The Psychology of the House

Whilst drawing up the plans for the set I started thinking about the "Personality" of the set, the "Psychology of the House" as it were. It sounds a little pretentious I will admit, but it suddenly gave me a brilliant idea for how to approach building, dressing and filming the set. Soon after this idea stuck I thrashed out a tiny bit of writing to put my thoughts into words. It is as follows:

These Four Walls: The Psychology of the House.

The House is like a Venus Fly-trap, its hallway is inviting and comfortable, the windows around the front door are long and friendly, like eyes wide and open, welcoming its new friend.

The hallway is modestly decorated. Pale-off-yellow wallpaper, slightly stained but nice nonetheless. The colour does however lose its pleasantness as it moves down the corridor towards the paintings hanging on its wall.

It is as if the colour has died on its journey, all life sucked from it.

As Violet moves throughout the house, the condition deteriorates; the rooms become danker, darker and nastier.

The living room is relatively well-kept, the wallpaper is a deep green, almost damp looking.

The floorboards creak under foot.

Again this room is in reasonable nick, not as homely as the hallway however, something sinister, the walls are crumbling beneath the paper.

The bedroom is totally different.

The wallpaper is a dusky red, a couple shades difference from that of stale blood. The colour pooling in the corners where it meets the floor.

The paper is again peeling and the bare wall behind is exposed.

Again crumbling, stained and damp.

It is almost like moving through a predator’s digestive system. The surroundings are progressively unpleasant and inevitably heading towards a horrible outcome.

Violet's outfit shall contrast with the set, for instance, for the scenes that will take place in the living room, with its dank green wallpaper, Violet shall wear her newer deep red (deep as blood) jumper to contrast, and in the scenes that take place in the bedroom with its dark red, stale blood hued wallpaper, Violet shall wear her deep green jumper as contrast.

This way the colour red, a foreboding and even primal colour is nearly always present. 

I want to create a feeling of decay throughout the house, give the impression it is alive, or better yet, on the verge of death.

More to follow...