Painting The Symbols

Throughout this entire planning and research stage I have said how I wanted to use symbols to represent the presence of evil, spirits etc but also to have hidden meanings whether the audience know them or not. While actually creating the drawn/painted symbols for my main task (short film) I came across more symbols which worked well. To do the symbols I used ordinary plain paper and used acrylic paint to paint black symbols onto the paper, I used just plain because that's what you'd find in a everyday house and seeming as that's the location it was set it seemed like the logical options. I didn't do the symbols to perfection as they are supposed to be rushed and have an eerie look to them which the un-neatness gives them. 

Examples of some symbols that I added are the ones above.

• The first one (left) is a square with a cross in it, quite like a checkbox however, this actually means 'help' so I thought this would be good symbols to include as it can represent/connote how the female(victim) was and is asking for help as she tries to escape the possession of the spirit/antagonist yet no one realises, this is something the audience can also relate to as it's unlikely they will know what this symbol means. 
• The second one (middle) is more obvious then the others. It is a face/skull and the symbols means death. I thought this was a good fix as it links in with the conventions of the hour genre but also it looks very sinister within the other symbol and draws your attention. I also believe that it is rather unsettling which is a good atmosphere to have when it comes to being the suspense 
• The last one (right) is a spiral, yet again this is one that is likely to be unknown by the audience. It has different meanings in different translate (e.g. revenge, grief etc.) the translation I am using to represent is the idea that something is brewing/coming which in this case is the spirit. Even though this symbol does have many translations they all relate to the horror conventions rather well so even if something in the audience does know a translation it will not change their idea of the suspense or storyline. 

This symbol is known as a 'Satantic pentagram' I have included it because it a symbol known by almost everyone for it's common use in horror films and just the media in general. I want to use it because it connotes to the audience that what is happening (if even they don't know what) is satantic and evil and shows that even if they don't know what the other symbols means they know they would have a similar meaning/translation to the Santanic Pentagram. Therefore, giving the audience some insight without having to actually tell them but by playing to their own knowledge to make it up in they imagination, this way they continue to watch to see if they're correct or even researching after to see if they were correct.

My next step was to see how they looked in the actual location. I scattered them around to give it a chaotic feel to it, I put some on the walls, tables and all over the floor, the symbols could not be missed which is just what I wanted. Also, seeming as the colour of the carpet is a dark orange and beige the white of the paper stuck out even more, as well as the black symbols painting on making them eye-catching. I am happy with how these turned out, I am going to create more to fill in some of the gaps however, not too many as the gaps show that under all of these symbols there is just an ordinary house from the shots they saw before hand, it also shows the audience that the location has not changed however the state of it has making them just as confused as the character which could actually help them to connect with them and be more engrossed into the storyline.