02x11 - The Fright Stuff

[bunniefuu]

Action! There we go.
Lights, camera, action.

That's how it's been done
since television began.

After years of fear
on Doctor Who,

why are we still afraid
of what's in the wardrobe?

CHEERING

As he falls, you probably go "aah",
you know, how crowds do.

All of a sudden, the Doctor comes
running in and he lifts the torch.

He holds it above his head,
he runs, and we all cheer!

CHEERING

That was good on
the crowd reactions there.

We used the Olympics because
we had a few modern-day stories.

And this episode needed to be
not quite modern-day earth.

The setting of the games
was irresistible.

London won the games,
and everyone was talking .

There was a buzz in the air.

It was really something good
to hook on to.

It was funny, a bit of a futuristic
joke, to go and have a look.

Episode - its very normality
makes it all the creepier.

No! Tom! What are you?

It's the Doctor comes
to Brookside Close.

I think that makes it scary.

Hopefully kids at home are thinking,
"This could be my street,

"I could look out the window
and see the TARDIS."

A story like this is smaller
and closer to home,

which is something Doctor Who
has always done very well.

♪ Mary, Mary,
king of the bush is he. ♪

We expect children to be innocents.

We expect them to be unsullied by
the nastiness of human experience.

So it's chilling if they seem to
have some access to the dark place.

They're just dreams,
you do know that.

They can't hurt you.

I'm busy. Unless you want
me to draw you...Mum.

To put a scare into that -
to make them adult in a way,

to give them power, really subverts
the natural order of things.

It's automatically scary.
It just works.

Nice one.

And, another step towards David...

and a step to your right.

The pivotal scene in episode ,
where Chloe's being put into a trance

is quite a straightforward scene
because it doesn't involve CG,

it doesn't involve lots of actors,
it's in a contained set.

Good, let's try it again.

But a scene like that
is quite difficult

because the emotion and intensity
of the performance is the key thing.

Making sure the energy and focus
is there is really important.

And focus...and action.

WHISPERS: We take an
endless journey.

A thousand of your lifetimes.

But now I'm alone, I hate it.
It's not fair. I hate it!

We had all sorts of ways we were
going to do something with Chloe.

She was going to speak with a deep
voice, then a high-pitched voice.

But what Euros has done with Chloe
in the episode is really nice.

Because it's both sinister
and also full of loneliness.

It's one of the things that's most
frightening in the world,

someone you know and love
changing and being different.

It is quite unsettling
because it's a little girl,

and not a big powerful super-villain
or some huge slathering creature.

But she looks like a little girl,
and sort of acts like a little girl.

Fear Her is quite
old-school Doctor Who.

It's got a CG element,
but the CG is very small in it.

The main scares come from
the psychological tension

of what Chloe can do.

It uses very traditional tools
of music, of composition,

of characters disappearing
off camera.

That's how we created
the scares and tension.

Snatching children from a thoroughly
ordinary street like this.

Why is it so cold?
Is someone reducing the temperature?

The music's a really fundamental part
of the atmosphere of the show.

Things to do with stylistic elements
through the episode,

all contribute to the strange quality
that we call "the atmosphere".

What he does is to underscore the
moments of menace, shock and fear.

He kind of tells you what
you should be feeling.

You have the classic "blonde
ascending a staircase" moment.

This door is closed for a reason.

Something about this door tells me
I should not go through it.

Therefore I want to know
what's the other side.

It's psychology. It's great.

Different instruments hit
different parts of your body.

I think low instruments always
get you in the stomach.

ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYS

High instruments get you in
the throat a bit more,

and your head,
the piercing, jarring sounds.

ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYS

A lot of frightening music comes from
an unexpected melodic progression,

and discord.

It's been used to convey that
everything's gone wrong

or that things are doomed.

'The Doctor's faced werewolves,
cybermen and pure evil.

'Prepare yourselves for the Doctor's
greatest ever nemesis.'

We're filming a sort of
slightly spooky scene

where the Doctor and Rose have just
arrived in this neighbourhood.

They're following a little cat
and the cat goes into a box.

What do you want to go in there for?

Something happens,
and the cat vanishes.

'Sounds easy, doesn't it?

'Unfortunately, that day
the cat had other ideas.'

The cat really wasn't wanting
to play ball with us today.

It rolled over several times.

It decided that the gateway
to that house

was far more interesting
than the box.

It didn't do anything we wanted.

We'll try it again tomorrow.

No, I'm not really a cat person.

Being threatened by one
in a nun's wimple

takes the joy out of it.

'The Doctor may think
cats are scary,

'but two wooden doors contain
something much more terrifying.'

The dad in the wardrobe
is a great achievement.

He is a red light and a shadow.

It's simply a shadow on a wall coming
to get his wife and his daughter.

It's the simplest storytelling,
but genuinely terrifying.

We seeded in this notion
of a father,

that's dead, but represents
all Chloe's childhood fears.

The father has taken on a monstrous
form in her imagination

and where do monsters live when
you're a child? In a wardrobe.

Look at it!

My baby. You're not going
to hurt her again!

Chloe, it's Rose. Open up! We've got
your ship, we can send you home.

Chloe! Right, stand back.

I think she loves playing Rose
with a pickaxe.

You get to smash things.

We all like to have a wild time
every now and again,

and Billie's no different.

Cut. Good. I loved it!

It's a real pickaxe handle, but
we've made a light-weight version.

It's still made of steel. It's still
pretty sharp and dangerous,

but it's a lot more manageable.

I told her to think of someone
she hates, and it's done the trick!

Oh!

DEEP GROWLING VOICE:
It's you, I'm coming in.

Stop her! I'm coming.

If you stop, I will let him out.

At the end of the episode,
Chloe goes a bit mad

and starts drawing
all the continents,

gets the world map and starts
to draw the whole world map.

Then the Doctor
has to try and stop her.

I cannot be alone. It's not fair.

The idea that the child is possessed
and frantically drawing pictures.

And having people disappear
into her world of drawings,

that's horrible.

I've got your pod. The pod is dead.
No, it just needs heat.

It needs more than heat.

Hold it there. Continue with it?

Yeah. On we go!

Look, I've got your pod.

The love of her life is still
trapped in a drawing,

and she sees no way out
and she's almost defeated...

I know how to charge up the pod.

But then there's this
flicker of light and hope

and she gets the guy again.

You know what,
they keep on trying to split us up,

but they never, ever will.

Never say never ever.

They've got a big
two-part story coming,

and there's going to be
a lot of fireworks.

No, we'll always be OK, you and me.
Don't you reckon, Doctor?

Rose thinks she knows
this man back to front,

but suddenly he says something
that's like a b*mb going off.

A storm's approaching.