REVIEW & INTERVIEW: ‘Hillbury Close’ & Geoff Brooks

Published January 28, 2015 | By Folklore

The Dark Horse Reviews ‘Hillbury Close’ & Interviews its director Geoff Brooks.

Hillbury Close is released by Groundbreak Productions

Hillbury Close is the latest horror short feature from Wirral-based film maker and producer, Geoff Brooks. Although an already established documentarian (A man and his Mountain 2011 and An Elephant never Forgets 2013) and short film maker (Arriving at Departures 2011), Geoff recently had the urge to try something new, more specifically, to create a short horror film feature. Moreover, he wanted to create one on a very respectable budget, but also film it on one autumn night and at one location. Can such a challenge be pulled off? It sure can.

The film is set at a dark, secluded, suburban house on Halloween night, where a young lady seems to be house-sitting or spending the night by herself. However, all does not seem right. After an expected trick-or-treater turns up at the front door of the house, a series of ominous and mysterious circumstances are set in motion, which turns a night of relaxing into something sinister and perilous for the lady of the house.

Although only a short psychological horror feature, Hillbury Close, manages to pull-off the most important goal of such genre films, and that is to disturb or scare the audience. Much of this is down to the escalating sense of dread and anxiety that the film captures through its carefully thought-out photography and resourcefulness of its location; Brooks and his crew’s experience seems to have helped them maximise artistic output from a minimalistic context. But respect should not just be given to the resourceful nature of the crew, but it should also be handed to the writing of the feature too, as it is captivating and entertaining; you don’t want to look away from the screen, as you don’t want to miss out on movements in shadows, metaphors, nuances, moreover, you want to know the fate of the unfortunate protagonist.

Featuring only one protagonist in the film, Stephanie Neill (well, the house is a big character too), her role is played to great effect throughout the feature, as she plays off the surrounding environment and anomalies, often with conviction and fear, as we, the audience, are along with her for the ride, and we both, not only emphasise with her predicament, but also share the ordeal she has been put through.

The film is handsomely and professionally-lensed by Paul Mortlock, as the camera angles and approach shots are excellent and serve a great purpose of distorting what reality is in the narrative. Some shots that are used through reflection are a neat approach to capturing action and embodying a sense distortion in the air, and are used to great effect throughout the film. The combination of light reflection from exterior and interior sources is well constructed and creates an excellent palette of moonlight blues, amber street lights and enclosing shadows on the protagonist and their surrounding milieu.

The soundtrack works significantly well throughout the feature, with minimalistic but encompassing tones throughout the film, and moments of droning anxiety are utilised in climatic moments to great effect. Kudos has to also be given to the editing, especially during scenes where the camera is drifting around the house, aiming to create atmosphere and presence through surrounding features; seamless and well-timed.

In general, Brooks’s short horror film debut is a winner, as it is well produced, filmed, written, and embodies a great sense of confidence and assurance in story-telling ability. Minimalist home-invasion horror might be the generic tag that could be attached to Brook’s horror debut, but it is certainly not minimalistic in its use of its location and photography. It is often said that the key to building suspense is timing, in that foreboding fear is best served over an extended period of ascending terror, allowing the blood to slowly boil and fester within the viewers’ veins, which has been achieved to great extents in two-hour horror features over the years. However, to be able to concoct an atmospheric environment and a narrative that embodies anxiety and unease within the audience should be lauded for their efforts, especially within such a curtailed time frame, not also forgetting the already mentioned filming and budget restraints. If this is what Brooks can create on such budgetary and time constraints, along with dipping his toes into horror water for the first time, then we certainly have a promising local film maker on our hands.

Hillbury Close will be released late 2015. For now, watch the teaser trailer below:

http://www.hillburyclosethemovie.com/

Interview with Geoff Brooks, director of Hillbury Close

So, how did you come up with the concept of Hillbury Close?

Well, the horror genre has been something I have always been interested in. I’ve always known that I have wanted to make something horror and terror related, as I am from a documentary-making background, my experience with it is limited; however, I wanted to try something new and challenging. The inception of the project came about one day when my production team, Groundbreak Productions, were having a production meeting about all the different kinds of work we were going to do, and we just decided, collectively, that we would delve into this particular genre, and see what challenges would arise, as it was an area we had never ventured into before.

How different was it then from making documentary and cooperate videos, to creating a short horror feature?

Yes it was very different. Well, firstly, time dictated the initial context of the film, as we wanted to make it around Halloween time, thus encapsulating more credence with the Halloween atmosphere and environment. Also, we wanted to challenge ourselves, as a production team, to shoot a feature in one night, with one crew, one actor, in one location.

Regarding the house you used for the film, did you stumble upon this location, or were you more methodical in scouting for a location?

Oh god yes, we did quite a few scouts of suitable locations. There were certain features we wanted to have in place, you know, visual elements of the location that would play on our primal fears, such as eerie and enveloping darkness, ominous exterior walls of a house and making sure that it is a detached house so that we can shoot wide angle shots to give a sense of presence.

There are some fantastic framing shots you use throughout the film, such as the mirror reflections of the hallway. Did you have these shots in mind, prior to shooting, or where these spur of the moment choices?

Well, interestingly, we initially wanted to shoot through mirrors, as mirrors and reflection were an integral part to the narrative, such as they could be seen as a transitional device for moving from one room to another, as it could be an entity that is surveying the house. We were originally going to use mirrors for reflective shooting in the initial shot of the protagonist in the living room, however, when we did the first location check of the house, myself and the art director, Maeve, noticed that there was a warped-mirror in the hallway of the house, which changed the story slightly, but added so much more, in terms of distorting reality and movements around the central part of he house. The mirrors could even be seen as portals into another world; however, such nefarious thoughts can be left to the audience’s imagination.

Also, there are some ominous pictures in one of the areas of the house- do they serve a purpose in the narrative?

The actual pictures were already there on location- them, along with the mirror, were already part of the original house; the production team did not have to add these to the set. As they looked odd and somewhat mysterious, we thought we would leave them in the shots within the house, as they added something different to the mix, thus leaving the audience to question more about what could be causing the disturbance.

You have mentioned that you used some VFX in the film, but credit to your production team; I couldn’t really notice them at all. Which parts did you use VFX in the film?

Well, that just goes to show that the VFX has worked well, as you, the audience, couldn’t notice them. A huge amount of time was put into implementing the VFX shots, so although they may seem slight, they took a long time and were integral to some of the designing of the feature.

Would you like to enlighten us on any of these shots you used in the film?

That would be giving it away, wouldn’t it? Haha, however, I will tell you one particular scene in which we used some VFX. The scene were we are at the side of the house at the beginning, and we can see the pumpkin, and then the next shot, were there is a slow track clip, moving into the house through the windowpane and through the blinds, seems like one tracking shot to the casual viewer, however, it is composed of several, through using VFX to make the tracking shot seamless and fluid. We actually went back for half a day to do that shot again, so that it was perfect for us. This precision shooting was all in the aid of creating a sense of movement from an entity, but in a way that seemed fluid in direction, but embody presence and a sense of threat; the entity is not invited into the house, but moves at its own free will. The aim is to make the audience think that the camera is actually something moving in and around the house; we are not sure what it is, but we wanted to leave it ambiguous for the audience to make up their own mind of what it actually could be.

The film you have made is a short feature, with a low budget and restricted filming time of one night, however, if you were given the opportunity to make a feature-length version of Hillbury Close, along with a very respectable budget, do you think the premise could be extended into a 90 minute film?

Yes, of course. The thing is, the scope for this project is massive, and there is so much you can do with it. I mean, when you are playing on human fears, the list is endless, especially in terms of narrative and visual production. If we were to expand the film’s narrative, you could expand upon the protagonist’s background, and learn more about why she is alone at home and more about her personal situation, and also her fears. Additionally, you could develop more upon the so-called entities or anomalies in the house; the beauty is, is that we would keep the sense of ambiguity within the film, but spend more time go down different routes of what those entities could be, but at the same time, still playing with the minds of the audience. However, keeping a sense of naturalness and believability with the expansion of the narrative would certainly be essential to the development process. If it was to be expanded, the resolution would still be ambiguous; it’s just too easy to give a clear-resolution. The best horror films make you ponder and question what has happened when the film is over.

Was it a challenge to shoot all the main shots of the film in one night? Did you feel extremely rushed in production?

Of course it was a challenge, and we did feel rushed. We filmed it in the midst of autumn, so the elements were a challenge themselves, especially in regards to light; we spent a lot time during the day of the shoot, to set up our gear, equipment and key shots- preparation was key. Yes, there was a storyboard and script in place, along with being economical and prepared in practice, but I always, always, leave room for new ideas, such as new angles to shoot; you may have an idea set up for a particular scene, however, when you are on set, many variables can effect the set-up of key shots. But also, you may come up with something new on the spot you didn’t think of at first, which can prove to be a winner.

So, was it a pretty smooth night time shoot? Especially, as you were very time-restricted.

Yes, it was pretty smooth- as smooth as any other shoot myself and my production team have done. The only thing that caused some issues during the night shoot was the neighbours of the property we had hired to use. As we were filming throughout the night, the neighbours sometimes asked us to keep the noise down, or in some cases, leave! (laughter) However, we managed to keep them at bay and trooped on though the night, but with some loud bangs along the way too! The neighbours were actually nice- to be honest, I could sympathise with their situation. Also, we did run out of time on some of the VFX shots, so we had to go back at a later time to finish off some of them, but they weren’t too much trouble, as our in-house VFX team dealt with them straight away.

Do you see yourself and your production company, Groundbreak, doing more of these projects in the future?

Basically, Groundbreak Productions was set up to make independent films and then the company delved into making cooperate videos, as it made sense as a sustainable business move; carrying out projects such as TV adverts and product commercials. However, these more independent projects, such as Hillbury Close, have always been on the go and part of the company’s work output. We all need to make money, and commercial projects have helped the company expand, but some of the true passion projects, are ones such as Hillbury Close and documentary film features, so we wish to make more of these in the future. Yes, it can be stressful, and significantly time-consuming, but we love doing it. The interesting thing is that we love doing commercial filming too, as it can provide variation in our work, and also a lot of the skills that I have learnt in commercial video production (such as VFX) have effectively crossed-over into the documentary and fictional film making, so really, without my experience in commercial film production, I would not have the experience and skills-base I have now, and I am sure that this reciprocal process will continue on into the future.

Finally, when will the public get to see Hillbury Close in the future and what are your plans with the film?

Well, I would like to think that the film will get some air-time around Halloween time, 2015. It will firstly be shown at different film festivals throughout the year, and we hope it will be shown all around the world. We are hoping to start submitting the film to film festivals around spring time of 2015, but realistically, we think it will be shown at festivals around autumn time of 2015.

Well, I wish the film great success- I had a great time watching it, and I am sure many others will. Come back for a chat once the film has been released- we would love to know how it gets on.

Yes, definitely. Cheers.