Planning:Prop Proccess

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today, I’ll be sharing how we designed the secret note for our film.

This week, our main focus was creating a key prop: the hidden note. The message is simple but chilling: “Dear Luna, I’m always watching.” We wanted it to come across as eerie and unsettling. Because the message is so short, it builds suspense and makes the audience curious. To add to this effect, we wrote it in messy handwriting instead of making it look neat. We also wrinkled the paper and included a hand-drawn symbol at the bottom to make it stand out more on camera. Even though it’s a small detail, it adds a lot of tension to our story.

When making the note, our goal was to give it a worn, mysterious, and creepy appearance so it would match the horror theme. We started by choosing a sheet of light-brown paper instead of plain white paper. This immediately gave it a darker and more unusual look.

At first, we thought about soaking the paper in coffee and burning the edges slightly to make it look old and damaged. These methods are often used to create an aged effect with stains and rough edges. However, after talking it through, we decided not to use those techniques and instead went with a simpler approach.

We then wrote the message using a black gel pen. The handwriting was intentionally uneven to make it feel more disturbing. Below the message, we drew a strange symbol to make the note seem more threatening and mysterious.

Before the ink completely dried, we gently erased parts of the writing. This caused the ink to smear, giving the message a distorted and unsettling look. Finally, we crumpled the paper to create folds and creases, making it appear more worn and enhancing the creepy atmosphere.

Reflection 

Overall, creating the secret note helped me realize how important small details are in filmmaking. Even though it is a simple prop, the choices we made—like the messy handwriting, smudged ink, and crumpled paper made a big difference in how creepy and realistic it looked. I also learned that plans can change during the process, and sometimes simpler techniques work just as well as more complicated ones. This experience showed me how props can help build tension and make a scene more effective.