Creation of the plot of 'Liar. Liar. Ghost.'

How we came up with the plot:

We wanted to make a horror/thriller from the start, but the question was but we struggled greatly with creating a plot for a decent scary movie, after agreeing that a lot of new movies of this genre were not scary anymore but instead very gory. From here had  could chose to do one of two things: either completely make up an original plot, or take a fairy tale or old fable and from that we could then remake it to appeal to modern audiences. We did a fair bit of research on fairy tales and urban myths when finally we found ‘The boy who cried wolf'. It was a good idea to use because it had an easily adaptable plot as well as the fact the audience could walk away from it having learnt a valuable lesson. The tale had a safe plot line and with the story already being one of the darkener children's stories, we thought it would be perfect to adapt into a horror/thriller.  The next step was for us to discuss and establish how exactly we could turn the story into a modern day remake. After a while of planning, Julia Malamoo suggested an idea we all agreed had potential. The idea was good because as a group we weren't targeting young children with our movie and her idea gave the classic tale the dark edge it needed for the genre. From this, we decided that the victim and main character would be a teenage girl completing boarding school. The girl, later named ‘Nathalie Kors’, would be like the 'boy' in the fairy tale, taking on many of his characteristics from the tale. As a character, we developed her to be a very unpopular and lonely girl, similar to the antagonist. She would lie so much that people would stop believing her. The major plot difference we created was that instead of crying 'wolf', she would instead cry 'ghost'. With this idea in mind, we took inspiration from the recent movie series, Paranormal Activity. We wanted it to be a similar style, with a gradual build of paranormal activities. 

The Original Tale - 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'

Key Characters:

-       Peter

-       The villagers

-       The wolf

Key locations:

-       The field

-       Village

      

      Tale:

A boy called Peter lived with his parents in a village on the hillside. His parents, like most of the other people in the village, were sheep farmers. Everybody in the village took turns to look after the sheep, and when Peter was 10 years old, he was considered old enough to take his turn at shepherding.

But Peter was too easily bored, and he found it very tiresome being on the hillside with only sheep for company. So he’d find ways to amuse himself, running up rocks, climbing trees, chasing sheep, but nothing really kept him amused for very long. Then he hit upon a brilliant idea. He climbed to the top of the tallest tree, and started shouting towards the village: “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”

One of the villagers heard him, and got all the other men together, and armed with axes, hoes and forks, they ran out of the village to chase away the wolf and save their herd. Of course when they got there, they merely found Peter perched high up in his tree, laughing, and the sheep grazing peacefully. They were very annoyed with him. That night Peter got a spanking from his mother and was sent to bed without any supper.

For a while life went on again as normal, and people forgot about the incident. Peter managed to behave himself whenever it was his turn to mind the sheep. Until one day, he got really bored again. He picked up some sticks, and running through where the sheep were grazing, he started hitting the sticks together, and shouting: “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”

Sure enough, somebody in the village heard and before long the men all come running up the hill armed with their sticks and axes and hoes and shovels, ready to chase away the big bad wolf, and save their sheep and the poor shepherd boy. Imagine their consternation when they arrived in the field to see their herd grazing peacefully, and Peter sitting on a big rock, laughing uncontrollably.

That night Peter got a good telling off, an even better spanking from his mother, and was again sent to bed without any supper. For a few days people in the village went around moaning about Peter and his tricks, but before long things settled down again, and life resumed its normal uneventful course, and Peter had to do his turn at shepherding again every now and then. He decided he should behave himself, he really didn’t want to upset everybody all the time, and he especially didn’t want another one of his mother’s spankings!

Then, one afternoon when Peter was in the fields with the sheep, he noticed some of them were getting nervous, they started bleating and running hither and thither. Peter didn’t know what was the cause of this strange behaviour; sheep were running all over and making an ever-louder racket. He got worried and decided to climb a tree so he could see what was going on. He balanced on a sturdy branch and looked around, what he saw almost made him fall out of the tree. There was a great big hairy wolf, chasing the sheep, biting at their legs, snapping at their tails. For a few seconds Peter was speechless. Then he started shouting: “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”

In the village an old man heard the shouting. “Oh no, not that Peter again”, he said, shaking his head. “What’s going on?” enquired another villager. “It’s that Peter again, he just can’t help himself”.

“That boy needs to be the centre of attention all the time”, said another. “Wait till his mother gets a hold of him”, added yet another. Nobody believed that this time there really was a wolf, and nobody got their hoe out, or their axe, or their shovel. All the sticks were left in the sheds and nobody rushed up the hillside. It wasn’t until very much later that afternoon, that the boy sent to take over the shepherding from Peter found dead sheep’s bodies strewn all over the hillside, and Peter still up there in his tree, whimpering, that the villagers found out there really had been a wolf this time.

At last Peter learnt his lesson, that if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t.

Extras to Include

The Idea:

Original Planning:

Title Idea:

‘The Girl Who Cried Ghost’ or ‘Liar, Liar, Ghost’

Ideas:

Original Event:	Alternate Event/Scenario:
Peter yelling ‘wolf!’ as a joke	A girl yelling ‘ghost!’ as a joke to scare the other girls in the boarding house
Peter getting in trouble for tricking the villagers	Everyone in the boarding house getting angry at the girl for scaring them
Peter spots a wolf that starts attacking all the sheep and starts yelling ‘wolf!’	A girl wakes up in the middle of the night to find a white figure looking down at her, and starts freaking out and yelling ‘ghost!’ but the only response she gets is ‘shut up! I’m trying to sleep!’
The villagers find Peter hiding in a tree and find out that there was actually a wolf	The other girls wake up in the morning and find that the ‘girl who cried ghost’ is nowhere to be found.

Alternate settings/locations:

-       Whitby boarding house

-       The ‘graveyard’ dorm

-       Girl’s bedroom

-       Unlit Hallway

-       Creepy unlit bathroom

-     Old Day reception/music rooms

-     Old boardroom

-     Old, old hall/costume storage area

Ideas on changing/altering main character:

The girl is very much like Peter; she gets bored very easily and likes to joke around. The only real difference is that she is a girl and doesn’t have sheep.

Key Characters:

Protagonist:

-       Nathalie Kors

Antagonist:
Paranormal being, 'Jane Table'

-       Nathalie’s boredom and need to prank people.

- 

Plot Idea:

Nathalie is a boarder at St Hilda’s boarding school. Nathalie is easily bored and enjoys playing pranks on, and scaring people. One night, Nathalie is over her usual pranking; jumping out of peoples cupboards, tying string to people doors and making them seem like they’re closing there selves, and the other usual boring pranks. She decides that she is just going to forget it and go to bed. The problem is, without finishing off her day with a little prank, Nathalie can’t get to sleep because she feels as if he day is ‘incomplete’. It’s around 1:00am and Nathalie suddenly yells out, “Ah! It’s a ghost! Help! Help!”  Suddenly everyone has woken up and starts screaming, only to hear Nathalie giggling in her room. Satisfied with her pranking for the night, Nathalie falls asleep. The next night, at around 12:00am, Nathalie decides to do the same prank again. She let’s out a sharp, high-pitched scream and then yells “Ghost! Ghost!” Just like before, everyone in her dorm woke up and began freaking out, turning lights on. Again, they heard the feint sound of giggling coming from Nathalie’s room. This time Nathalie has decided that that is enough and that people might be getting really annoyed being woken up in the middle of the night. The next morning Nathalie is checking her emails and she sees that she has a new email. She opens the email and it reads ‘if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t. Forward this to 5 people within the next hour or a ghost will come and get you while you sleep.’ Like any normal person, Nathalie disregarded this email and continued with her everyday life. That night, everyone falls asleep. At 2:00am in the morning, Nathalie has to get up to go to the toilet. She begins walking down the unlit hallway, and towards the shining lights inside the toilets, just downstairs from her dorm. As she walks in, the lights begin flickering and Nathalie begins to panic. She then just realises that it must be something wrong with the power and continues. She then begins feeling breathing on her neck whilst she is washing her hands and then suddenly a feint whisper in her ear. “Run.” It whispers. Straight away Nathalie starts screaming at the top of her lungs and begins running down the hallway and back up the stairs to her dorm. “Ghost! Ghost!” She yells as she makes her way up the stairs. The only answer she gets this time is “Shut up Nathalie! I’m trying to sleep”. Nathalie just makes it to the top of the stairs and yells “Help me pl…” Her last word is interrupted by a loud thump. The next morning Nathalie is no where to be found, but a note is found on the ground that reads “if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t.” 

Character Profiles: 

Name: Nathalie Kors	Age: 15
Current Residence: St Hildas Boarding house
Occupation: Student	Talents/Skills: Scaring people/pranking people

Physical Characteristics:

Height: 159cm	Weight: Average
Race:  Brittish	Skin Colour: Fair
Eye Colour: Blue	Glasses/Contact Lenses: None.
Hair Colour: Brown/blonde	Facial Shape: Roundy square
Distinguishing Features: Braces
Style (Elegant, shabby etc): Casual, shabby, comfy
Dress/Clothing: Comfortable or school uniform.
Mannerisms: Chilled pretty laid back
Hobbies: One direction, guitar
Favourite Sayings: “Whatever”
Speech Patterns: Straight to the point

Emotional Characteristics

Introvert or Extrovert: Both

What is this Character’s Goal?

Nathalie's goal is to be best at scaring/pranking people and to be the host of Australia's TV show 'Prank Patrol' when she's older. 

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background: Completing Year 10 at St Hildas School
Character's short-term goals in life: Be the best at scaring people
How does Character see himself/herself? Popular
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? She thinks she’s amazing and everyone loves her. She also thinks she’s really scary and funny.
How self-confident is the character? She’s not as confident around people she doesn’t know. Apart from this, with her friends and peers she is fairly confident.
Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? Nathalie is mainly ruled by logic, but when it comes to paranormal events she is ruled by emotion and fear.
What would most embarrass this character? If she spent a lot of time setting up a huge prank and it failed in front of a big audience.
Best Characteristics: Good at scaring.
Worst Characteristics: Nathalie is usually very annoying. Antagonist Character Profile:
Name: Jane Table	Age: Was 17 (Went missing and was presumed dead in 1963)
Current Residence: St Hildas Boarding house
Occupation: Spirit	Talents/Skills: Jane was very intelligent, her abilities often prevented her from making many friends in life and as a consequence she struggles in death.

Physical Characteristics:

Height: 147cm	Weight: Average
Race:  Australian	Skin Colour: Pale
Eye Colour: Brown almost black	Glasses/Contact Lenses: None.
Hair Colour: Black	Facial Shape: Long and thin
Distinguishing Features: Long black hair
Style (Elegant, shabby etc): Shabby and distressed, usually in white.
Dress/Clothing: Always cloaked in a white gown, covering her body.
Mannerisms: Didn’t socialize with others much. Keeps to herself and acts very creepy.
Hobbies: Interrupting the lives of the living from the spiritual world.
Favourite Sayings: 'The grey mist that follows you knows your destination before you do. But don't let it lead you to your peril.'
Speech Patterns: Jane doesn’t speak much. When she did contribute to a conversation she would go off topic easily. She usually related everything to spirits, the dead or paranormal events.

Emotional Characteristics

Introvert or Extrovert: Introvert

What is this Character’s Goal?

To punish those who lie compulsively. 

Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background: St Hildas School 1963

Character's short-term goals in life: Jane’s short-term, long-term and eternal goal is to punish those who lie as a consequence of her wrong doings in her short life.

How does Character see himself/herself? Struggles to accept the fact she is dead and should move on, sees herself as an outcast to society as she died believing this.

How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? Jane knows she is an outcast. She plans on seeking revenge on those who outcast her from society.

How self-confident is the character? Jane was not very confident at all. She kept all thoughts and opinions to herself as much as possible and only talked when others talked to her.

Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? Jane was ruled by her emotion and fears. She will always follow what her thoughts tell her to do.

What would most embarrass this character? Jane was always embarrassed at school. She became use to it and resorted to just not talking to anyone or doing anything they said, because of all of this she is very easily embarrassed by most joke sat her expense.

Best Characteristics: Jane was very smart; she excelled in all of her subjects.

Worst Characteristics: She was strange in school, people avoided her as they felt she was sinister and her opinions were not of the normal variety.