Gope Boards

    I think I mentioned this in previous post, but what I knew the second I came up with this idea was that I did NOT want to use an Ouija board. While researching other spirit boards I came across something called Gope boards (or kwoi boards). 

Some images of Gope boards that I found online.

    Gope boards are spirit boards that were used in Papua New Guinea. They were crafted from old canoes (typically the remains of enemy canoes) and were believed to represent ancestral spirits. They were given to boys when they reached adulthood to protect them from evil spirits. I loved their designs and decided that this was what I wanted to replicate.

    A couple weeks ago, my dad had bought a stone engraving pen, so my first thought was to use that to carve out the wood design. About an hour into that, me and my dad realized that it was definitely not going to work. The design just ended up looking really goofy (which I guess would work for a horror comedy but not for this!!)

First Gope board attempt lol...

    Plan B was to just buy a similar object on Amazon, but to be honest, I really didn't want to do that. This is the backbone to this film, so I want to make it authentic and to my vision. So, I went to Micheal's in hopes to find a sculpture or some kind of wood to paint on, and luckily for me, I found a perfect plant pot.

Plant pot I found at Micheals (my dad's hand by the way...not mine)

      

    Obviously, this is a small departure from the original idea (huge departure from the original script, which I'm happy about because I did not love that). I bought some paint and candles at Micheals and got to work with my design. 

Quick design sketch I did before painting on the planter.

    The original design looked a little too Lucha libre masks to me, so I simplified the design a bit to include less paint (I wish I could include that sketch here but unfortunately, I forgot to save the image). I painted most of the of the colored portions but taped paper for the more precise designs because I was scared to mess it up. After ripping of the (fake) plants at the top, I attached a candle to give it character (and also, it'll play a big part into the intro). 

Final result! LOVE the effect that the candle gives it.

        
        Now that I've created this first element, everything is starting to feel more real. There's no turning back and changing the idea now. At the same time, finishing this aspect has really helped me further visualize the opening, and now I know what I want to keep and change from the script.