Interview with Bjorn Anderson, writer/director on "Eyes in the Dark"

Interview with Bjorn Anderson, writer/director on “Eyes in the Dark”

EYES IN THE DARK

Categories: Features, Local

Stiffy for Blair Wolf Project

By Char Easter

Bjorn Anderson is setting out on the horror film festival circuit with his latest movie, Eyes in the Dark, starting with the Alabama International Film Festival, Fright Night Film Fest in Louisville, KY, and Seattle’s True International Film Festival (STIFF). And it has the creep cred underground horror movie fan sites like Buried.com, Undead Backbrain and FirstFright.com are dieing to get their claws on. An article on Dr. Goreman’s Nightmare Emporium quotes Anderson that he hopes his films will bring tourists and other filmmakers to the Northwest. This is a worthy cause but a case of too many targeted audiences. A touchy-feely promotion video about the PNW with gentle deer and happy campers in self-wicking, hi-tech hiking gear, ala REI, it’s not. But he could make that film. To support his independent film habit, Bjorn Anderson runs Emerald City Pictures, a respectable production company in Seattle specializing brand messaging campaigns and corporate communications.

Here are a few thoughts from Bjorn Anderson about his film:

Char Easter: I noticed there is an earlier DVD titled, Eyes in the Dark: The Sasquatch Experience. Why did you choose the same name or are they related?

Bjorn Anderson: I chose the name "Eyes in the Dark" because the only thing you really see of the monster(s) is the eyes. After coming up with a satisfying title I double checked IMDB to see if there was anything related to "Eyes in the Dark", after not finding anything, I decided to go with it.

CE: How did you come to choose this topic?

BA: I wanted to do a horror/thriller picture that focused on what the characters were experiencing and not the monster. I used to have nightmares about being chased through the woods by a large monster that I couldn't see so I used my memories from those nightmares to form the overall basis for the monster.

CE: The FBI files is a nice framework for the story. When did that idea come to you?

BA: Honestly I can't remember exactly. Creating a movie is so organic, it evolves over time so gradually that you don't always remember how things happened. At the beginning in the original scripts we wanted to use the "found footage" scenario to lead to an ongoing investigation by the FBI. The FBI was supposedly led to the footage through social media applications like Facebook and other websites where the characters were downloading their experiences. Throughout the development of the movie, the Facebook storyline was deluded into an almost strictly FBI investigation format.

CE: How long did it take to write the script?

BA: It took about three months – give or take, not including the re-shoots. That's about the usual time it takes me to write about a hundred pages.

CE: Did you aim to follow a hero’s journey, three-act structure, and does it deter?

BA: I always start out with a three-act structure, but with horror people don't necessarily want the three-act structure. Sometimes developing a character gets in the way of the progression of the movie in terms of pacing, so you have to adjust and if that means sacrificing the back story of the character, so be it. Horror movies always provide the easiest motivation – get out alive.

CE: I’ve never seen the Blair Witch Project. Have you; and if yes, how does EITD compare?

BA: I actually saw the Blair Witch Project after I had written the script. I liked it and tried to use the techniques they used on both the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield (such as the shaky camera, never seeing the monster, alone in the dark and not able to see what is going on). Letting people's minds come up with an image of the monster is a lot scarier than showing the audience the monster.

CE: Why did you choose to develop the movie versus selling the script?

BA: Honestly I didn't think the script was anything special and as I wrote it I knew that I would have to shoot it. So I wrote it for the locations I could get, and scenarios I knew I could shoot.

CE: Cinematography by Joseph Cole mentioned at the screening that he veered from his classical camera style to do this film. Can you speak to that briefly?

BA: There were a lot of different ways we veered away from a "traditional shoot." Normally you have a lot of different set ups for each scene with various lighting schemes as you shoot the actors working through the scene. With a point-of-view (POV) format, you have long scenes that last as long as a minute or two sometimes without cuts. This is a long time without cuts in a movie, and the cameraman is shooting from the perspective of the actor. This also plays havoc with trying to get coverage. Most traditional ways you shoot a bunch of different angles so you have a shot you can cut to, but in a POV format you have to get it all in one take.

CE: Tell us about your awards.

BA: None to speak of, it's just an honor to be nominated.

CE: What’s on the horizon for EITD?

BA: A follow up to EITD focusing on the Search and Rescue effort. Using the lessons we learned from EITD we're going to make it bigger. Also, a medieval piece that uses the amazing landscape we have here in the Northwest.

CE: Is there anything you want to add?

BA: Just check us out at www.eyesthemovie.com and our production company www.emeraldcitypictures.com

Eyes in the Dark

Executive Producer, Writer/Director – Bjorn Anderson

Line Producer – Mike Ash

Producer, Director of Photography – Joseph Cole

Editor, Sound Design, Script Supervisor – Robyn Scaringi

Producer, Music Coordinator – Marco Scaringi

For more info, http://www.eyesthemovie.com