My next project will explore the themes of Horror and Evil. I'm a film buff. I've seen a variety of horror films over the years. 'Gore' and blood may provide shock value but this only provides temporary thrills. The stuff that truly terrifies, is the type that offers the viewer very little hope. Hope that they can escape. Hope that something can be stopped. Hope that they can understand and apply a reason to their fear. When you remove that hope, all you are left with is an endless cycle of terror. That's something I wish to explore. Think about it: 99% of horror films you've seen goes like this:
Something (or multiple) scary happens; Things move/appear/die etc
A reason is given for the 'scary-ness'. A person was murdered and is now seeking revenge etc
The rest of the film is dedicated to resolving the reason; A the murderer is brought to justice etc
Unfortunately in the celluloid medium, its difficult to remove/deviate from that formula but photography offers us something different: it does not necessarily need to resolve a story. It can be used to place an idea in the viewer - a one-off that relies on the viewer to make their own mind up. Hope can be removed from the equation. By it's very nature, a photograph, with it's framing, is already a very claustrophobic experience. The Exorcist works in this way. A lot of the time, we are stuck in the room or the house with Regan. Having exterior scenes in that film provides us with a relief from the trauma inside that room.
Films like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and The Exorcist play with the idea that evil has a history and this too, is an interesting sub-theme to explore. The idea that it has always been around and continues to lurk on the periphery of 'normal' society. It will definitely be a fun concept to explore.
Socially, we are taught and encouraged to help one another; to further Humankind but there are people who don't want to help. They just want to harm others for the sake of just being evil. Just as most of us do things for love, there are others who will do things just to be nasty and spiteful.
The primary aim of this project is to produce a scary set of photographs. Disturbing a viewer's mindset would be the ultimate challenge and it's one I hope I can achieve with this project.