An Introduction

I don't remember knowing exactly what it was at the time, but as I wandered, bored, into the room, I discovered my brother, in a creepy apartment hallway attempting to solve a strange puzzle.  Puzzle solving games were about the only games I played at that point - games like Myst, Riven, or Morpheus - and while the horror genre was something I genuinely didn't take to, the puzzle did intrigue me.  

Horror always scared me, well into my late teens, if only because I had been denied it my entire growing up.  I had been nursed on Avonlea, Little Women, or Anne of Green Gables.  My mother loved happy, peaceful movies, and while I grew to appreciate those, frightening stuff was made that much worse. We didn't watch scary movies in my home and they became an unknown.  Nothing is more frightening than the unknown.  Thus I avoided horror films, books, and games at all cost.  

Ironically, I enjoyed the game my brother was playing for the few moments I played it with my brother, and left the room when it returned to strange creatures and frightening scenarios.  There was something about it though, the style, the puzzles, the disturbing action...

Years later, my friend Anna and I were looking for a game to play, and vaguely recalling the fun, and the freakiness now a vague memory easily dismissed and confronted, I convinced her to play Silent Hill 2 with me.  

We scared ourselves shitless that night.  Never had something freaked me out so much that I was afraid to fall asleep in the dark, dwelling the game.  Some people argue that games can't be scary.  I beg the differ and even dare to say that games have the potential to be far worse than movies, if only because you control the character.  You can't hunker down in your seat, tell the character they are an idiot for entering the basement alone while the power is out, and close your eyes in case something pops out.  No, instead you must guide them down into that basement if you want the story to progress.  And you can't close your eyes because if something does pop out, you have to be ready to take it on, lest you end up dead.  Games can be quite freaky.  We scared ourselves and it awoke something in me.  A tiny interest in being scared.

I didn't play Silent Hill again, thinking of it as a enjoyable, but freaky, diversion, until years later.  And this time, I finished it.  Not only was the game scary, but it was psychological as well.  Suddenly I realized that horror could be more than just gut-slashing, organ-spilling, bodily-fluid-fests.  No, horror could actually say things about us and about society.

I won't ruin the ending of the game, but it opened up a great world to me, filled with exceptionally well done horror films and books.  Perhaps now you can understand why I love Silenty Hill.  It changed my opinions on a subject I was previously dismissive of, because it is done right, and done right well.  Silent Hill contains beautiful imagery, intriguing puzzles and plots, and plenty of scares.  How could I not love it?  

I'm trying not to get too sentimental about this franchise, just to explain how this project arose.  I'm a film student, and having just purchased a nice computer and some editing software, wanted the chance to stretch myself on it.  One day, noting youtube was filled with fan films of Silent Hill, most of which were not particularly... impressive (SHit, we liked to call them), I determined that this was the kind project I'd be interested in.  My friend Amanda was immediately onboard, she being a giant fan as well.  It took some convincing to get Ryan and Will involved.  But I think everyone will be happy with the final product.

"Silent Hill: Shadows" is my first fan film.  It may be my only fan film, and I understand the connotation that term brings with it.  Normally I would express that creating your own stories in someone else's mythos is a lack of creative ingenuity.  I've been forced to eat those words.  But perhaps its not so bad; I'm learning that as in art, you must imitate the great masters before you become your own.  To me Silent Hill is a master, and I would do well to take some cues from this franchise.  

The purpose of this blog is to keep anyone (is there anyone, aside from ourselves?) interested updated on the progress of our film.  It's a short 15 minute production, but is taking us a great deal of time to create.  Hopefully we can make something that will fit into the world of Silent Hill as an ode to a great set of games that changed my perspectives forever.  

Welcome to Shooting the SHit.