cribbins flavoured

1. Audio Story
Task 2: Initial Responses

2. Initial Responses and Idea Generation
Log your initial thoughts regarding the set brief in this document
What stories could you use? How do you feel about the different potential
formats? What are the positives about this project? What could be some difficult
aspects? Etc
Use the format on this document to guide this response – some are set as a
question on one slide, but you should look to add further slides as necessary

3. Which stories have you researched and looked
as potential starting points?
A House in Castlegate, by Cheryl Bland
Brief Synopsis: A girl in the early 1900s hears
sees her mother lurking inside her room,
presumably looking for matches. When she
leaves, the girl takes the matches to her
mother, only to realise she’s been in bed the
whole time.
Inspiration: I gravitated towards this story as it
seemed very typical of a Ghost story’s
conventions (1900s, church, cloaked figure)
but also because it is a story involved on the
Original Ghost Walk of York, so could possibly
give some inspiration for a similar Ghost story
set in the same area, just in a different era.
5 College Street – York Ghost Story
Brief Synopsis: A family of two parents and
daughter contract the plague during one of
the major outbreaks but the daughter remains
uninfected. After her parents deaths, she
screams out for help from people in the
streets below but instead gets bricked into the
house by those in fear of her spreading the
illness further. Her cries for help could be
heard for days until she sadly passed due to
starvation and now people claim they have
seen a girl of similar description peering from
that same building in more recent years, or
whimpers that suggest the girl’s spirit to still
remain there today.

4. Which stories have you researched and looked
as potential starting points?
5 College Street – York Ghost Story
Inspiration: I first heard this story when on
one of the Ghost Walks around York as a much
younger child. I found it especially effective at
being horrifying because of the realism of the
plague as a historical fact and the likelihood
that humans would be cowardly or naïve
enough to keep the girl bricked in a room
without food or water to prevent themselves
falling ill. The fact also that it is a story based
in York is disconcerting as this city is especially
well recognised for its supposed high
paranormal activity rate, meaning if Ghost
stories were to ring any truth, stories from
York would be the most believable.
Treasurer’s House – York Ghost Story
Brief Synopsis: A man living in the famous York
house claimed to have seen a roman era
patrol going down one of the old roman roads
and described their armour, which specialists
suggested was historically inaccurate. Later,
historians made archaeological discoveries
that suggested the man may have been more
accurate after all, begging the question of
whether he did in fact see Ghosts that day.
Inspiration: The thing that inspires me about
this is how the man allegedly made a
precursor discovery about something historic
from the supernatural. It makes it feel more
like proof which in turn makes the fear factor
more realistic, regardless of whether the story
is falsification or not

5. Which research into existing products has been the
most useful? Includes examples and explanations
Out of what I studied for this project – The 5 College Street Story. I find this the most eerie and
upsetting and thus effective as it could likely be a true story all leading up to the point of the Ghost
noises etc. It’s believable and upsetting and having it revolve around the innocence of a child makes
it that bit more concerning for the audience.
The Stanley Parable is another existing product that I wanted to try to adapt or blend for this but I
had prior knowledge of this product before the project’s start. It’s a game based around a
protagonist who is controlled by the consumer. The only other accompanying character who has any
verbal lines is the Narrator who is in direct communication with the main character and will react to
the way in which they choose to do things for the level. There is a set path made for the game but if
you choose to stray from it at any time, the Narrator will react accordingly and amend the story to
create all sorts of different variations on what is essentially the same level at a fundamental level. I
think this could be effective for this project as it’s a very lonely yet inclusive premise that makes the
consumer feel isolated and powerless but also fully in control. This could be very effective as a
horror concept as the feeling of inevitability and pre-destination is particularly terrifying when the
path set out for a character is one that is unpleasant. It would give the consumer a sense of
unrelenting dread that can only be released when the story ends or the character does.

6. Which production format [drama, narration,
etc] do you feel fits your idea best and why?
I believe narration and drama fit my ideas best. My original thoughts were to have
a narration in which the character interacts with the narrator but not vice versa.
This would add to the tension and put the audience alongside the main character
but also with the hindsight and comfort of the narrator. Therefore, though my piece
is narration, there would be hints of classic expositionless story telling, as in all
technicalities, it’d be two characters interacting within the piece. Drama would
derive from the fact that the Narrator would be capable of predicting events to
come, to suggest that an external evil is approaching the main character, as well as
being able to suggest to the main character methods of escape which may work
and methods which may not, psychologically twisting that character into wondering
whether to follow the instructions of their Narrator or not.

7. Which story have you settled on and why?
The story of a Narrator and a Subject of the Narration. The Narrator will
explain the events which are going on in the scene in classic fashion but the
twist is that the Subject can hear the Narrator and react to what they say,
though the Narrator will try their best to dismiss this throughout. In the
meantime, there will be a classic horror event ensuing. The reason I chose
this over all else is because the twist of the piece allows for further character
interaction and fear building, as there is something very sinister about your
actions and environment being pre-determined. Also it will allow for much
more interesting background foley, as the Narrator can specifically explain
the sounds caused by the Subject’s actions for further clarity of the piece.

8. If you had to sell your story quickly, what is the
title and the logline?
‘The Fourth Dimension’ would be the title as it deals with the idea of breaking the
‘fourth’ wall in a dimension completely fabricated for that purpose. Also the title
usually refers to the concept of time, which seems completely malleable in this
piece, due to the Narrator’s ability to manipulate events to their will. Also the title
is only three words long and essentially the shorter a title, the more likely you are
to quickly grasp a consumer’s attention.
Logline: “A horror story narrator takes events into their own hands, meddling with
the fate of one petrified and helpless participant whose voice carries no weight in
the world they find themselves in.” Explains the plot and sets the theme with
minimal details. Red part can be done with or without, but I opted for with as I
believe it contributes to the sinister theme.

9. What ideas have you had for sound effects,
narration and storytelling?
• Eerie music – something with strings or piano.
• Narrator talking over the piece
• Character talking – More echoed than Narrator
• Noises for escape – Loud banging or hitting noises on walls
• Narrator should be male and character female so that there’s a stereotype
in character divide that will cause the audience to empathise better with
the main character

10. Initial feelings…how do you feel about the
project currently?
I feel confident with my initial idea but am just weary that when it comes to
actually creating this, it needs to be effectively scary too and not lose the
plot of a Horror or Ghost story. I need to make sure that when the script is
finalised, it reflects something that could be disconcerting for the audience
instead of just being low stakes, someone is trapped in a room. If I could
make it longer, it’d be adapted to play with psychology a bit more, so I think
the shortform nature of it will harm that aspect quite a bit and will cause me
to have to be slightly more straight to the point. All in all, I think the idea has
great potential but might require a lot of work to make at all effective.

11. What other research do you think you need to
do?
• I need to do more research into exactly what sounds will work for the
project
• I also need to look into what makes good horror music and replicate it in
some basic way myself
• I need to research a bit more into the genre and its tropes to see if there
are any other good ideas I can implement that might give more substance
to the overall plot and end product
• I need to investigate into what softwares might be best for recording,
editing and sampling sound effects and how I can utilise each software’s
functions to the best of my ability.