Week 3
WHERE DO I GET MY IDEAS AS A WRITER?
I think what has always been most successful when it comes to filmmaking and storytelling within the horror genre is when it has stemmed from some sort of experience has that stuck with them throughout the years. Iconic horror director Wes Craven once said he got the idea of Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street from his experience with a bully when he was younger with the same/similar name. Everything else fell into place for the character, as Craven penned the nightmare element from the news of someone dying in their sleep without explanation, and finally choose the iconic jumpers colours as red and green next to each other proved the hardest for the human eyes to focus on.
For Wes Craven, the idea for the now iconic Nightmare on Elm Street was a product of personal experience and research. It is this technique which inspires me when tackling my short film concepts. I have always been drawn to the horror genre in particular, with the works of Carpenter, Argento & Craven having a vessel body of work for me to idolise. My point of view as a creative writer comes entirely from a place of wanting more Queer representation within the horror genre, and to more than just a passing side character who meets an inevitable death or an entire gay movie subjected to nothing more than a horror comedy playing too heavily into the camp. To portray real life stories but through the lens of the horror genre is my aspiration.
Personal experience and through experience of those within the LGBTQ+ community around me is what I will be tapping into here as a storytelling technique, using queer narratives and everyday trials and tribulations of the anxieties of being closeted or the dangers of gay hook-up apps. These are narrative points of view that are widely unexplored within the horror genre, and by telling these stories intertwined with a scary perspective is exactly the sort of scripts I intend on writing.
What would the fear of being a closeted married man and getting caught seen with another man play out like in a horror movie? How do I present the personal anxieties and paranoia of fear in a horror movie? What would that look like? How would I take a gay hook-up app such as Grindr and portray it as an extremely dangerous medium for people? Luckily, these are already anxieties that exist within the Queer community amongst many others, so for me it's about how I take these fears and turn them into an uncontrollable creature that lives within that can't be tamed, or a mysterious figure that follows you and comes for you. It's taking those ideas and inspirations such as Halloween, It Follows, Suspiria etc and creating your own unique perspective on classic tales.
How you make something unique (especially in the horror genre which is renowned for its overuse of cliche's etc) is when you put a unique spin on it, and when you have something to say which differentiate your story from the ones that have come before it. As a gay man I know what its like to experience those internal fears and paranoia that comes with being closeted and having a girlfriend. I know what its like to feel unsafe when using a gay hook up at, to consider meeting a total stranger who's name you never know at early hours of the morning. To have the fear of feeling in danger because you sound "too camp" or "too feminine", to fear toxic masculinity and how late at night you could become a victim of homophobic abuse and violence. These are my own the queer communities own horror stories that can be a daily fear, so to intertwine these through the lens of the horror genre is how I intend on presenting my voice as a creative on this course.
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