Creating An Unsettling Film
by Godzprototype, HSM team writer and filmmaker
Think about what unsettles you.
I’m not talking about cheap “boo!” tactics that make you jump. That’s autonomic, fight-or-flight startle. I’m talking about something that gets inside your head and rattles you.
There are certain universal triggers which hit us on an emotional level. One of the strongest, I believe, is the sense of being watched.
Think about it. Have you ever laid in your bed at night, and you somehow knew — just knew — that you weren’t alone? That something was watching you? That imperceptible presence, just beyond the spectrum of what you can see and hear, which feels like it’s about to pounce on you as soon as you sleep?
Physiologically, we’re a surprisingly vulnerable species. We conquered the planet by having big brains that produced tools; we cheated our way to the top of the food chain not through superior prowess as predators, but as innovators. Strip away those innovations from us, and what is a human compared to nature’s dedicated predators? There is something buried deep in the medulla which allows us to dimly recall our ancestry as struggling, nomadic biped primates, being stalked by animals designed by nature to be far superior predators, watching the weakest, oldest and youngest of us falling prey to them — and all we could do was watch, huddled, shivering, defenseless to stop it.
Civilization has taught us, for the most part, not to be predators. Our cultures teach us to restrain our base instincts — usually tied to violence and procreation — in order to maintain some semblance of structured order beyond merely the law of the jungle. As a result, we live — daily — with the quiet insecurity in the back of our minds that if things ever really did get ugly…we’re not capable of defending ourselves.
Hence why it is so disturbing when a human being descends back into that abyss: because it brings that violation home to us.
Modern life is so remarkably sterilized for the western world: geometric plots of land, faceless suburban subdivisions, precision control over nature with chemicals and machines, and a sense that tomorrow will be exactly like today. Which is all well and good — except when you find yourself alone with a predator. Someone in your space, who has the drop on you, and is there to end your life. Your lifespan will now be measured in minutes — possibly seconds — and all the rest of what you thought you were going to achieve and be just bled down the drain.
Think about an actual fight you’ve been in. Not a choreographed movie scene. The horrid, roar-in-your-ears terror of being face to face with someone who is physically attacking you with the intention to hurt you, and probably kill you. It’s a terrifying experience, one which leaves echoes across your psyche for decades afterward.
So if you’re going to create a movie scene trying to depict such a thing, how do you go about doing it?
Filmmaking is a visual language, and each genre is its own dialect. Shooting an action piece, for instance, is very different than shooting a horror piece. And what I wanted to pull off was a genuine sense of dread: the feeling that you are being watched.
Interestingly enough, Home lends itself fairly well to purely visual storytelling. In many ways it’s similar to shooting a silent movie. And I do agree with the contention that a Home machinima ideally should be completely understandable — and enjoyable — without any onscreen dialogue.
Special thanks really must go to HearItWow and Sorrow-83 for their input into the creation of this film. I’m still very, very new to this process, and their help was invaluable. Hopefully, if this film does what it’s supposed to, it should be an experience that provokes a genuine feeling of dread.
May 1st, 2012 by Godzprototype | 7 comments
Godzprototype is learning the art of creating Machinima, and would like to share it with you. Hope you enjoy.
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Very nice video, great job!
Very nice Godz I enjoyed it all the way through.
Really good work!
That was an interesting piece Godz. I am not really a big fan of horror as anyone who knows me can attest, but I think that was a very creative film for something that comes out of Home machinima. It was well done and thought out. Nice work.
Thank you for watching. The experience making a film is becoming a little easier. I still want to make a really good knock your socks off kind of film.
Using the tools we have, it is not very easy to capture film the way it should be captured all by your self.
With this film, I wanted to shoot it over again with better takes, and did, however the wind for it had left me. Though some of the shots I redid were better, It just didn’t have the same appeal to me as the first.
Have to keep trying and studying.
Nice job, I think your portrayal was “spot on.” I loved the lurking outside the windows…and that was the perfect spot to film this. I really like how you can see what’s going on real-time at that space. Can’t wait for the next film!!
I was watching the video when my daughter (adult) came in. She watched and then asked to see it all. Afterwards she said, “Even though I knew the ending, it creeped me out.”
You did it!
In one word.. Genius.. I still would of obscured his face or used a mask of some kind, but the camera setups for all the voyeauristic shots really work