our protagonist on Renai from "Insidious." Throughout the film, this character is positive that her house is haunted and is constantly seeing ghost like figures around her house. She often sees shadows and figures moving throughout her house. The cinematography and mise-en-scene in this film is very important to create a scary atmosphere.

Our film will be non linear. We will begin the film with Agnes being hanged and then the film will progress in chronological order of her living in the house as a ghost. However, throughout the film there will be constant flash backs to her death representing that she is in fact dead. Towards the end of the film, it will become clear to the audience that Agnes is really dead as the flash backs will appear more frequent and for longer. At the end of the film, the audience will understand that she is dead and it will show her being killed. To end the film, we will see the new house owners moving/living in Agnes' house, and Agnes either stood looking through the window or in a room as a ghost.

The beginning of the film -
The film will begin with a character (Agnes, but it is not clear to the audience at this point) being dragged outside and hanged. We will show the feet dangling to show that someone has been hanged. This part could be shown in slow motion to make the audience feel sad, or it could silent with music over the top for the same effect. The scene could fade to black from the person's hanging feet. Title sequence.

The middle of the film -

Agnes sits up in bed, as if waking up from a nightmare. She rubs her head, and a dark figure/outline walks past her door outside her room. She goes to her bedroom door and shouts "Mum? Dad? Are you home?" No one answers, so she goes downstairs, but her house is empty. Instead she goes into her bathroom to wash her face. When she bends down into the sink, the camera follows her and when she comes back up someone is stood behind her (see the video above at 2:25 for where I got the inspiration from). She turns around, but they have disappeared. She assumes that she is dreaming so ends up going back to bed. She could be talking to herself saying something along the lines of "my house isn't haunted" etc.

When she wakes up the next day, she goes down stairs to make herself a cup of tea, closing the door behind her. There is a figure in the back ground, but disappears. When she turns around her cup has moved and the door she came through is ajar. She has a flashback of the hanging, but it is still not clear to the audience that she is dead. She sees her friends staring at her house. She walks to the window, waving at them and shouting their names. They look upset but they don't see to have seen her. She walks outside into her garden but they have begun walking off. She calls after them, they glance around for a moment then shrug and carry on walking. Thee could be a close up of her eyes/face to show her confusion.

Agnes goes back inside, and into her living room. She looks confused. She sits down and begins to watch TV. She flicks though channels, and comes across the news. She watches a news report about a couple violently hanging their daughter. She has another flashback but it is still unclear to the audience that she is the one who is dead. There are figures at the side of her. She looks up at them and they disappear.

In the next scene a police officer enters an interrogation room. The man and the woman from the beginning of them film are there (Agnes' mum and dad). The police officer interrogates them asking why they killed/hanged their daughter. There could be flashbacks in the scene of them beating up Agnes and locking her in a cupboard. Again this could be silent to add empathy on the scene.

The next scene could be the hanging and it could show her parents getting angry at Agnes, so they hang her. It cuts to Agnes back home. She could begin to hear voices. She goes to the bottom of her stairs and looks up to see a little girl staring back down at her. She begins to panic and tries to go to her door to get out but it won't open. Whilst she's doing this she could be having a flashback of the hanging. She holds her head like it hurts. She looks at her hands and sees they're covered in blood. She remembers that she is dead. The little girl could say something like, "daddy, i saw someone at the bottom of the stairs." He could say, "what do you mean?" The little girl could say, "there was a ghost." He says, "there's no such thing as ghosts." Agnes begins to fade away.



The end of the film -
The family who live in the house now walk in with boxes that say moving on them.It's the same people who were in the previous scene. In the house, the dad could look outside and briefly see someone stood in the forest. But when he looks again they have disappeared. The film could end with a wide shot of a tree with a noose dangling from the branch.