Latest / Cinema Yūgen / From Promos to Poltergeists: The Multi‑Cam Terror of Paranormal Investigations
Transcript
- 0:00G'day, that's right, it's that time again, time for Cinema! I don't care.
- 0:16G'day, welcome back, Eugenite! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back,
- 0:24Eugenite, it's great to be back, it's October, It's the spooky season.
- 0:29So I have something spooky. I have paranormal investigations.
- 0:34It is a new feature film by Raymond Wallace, which follows the cast and crew
- 0:40of a paranormal reality show as they enter the infamous Hennessy House.
- 0:47What begins as a familiar ghost hunt spirals out of control and into a night
- 0:54of blood, terror, and sharp-edged satire.
- 0:59I really enjoyed this film, Paranormal Investigations, so I am really honoured
- 1:07to share it with you folks.
- 1:09Check the links in the description.
- 1:12And welcome, Yugenites, to Cinema Yugen.
- 1:16The director, the writer-director, of this incredible,
- 1:21scary, inventive, electric, paranormal
- 1:25investigations please welcome writer director raymond wallace g'day and welcome
- 1:32raymond good evening thank you so much for having me i really appreciate it
- 1:36thank you for coming i really love this you know it wasn't long into watching
- 1:41your movie paranormal investigations that i thought.
- 1:44Immediately of a film from i don't know if you've seen
- 1:47it it's it was from 2001 it was
- 1:51directed written and directed by daniel minahan it's
- 1:54called series seven the contendants now
- 1:59and the only sort of star of note
- 2:01in it is i think brooke smith who
- 2:05was for movie fans she was the
- 2:08the senator's daughter in the in the basement
- 2:12of buffalo bill the silence of
- 2:15the lambs you know it puts the lotion on its skin
- 2:18it does this when it's tall okay uh
- 2:21she was in it but it made me think of your movie
- 2:24because it was set up like a show
- 2:27right it was like a reality show and
- 2:30the the contenders are these people that
- 2:33are chosen and basically to win to to be the
- 2:36winner on the show you have to kill everyone else on
- 2:40the show any way you can it was
- 2:43a great film i have not seen it since i do have
- 2:45a videotape of it but i haven't seen it come
- 2:48out on video or dvd since but a
- 2:52really interesting film but your film made me think of it because your film
- 2:56presented again like this is like a show it's a show within a show within a
- 3:02show you know yeah but yeah no but it made me think of it because you're,
- 3:10you're set up as so like the, the show.
- 3:12The show within the show and the show that is showing the footage is set up so well.
- 3:19Like it feels like one of those real shows that does that like,
- 3:24like, what do you like, like unsolved miss this week on unsolved mystery?
- 3:28Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's what it feels like. That's what it gave off to me
- 3:32anyway. Was that kind of the inspiration or the goal?
- 3:37Absolutely. And, you know, that's something that's kind of always fascinated
- 3:40me is the reality television world.
- 3:43And a lot of my background in television production comes from working at,
- 3:47you know, like a local broadcast station.
- 3:50And, you know, watching a lot of, I hope this doesn't get me in trouble,
- 3:55like ghost hunters and ghost adventurers.
- 3:57I've always wondered, you know, what is it like actually behind the scenes? Yeah, yeah.
- 4:02When you've worked behind the camera, you know what gets put in front of the
- 4:07camera isn't exactly what happens.
- 4:09Yeah, you've got the people starving on this side of the beach and you pan over
- 4:13and here's a nice base camp and they're drinking beer and having hot dogs and stuff like that, yeah.
- 4:18Exactly exactly so you know
- 4:21that kind of idea and concept of what it would
- 4:23really be like in one of these scenarios you know
- 4:26with a bit of a little comic twist really intrigued
- 4:29me um so that's the interesting element too because you've got the show that's
- 4:35presenting the final show of the show but you've also got a third film which
- 4:41is the personal interaction when they when they You drop between what,
- 4:46you know, you could say on camera dialogue and off camera dialogue,
- 4:50but within the film itself, because, you know, and I like that.
- 4:56I like the fact that you go from like, oh yeah, we should do a promo right here.
- 4:59And next minute they, you know, I'll make Matt breaks into his,
- 5:03you know, I can, I can feel something here. Yeah.
- 5:06So powerful and strange. It's like coming at me from all angles.
- 5:11Oh, one take Matt. Well done, Matt. you know and the original idea was that
- 5:16it would actually be like found footage so you would see all the the raw footage
- 5:21of kind of what goes into making the tv show yeah um but of course,
- 5:26i'm glad it's not though i'm glad it's not yeah like i'm
- 5:29glad it's not just like the blair witch project oh
- 5:32this is the footage that they found it's like
- 5:35they were they were like trying
- 5:39to do it the most professional way you've got the dude with the the
- 5:42really smart computer i really love
- 5:45a mike figures film called time code have you seen time code
- 5:48and it's all in real time but it's four separate yes yes yeah from early 2000s
- 5:55right yeah yeah i really like that film and this sort of film gave me those
- 5:58vibes too because you've got the cameras all around the house so you're literally
- 6:02seeing everything in in real time except when you cut to.
- 6:06You know wherever if it's going to like a personal discussion
- 6:10you cut in close to that or they're doing like a
- 6:12spot in one of the rooms or you know
- 6:15all they do before they get inside they
- 6:18do the spot with the old guy who warns them like everyone who's
- 6:21gone into that house has died you know um you
- 6:25crazy kids yeah and it's
- 6:30you know surprisingly difficult to figure out when to
- 6:33make the cuts you know when to go
- 6:36from multi-cam situation to hey we
- 6:40need to really focus on this one moment yeah especially with
- 6:43such great performances from our you know our cast because
- 6:46you know you had people in the background who may have been doing
- 6:49something very humorous or you know perfect for
- 6:52their character i love the recurring hat joke you're still
- 6:55wearing yeah i need
- 6:59to cover their hat so what was on it it was
- 7:01like another brand that's not a sponsor or something so
- 7:04you had to put tape over it yeah it was for uh an
- 7:07outer banks which is where we're located an outer banks laser tag okay yeah
- 7:13but you know for sure yeah yeah you never want to show something that you know
- 7:20isn't a sponsor you know that's why they always tape up you know the different
- 7:24insignias on cars and different equipment.
- 7:27So we kind of wanted to make fun of that.
- 7:30It's great i love it i love how it recurs throughout the film in different situations,
- 7:36but this i mean yeah no and
- 7:39and what i also appreciate about this movie is it it it's
- 7:43a slow burn like it doesn't get serious till it like it it's it creeps up on
- 7:51you the seriousness of this thing like you know and i mean it sort of just begins
- 7:55with a with a very brutal thing like Like I almost wished at one point that
- 8:00the characters had have had, you know,
- 8:02like in aliens, how they had like cams on their body.
- 8:06Look, I know how, look, I know you've got cameras in all the rooms and you've
- 8:09got a old mate who's carrying a camera as well.
- 8:14And I mean, potentially you've got people with phone cameras. Yeah.
- 8:17You do have someone with a phone camera, you know, near the end,
- 8:20but I kind of wish sometimes that there was like a body cam,
- 8:24like on people, like in aliens.
- 8:26So like, you could have like at one time just cut to the four body cams and
- 8:32like, even if it was like during one of the deaths and it's like all staticky,
- 8:36but you see like moments, I mean, you get to see quite a bit.
- 8:39I'm not saying that you don't get to see what's really going on.
- 8:43I mean, plenty of demon stuff, which is, which is fantastic.
- 8:47Glowing eyed demons and all that jazz.
- 8:51Yeah. Well, you know, we also had to balance out the amount of cameras that we could use.
- 8:56Yeah. I mean, cause there, I mean, there is already quite a lot of,
- 8:59you know, cameras on stuff.
- 9:01So, I mean. But the sequel, the sequel is going to have the body cams.
- 9:03Cause you're absolutely right about that idea.
- 9:06Yeah. That's something we're playing. be like an interesting like
- 9:09you know when you you cut away from the the master
- 9:12cameras in every room and just go to the body cams and
- 9:15here's what happened when we went to body cams
- 9:18we went to body cams when the body count started to increase no and and what
- 9:26makes it work well too is the characters are all interesting enough that you
- 9:31care enough that when they like even with even Even with Matt's character,
- 9:36who's kind of not popular when he, when it like,
- 9:41cause he, he, he cops it pretty brutally.
- 9:44I mean, he's the, he's the brutal, you know, oh my God, this is real.
- 9:48Like, cause up until that point, they're just kind of fooling around and like,
- 9:52they're debating whether or not they're going to have to like.
- 9:55Make some shit up, you know, like, you know,
- 9:59although I have to say with some of those shows and this is not to disparage
- 10:03anyone at all, but some of it sounds like in those guys turning shows or in
- 10:08the big foot hunting shows, like every little Creek, everyone stops and goes, did you hear that? Yeah.
- 10:14What do you think it was? I don't know. It's unexplained, you know,
- 10:18I mean, some of it's a bit, you know, come on. Yeah.
- 10:21Well, it's reality. They are playing it up. They know they're on camera.
- 10:24They're playing it up a little bit you know like unlike matt's
- 10:28character who's like really good at that that overboiled
- 10:32but it's it's kind of it fits the
- 10:34situation like there's so much negative energy here i can
- 10:37i can feel it like coming in through the walls it's
- 10:40like yeah it's so powerful it's crushing me you
- 10:43know like but it's but it's impact because
- 10:46they've got the music and everything it's it kind
- 10:49of fits but it's it's grandstanding yeah
- 10:53no absolutely and you know i have to give credit to the
- 10:56cast because everyone brought their own perspectives and
- 11:00influence to the characters to make them people that you
- 11:02actually like like you mentioned you know matt
- 11:05as a character it probably shouldn't
- 11:09like them so much but he's just such a likable charismatic
- 11:12guy it's hard to kind of root against them
- 11:15yeah yeah i mean especially when
- 11:17the the gravity and and that's what i think works
- 11:21well in this film as opposed to some of the other found
- 11:24footage films that i've seen and there are a plethora of them of varying quality
- 11:31and it's always the the problem always becomes is it's too much about you know
- 11:38weird stuff passing in front of the camera and you.
- 11:43Oh, we can get away with the fact that it looks crummy because it's meant to
- 11:47be found footage, right? Yeah.
- 11:51But there's, oh, yeah, but at some point, where do you get, like with some of
- 11:56them at some point, where do you get to when you just realize,
- 11:58well, this is just a camera dangling, looking at nothing, looking at a tree.
- 12:03Yeah. And that's meant to be scary because I can hear something going on behind it.
- 12:08Whereas with your film, because you've got the time code, You've got the multi screens going.
- 12:13We can literally, I mean, what's great about it is you can literally have four
- 12:18different characters in four different situations playing simultaneously and
- 12:23leave it up to the actor in the scene to control the tempo.
- 12:28And so your eye is drawn naturally to whatever is, oh, look,
- 12:32there's something going on over there.
- 12:34Oh, hang on. There's something over there. Oh no, she's just downstairs from there.
- 12:37And that adds to the, you know, cause you can see what they're about to walk
- 12:40into in some, in some of the scenarios, not everywhere.
- 12:45Although, you know, I don't think found footage gets enough credit because it
- 12:50is incredibly difficult to shoot.
- 12:52And I don't think people realize that, you know, a single camera narrative seems so
- 12:58easy now after having shot a multi-cam found footage
- 13:02film like this because you're always taking into consideration what
- 13:05cameras need to be recording in this moment if there's
- 13:08a special effect okay well how are we going to do it where
- 13:11we have camera in the other room that
- 13:14sees through the doorway and we'll see you know what we're
- 13:16doing behind the scenes for the special effects and it's
- 13:20very very time consuming and
- 13:23surprisingly laborious especially in
- 13:26the editing and the editing of it and trying to figure out
- 13:29which angles to go for what scene
- 13:32yeah so the whole multi-cam thing
- 13:36i know people look at found footage as oh it's easy but no it's it's a lot harder
- 13:41than i thought it was gonna be right and in your instance you have to produce
- 13:45sort of three different films you've got the show playing the last show you
- 13:52know and plus the film within In the film,
- 13:55which is the characters just interacting...
- 13:58You know obviously they're on camera but they're they're at the then they're
- 14:02out of their show persona you know where they're you know i love how they set
- 14:07up the promo and like they put a bit of yeah put a smoke in the background okay
- 14:10guys come on let's get ready for it shoot it real quick and,
- 14:13you know is it it's great because it's that's
- 14:17kind of like how indie films are made like that come on guys quick
- 14:19okay let's get a shot of this real quick over here real quick absolutely
- 14:23and real quick and even reality tv like
- 14:27shows i mean that's when i you know worked for broadcast
- 14:30news like those are the kind of moments that a lot of people
- 14:32don't understand of what goes into making it and sometimes you're having to
- 14:36make it you know the snap of a finger as fast as possible and you know everybody's
- 14:41hands on and making it happen yeah or like the like the guy like matt doing
- 14:48his is like promos it's just like oh quick quick do a promo over here real quick.
- 14:53And people i think i might laugh at it
- 14:55but it is sometimes how quick that stuff is like
- 14:59sometimes that you do have to johnny on the spot it and that's
- 15:03it it's got to be a one take best take wonder
- 15:06let's do it we've got like two minutes
- 15:09yeah and then they'll they'll
- 15:12figure it out in editing how to spice it up and make it good put some music
- 15:16behind it and you know as as as your footage shows like if your footage if your
- 15:22stuff had just been and i've seen a couple of these ghost hunter movies where
- 15:26it's it is just like the footage from everyone's,
- 15:30handy cam or phone cam or whatever they've
- 15:33got and because it is just that and the the soundtrack is basically ambient
- 15:40noise except in the crescendo moments it's it's very hard to sit through you
- 15:49Whereas because you've got yours designed and packaged,
- 15:52this isn't just found footage.
- 15:55Because they were a production, this was their final...
- 15:59Production so there's a you know i mean while it's
- 16:02a blend of sort of half and half sort of half beside
- 16:05the scenes and half you know the footage that survives yeah you know you've
- 16:11got a better blend because you know there's something else other than just people
- 16:17standing talking in front of a camera and then oh something happens over here
- 16:21and then oh something happens over here.
- 16:24And yeah but then what happens if nothing is happening what if there are no
- 16:29yeah like I love the fact that they sit and discuss the fact like we're gonna
- 16:34have to do some dodgy stuff on this we're gonna have to make some shit up because,
- 16:40you still have to make a TV show yeah.
- 16:44What happens when they don't get results they would have to fake some of it
- 16:49they wouldn't have to yeah,
- 16:51but at least I hope it causes the audience
- 16:54to kind of question like when they watch those
- 16:57type of shows what exactly is happening when
- 17:00all of a sudden there's a scratch on somebody
- 17:03you know maybe they weren't getting the results they were
- 17:05hoping for and you know maybe embellished a little bit
- 17:08yeah i mean because i mean that they
- 17:11do i mean essentially it's it's it is
- 17:14theater because they are in an empty house if indeed there is phenomena in there
- 17:22and it's benign in nature look i mean look i i once worked for a newspaper and
- 17:30they sent me up because no one else wanted to go this dude in town has supposedly one of the,
- 17:35One of the most haunted dolls in Australia.
- 17:40And no one else wanted to go, oh, I don't want to know demons and stuff like that.
- 17:45You know, I sat in the room with this thing for an hour and a half. It didn't move.
- 17:49It didn't do anything. I touched it. I spoke to it. I didn't feel a change in temperature.
- 17:56I didn't hear voices.
- 17:59It doesn't, I don't wake up and see it sitting on the end of my bed at night. You know, none of that.
- 18:05Stuff. Now, but the thing is like, I know that there are people believe and I want to believe too.
- 18:11I want to, like, I didn't go up there not wanting to see something.
- 18:14Like I wanted to see it move like unexplainedly.
- 18:18Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, I mean, it didn't happen.
- 18:22I'm not saying it's not haunted.
- 18:25I mean, I did speak to a guy who went with real ghost hunters to,
- 18:30to suss it out and they reckon they extracted readings with their machines,
- 18:36with their ecto packs or what, I don't know what they use.
- 18:41They got some sort of readings out of it. And apparently the ghost was,
- 18:44the spirit was answering questions with beeps and stuff like, you know,
- 18:50like in your film, you know, you know, you can be, give us a sign that you hear, you know? Yeah.
- 18:57And look,
- 18:59It's okay, the thing's beeping, but how do you know that the guy running the
- 19:03beeper thing isn't doing that himself? Yeah.
- 19:08Exactly. Ooh, ooh, look at that. Ooh, it's changing color. It never does that
- 19:13unless spirits are around.
- 19:15Yeah. So, yeah, look, it's negligible. But I wouldn't go into a haunted house
- 19:21not wanting to see something I do, right? Of course, yeah.
- 19:26And that's why people watch that kind of stuff because they want
- 19:29to see i'm like the guy that my sister used
- 19:31to watch this one in in britain it was three people and
- 19:34there was always a dude who was called the curious skeptic it's
- 19:39like you've got the lead guy his assistant and
- 19:42the curious skeptic and and i
- 19:44i would be that's who i would be in the in the mission i would be the curious
- 19:48skeptic who does like it's not that i don't believe i just want to see like
- 19:53if they really are ghosts yeah i want to see something yeah you know even if
- 19:57it's just a door shutting by itself or something hot,
- 20:03levitating book. I don't know. Something ordinary.
- 20:06Doesn't have to be. Something that you can't easily just explain away.
- 20:09Yeah. It doesn't have to be like the librarian in Ghostbusters or something like that.
- 20:14It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to slime me.
- 20:18Yeah. I just, yeah. I'd be happy with a floating book or a tap on the shoulder
- 20:24even, you know, unexplained. And one time I did have a swear I heard my wife
- 20:28whispering in my ear and she wasn't even in the room.
- 20:31She's like, turn around. And I did, I swear I heard her say, turn around.
- 20:36And I turned around and no one was there. Oh, wow. But that's, you know.
- 20:43Well, I actually had an experience in the house where we were filming down in the basement. Yeah.
- 20:48All right, the deep basement. There was nothing there. And it was like,
- 20:52okay, this is not a good situation.
- 20:55And then I had a flashlight hanging, and then all of a sudden it started blinking.
- 20:59Yeah. And I was like, okay, well, maybe it just doesn't have any power,
- 21:03and we're about to wrap things up anyway.
- 21:06Of course, nobody was in the house to cause anything like that.
- 21:10And then we took the flashlight back to the office to charge it,
- 21:13and it was at 75% charge, and it should not have been blinking.
- 21:18Um, so that was kind of my first foray into that house, uh, before we even started filming.
- 21:25I was like, okay, there might be something to this house that hopefully just
- 21:28let us make our movie and leave us alone and then we'll get out of your hair. I promise.
- 21:33Yeah. We won't, uh, we won't mess with you. You don't mess with us too much. Exactly.
- 21:38But yeah, be Casper, the friendly ghost and not poltergeist or something like that.
- 21:45Oh. the poltergeist too that's still the
- 21:48only film that has made me like it didn't
- 21:51scare me but i did i did bring up my dinner
- 21:54in that scene you know when he drinks the vodka and it's got the worm and then
- 21:59he vomits oh my god yeah yeah that was just enough to bring breakfast lunch
- 22:06and dinner way back and i just got off the couch and ran out on the lawn and just went holy moly.
- 22:13And yeah disgusting stuff
- 22:16but unlike Paranormal Investigations
- 22:19I really really enjoyed this movie mate
- 22:23it was just like it was funny like I like the set up like I like the whole Unsolved
- 22:29you know this week on Unsolved Mysteries the final footage yeah that sort of
- 22:34stuff and then like the show itself and then of course the other level where
- 22:40you have it's almost like,
- 22:42It drifts from in front of the camera, behind the scenes.
- 22:46And then, you know, as we drift in, then it just goes, you know,
- 22:52like Stephen King, then we've, we've been introduced to everybody in the setup
- 22:55and now you do some horrible shit. Yeah.
- 23:02And some horrible stuff does happen. I'm not going to give.
- 23:06Absolutely. I'm not going to give too much away, but it's explosive in some cases.
- 23:11I mean, it's for horror fans and we gotta show something I mean, and the fact that.
- 23:18The fact that you don't see some of the I have to admit there was one kill that
- 23:23I did sort of see coming but I weren't it was one of Jamie's,
- 23:29so okay yeah just the way she yeah i won't talk about it i don't want to spoil
- 23:34it go and see the movie check the links in the description but i didn't see
- 23:39the the computer guy's death coming,
- 23:44awesome yeah i was just like wow what's gonna happen to him you know it's just like damn.
- 23:50Yeah and i love the old guy's reaction to that too where he comes in and he
- 23:55like sees it all And like, I told those kids, and then he's given the finger to the camera.
- 24:04He's like, I told you as now you believe me. Don't you?
- 24:09Yeah. He's like Randy Quaid in like independence days, like completely vindicated.
- 24:16It's a, I told you I ain't going to cover the shit up.
- 24:19I wonder if that's what subconsciously inspired that.
- 24:23Cause I always loved independence day. so maybe yeah i wonder if that's where
- 24:26i pulled that from yeah no i was like i'm i'm really sad that what happened
- 24:30to randy quaid happened to randy quaid because i really liked wendy randy quaid
- 24:34oh he was a great actor oh man i would have loved like you know like a sane randy quaid,
- 24:41i would love to have talked to about all those movies like man even in like
- 24:46the movie the race i love that movie the race with charlie sheen and randy quaid's like the the sheriff,
- 24:53And he's like, got some, man, he's got some great laying there.
- 24:56He goes, your friend was maggot pie before he hit the canyon floor.
- 25:03Such a great character actor. Great stuff. As is Paranormal Investigations.
- 25:09Check the links in the description. It is everything you want. It is a horror movie.
- 25:15It is partly comedy, partly tragedy.
- 25:19Really, really inventive. Like I said, it reminded me, anyone wants to check
- 25:24out, I'll see if I'm going to find a link to that series seven as well.
- 25:27You might like to check it out too. Oh yeah. No, I wrote it down.
- 25:33I don't know if it ever came to DVD. It certainly was on VHS because it's still,
- 25:38I saw it, but it could be streaming somewhere.
- 25:41God knows there's enough streaming services. I know, right? Yeah.
- 25:46Raymond, tell our wonderful audience where they can see.
- 25:51And learn more about Paranormal Investigations.
- 25:56Yeah, so the best place to learn about it will be on our website,
- 25:59www.paranormal-investigations.com.
- 26:04So right now we're in the process of securing distribution for it,
- 26:09and we'll have more festival screenings, distribution opportunities,
- 26:13and where to see it at that website, www.paranormal-investigations.com.
- 26:19Fantastic film folks paranormal
- 26:22investigations listen to
- 26:26the man check the links in the description it
- 26:29is not just your stock standard found footage it is beautifully packaged and
- 26:37look i was really intrigued then again this film might be right up my alley
- 26:44not up your alley but that you should give it a day in court because it is the spooky season.
- 26:49It's October. Scary movies are all the.
- 26:53All the rage, so they tell me, in October.
- 26:57So this is scary. Don't think that found footage can't shock you because paranormal investigations can.
- 27:05And I'd love to take this opportunity to thank my guest, Raymond.
- 27:11You've done a fine job, sir. I really hope that you follow through on the promise at the end.
- 27:18This cries sequel to me, so I hope you go through with it, mate.
- 27:21And thank you. coming on cinema.
- 27:23You again? Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Yes.
- 27:27Raymond Wallace. Great bloke.
- 27:30Fantastic film. Check it out where and when you can paranormal investigations.
- 27:36Check the links in the descriptions. You will not be disappointed.
- 27:40It is scary. It is inventive. It is electric. Raymond's a great bloke.
- 27:46Sequel. Hopefully we cry sequel. it'll be hopefully this film plus more in store
- 27:54check the links in the description,
- 27:59and as always my little yugenites thank you for listening to us on spotify or
- 28:06wherever you choose to listen to your favorite podcasts i'm ket hill and until
- 28:10next time you've been listening to cinema.
- 28:19You.