Im considering putting the house further back in the image, with the main focus being a barn, with light streaming out.:
Next, I'll post up the sketch.
I've been trying to think of some more options of scenes to create and I've decided to look into the sterotypical American farm. Over the last few months we've watched a lot of movies set in rural America (Invaders of the body snatchers, Night of the Hunter, Invaders from Mars) which all feature farmsteads with something 'not quite right'. I'm doing a bit of research into what I could create, but I have a general idea.
Hi Sam - am liking this rural 'gothic' direction; some references for you to digest; check out Ed Gein's farmhouse...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGNpH6Rk_ms
Ed Gein was an American serial killer of the 1950s - and the real-life inspiration for Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill.
see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=285ImXTYdsg
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l7WLabRkTs&feature=related
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZYAuHKWxHA&feature=related
There's a certain rural/American/deep south gothic subgenre, which also includes the likes of...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUO42AkZV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9R4t_Nwy5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlcm1el1D0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgbS_mOmAC0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bKy8ohYeSg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Bi9mGv1J8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw03QayJ2fU
There's a lot of anxiety for us 'city folk' out there in the redneck woodlands, you see... a very rich seam of nervousness for you to happily exploit!
Thanks for all those links Phil, I'll work my way through them.
I'm also going to watch the M.Night Shyamalan film 'Signs' later, as the feeling and atmosphere within it is exactly what I'm going for.
good choice... also, while the rest of the film is bad, the opening act of Shyamalan's The Happening is very 'off-kilter' and uncanny... and then it drops all the balls...
more redneck gothic...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWtZ2FBot3U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLDsv5Pk40c&feature=related
some Australian 'redneck' gothic too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWKnmnK0M80&feature=related
and some French 'Hillbilly' horror ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn3oba5HmH8
and finally...
some Cornish 'farm folk' nastiness...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQjQIXzFCRA
If you haven't seen it already - check out the link to Bharathi's blog - an alternate way to post your reviews/observations/analysis?
http://bharathianthonysamy.blogspot.com/2009/12/video-review-of-invaders-from-mars-by.html