Your source for everything Silent Hill

1. When did you first get into film? It's my understanding you direct music videos. What made you want to transition to fan films/shorts?

 

Jay Ness: The start of everything began with using my father's VHS camera to animate action figures (X-Men, Star Wars, TMNT etc.) by way of hitting "record" and "stop", really fast. The character animation resulted in inconsistency! Personal determination for perfection got me to the point of calculating the camera's delay time after hitting record. Editing was non-existent at the time (for me, at least). After pressing record it was game over. I was stuck with what was captured unless I wanted to completely start over.

 

The transition to short films, fan films, and music videos unfolds differently than people believe. The short/fan films came first. Often, they were based on video games or comics. In addition, I had a weird habit of making sequels to films starring Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves. It's hilarious to think about the reality of that statement. Point Break 2: starring five kids, plastic guns, illegal firecrackers, and a hybrid style of fighting - combining out of context combat from other franchises and the longest, widest, takes of all time. From ages 15 to 23, my focus was music performance. Grunge/Rock bands to be specific. Without noticing, indirectly, I learned how to express and combine the art of music and video. Between the two, I feel I excel in the one I'm pursuing.

 

2: What is Silent Hill to you? Which is your favorite in the series and why?

 

Jay Ness: Silent Hill was the first video game to crawl its way into my nightmares. In 1999, a friend called and insisted, "You've got to rent Silent Hill. It's creepier than D and Resident Evil." I retain a vivid memory in my parents dark, cold, basement. Covered in blankets, scraping my way through the elementary school and thinking, "This is frightening and I'm tempted to turn off the Playstation." The idea of controlling an everyday man with clunky controls made the player feel that much more vulnerable.

 

The original Silent Hill is probably my favorite entry. I've played and replayed it more than several games in general. Not just for nostalgia, either. It's a landmark, I'd never experienced a game (or film) that manages to gap the bridge between being "too scary" and "not scary enough". Each play session was like asking for a heart attack but I couldn't stop playing! The puzzles sent me for a loop, too.

 

3: (FAN QUESTION): Why did you choose to honor Silent Hill with a film as opposed to other revolutionary games (i.e. Bioshock, Resident Evil) and why the greater attention to Silent Hill 2?

 

Jay Ness: Choosing Silent Hill over other favored franchises boiled down to resources and wanting to successfully emulate a world that doesn't exist. Long before Silent Hill: Anniversary, we made other films at home including: Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Metal Gear Solid, X-Men, Batman, to name a few. All of those were shot 15 to 20 years prior to Anniversary and they don't exactly meet Machinima's standard for quality content. Maybe I'll dig those up and reboot Mortal Kombat ... Again, with "Mortal Kombat Kids". No sarcasm in that last sentence, none. Let's do this.

 

It's impossible to express the envy I have for Kevin Tancharoen getting to do Mortal Kombat Legacy.That man has lived one of my dreams.

 

Back to Silent Hill ...

 

Silent Hill: Anniversary gets referred to as a Silent Hill 2 fan film. I don't look at it as that, contrary to how the film was plugged or discussed prior to release. In part it is a Silent Hill 2 fan film but, really, the basic concept is more like the first game's plot. We have James searching for Mary in a formula like Harry looking for Cheryl. A car accident and chase sequence, also. With the lack of child actors, I thought it'd be best suited to explore a twisted love story and adapt the core torment of James's psyche and his relationship with those thoughts.

 

4. (FAN QUESTION): Where was Silent Hill: Anniversary filmed and how much was shot in front of a green screen or made use of special effects?

 

Jay Ness: Over 95 percent of Silent Hill: Anniversary was shot around Minneapolis, Minnesota. We were able to keep the cities looking abandoned with camera tricks, visual effects, and waking up before the rest of the world, before people inhabited the shoot's locations! The border of Wisconsin served as a set for a single shot of James walking into town. Side note, that is personally my least favorite shot in the movie, due to how I framed it - Though that's another story and my fault. Two shots make the use of green screen technology, they both occur while James is driving. Otherwise, our actor is walking around in the real world. VFX artist Paul "Apaczos" Galazka added dimensions of fog by rotoscoping our actor to create depth. The lying

creature was created by Izabela Zelmańska, of the developer Techland (Dead Island),

whom is an incredible talent. Both Paul and Izabela became essential to the post-

pro-duction process.

 

One thing I want to clear up, which is a common misunderstanding, is that the terms

"special FX" and "visual FX" are interchanged for the same thing. Special FX are present

during the shoot. It can range from fake blood to a mechanical arm or an exploding

prosthetic head. Visual FX are created strictly in post-production. As it applies to

Anniversary, visual effects would be Izabela's creature and all of Paul's environmental

manipulation (fog, "Otherworld" transitions etc.). The special effects were done by Kaley Moradian and are contained in the finale with the nurse and Red Pyramid. She's responsible for the massive amounts of blood and gut-wrenching popping veins on the creatures.

 

5. You recently mentioned the desire to make another Silent Hill film. Can you give us fans an idea of what it might be about? Will it be a follow up to Silent Hill Anniversary or something different? 

 

Jay Ness: Sure. I'm going to answer these out of order, though. I'd like to get away from the equation that is Silent Hill: Anniversary. Everything from the story structure, to the portrayal of characters, to the technical execution. So the answer to the latter is "something new". The post credits clip (after Anniversary) will give you an idea. That could change, but ultimately it'll be creating something that hasn't been explored (beyond the story). Commonly, a filmmaker will claim they will deliver what all the "fans have been dying" to see. Make the film YOU want to make and a piece that fans didn't know they wanted. I can't think of a bigger disaster than trying to take into account everyone's preconceived expectations along with your own.

 

6. What will make this film stand out from Silent Hill: Anniversary? 

 

Jay Ness: An attempt I'd like to make is one that isn't quite so ... Literal. 

 

Silent Nerd: Can you elaborate on what you mean by "literal"?

 

Jay Ness: Absolutely, I'm not interested in the traditional structure of the games as films have adapted them. It typically begins outside the town, the audience gets a real world look at the characters, then learn of the catalyst driving the protagonist to Silent Hill followed by introducing characters written to run metaphorically with the psychology of the main character. The town is consumed by the "Otherworld" and the entirety of the story is eventually revealed.

 

Rather than simply watching the main character experience supernatural events, the psychology element can be suggested effectively in camera work, editing, audio, and visual/special effects. To an extreme level, I must add. Really, the games are about the character and their thoughts. The psychological mentality behind Silent Hill can merge with film in ways not yet seen for the franchise. Aesthetically, I think we achieved the look and tone of the "Team Silent" era with a nod to the feature film. Now it's time to get experimental and enhance the experience for fans. The films should be a different thing than the games. Otherwise, what's the point of a film if it doesn't bring new ideas and experiences versus what the video games offer?

 

Expect the unexpected.

 

 

Follow Silent Hill Anniversary on Facebook: ( Link )

Trailer: ( Link )

VFX Breakdown: ( Link )