Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts

What makes The Conjuring scary, and good?

| Labels: | Posted On Thursday, October 17, 2013

What The Conjuring is all about?
The Conjuring is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan. Ed and Lorraine Warren were American paranormal investigators who come to the assistance of the Perron family, who are experiencing increasingly disturbing events in their farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island in 1971

WARNING: May contains MAJOR spoiler!

When The Conjuring was out on July, people were talking how scary the film was. My friends and my brother could not get over the film even after a month watching it. Though curious myself I didn't went to watch it. It's not that I got myself spooked, I have my own reason. So when the dvd was out recently I finally got my hand to watch it, and boy am telling ya, The Conjuring is one of the rare films I have 5 out of 5 rating, and I have many good reason why it deserved full 5 stars rating.


It's Diverted from Most Typical Horror Film
For starters, what's usually make a horror film? What's the essential of a horror film? A least in my years of observations, this is what I often finds in horror films:

1) Blood
2) Gore
3) Excessive Conflict with a Group (family, friends, etc,etc,etc)
4) Body of Counts
5) At least one psychopathic human character
6) Malicious Spirits/Ghosts

And not sure with the new generation, profanity is like a must in horror films. Don't ask me why, I'm not sure myself. In The Conjuring you’ll hear none, the worst you can get is "shit", and you’ll hear it only once.

Alas, The Conjuring managed the bring out the horror without the need of all 6, the most it had is ONE malicious spirit and that's all. There was no gore, a very minimal usage of blood (it occurs only twice in the film - and you're most likely even going to forget there was even a presence of blood through the film), there was conflict, but not the kind you always seen in a horror films or any dramas, the was no psychopathic character, and most of all, nobody die during the whole course of the film (saved for the characters that had died PRIOR the film started). Sounds boring? Guess again my dear friend. You'll be surprised how much it's actually way, way scarier than your typical horror films.


The Simplicity of Horror
As I mentioned earlier, there was no blood or gore throughout the course of the film, so what's actually really made The Conjuring scary? It's the fact of the simplicity of horror in the film. Everything was simple, it fact it is actually something that occurs every day in our life. A rolling ball, clapping your hands (in this case is a game of Hide and Clap), and some not-so occurred everyday, but it happened at times, sleepwalking, bruised over body, and things got fallen from the wall.

There you have it, a full list f disturbances occurred on the Perron family before being attacked by the malicious spirit. Sounds simple eh? But how come they ended become one of the main factor of horror? The key of the whole things here is the timing and music. Both timing and music were both well played to intersects each elements in making your daily life activities become something more horrifying. I mean, who thought the sound of rope squeaking can actually get your hair up?

Well The Conjuring managed to. And most of the time you only see the below part of a hanging woman (or an accused witch in this case), there was no blood, no shredded outfit, not gruesome scars over the body. Just a normal looking woman in a dress (or a nightgown, I don't want to argue here), probably a bit pale, and a simple sound of rope squeaking. And that's it, and you just got the whole people in the cinema biting their fingers, praying for the safety of our main character.


The Family Value
When the Perron family were introduced; husband and wife with five lovely daughters, the way they portrayed the family is very significant to make you sympathize them later; everyone seemed to get along very well, the sisters teased and happily playing with each other, then blaming which other when things goes wrong (typical for young siblings), the husband and wife were soon in love with each other and had been very supportive towards one and another. They're your typical, normal but loving family.

So my first thought came, "Owwww we gonna have at least one rebellious daughter". Sure enough there is; the eldest, being grumpy with the fact they had to move away, but the parents being completely understanding of her situation. I admitted, at this point I was deceived, I totally believed that we're going into typical conflict in horror film; the eldest daughter gonna make a fuss, but the mother won't believe, and when she does the husband doesn't and become enraged when the wife went out to seek for help.

And none occurred in the film. I mean it, none. Like I said, I was totally deceived by the first part. The eldest sister did made second fussing which at the time encouraged me to believe what I had believed earlier. Later she was spooked when one of her sisters sleepwalking to her room, that ended up making her asking her dad for help. When it happened again I was expecting the older sister gonna get pissed (like most older sibling would do when they get disturbed by the younger ones), but no, here is when one of the rare, beautiful family value was displayed when she took care of her sister nicely.

After the disturbance turned violent, we can see the wife is at the Warrens's lecture (as expected / predicted), and she was alone. And at this point I'm still with the stereotype thoughts, "Oww she gonna get trouble with the husband when she get home later".

Guess what? When the Warrens arrived, the husband, Roger was there at the door, with open arms and thanking them for coming. I seriously go, whaaaaa? This is not what I'm expecting. This is in fact, a pleasant surprise. So now you might think it's so boring, but think again, with such a nice family here, with everyone understanding, supportive and loving each other, they're truly what we can say nearly-perfect family, and to be harassed by malicious spirits, something that a good family don't deserved, they deserved more sympathy than anyone.


Realism of the Whole Film
The sympathy on the Perrons was well balance with the help of the Warrens. Though I admitted here the Warrens' sense of alturism might be a bit cheezy, but luckily the way they portrayed Lorraine being a psychic who can sense and feel emotions of other helps to concrete the whole elements of her desire to help them. While Lorraine was more than willing to help, Ed was rather reluctant, and this was nicely done to tone down the cheeziness.

Again and again I was still in stereotype thoughts; while there was no conflicts within the family I was expecting conflicts between the Warrens with Perrons (especially Roger because the Warrens presence lighten things up, I'm expecting jealousy here), or at least with one of the two assistants as we learn one of them is a skeptic.

Again, it was a no! Each characters interact well with ech other. They appreciate each other’ presence. When Roger approached Ed alone, I nearly goes, ""Ohhh here we come". But instead to my surprised, he expressed his gratitude instead *jawdrops*

As the ordeal was over, I was expecting some of the children might ended up being traumatized and now feared their mother. Again I was happy to see things turned the other way round. This is a kind of ending I always wanted in family-themed horror film and what I believed most likely would happened in real-life.


Straight to the Point
The beauty of The Conjuring is everything is straight to the point what the film wants you to enjoy, the only conflict you have here is their attempt to solve the problem, again that's the who main point of the film. There you don't need to exhaust your brain to divulge into dramas, instead you can have pure horror to focus on. With what Roger been saying through the film regarding his early skeptics, I'm pretty sure it did took him quite sometimes to eventually accepting the whole supernatural and there must be some arguments or debates between him and the rest of the family members before he himself starting experience them himself. But none of these were highlighted in the film. Why? Cause it doesn't need to, we viewers can figure it out by ourself so why bother? Or maybe we actually would not need to bother seeing the whole family drama cause what we want to watch is supernatural horror.


It Did Not Stray Too Far From the Real Facts
While The Conjuring was heavily marketed as A True Story, the truth is, it is. Not only the Warrens did wrote a book regarding this case, one of the Perrons daughters also wrote a book regarding their ordeals and how the Warrens had helped them. And after comparing them, this time Hollywood did not have much attention to exaggerated from the facts, which made the whole film more creepier when you think about it.


Conclusion
Eventually I finally realized why The Conjuring is truly a horror. While most horror films creep you out with the blood, gore and psychopathic characters and ghosts, you most likely will shake off the fear when you realized the high possibility those things are not going to happened in real-life. You don't go around hearing such things happened in real-life, do you?

But with The Conjuring, almost everything here was not exaggerated like most Hollywood films, the sensed of realism creep fear into you as you begin to realize this can happened to you. A happy, well-to do family, this is what most people have, and people don't usually go around and start a fight, they tend to get along instead, no matter how contrary their belief were. And this all what had been well portrayed in The Conjuring. Most importantly, nobody die throughout the whole event. Some did get injured, but they survived. Everything in the Conjuring can truly happened to you.

So who say you need blood and gore to make a horror film? The more simpler the more horrifying cause you gonna go, "Oh shit this could happened to me"


What (Actually) Happend to Joon Myun?

| Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, October 9, 2013

"He was a straight A student. But there's something off about that kid, he often, if not, always know what others are thinking, especially if it's involving him-as if, he can read our minds"

Rising idol Kim Joon Myun suddenly went missing, only to be found barely alive, battered, while the people around him were massacred, leaving the investigators baffled as they try to find out what actually had happened to the idol.

Yay finally wrote another Exo fanfiction mainly involving Suho (it's Kim Joon Myun's stage name for non Exo fans).

Full story at Asianfanfics:
(still in draft, will post the link once the story is up)

Exo: Stay By My Side

| Labels: , | Posted On Saturday, June 29, 2013


Originally planned it as a one shot, but there's a chances it will ended up with few chapter, but...most  likely less than five. The final poster is finally ready
Stay by my Side (confirmed title)
Sequel to oneshot Safe by your Side, continue where the stor end, Luhan is now living with the bands, with Suho act as his unofficial guardian, while the organization sent a powerful electrokinetic boy (Chen) to capture Luhan and Sehun. Meanwhile Sehun is struggling to fight his inner demons to overcome his dark past.

Planning to post it in mid July

Stay By My Side Teaser 1

| Labels: , | Posted On


Originally planned it as a one shot, but there's a chances it will ended up with few chapter, but...most  likely less than five. The final poster is still WIP, this is the first teaser
Stay by my Side (confirmed title)
Sequel to oneshot Safe by your Side, continue where the stor end, Luhan is now living with the bands, with Suho act as his unofficial guardian, while the organization sent a powerful electrokinetic boy (Chen) to capture Luhan and Sehun. Meanwhile Sehun is struggling to fight his inner demons to overcome his dark past.

Planning to post it in mid July

Exo: Let out the Beast

| Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, June 18, 2013


New Exo fanfiction; highly inspired by Wolf song/mv. I admit, this time I included several "famous" pairing:
Kai x D.O
Sehun x Luhan
Suho x Kris

Again and again I remind you, there is no BL or Yaoi, I might be a shipper, but for close friendship, closely to bromance, nothing more.


 think this is the darkest story I had written so far. I had the outline but I need to improve my style of writing to make the whole story really dark. I always <3 wolves anyway ^_~


Exo: Safe By Your Side

| Labels: , | Posted On Saturday, May 11, 2013


Mind you I’m not exactly a shipper nor a yaoi or BL fan (to be honest here, I'm NOT a fan at all!), but somehow I kinda like Sehun and Luhan pairing. ^^;;


So I decided to write an oneshot regarding them, but mainly focusing on their friendship, nothing more-but I might give some fan services

So glad I manage to finish the oneshot, hope HunHan fans enjoy this!:
http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/441381

Honestly, I think I'm losing my mind, few years ago I could not imagining myself doing this kind of stuffs....bwaah!


Exo: The Price to Pay

| Labels: , | Posted On Sunday, April 28, 2013


Though it's embarrassing, a good friend of mine encourage me to post my Exo fan fiction I wrote and I choose Asian Fan Fics because I often find fanfics there are quite good.

Mind you I'm not into yaoi or romantic stuffs. I just enjoyed their super powers. A bit of fan services maybe (lol)
I think so far I will only focus on Exo fanfics, I'm not interested with other Kpop fanfics so far (It's the super powers I'm telling you!)

You can read my second Exo fanfic here:
http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/436501

Honestly, this is my first fanfic, but I only submitted later because there;s still many chapters to manage...

Exo: Prelude

| Labels: , | Posted On Saturday, April 27, 2013


Though it's embarrassing, a good friend of mine encourage me to post my Exo fan fiction I wrote and I choose Asian Fan Fics because I often find fanfics there are quite good.

Mind you I'm not into yaoi or romantic stuffs. I just enjoyed their super powers. A bit of fan services maybe (lol)

I think so far I will only focus on Exo fanfics, I'm not interested with other Kpop fanfics so far (It's the super powers I'm telling you!)

You can read my first Exo fanfic here:
http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/435987/exo-prelude-korean-supernatural-fictional-exo-exok-exom-fiction



Aku dan Pontianak

| Labels: | Posted On Wednesday, April 10, 2013


Citer ini adalah rekaan smeata-mata tetapi berdasarkan pengalaman hampir sebenar Ili, serta lokasi yang Ili nak ceritakan adalah benar dan memang Ili lalu setiap hari

Suatu hari saya balik lewat malam kerana terpaksa stay back. Mak ada pesan kalau dah balik lewat, jangan guna jalam shortcut, kerana walapon jalan shortcut jimat masa hampir 20-30 mins (serious), jalanya sangat gelap, tak ada satu tiang elektrik pon, dan sunyi bila lewat malam. Mak saya risau kalau kereta saya rosak, pasti bahaya bila seorang diri.

Tapi dah dasar budak degil, saya guna juga jalan shortcut tu. Jam dah tunjukkan pukul 12.30 pagi. Baru saya separuh jalan, kereta saya tiba2 mati pulak. Hairan jug rasanya kerana kereta saya masih baru dan baru2 nie saja baru saya bawak pi servis. Saya cuba buat panggilan untuk panggil ayah atau mak saya ambikkan saya. Tapi hari tu juga talian hilang. Sudah pening kepala x tau nak buat apa, saya ambik keputusan untuk berjalan pulang. Berbekalkan lampu suluh saya mula berjalan, sambil2 tengok talifon, harap2 talian akan ada balik.

Tengah2 saya berjalan, tiba2 saya ada bau harum. memang sangat harum. Sebenarnya saya suka bau haruman tersebut. Kemudian di depan saya saya ternampak sesusuk tubuh seperti seorang wanita berpakaian serba putih dan berambut hitam panjang tetapi dalam keadaan kemas. Walaupon saya tau saya x patut tegur, tetapi saya x boleh tolong tapi terfikir yang wanita itu pasti pontianak. Saya teringat saya ada dengar cerita pontianak di Misteri Jam 12 bahawa kalau pontianak tampil cantik, saya x perlu risau, tetapi kalau mukanya tiba2 berubah, barulah saya perlu cabut, itu tanda dia mahu menyerang-rasanya kalau x bagitau pon saya tetap akan cabut hehehe

Saya pon jalan melepasi wanita tersebut sambil dalam hati berkata, "Kita sama2 makhluk tuhan, kita akan saling berlalu lalang"

"Adik"

Tiba2 wanita itu bersuara. Saya rasa sedikit cemas, tetapi saya masih menoleh.

"Boleh saya jalan sekali?"

Saya renung wanita tersebut. Cantik benar rupanya. Cuma mukanya sangatlah pucat, mamcm mayat.

"Boleh" jawab saya. Saya juga ada teringat dari Misteri Jam 12 ada orang pernah baitahu bahawa hantu2 dan jin2 ada bahasa mereka sendiri. Tetapi pontianak adalah antara hantu2 dan jin2 yang bahasanya sama dengan manusia.

Akhirnya kita berdua mula berjalan. Saya sedar kakinya seolah2 x mencecah lantai. Setelah jalan x beberapa jauh saya berasa bosan dan mengambil keputusan untuk berbual dengan wanita tersebut.

"Awak tinggal berdekatan ke?"

"Ya" wanita tersebut jawab dengan suara yang perlahan. "Di depan itu saja" ujarnya sambil menuding ke arah semak samun di depan di sebalh kiri jalan. Saya melihat arah yang ditunjukkan. "Eh? bukankah situ nanti akan dibuat jalan?"

"Ya....sebab itulah kita semua sedang risau. Nanti rumah kita akan musnah...."

Saya berfikir sejenak. "Tapi saya x ingat disitu ada tanah perkuburan. Kalau ada pasti orang di sini akan bantah projeck bina jalan ini"

"Oh itu" Wanita itu terdiam seketika "Ada. Ada tanah perkuburan. Tapi tanah perkuburan disitu bukan macam kamu manusia punya. Ini boleh dikatakan tanah perkuburan jin2 atau orang2 bunian"

Terkejut saya mendengar penjelasan wanita tersebut."Eh?! Sumpah saya x tau selama ni. Jadi sekarang macam mana? Kalau dibuat jalan..." saya sekarang menoleh arah kanan jalan, di mana terletaknya sekolah asarama budak2 lelaki "........nanti parah budak2 sekolah asrama ini"

"Itu juga yang saya risau" ujar wanita tersebut. Ini kali pertama saya lihat hantu atau jin risau akan manusia. Sambung wanita tersebut, "sebab kebanyak orang kita memang sangat marah kalu remah mereka diroskkan"

"Tau sangat" saya mengeluh besar. "Kamu tau dulu saya ada tinggal di satu hostel di tengah2 hutan. Betul2 hutan belantara. Tapi x lama kemudia kawasan itu ditebas dan abis smua hutan dibitakkan, mereka mula membuat bangunan dan kawasan perumahan baru. Kamu tau apa jadi? Abis banyak gangguan berlaku! Ada saja orang kena rasuk atau diganggu"

Saya senyap seketika. Kemudian saya sambung, "Ada satu jin rasanya kehilang tersayang selepas rumah dia musnah. Habis dia rasuk ramai orang mencari tersayang dia. Akhirnya kawan saya menyebab dia menagis apabila dia bertanya "Awak cari seseroang ke?". Kesian pulak rasanya. Rasanya dia ada jumpa x tersayang dia?"

Wanita mengeleng2kan kepala. "Kalau x ada gangguan dah jumpa la kot..." Wanita tersebut kemudian merenung ke arah saya. "Awak tinggal diblok 3 ke?"

"Ya". Tiba2 saya teringat sesuatu "Ya! Saya tinggal di blok 3! Dah beberapa kali diganggu pontianak. Kawan2 saya ada yang terkena. Adik saya siap kena cakar" Saya merenung ke arah wanita itu "Awak ada tau apa2?"

Wanita tersebut tengok ke arah saya lagi. "Tau....Pontianak yang itu...Memang sangat jahat. Walapun antara orang2 kita dia memang sangat jahat"

Eh antara hantu2 pon ada juga level kejahatan fikir saya. Tiba wanita itu ketawa sinis "Kesian adik awak"

Laaa ketawa pada adik saya rupanya, hampir meletup jantung saya bila dia mula ketawa. Saya sambung "Awak tahu tau apa saya perlu buat untuk hadapi pontianak seekor ni?

Wanita itu mengeleng2kan kepala. "Maaf, orang2 kita pon x tau macam mana dah uruskan dia". Saya mengeluh. "X mengapalah". Wanita itu tiba2 berhenti. "Dah sampai simpang ke rumah saya. Terima kasih kerana benarkan saya berjalan bersama awak"

Saya tersenyum. "Terima kasih pada awak juga kerana tidak mennggangu saya"

"Selamat malam"

"Selamat malam" kata saya sambil melambaikan tangan. Wanita tersebut bergerak perlahan2 ke arah semak samun sebelum tiba2 sahaja dia menghilangkan diri. Saya sambung berjalan. Kemuduan baru saya tersedar ada kereta di belakang saya.

Kereta tersebut berhenti di sebelah saya. Muka pemandu dan penumpang nampak pucat. Mereka merunkan tingkap. "Adik seorang2 ke? Nak tumpang?". Saya berasa sangat gembira mendengar offer tersebut. "Boleh sangat!"

Dalam perjalanan ke blok 3, pemandu tersebut akhirnya bersuara, "Adik. Kalau abang nak tanya boleh x?"

"Boleh"

"Adik" Pemandu itu mulakan "Mula2 kita takut nak mengajak adik tumpang, lagi2 kawan saya seorang ini. Tapi kemudian saya cam yang adik ni anak Encik Said yang tinggal di rumah banglo di Blok 3 tu kan? Ayah adik ada bantu saya dan rakan2 saya hari tu, kiranya sebab itulah saya beranikan diri tumpangkan adik"

"Oh..." Lagi2 rumah banglo....Semua orang selalu kaitkan saya dengan rumah banglo di Blok 3....

"Tadi....Tadi adik ada jalan dengan seseorang ke?" sambung si pemandu tersebut.

Oh mereka juga ada ternampak wanita tersebut fikir saya. "Ya. Saya berjalan dengan seorang wanita"

"Eh adik" kali ini penumpang itu pula bersuara. "Adik tau x kawasan situ agak keras? Tadi kami nampak wanita tersebut menghilangkan diri selepas masuk kee dalam semak samun"

"Oh itu" saya mula tersenyum. "itu cuma pontianak. Dia nak cuma nak pulang ke rumah tapi bosan jalan seorang2 jadi dia berjalan bersama saya"

Saya boleh lihat pemandu dan penumpang jadi pucat lesi. Saya cuma tersenyum sinis.


TAMAT


Spirit Main Characters

| Labels: , | Posted On Saturday, April 6, 2013


Tomalinse
A half elf, half elf boy. When Tomalinse was four, his mother went missing along with the other elves during a catalyst known as The Vanishing. Because of this,  Tomalinse lacks of magic training and often caused trouble with his magic.
 
The only Elvish artifact left by his mother is a beautifully crafted ivory necklace known as Vasilinse (Evening Star in the Elvish language). Later it was revealed Vasilinse possessed powerful power of light.

Being a wood elf, Tomalinse prefers barefoot. Because of his deep connection with the woods, his spiritual energy is Earth and he bonded with Earth element fox spirit.

Original concept of the story started from here:
http://ilicarriedoll.blogspot.com/2013/01/tomalinse-notes.html




Kiyosoren
Nickname “The Ice Prince” because of his piercing blue eyes and white hair. Mostly known as Soren, he is Tomalinse’s best friend who always encourages Tomalinse to train to use his powers. Soren is very agile and good with dual daggers. He bonded with a serpent spirit with air element.

An orphan, he lives in a forest nearby to Tomalinse’s village (which s why his outfit have Tomalinse’s village motif). Soren make livings by gathering forest materials and sells them to Tomalinse’s village. His good looks and charms often wins many people heart.

It was later revealed that Soren is actually way older than he looks. Originated from the Omasan clan; Soren possessed powerful magic. The dual daggers he always carries is one of the important artifacts from the clan.




Borsa
A warrior from the fire warrior tribe, Borsa animal spirit is an eagle. Like all the warriors in his tribe, Borsa have a high fire spiritual energy and is very skillful in martial arts. Borsa most striking appearance is his green eyes, which is considered rare among his people to have light colored eyes.

Borsa village was then was raided by The Black Army and their Fire Idol was stolen
Borsa determined to retrieve the idol and avenge his village.

Serious minded and somewhat short tempered, Borsa is often annoyed by Ingrisa childishness and lively spirit. He is also annoyed with Ingrisa’s strength, which is considered a match with his. They often have “sibling rivalry” when comes to strength contest and they often ended with a draw.





Ingrisa
Like her parents, Ingrisa is naturally talented blacksmith. Ingrisa is one of the rare underground water dwarf since dwarf usually related with fire, particularly lava. Instead her dwarf people specialize water technology and their city is powered by hydro energy.

Being a dwarf, Ingrisa have an enormous strength. This is why she bonded with a gorilla water spirit, making both of them a powerful pair when comes to physical strength. Because of this, she and Borsa often have “sibling rivalry” when comes to strength contest and they often ended with a draw. 

The Black Captain and his Black Dragon Spirit

| Labels: , | Posted On



The Black Dragon is one of the rare creatures to actually become animal spirit. This is mostly because of the darkness characteristic as fear and chaotic origins.


The Black Captain’s black dragon however appears to be very loyal and obedient to the captain despite its darkness origin. This is most likely of the captain’s strong spiritual energy.

Original concept of the story started from here:

Everything Burns

| Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, January 29, 2013


[FULL VIEW RECOMMENDED]

I was inspired by my long-time friend Rara who always write and compose her own songs, not to mention doing the album art cover.

Originally I designed this game when I was sixteen and the main theme of the game is fire. Concentrically while I was designing the game I heard Anastasia's song (feat. Ben Moody of Evanescence) "Everything Burns". The song was supposedly describe almost exactly what I have for the game, but unfortunately the song was used for Fantastic Four film :(

So I have no choice but to come out my own song. This is for the first (serious) attempt.