/co/
If you could make a spooky cartoon, how would it go.
Would it be some urban myths, a johnny quest-esque show or like some found footage.
Must it be ACTUALLY SCARY or can it be just Courage the Cowardly Dog or even Scooby Doo tier?
It wouldn't be spooky right away, it would be comfy looking and very safe and self assuring.
The preliminar plot wouldn't be anything related to horror. Scary shit would happen rarely, like once or twice per episodes at first, and not on very one. It would get more eerie and discomforting. Nothing gore, jumpscare or common shit horror does, just unsettling stuff.
Like, they are walking around a factory or a big house, going with the plot as usual, then they pass a room and there's something like pic related, so they move on. That never being explained or returned.
>>78504796
Courage and Scooby-tier
>>78504845
This would actually be really creepy. Where would it all lead to though? Will there ever be a resolution or explanation?
I'd go for something that manages to be constantly unsettling that never quite goes into full or even implied horror. Just weird details in the setting, writing, animation, etc. that constantly make it feel somehow off. The kind of thing that'd make a viewer wonder whether what they're watching is actually creepy or if they're just being a weirdo projecting on a completely innocent show.
Of course that could easily just end up not being remotely spooky at all, or feel like a gigantic cocktease because an explanation is never given for why everything in-show is so weird. But done right it could be cool.
Sorry for not being really specific, but that's pretty much it.
>>78505110
I like to think there would be no explanation
That something's just happen and that's it
Something with cryptids.
>>78505110
If it would be episodic then never explain it.
Which would probably be the hardest part for me to decide, episodic or plot driven format...
I just like the idea of things that shouldn't be creepy being. And I also think that every generation of kids needs scary shit in their lives. There's no real horror kid's show anymore, no Goosebumps, no Courage. I firmly believed that being scared is essential for the development of the child.
>>78505330
Kids like FNAF these days, though
>>78504845
So, pretty much Mulholland Dr./Inland Empire TAS?
I love the sound of that. I'd add characters sounding like in a Lynch movies. For some reason actors in his movies are always so unnatural-sounding it adds to creepiness.
It's getting cold, isn't it?
>>78505353
didn't that fad die out?
I mean Markiplier doesn't whore out FNAF videos anymore...
>>78505377
>>78505353
That's garbage horror, though. Kids deserve something better.
>>78505370
I should probably watch those.
>>78505299
I actually like this idea.
You know how many cryptids exist just because some retard saw something move in the bushes and yelled "omg a bigfoot"
You'd be working with an endless supply of material and last several years
>anthology of shorts with minimal dialogue and music. If there is any music, it's happy/eerie
>bizarre-looking artstyles ranging from somewhat realistic to cartoonish, but all must feel off
>most disgusting and horrifying acts are always implied rather than shown leaving it up to viewer's imagination
>try to keep constant sense of dread and suspense rather than trying to shock the viewer with gore and jumpscares
>lighting is either resembling Carpenter's Halloween or unnaturally bright and colourful
>>78504845
Yes, it has to start out pretty innocent but slowly become subtly creepy.
Even have stuff in the first episodes like weird reflections and strange noises during quiet scenes. Use experimental art styles once the cartoon sheds it's skin. Creatures that don't match the art style.
Lead ups after that point, and strange characters. They don't have to be bad just strange. Like having weird traits.
The cartoon gets quieter as the series goes on.
>Is this really the same show?
Then sudden episodes that look like the older ones but incorporate creepy elements.
Not knowing when an episode will be innocent or creepy as hell. Secret messages about stuff.
Finale merging both aspects and ending on a cliffhanger.
>>78506003
>>78506093
These are pretty good ideas anons
I'd probably make it episodic with one or all MC dying by some strange event or creature but have them all alive next episode
>>78504845
Great concepts here. Also, I think the idea of "show, not tell" is the fundamental element to this horror. Like everything is innuendo, and only the viewer can figure the puzzle, not the characters. I think that make things unsettling because there are no "heroes" to save the days, but only "victims". Yes, the victims I refer to both the characters in the show and the audience.
>>78506288
I think semi-episodic is ideal. So, it is generally episodic, but certain things subtly permanently stream through episodes. Also, some level of lore/plot would be cool, without a literal plot.
Not a show, but a dream project of mine has always been a full adaptation of Sweeney Todd in the Disney House style set in a Post-Apocalyptic London. I've got everything planned out, and all I'd need is an art director to make it a reality. It'd be almost a Tom Waits like style for the orchestration and arrangement for most of the numbers , and it would just get more and more agonizing the further in you got. Ideally the audio would be recorded in one take to make it sound even more realistic.
I'm already feeling spooped desu. I think this is why this type of horror works, because a creeping feeling is the essence of creepy shit. When shit lingers, your imagination goes wild and lines of reality start to blur. Just a constant cocktease of dread. Plus a lack of understanding leads to a lack of control which makes this type of horror scarier than gory or jumpy shit, the horror of which is easily reasoned away.
I'd make a miniseries that's similar to The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside, with each episode having it's own plot. It'd feature guest animators or artists, like maybe some of the people behind Courage, Flapjack, and OtGW's artstyle and maybe guest writers too.
>>78506617
I like the "clueless fear" too. It is not like the bizarre setting in Stephen King, but a the characters are clueless to the "normal" environment. Uncertainty is the source of fear; thus, keeping information minimal as possible might make story even creepier.
Something like this.
I try to research about the iconography and most visually disturbing images and compose a story for them. I always found still images much more effective than narrative when comes to horror because you just can't forget them, they get burned in your brain.
I've become really fascinated with the idea of a sort of "twilight ambience" for a horror feeling. Most horror I think is bright daylight or midnight. I want to create a horror that's trapped in amber, so to speak. This is kind of what it would sound like. Am I making sense here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL998ajnjN4
>>78506093
John R Dilworth knew that putting something that doesn't fit at all with what you are used and was seeing all this time is very effective in making something eerie.
In Courage's case, the cartoon is animated in 2D and then suddenly there's a 3d clip, but not good 3d, something that still feels off, that makes your mind automatically think "why? what?"
I've spent a long time just studying horror, what works and what don't. Some formulas keep getting repeated over time by different people, because it's just too effective.
Remember on The Shining when the Hotel goes full apeshit blood on elevator insane? Then Wendy just sees a dude getting oral sex by a costumed bear. What the fuck was that? That's how I would make a cartoon.
>>78506794
I think it slightly ties in with the creeping horror, since you have uncertainty with the temporal setting, it's just a feeling of being lost I guess.
Here's the thing about horror I think.
It comes in so many different varieties you're hamstringing the show from the get-go if you nail down the premise to one angle like "cryptids" or "ghosts" or whatever.
To consistently keep an audience on edge you have to be unpredictable and versatile. What might be genuinely unsettling for one episode isn't really going to work again, the audience becomes inoculated against it. Also, might be frightening to one person won't work well on another so you need to be able to hit as many angles as possible. I'd like to see a show that ping pongs between Cosmic style threats and simple deranged deformed murderer escaped from a psych ward. Between ancient folk monsters and occult conspiracies. Between the horror of science gone awry and an inviting family that isn't all what they seem. Cover as many bases as possible.
To do any horror show justice unpredictability is key. The audience should never really know what is possible within the universe of the show. This should include radical changes in the artstyle or the mixing of styles in the show to create a discordance. Like introducing Found Footage style for an episode, using claymation with 2D, real 3D with 2D or 3D CGI etc... Utilizing the medium of TV to its fullest. Having a 'badguy' hijack the show and speak directly to the camera, extended periods of static with hushed whispers or other unsettling noises, etc...
Like other people have stated, with horror less is more. The more you leave to the imagination and scarier it is in the minds of the people watching. As little should be explained as possible. The more reason you inject in the show the less frightening it becomes.
>>78506750
Yeah. I think the whole "normal yet eerily off" vibe is also scary because it makes you subconsciously question you're perception of normal in reality too.
>>78506875
But that's not really what I'm aiming for. It's sort of like "I'm very tired, and everything looks so warm and inviting, and I want to go to sleep but I say, is that a monster of unspeakable terror right near by?"
Are there any other examples of this? The closest I can think of are probably Victorian era Ghost Stories.
>>78506794
>The Caretaker
Muh nigga.
Leyland Kirby and Ruth White would make fantastic horror movie soundtracks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mUX1l89npg
>>78506991
Yeah, I assumed so after typing it out, hence the slightly. But I was too caught up in my own thoughts. I understand what you mean though. I can't think of any particular examples atm.
>>78506995
>Starts it.
I'm already screaming. Thanks anon.
>>78506908
>with horror less is more
I wish Hollywood fucking learned that.Off-topic, but how the fuck do you take Black Christmas, one of the most tasteful and suspenseful slasher movies with a believable as far as slasher movies go and mysterious crazy person as a villain and remake it into a bland shock value gorefest with the blandest villain imaginable who has a laughably bad sympathetic backstory? I understand trying something new, but why must this new be so awful?
>>78507035
It's cool. If you get any examples I'd love to hear them.
Actually, the closest I can think of is this novel called "The Ghost Writer" by John Harwood. There's sequences which to this day has given me the most intense nightmares I've ever experienced. Pity its got kind of a stupid ending though.
>>78507080
Because Hollywood is run by sociopaths who don't understand stories, anon. God, I wish it were the 70s again and all of the producers were gorgeous, had excellent taste, on coke, and having sex with each other. Sadly only one of those things is true today.
>>78507109
I don't think they stopped taking coke either, anon.
>>78507152
No, that was the one that was true.
>>78507185
>Implying they still don't partake in degenerate sex acts
>Implying that isn't the staple of pedowood
>>78504757
rule zero: no one is allowed to just die. Victims must suffer a variety of fates worse than death before they are allowed to die
rule one: mystery means unquantifiable. as soon as you know the limits or method to defeat something, it becomes quantifiable and no longer scary.
Rule two: no two fiends can be defeated by the same method. No book of banishing, or enchanted sword, or any other 'save the day' plot devices can be used more than once. Either the object gets destroyed, stolen, or simply doesn't work on anything else because they're too powerful or not what they seem etc.
Rule 3: the stronger the sense of 'this could happen to you', the scarier it is. It doesn't have to be rational or grounded, merely happen in a context that most people have experienced, better if they experience it somewhat regularly.
>>78507235
That's obvious shit, but it's no longer Julia Phillips and Robert Evans working their way through town in order to get The Godfather and Chinatown made.
>>78504757
The fear doesn't need to be founded on something truly and definitely unknown. Make everything else create an ambiance in which truly knowing is impossible. Time doesn't add up. Places are inconsistent and unnerving. People act irrationally, they are gone and practically retconned, they turn hostile, miserable and visually unsightly, tragedy and sorrow starts to weight the scenes as if the story had changed and something that never had happened became true. There's a lingering sensation that further continuing with the story strays us from comfort and safety irreversibly, pulling more and more from that thread destroys all sense of direction and reality.
And then the actual fucked up images begin uncovering.
>>78504757
I would make the Scary Stories book series and make it a cartoon using the same illustrations of the story.
>>78504757
Repetition of the same events - but each time they get a little worse.
>>78506803
To be honest I've never actually gotten scared by this or anything like it. The uncanny valley does not affect me for some reason. Is this something i should worry about?
>>78509627
Maybe that kind of horror is not your cup of tea. I understand that.
Hell, I can probably relate on some level given how much people praise certain horror movies (like Babadook or Antichrist, for instance) that do absolutely nothing for me.
>>78509694
Yea for me horror works when its subtle 4th wall breaks, or the unknown. I'm more scared of black holes and space anomalies like such than anything else.
I've been reading some Kafka lately and the tone is very much what you were looking for. So check him out in you need inspiration of any kind.
Also there's this is an animated adaptation of one of his stories (I know its Japanese but just go with it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOLSY3sX9g
>>78504845
I think pic related would pass as a kind of gore. Relatively mild gore but still.
>>78509720
Yep that works for me too. I also hate jumpscares.The laziest way to try to scare people.
>>78509627
The uncanny valley relies on a person's ability to detect facial expressions in order to be effective, something which autistic people have difficulty doing.
I'm not just saying this because it's what people do on 4chan, but you probably have autism.
Good atmosphere setting music/score/effects are paramount for anything to be truly unsettling.
Without the right audio cues the visuals will never be as scary as they could be.
