Under the Skin: A 48 Hour Horror Film Project Experience
Since 2004, Portland has been a participating city in the 48 Hour Film Project, an annual film competition that has grown worldwide since its founding in 2001. This year, Portland received a spinoff competition in horror and sci-fi. After registering months prior, the 20+ teams show up at the Jupiter Hotel for the kickoff party on 6pm Friday and to receive their assignment: a sub-genre and a few requirements. A character that must be in the film, a line that must be spoken, and a prop that must make an appearance.
The team that invited me to join, Cinema SoPo, received the sub-genres psychological/mutation horror. All teams were assigned to feature the character Terry Bridgewell (Custodian), the line “I know it’s around here somewhere”, and a key-chain. The screenwriters on the team, Laura Anne Harris and Nick Assunto got to work quickly Friday night and cranked out a script that was in my hands Saturday morning.
I was invited to join this project by a friend who I met through a friend, JP Bogan, a multimedia artist here in Portland. We had worked together on a small photo shoot in March (photos from that shoot can be found on my gallery page) and they had thought of me for this project as well. I was asked to play a small role as “Skin Sibling 2”, shoot some behind the scenes photography, and contribute to the soundtrack (time willing). I hopped in my friend Abby’s van Saturday morning and we made the drive out to Powell and 86th, mostly on freeways. We showed up at the cute house of the director, Jeff DeSautels, with a couple instruments we were instructed to bring. Greeting us at the door was the Collie dog, Grover and the Japanese Bobtail cat, Seth.
We grabbed coffee and bagels from the kitchen while we met with screenwriter/main antagonist Nick, main protagonist Summer, and set designer/Jeff’s roommate Laura Loy. All these folks had worked together in different capacities on other films or in a theater context. We all read over the script while determining what other props or costumes we might need for the day. We would be shooting some scenes outside on the street, one scene inside Jeff and Laura’s place, and the final scenes next door at Laura’s mom’s house. How cool to be a mother who lends out your living room for your daughter and friends to create a murder scene in a movie.
If you want to watch the short film “Skin”, you can below, otherwise the plot is summarized and the experience of filming and photos from the day will follow.
The Plot
Janitor Terry Bridgewell is walking down the street (a quick shot shows her key-chain jingling with the word feminist on it), when she is startled by an unsettling doctor running behind her and calling her name. Dr. Brand asks if Terry lives nearby and if he can join her for the walk. She reluctantly agrees while pulling a long piece of skin off her lip (foreshadowing). Dr. Brand also asks if she knows what he does at the lab while pulling out a syringe from his lab coat pocket. Terry turns around quickly, and Dr. Brand tosses the syringe into the bushes.
He redirects and compliments Terry’s skin that “glistens like a freshly mopped floor” while a passerby asks if everything is okay. The doctor tells the passerby to mind their own business and then asks if he can join Terry for her evening plans. Terry’s facial expression changes and she agrees to have Dr. Brand join her at her home. The two make it to the house, where Terry looks for a key to let them inside, and ends up picking the lock instead.
The home is dark and unsettling at first, and the two make it into the living room where two creepy people in coveralls/overalls are mindlessly playing their instruments. Terry mentions these are her siblings and instructs Dr. Brand to sit down while she starts to unzip her work outfit. She asks Dr. Brand if he wants to touch her skin, and he excitedly agrees until he sees Terry pulling skin off her chest. The camera cuts to Terry and the two siblings saying in unison that they won’t be going back to the lab before ripping off their skin together and murdering Dr. Brand with it. A bloodied knife hangs in the air before the movie ends.
The Experience
My role was not too intensive since my character didn’t show up until the end, so I was able to play observer most of the day from behind my lens. The team discussed how the actors would best “block” while filming scenes on the sidewalk while the sun beat down. Neighbors driving would often rubberneck when they saw camera tripods and adults dressed strangely on the sidewalk. The smell of grilled barbecue was in the air, and the sound of lawnmowers and ambulances interrupted the filming a couple times.
After the establishing shots were filmed, the two actors were mic’ed up with two small wireless microphones that sent the audio to JP’s camera so that post-processing/editing would be easier to complete quickly rather than recording with a separate audio track that would need to be lined up with each edit.
Each scene was filmed in repetition, in multiple angles, to give flexibility in the editing process. The mics weren’t synced up correctly so some initial scenes were reshot, but this didn’t take too long with some rewrites to the script giving us more time in the day.
After a quick lunch and capturing the cat Seth after he escaped outside under a car, the outdoor scenes were completed. A crisis almost happened while changing costume for an indoor scene when a microphone fell into the bathroom sink drain, but luckily it was able to be saved and still functioned. The time sensitive nature of this project means that the window for errors is smaller. There isn’t enough time to find the perfect costume or prop, shoot some scenes more than once, or find replacements if a technical difficulty occurs.
The action shifted to the house next door for the final scenes. Abby and I were instructed to strum our unplugged instruments in a way that suggested our consciousness was limited and shared. I channeled the spaced out resting bitch face that I sometimes hold that makes others uncomfortable for this scene. Now that the siblings’ establishing shots were complete, we walked back next door so makeup artist Nico could apply fake blood and skin to Summer, Abs, and I. The skin was a mix of liquid latex, cotton, and a variety of makeup colors to give it the right appearance. We practiced our one line as Nico did their thing: “You’re not taking me back to the lab Dr. Brand!”
Night time was upon us, and the stage lights inside Laura’s mom’s house were colored blood red. We had one take to rip our skin off and say our line, due to the time constraints and impracticality of reapplying the bloodied skin. We quickly moved onto the murder scene where we used store bought deli ham covered in soapy fake blood to smash all over Nick’s face. This was a satisfying tactile experience, but I worried about the balance between being believable on film while also considering my new friend’s face.
This concluded all but one scene, so Abs and I headed out. Still sporting our “wounds”, we stopped by a friend’s party before making it back to my apartment to work on the soundtrack for the film.
We plugged in my bass and Abs’ guitar into my laptop using an audio interface, opened up GarageBand, and played around with filters and effects to find the sound that felt right for a horror film. Abs recorded some parts and we struggled with technical issues converting the file to stereo sound while two other friends were cooking in my kitchen. One friend, Allur, had played the passerby in the movie earlier in the day. We all ate a delicious Miso soup, then Allur and my other pal Zoe took Abs place in recording music. The tracks produced were swirling, dark, grimy, spacious, noodling, and tickled the brain in a way that felt like the subconscious was being pulled out through the cavities in the skull.
I started watching horror movies way too young, and have always been mystified and intrigued by their scores. The audio experience can elevate or ruin a horror movie for me, as it plays such a pivotal role in impacting the viewer’s mood and physical reactions to what’s happening on screen. I’ve always dreamt of making music for a horror film, so at 3:30 am I grabbed my synthesizer and tweaked sounds until I found the ones that matched the scenes I remembered earlier in the day. I uploaded them to the team’s shared drive, and finally fell asleep after a long shower experience of removing fake skin from my arm hair.
I spent a lot of the day on Sunday editing photos I had taken, uploading potential poster shots for the team, and waiting for the final deadline to see what JP had cooked up in the editing process. It was so exciting to see what we had worked on come to life, and so rewarding to hear the music we made play out perfectly on the screen.
Skin is showing tonight at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, along with the films produced by the other teams!
