Karma

A concept of karma (along with samsara and moksha) may originate in the shramana tradition of which Buddhism and Jainism are continuations. This tradition influenced the Brahmanic religion in the early Vedantic (Upanishadic) movement of the 1st millennium BC. This worldview was adopted from this religious culture by Brahmin orthodoxy, and Brahmins wrote the earliest recorded scriptures containing these ideas in the early Upanishads. Until recently, the scholarly consensus was that reincarnation is absent from the earliest strata of Brahminical literature. However, a new translation of two stanzas of the Rig Veda indicate that the Brahmins may have had the idea, common among small-scale societies around the world, that an individual cycles back and forth between the earth and a heavenly realm of ancestors. In this worldview, moral behavior has no influence on rebirth. The idea that the moral quality of one's actions influences one's rebirth is absent from India until the period of the shramana religions, and the Brahmins appear to have adopted this idea from other religious groups.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma

A good article: Japan’s Blair Witch: Restraint, Maturity, and Generic Canons in the British Critical Reception of Ring

This article shows about Japanese traditional, guard and depressive horror film style, which written by Daniel Martin. It is good to look if anyone want to know about what Japanese horror is and what position Japanese horror be in the world.

From: 

Japan’s Blair Witch: Restraint, Maturity, and Generic Canons in the British Critical Reception of Ring

Daniel Martin

From: Cinema Journal
48, Number 3, Spring 2009 

Script (Final Draft)

Karma(second draft)

1   INT.  HOME

Fade in:

We can see a man is doing something strange. The light is very dark. He is writing some Taoist magic figures, to burn incense, praying on his lips...

2   INT.  DRAWING ROOM

The man walks into the drawing room. He dresses a suit, looks very tired. Woman sits in the sofa and looks ahead. She looks lifeless.

Man: It’s too busy today. Ah, I’m so tired!

Man walks to the sofa and crouch down.

Man: Sophie(slowly, lightly), cooking, please.

Woman nods, and stands up walks to the kitchen. This time, we can see a special radio on the desk in front of the sofa.

After a while, dinner is finished. The man already sits behind table and eats. Woman put the last dish on the table, then stand behind the table.

Man: It’s delicious! (look at the woman) Sit.

Woman nods, sit down.

Man:(while he is eating) Sophie, are you OK?

Woman looks at the man, doesn’t say anything.

Man: Say: Yes. Please.

Woman: Yes, please.

Man:(continue eating) Don’t forget clean the room later.

3   INT.  BEDROOM

Woman is cleaning the kitchen.

Man sleeps in the bedroom, he looks very unpeaceful, just like he has a nightmare.

This time, we can see woman’s feet walk into the bedroom slowly.

Suddenly, the man opens his eyes, looks very scared. He notices the woman is standing behind the bed. She holds a knife and looks at him. Woman still very lifeless, but she raises the knife in her hand and stab it to him!

Man screeches. Suddenly, he sits up on the bed. He finds this is just a nightmare. He gasps and recalls something...

4   INT.  KITCHEN (MEMORY)

Woman is tidying the kitchen. She looks very angry, she says a lot of swear words to man. Man is standing behind the desk.

Man: Why you always talking, talking, talking! I don’t love you anymore! You will be my sweet doll, shut up! Shut up!

He already can’t bear woman’s talk endlessly, so he takes a knife and walk beside the woman. Unexpectedly, the man stabbed a knife in her back. We can see the knife penetrate her body, shed blood like water. N stops talking this time, she looks very suffering, but she can’t sound any voices. After her death, he moves her body to the sofa.

He walks to the table and becomes to do Chinese traditional sorcery. He is writing some taoist magic figures, to burn incense, praying on his lips...

Man: You will listen to me now. You will follow my order forever!

Then, he walks to N’s body, and put the taoist magic figure on her wound. He starts to pray for something, the taoist magic figure slowly disappearing.

5   INT.  BEDROOM & DRAWING ROOM

Man stops to recall, he still sits on the bed. He looks up this time, suddenly, he watches the woman is standing outside! He is very scared and angry! He stands up and walks out, slaps on her face.

Man: Never stand here again! Now, go to sit on the sofa!

Woman nods. Man goes back to the room, and the woman walks to the sofa. When she sits down, she knocks the radio heedless. The radio starts broadcast...

6   INT.  KITCHEN (FLASHBACK)

Man and woman sit behind the table together. They looks very sweet.

Woman: I’m so scared. I’m scared if you don’t love me.

Man: Don’t worry, baby. If I don’t love you, you can just cut off my head!

Woman: Wait! I need to record this. Say again!

7   INT.   DRAWING ROOM

Radio: If I don’t love you, you can just cut off my head!

Woman sits on the sofa, when she hears this sentence, she nods.

Then, she stands up and walks to the kitchen. She takes a knife, walks into the bedroom...

Script (Draft)

Curse(first draft)

1   INT.  HOME

Fade in:

We can see a man is doing something strange. The light is very dark. He is writing some Taoist magic figures, to burn incense, praying on his lips...

2   INT.  HOTEL

A big bed in the middle of hotel’s room. The man is sitting at the foot of the bed and smoking. We can see a woman(call her S below) behind him, lay on the bed, wrapped in a quilt, looks very sluggish.

3   EXT.  STREET(OUTSIDE OF THE HOTEL)

The man and S walk out of the hotel. We can see them from far away. Man’s hand put on S’s posterior, looks very intimate. He is saying something to S, but we can’t hear that. Then the man pats S lightly, they separate.

4   INT.   DRAWING ROOM

Man’s girl friend (call her N below) is sitting on the sofa and watching TV. Actually, she is absentminded.

At this time, man is back. He walks to the fridge and takes a bottle of beer. Then he sits beside N, drinks the beer and watches TV.

N (still watch on TV, looks deadpan): Where are you going this morning?

Man: GYM.

N: GYM? I guess you have some exercises on somebody’s bed, am I right? Why don’t you fuck her in my house? Fuck you! You bastard! How dare you lie to me? (when N curse the man, he just drinks the beer, didn’t say anything)

When the man finishes his drink, he stands up and leaves the drawing room.

Man: Don’t forget to cook later.

N (suddenly stand up): Go to eat your ass!

5   INT.   DRAWING ROOM

The man holds a bloodied knife, and put it into a bowl of water. Strange thing is the knife stand in the water. We can see a taoist magic figure beside the bowl.

Then, the man lights 4 candles in front of the bowl. After that, he burns incense and says something we can understand. Suddenly, he stops praying and open his eyes. 4 candles extinguish at the same time.

The man put some ash into the bowl, and then he holds the knife and takes it out of the bowl. We can see a spookiest smile on his face.

6   INT.   DRAWING ROOM

N is cooking in the kitchen. She hears the man is back.

The man walks into the room, looks very strange.

N even doesn’t look up, start cursing: Come back so late again! Fuck! You’re a pig that just knows how to eat and fuck bitches! Why are you coming back? Why don’t you live in that bitch’s home?

N curses a lot while she is cooking. She doesn’t notices the man already stand behind her. Unexpectedly, the man stabbed a knife in her back. We can see the knife penetrate her body, shed blood like water. N stops talking this time, she looks very suffering, but she can’t sound any voices.The man is deadpan this time.

Fade out

7   INT.  DRAWING ROOM

Fade in:

N has been put beside the sofa.

Man is still doing his ritual. He drinks the water in the bowl, and spews all the water to the taoist magic figure. Then, he walks to N’s body, and put the taoist magic figure on her wound. He starts to pray for something, the taoist magic figure slowly disappearing.

Man: Don’t forget to cook later.

Suddenly, N’s body became squirm. She stands up slowly. We can’t see any emotion on her face. She just walks to the kitchen, doesn’t say anything.

8   EXT.  STREET(OUTSIDE OF THE HOTEL)

Flashback: ( back to no.3 scene )

The man and S walk out of the hotel. We can see them, in a very close place.

Man’s hand put on S’s posterior, looks very intimate. Actually, he put a taoist magic figure on her back.

He is saying something to S. Actually, he is praying.

Then the man pats S lightly, the taoist magic figure has disappeared.

Man: Go back to your home.

They separate.

Fade out.

The end.

A good article: Spooky Ideas: The Eastern Horror Invasion in Film

The Morality of Horror in the West

Western horror is, historically, firmly grounded in moral principal – something has gone wrong and it is up to the protagonists to fix it. William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist" has 12-year-old Regan innocently play with a Ouija board, only to discover too late its malevolent connections. In "Ghost Story," a group of men take advantage of a flirtatious female acquaintance, and when she is injured and feared dead, they compound their sin by attempting to cover it up by pushing what they think is her lifeless body into a lake. "Poltergeist"'s action is predicated on religious desecration, and even "Nightmare on Elm Street" begins with the vigilante actions of parents against an accused child molester.

The evil supernatural forces arrayed against the heroes of these films are powerful. Demons and ghosts draw their strength from the fear and guilt of their victims. When Father Karras, who is so jaded by years of scientific explanations that he cannot even recognize demonic possession when it stares right into his face, finally believes, he is initially driven back. In "Ghost Story" the guilty are terrified as they see their past literally come back to haunt them. In "Poltergeist" the young family is terrorized because they unwittingly have purchased a home built on a sacred burial ground; and in the Freddy films the razor-gloved one hunts down children for the sins of their parents. Because the problems that initiate the supernatural contact are moral, solutions through sacrifice or change of behavior can overcome the evil.

Depending on how you see Father Karras' final flight through the window, he overcomes the demon and saves young Regan by sacrificing himself (although the full nature of that sacrifice becomes questioned in the third installment of that series). In "Ghost Story" the guilty pay for their sins because they never confessed. "Poltergeist" demands the return of the land. Since Freddy is not himself an innocent, he is not to be appeased, but fought so that the curse can be broken.

Ultimately, then, these films have a redemptive quality to them. Evil is committed and then loosed – manifesting itself in the lives of the possessed or haunted. Once the terrorized humans believe, then action can be taken to combat the evil. And once the sin has been paid for or the evil resisted properly then good triumphs. The only real exception to this rule is the slasher films like the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series that posits the eternal nature of evil, and teenage victims who never seem to understand the transcendent nature of their enemy. The teens will fetch a pistol, but rarely a pastor. Eastern horror, however, does not play by the same rules.

The Fatalism of Horror in the East

Within the last two years, two films that are faithful remakes of Japanese horror movies have hit the box office with a vengeance. In 2002 "The Ring" shocked theater goers out of nearly $130 million with the story of an otherworldly videotape – watch it, and seven days later you die. "The Ring" is one of the top grossing horror films of all time. Set to give "The Ring" a run for its money is the latest entry, "The Grudge" – the tale of a house so malevolently possessed by the spirits of a murdered family that death strikes anyone who enters.

What sets these Eastern horror films apart from their Western counterparts is that the moral violation that sets the evil in motion is completely unconnected with nearly all of the subsequent victims. It is evil without a purpose – thoughtless, rampaging – it just is. Once stumbled upon, the outcome is unavoidable. Even when the protagonist thinks they are doing good:  rescuing a child, protecting an old woman, it counts for nothing – something is coming for you in the dark, or through your television set.

"The Grudge"'s premise is simple – enter the haunted house and you die, call for help and they die too. Worse yet, "The Ring" presents a significant moral dilemma. Since the only way to save yourself from the consequences of watching the demonic video is to make copies to show to others, you are left with only two unsatisfying choices – be a victim of evil or a perpetrator. The fatalism of many Eastern religions infuses these horror films. What can a moral voice say in the face of demonic fatalism?

From: http://www.crosswalk.com/culture/features/spooky-ideas-the-eastern-horror-invasion-in-film-1293645.html

Filming plan

Name: Puppet

Time: 3-5 minutes

Actor: 3

Location: flat

Equipment: Camera, lighting, tripod

Research Aim: 

1.To explore the reflect from the audience.

2.Try to combine Eastern and Western horror farther.

3.Using some different tradition to explore Eastern horror.

4.Using some directly visual effect such as killing skill to explore Western horror.

Synopsis: 

Johnson and Mary are lovers, Johnson is a silent timid Chinese student,    knows some Chinese sorcery. Mary is a self-willed and dictatorial English woman.

Mary always rebuke Johnson and even sometimes hit him. Johnson has an affair named Trisha, he want to leave Mary, but he dare not to say.

One day Johnson finish meeting Trisha, tells her much details about next meeting. He starts to draw something on a long square paper.

Mary comes back from outside and say some interesting thing about the day, Johnson stands behind her. Mary smiles happy and keep talking, suddenly a knife impale her from the back and Johnson`s face appears. Mary follows on the floor and struggle. Johnson keep impaling her with the knife until Mary dead.

Johnson put Mary`s body on a bed,quarry out her heart. Looking at the heart, Johnson smiles. He cleans Mary`s body and pick up the paper which he draws something in it, he puts the paper on Mary`s chest and wait.

A few seconds later, Mary opens her eye and looks at Johnson. Johnson tells her to do something, she do as what Johnson tells. Mary becomes into a puppet. Johnson feel that no one could hit him this time.

Another day, Trisha comes to Johnson`s room. She smells something not comfortable and complains a lot, Johnson feels irritable, he picks up the knife stealthily....