The Abject of Sinister

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Summery

Human reaction threatened by the loss of distinction between object and subject or between self and other. Through the genre of horror many different things can be achieved but in particular this blog is about the abject that is shown in Scott Derrickson’s 2012 film Sinister. The abject will be gained through the visuals, setting, narrative, characters and finally symbolism. All of these subjects in abjection that i have researched for this movie all made the movie what it is and they all work hand in hand to create the movie.

Sinister Poster retrieved from google images

Introduction

The Genre of horror is very popular and seen to attract many different age ranges but they are the same in the fact they they find enjoyment out of it; many have been called sick and sadistic because they like to watch something that meant to be very abject, taboo and very sickening scenes including many many more things that the genre brings to the media scene. Through all the different types of horror films that are made the two main subgeneres used are sci-fi and paranormal, in my opinion i would say that Sinister is both of these but we will see how they are later on in the blog. Horror is the one genre that can not be defined to one definition this is a result of all people not being scared of the same thing, therefore this makes it tricky for the director and script writers to get the right amount of everything in there for it to be a massive movie.

What is Sinister ?

The definition of the word sinister is “making you feel that something bad or evil is about to happen” Before even watching or knowing anything about the movie just by the name the audience will instantly know the genre of this film. By the word Sinister as the title of the movie this portrays the thoughts of evil, threatening, wicked or something that can bring harm. which goes hand in hand with the abject which is what we are studying in this blog.

Opening scene

The opening scene found on google images

The image above is the screen shot of the opening scene. Before even getting introduced to any of the characters or making ant sort of story line we are hit with seeing these four people who look like a family, and then further on in the movie we learn that they are, in a noose attached to the tree as you can see. The branch on the other side is actually getting sawed off but we can’t see by who and as it falls the people lift up and hangs to death. Having this as the opening scene sets us up for a really sick and twisted film and defiantly brings us back to more realisation of why the film is called Sinister. The way this is filmed on a Super 8 camera and is very grainy tells us that this has already occurred, especially because the sound is like it is being played through an old school projector. As a result of seeing this it proves someone or something wanting to film this horrific moment once gain already says that this film is extremely ‘Sinister’

Bughuul retrieved from google images

Who is Bughuul?

Bughuul is an angry pagan deity. Bughuul is the ‘devourer of children’ with its origins coming from Babylonian times Bughuul commands the minds and souls of the young and forces them to murder their own families. Recording the incidents and preserving the spirit of the murders to recruit other children. The stories say that Bughuul are all revolved around him needing the souls of human children to survive. Whilst Bughuul isn’t seemed to be real he is made out to be the brother of Moloch. Moloch is the biblical name for the god of child sacrifice, through fire or war. He is written about in the Hebrew Bible “And he defied Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Moloch” (2 Kings 23:10). Even though this is an ancient belief, it is said that nowadays the practise is still around through abortion clinics as an unborn child was still enough to feed Moloch. In the tapes that Ellison finds in the attic there is a symbol drawn in blood in the films, this symbol is Bughuul’s symbol, in the film they look more into the symbol. But when Ellison and his family first move into the new house, Ellison decides to explore the attic and he is greeted by a scorpion; further on in the movie Ellison is in the attic again and in scared by a snake. We then see a symbol of Bughuul’s that is complete with both a scorpion and a snake, the resining for us seeing both the animals earlier on in the film, even thought we as an audience did not know it yet, was that Bughuul had arrived and is ready to start turning one of the children into a murderer and further into one of his.

The symbol of Bughuul

Ellison

Ellison is the main protagonist in Sinister, we first meet him when he and his family are moving into a new house. We quickly learn that he is a true crime writer and does not have a good relationship with the police with as he focuses on unsolved cases as he feels like everyone deserves justice. He has moved into the house of the family that we saw in the start being hung on the tree, he moves to that house to write his next book that he believes could be his next best seller are ten years of nothing. We also learn that Ellison is a lier to his wife as he does not tell her or the rest of his family that they have in fact moved into the house of the murdered family. Ellison is the one who discovers the tapes and he proceeds to watch them all and keeps them to himself as this can help him with his research for his book. A lot of stuff happens to Ellison in the movie that he thinks is explainable, which makes him stress and think he is going crazy, this is until he gets ion contact with the professor that tells him everything about Bughuul. With lying to his family he is shocked to find out that both his children somehow know about the family before and draw pictures of them all hanging on the tree. Ellison is then so freaked out that he decides that they all have to move back to the their old house and without knowing he puts himself in the murder timeline. He is then murdered along with his wife Tracy and son Trevor by his daughter Ashley and then she is taken by Bughuul.

Ellison studying the tapes found on google images

Ending

In the ending of the movie we see a new and calm Ellison thinking that everything is all good now they are back in the old house, but this wouldn’t be a horror film if that was it. this tells us that he has lived and learnt through the story we as the audience just watched him live, by now understanding what should be most important to him which is his family. After burning all the tapes at the now old house he takes a trip tp the attic to find them to be in there now completely fine like he never burnt them in the first place, but how did they get there? In the box there was an envelope with extended cuts in, so of course he watches them to find out the all the missing children from the murdered families were in fact the murderers and the filters of the tapes. He then passes out from a glowing liquid in his coffee next to a note stating “goodnight daddy” then wakes up just to get chopped up with an axe by Ashley. But this is not all, Ashley is then seen drawing the murder scene next to all the other children’s drawings covered in blood from painting the walls and a Bughuul symbol in her families blood. The Bughuul claimed children appear and proceed to walk forward in formation and then appear on the projection but watching her like they are in the room. As Ashely is watching them, Bughuul appears behind her and he takes her into the projection. This may be a result of him living through any artistic medium that through the projection is the only way he can keeping feeding off the children’s souls and for him to survive.

Ashley in Bughuul’s arms from google images

Conclusion

Bughuul is a pagen deity that needs the souls of human children to survive that creates horrific ways to have one of the children from a family to kill the rest of the family. This is the abject of know the difference between real or not because as we see through Ellison that he doesn’t believe in any of that and considering he has never seen anything like it he just can’t believe it to begin with. To us the audience in scenes when all the children are around Ellison can not see them this is hard for the audience to understand because are they actually there or not, so this leads us to the abject of the difference between self and other for Ellisons sake.

Bibliography

Thinking about the Future

My future plan is to be a director/producer but be like Alfred Hitchcock, Spike Lee or Stan Lee and feature in what ever I produce. I really like the way that they work and think it is a great idea. Becoming a director/producer seem like a big task but I’m up for the challenge to work my way tot he top. I am currently working as a runner on a feature film called Swiperright and helping out with everything that i could possibly help out with and being super positive throughout the day even if the shoot lasts for 14 hours. I would love to get into either film or television because i have ideas that i want to put out there for the world to see. i am really looking forward to the future and what i has on offer for me.

#carrerplan #future #interests

After Effects

After Effects is the software used to make edits on the video and add different effects to the film to give it more creativity. The task that was given was to add an introduction to the video that was provided, adding a background and making the video have the person on the screen appear twice like they are talking to each other. Firstly starting with the video it is shot on a green screen so add the background layer onto it and then proceed to delete the green screen so the background layer shows. Furthermore with the video duplicate it and for the first video track keep the start but delete the rest once he first leaves the screen. Then with the second video track edit out the start until the man comes back into the frame again so fits in the sequence and looks natural. This part is simple once you know what you are doing, it just takes a little bit of time to learn what does what. The effect that is created with the video turns out really good because it is so different to the normal look of video and a really cool effect. The next part would be doing the introduction, this is just adding a block colour and then adding a title; with the title you will have to add an effect of any kind, this is found on the side panel on effects and there is many to choose from and some are better than others but it is easy to add just need to find the right one, that is nice and doesn’t look silly. In similar fashion with the background in the video you have to add effects to it so it looks nice and creative rather than just a standard background, the way to add affects to this is the same place as the effects for the words used at the start of the video; again there are so many effects to choose from so it is important to test a few out because finding the best one is essential to make your piece of work the best it can be. Additionally the main part of the task was to place the video so it looks like it is playing off of a mobile phone, this bit is tricky because you cant just resize the video because it doesn’t look flush with the phone screen; so you need to transform the video layer so it is over the phone screen and flat against the phone screen so it looks just like it is being played on the phone. Finally adding the subtitles, this is done by adding the sentence that is said in the timeline when it is said so the viewer is able to know what is said at what time. There was not many problems that occurred with this project apart from editing the effects instructions was a bit tricky to get them all right. 

#futureimprovements #graphics #portfolio

Animate

Adobe Animate is the software used to make animated content for cartoons, advertisements and interactive content for example South Park. The task at hand was create a little piece that gets across Cartman from south park and Kenny from south park walking up to a gas canister and Kenny getting set on fire and turning into ash. All of the images seen in the animate sequence is all for the internet as there is a tool on animate that allows to you break and image up to make them all separate and this is how the eyes are able to blink among with other features in the sequence. Using the South Park background obviously set the scene for this task as well as using the characters from South Park. It is important to make every separate part of the animation have its own layer, for example one layer for Cartman, one layer for the background and one layer of the ash. It is also important to remember that you have to set a key frame for which ever frame you want something to appear because other wise it will be there when you don’t want it to, the easiest way to do this is to paste the image in to the software by already clicking on the frame you want it to appear on. If you want something moving, you have to set a key from on the frame you want it to start from and then set another key frame on the frame you want it to end up at and then it should move to where ever you placed it. During the work of this graphic there was some issues that occurred. The issues that where apparent where with mainly the sound and the button. With the sound issues the problem was importing the sound into the software, as this was not simple and a problem, Furth more the importing audio was grayed out for a some time but then eventually it became clickable and worked. The next issue was with the button, this was a struggle, as you have to follow every step work for word because otherwise it will not work and you will be stuck on it. Throughout learning a Imation the tips  and tricks taught came into play very much so and they are needed to fulfill the task at hand. 

#futureimprovements #graphics #portfolio

Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D is a part of after affects that allows you to create new 3D elements for motion graphics. The task that was given was to create a 3D trophy in cinema 4D and place it on the right spot to make it stay in one place once merged with the video of the empty office pan movement. To create the trophy you need to proceed by getting the image of the trophy provided and importing it into cinema 4D lite, then start tracing one of the side’s of the main part so not including the wooden block or the handles on the trophy; but do not go past the edges, this is because the process will not work if there is inserts in the side, then you will need to make the ends connect; this process will make the line you made make a 3D shape. This will be your trophy cup, in addition the block on the bottom will need to be made, to make this you will need to make a block and whether you want to make the edges of the block rounded or slightly rounded this will be possible just by adjusting the details of the shape. Then the plaque at the front will need to be added, the shape that will need to be created is a wall and then you will need to edit the shape so it is just smaller than the front of the block and very thing so it just sticks out of the block; the lucky thing about using cinema 4D is the use of using the all the different directions because it makes it really accurate so its perfect to use all this to your advantage when assembling the trophy. On the plaque it would be nice to have something written on it like winner or number 1 for example. The next part is to make the sticky pad for the trophy is after effects, this is a certain place in after effects that will stay and keep anything placed in it still for the whole video, so for this piece of work in particular it is a must. You must create this and then save and then go back to cinema 4D and it should appear in cinema 4D. You must place the trophy on this plate and it will then make it stay when the video of the empty office plays. There was a couple issues when doing this as on some of the view windows in cinema 4D it showed up as it was placed on the plate, but on one of them it actually wasn’t; the only problem is that sometimes when you move the object in one view window it moves somewhere else in another. But trail and error is the best way to overcome this as it may take time but always works in the end. 

#futureimprovements #graphics #portfolio

Photoshop

Photoshop is an image editing software that is used to crop colour correct, manipulate and resize on digital photos. The task that was set was to make a picture of your current state and manipulate it to make the person look as old as they could do in 2069. This means of two editing techniques are possible to make this happen; using the dodge and burn tool or using an old photo and taking away the feature and putting yours on there. Depending on the photo one will be easier than the other but this time it was easier to use the external photo of an old man and cutting out his features. The image used was off Google placing it over the face and lowering the opacity and making the faces both the same shape by using the transform tool, this was a massive help as it got everything in right place, and that was just the start. On Photoshop you always need to make a new layer for everything even for every part of the face, as it is easy to accidently move stuff with out knowing. Cutting out the eyes and hair was a tricky task because getting so accurate was the main thing to make it look professional. In this type of image creation there is a lot of cutting and manipulation needed which came from the lasso tool and the transform tool. The lasso tool is to cut things out for example cutting out the old mans eyes so make the young photo show through; whereas the transform tool allows to move certain parts of the image without moving anything else. The ‘Private Eye’ banner and the barcode are also form the internet but the writing of the price and date did need changing so getting the write font took a little bit of time so it looked the same and accurate. In this task not many problems occurred as there was experience using Photoshop in the past. Even though there was experience it wasn’t easy to remember everything and put it in to the piece of work to start with. The main struggles within doing this picture were getting the old face image to show the same features as the young face and getting the whole image look as believable as possible so both images looked like they could be the same person. Overcoming getting the same features was tough but manageable by using the lasso tool and using the transform tool as these were all what was usable to what was thought could do it. 

#futureimprovements #graphics #portfolio

Illustrator

The layers that were created for the fully made sharpener was; the top, the side, the front, the plastic front and the handle. For all of these there were plenty more sub layers inside these because every part has a separate sub layer. The main tool that was used to make this was the pen tool as this creates straight and accurate lines but there is also a choice to curve the line if you want to and this is helpful because in the sharpener there were a lot of curved edges. To make the screw part of the handle on the sharpener is different to the rest but it looks really good once done. The pen tool is really helpful and easy to use so it’s perfect for this type of work. For each part of the sharpener the way to get each separate defiant part you have to outline that with the pen tool. The reason for this is to make it the outline on sharpener because of the colour difference and obviously a different part of the object so you can tell what is what when looking at it. For the dismantled image of the sharpener, basically all the layers were the same but as there are a few more bits in this picture they were their own separate layer, as this makes it easier to change or make improvements if needs be without changing anything else on the project, so they were the silver ring, black plastic, metal handle and the ruler, and again these all had their own sub layers in the main layer. Finally the wood background retrieved from the internet was added to give it the same effect as the original image. 

There was not many issues had when drawing the fully made sharpener, but were more with the dismantled. The issues that occurred when drawing the put together sharpener were, the writing of ‘Swordfish’ was hard to get it placed properly so it looked like it was actually on the sharpener and at the same angle, the other issue with the built sharpener was on the handle getting the definition on the black plastic part and from the angle the picture was taken it has made it all really dark so it was hard to show that on the drawing. When it comes to the dismantled picture there were issues with the twister part, the metal ring and the plastic part of on the main part of the sharpener, the twister was hard to get all the groves in and it look good, where as the metal ring wasn’t allowing the background to show through hole in the middle of it. The plastic part was a bit tricky because as its see through it was hard to see what was part of the object and what was just shadow or the wooden table. 

#futureimprovements #graphics #portfolio

CV

Dominic Burnham

Home address:

                             Kent 

Mobile Number:

Date of Birth: 18.05.00

Key Attributes

An enthusiastic individual who is seeking a placement position to both skills of Television and Broadcasting and Photography to be utilized.

Interpersonal skills: to be able to communicate with people easily that I have never met before but not so confident with talking in front of a big group of people.

Organization skills: developed through my academic studies.

Education 

University from: 2018-current at The University of Portsmouth

Secondary School and 6thform: September 2011-2018 at Sackville School.

I am currently studying Photography and Travel and Tourism at A-Level.(B-C)

For GCSE I took Photography, Food Technology, Business Studies, Maths, English Litterateur, English Language and Science (A-C).

Primary School: September 2004-2011 at New Beacon.

Work Experience 

Purple Café coolings green and pleasant

Knockholt

I was a waiter in a café, also helped out on the till and on the dishwasher

Swipe Right

Dover

I volunteered to be a runner on set of a small feature film with a producer/director that I know

Coolings Garden Centre

Knockholt

I was in the green house restocking, watering and selling the plants.

The George and Dragon Pub

Chipstead

I was helping the chefs in the kitchen with the preparation of the food and plaiting the food ready for service.

Tadworth charity shop

Sevenoaks

I volunteered at the charity shop for 3 months once a week on a Saturday. I helped out on the till and restocking the shelves and anything they asked me to do.

Activities and interests 

During my spare time I like to relax with friends and family. I also like to cook and play football in the garden. I like to travel and I have visited places in the different parts of the world including Europe and America.

References

Mrs Ellis

Sackville School Hildenborough  

Dept Head and Head of 6thForm

Telephone Number: 01732 838 888

Email: leoni.ellis@sckvilleschool.com

#carrer&employment #CV #future