Silent Hill Set Report: Toronto, Canada
Part 1: The Set
By: Mike Pereira
It is safe to say that I like many of you have become skeptical when it comes to video game adaptations. Aside from the entertaining guilty pleasure, Moral Kombat, they’ve been very weak to say the least. The prospect of Christophe Gans at the helm is assuring. He is the guy behind the extremely cool Brotherhood Of The Wolf and Crying Freeman. But I kept on reminding myself of what happened to Pitof who made the stylish Vidoq in France, only to come to Hollywood to make the disastrous, Catwoman.
Personally I have spent some long hours in the world of Silent Hill and if you haven’t as of yet, what are you waiting?! The series’ combination of chilling atmosphere with complex and human stories make it stand out from all the rest. I want it to succeed more than anything but if they fail; I will gladly join the lynch mob. Aside all that, I tried my best to put tuck away my skepticism for this set visit and keep my fingers crossed.
It started off with a bang. We got the opportunity to check out a portion of the hospital set. It was like walking into the game. The rich red walls sent out a great atmosphere. Like in the game, the creepy looking nurses were present. The creature designs were done by Patrick Tatopoulos from Independence Day and Pitch Black fame.
Radha Mitchell who’s playing the heroine named Rose is doing the scene in which she is looking for her daughter in the hospital. At this point, she must walk through the nurses undetected…in a pitch black environment no less. She cannot turn on her flashlight. It attracts these zombified nurses. A cool little tidbit was that there were 100 variations of one costume that Radha wears. As the character spends more time in Silent Hill, the colors get sucked out of the costume. It will become redder as the film progresses.
From the stuff that I saw on set, to the previous night’s dailies, everything looked really promising. There was even one moment where they used the high angle perspective from the game! Also, they used HD cameras in order to shoot the “dark†sequences. The sharpness of the image will allow a greater resolution and detail in order to manipulate the scenes. It will give these moments a unique look and feel from the rest of the film. The filmmakers want to create the appearance that she cannot see anything. During post-production, they will add grain and darken the images.
We had the great pleasure to speak to the director, Christophe Gans. He is the man behind cool flicks such as Brotherhood Of The Wolf and Crying Freeman.
Part 2: Interview with Director Christophe Gans!
Part 3: Interview with Stars Sean Bean, Deborah Unger, Laurie Holden, Radha Mitchell and Jodelle Ferland and Producers: Andrew Mason and Don Carmody
