For this project we have been given a piece of text from the subgenre of Psychological horror of which we will translate into a set. Our aim is to draw out any ideas, themes or subject matter relevant that portrays this sub genre in order to create a believable set for film or TV.
The piece of text we were given was ‘Death of Ivan Ilyich’ by Leo Tolstoy (1886) and our set requirements were to create the bedroom in which Ivan Ilyich lay dying and the living room to which it is joined portraying the stylistic Baroque and expressionism.
(Figure 1)
The link to the piece of text - http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ivanilyich/
From reading the text I was able to draw out the following themes, motifs and symbols:
- The right life - Ivan’s confusion as to whether his life was as it should have been. This becomes evident when he is dying , his sudden appreciation for life and his regret towards his previous life, childhood.
- The inevitability of death – Ivan knows he is to die and that there is nothing to stop the process, the anguish of the slow death makes it more of a reality to him.
- Inner life vs. Outer life – the contrast between what is going on in ‘his’ world, his thoughts and approach towards others and the reality of the situation he forgoes. The contrast between mortality and immortality.
- Reversal
- Alienation
- Bourgeois Society
- The black sack – Used as a representation of death, death is portrayed as a physical entity, Ivan can see death toying with his mentality.
- The step ladder – The ladder may be seen as a metaphor for the afterlife – heaven would be at the top of the ladder, Ivan has become ‘poisonous’ in his later life towards his family etc, he falls off the ladder to the bottom where hell would be, he later dies from his injury he encounters from the fall.
- The screen – Ivan fears the screen in the corner of the room. He feels that death is behind it and is seeping its way through and around the screen towards him. This is another representation of psychological horror.
As a group, we discussed all of our thoughts and ideas we had drawn from the text and decided that since Ivan dies in his study/bedroom we were going to make that room considerably dark and depressing as his state of mind would have been, representing his mentality. We decided the other room to have no projections of his mentality in it, as though it was the rest of the world carrying on as normal unknowingly Ivan’s mind (the study) is depleting. It would also show Ivan’s social climb (Bourgeois society).
As the book was set in late 19th century Russia we thought it would be vital for our set to successfully represent 19th century interiors and architectural designs, by means of looking into the Baroque period whilst creating that important sense of psychological horror and distress. All of this would be carefully thought over and accurately represented in creating a believable film set.
Sarah showed us a film at the beginning of the project: Jim Henson's 'Story Teller - The Soldier and Death' (1988) The film showed as a soldier that used a sack to capture death which resulted in the eternity of life as death was no longer there to take it. The film showed us an example of death as a physical entity, death was symbolised in the film as a small cloaked man. I thought that the film was inspiring to create a physical object to represent death but we were to create a film set and death would have to be seen as metaphorical to Ivan, therefore unseen to the audience.
After we had all read the book we got together with Andy and Simon to discuss our initial ideas and how we would follow these through from text to 3D.
The book was set in Russia, 1886 so research into Russian architecture would be needed with Baroque styling and possibly renaissance influences. Nobody in the group was sure about what the exact timing of his death was so the use of lighting at the end when we were to take the final photos would be debatable later.
Some of the points that were raised within the group in creating the feeling of death were:
- The use of blackness, minimal lighting, dark colours
- The drawing room was described in pink cretonne and lighted by a dim lamp – possibly warmer than the ‘death room’.
- Altering the size of the rooms and props to make it seem more claustrophobic and distorted.
- Shadows behind the screens, possibly hand shaped as though grabbing at Ivan.
- Death portrayed as an ‘It’ as it was described in the book, a physical object.
- He saw a lot of doctors so medicine bottles may have been distributed around the room., opium, hypodermic injections.
Other points that were made:
- Consideration of the lighting – dim, candle lit, gas light, dreamlike and eerie.
- Dressing room may have appeared more formal as his relationship to his family was and since he was a social climber the room may appear decadent, tidy, wealthy.
- Rooms were full of knick knacks, plates on the walls (Japanese), bronzes, antiques.
- Albums and ashtrays on the table.
- The game “vint” was mentioned in the story so perhaps playing cards would be on the table.
- Aristocratic look and feel to the rooms
- Piano was mentioned?
- He liked dancing so perhaps some form of music player?
- Matches for the candles?
All of these thoughts were taken in and further research into the different elements was done.
Figure 1 - http://bookeg.com/classics/leo-tolstoy/the-death-of-ivan-ilyich-12930.html
