A year ago today we released our first ever horror film in the form of “Footsteps”. An original idea from myself, Alex Murray. It was an idea that was developed during the pandemic and gave me a good, safe reason to make a film while conforming to the safety protocols surrounding making a film at the time. It was a success but it was a long journey to get there from the script stage to the post-production stage. So today, for the anniversary, I am going to go into a little bit of detail of how Footsteps came about from start to finish.
Scriptwriting
The pandemic helped to spawn the concept behind the film. The idea of Covid-19, something you can’t see hurting people and killing people, gave me the idea of a creature lurking in the shadows, watching someone like prey. Horror films such as Pitch Black, The Babadook and Light’s Out helped inspire me when thinking of the setting and the creature. I knew the main character had to be played by someone close to me, so my cousin Harrison Wright jumped at the part before the script was even written. With the idea all laid out the script soon came together.
Pre-Production
For a five-minute film, it didn’t take long for everything to start taking shape. There is very little dialogue and the emphasis on the film was the atmosphere and the creature, meaning the script had a lot of room for development. My time on pre-production was spent designing the creature’s footprints, the head and the arm. The footprints were created on black card while the face was a combination of a hat stuffed with cotton wool attached to a stick with LED lights as eyes, while the hand was a litter-picker modified with old socks to look like chunky fingers. Once it was created, we were ready for filming!
Filming
Due to the short nature of the film I knew I could get away with one night’s worth of filming. It was all filmed at a relative’s house with help from everyone there to make the house look eerie and sinister. A big thanks goes to my Aunt, Paula Wright, who helped bring the creature to life and create a truly terrifying presence for it. It may have taken most of the night but the bulk of the shoot was all planned beforehand from camera shots and angles, so I was pretty much prepared for anything and it was a success!
Editing & Post-Production
A couple of months of sound design was needed for the post-production. It was a very quick film to edit but the emphasis, like all horror films, was on the sound design and music in order to make the film feel more menacing. The creature’s noises were made by myself and then distorted to create an alien sound, and the music was made by the brilliant Niall Murray who gave the film the final touches by delivering a creepy soundtrack.
As you can see there is a lot of thought and care that goes into the making of a short film, even if it is only around five minutes long! The planning and designing is very important and everything gets you ready for the filming day. Who knows if I revisit the world of Footsteps, but it was such a great film to make and a great way to celebrate Halloween as well.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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