It all started one day when AJ and i were watching a lot of ghost movies, like paranormal activity, and entity. We tend to watch a lot of those ghost hunting shows - like "Ghost Adventures" and "Ghost Hunters" and various paranormal shows. We love calling out BULLSHIT when we see it, and on the other side of the coin, wonder if some of this is real or not. Cause its on TV so we don't know. Anyone could say "hey you hear that?" and make the audience believe they actually heard something
So one day, i really wanted to start making a Found Footage movie about a haunted house. I wanted it to be spontaneous and just for fun. I think AJ and i have been talking about doing this for awhile at this point anyways. So we both agreed to start filming right now and just improv a scene right that very instant. So we didn't start writing a script or anything, we just started filming.
So we improved our first scene, to the point that i wasn't sure we were doing it for real or not. I just hit record and started to say something about how weird this place is or something. And the AJ just went from their and i wasn't sure if he was acting or not. I shit you not, that is the take we used in the film. Almost the whole movie was one take. Sometimes we rehearsed a scene but not often. The last 2011 vlog scene in the movie was actually a rehearsal - but it went so well that we used that and didn't film another take. We got it on rehearsal haha.
On the first day we though Kevin & Brianne Reimer were sleeping upstairs so we had to be quiet. We failed at being quiet from the get go. When we were talking about creeking noises in the house in the first 2008 scene and the ceiling creeks - we thought it was Kev and Bri moving upstairs. We found out after we were done that they were not home the whole time and they were actually out of town. So the house creeked on film for no reason. (other then the house settling?)
We filmed a lot of footage that evening. AJ had an idea to set off a trap while filming that would knock over a box holding up a bag of empty plastic bottles from the recycling. We couldn't find a rope so we used a network cable to set it off. He was holding it and i would make sure not to catch the network cable in frame. We did it in one take.
The next day of shoot we wanted to take the character of Jason (played by Jason Day-Boisvert) out of the house. So we came up with the whole, investigation side of the story. So we went to a cemetery and brought some random props from the house. We wanted to have Jason find a picture of a girl for an unknown reason at the time. So we just printed up a random pic from the internet and used that. It was a brunette girl and this is where the story starts to write itself.
We didn't have Brianne Reimer casted yet. Later on near the end of shoot we casted her as the demon haunting Jason Greenwood. She is a brunette. That was not planned. Also, the props we used at the graveyard were caught in shot in the previous scenes. So that means that the demon brought the characters belongings to the graveyard and gave Jason a picture of the form its in. Once again the story is writing it self. We do not have a script. Weird huh?
We take Jason (without the Alan character played by AJ Klassen) on a few more investigation scenes. One of them is at an arts counsel. The workers at this place tell us when we get the rights to film their, that the basement is creepy. So we get excited and film there, with AJ setting off traps and scaring me half to death as i film. After we finish shooting a flat box that was blocking the sunlight out, falls to the ground and we go investigate. It was wedged up their good to. It should have stayed. To this day that puzzles us.
On our last day of shoot, we filmed the birthday scene for the recorded over footage when the camera gets screwed up from the demon knocking the wall at Pinawa Bridge. We did this cause AJ's feet were caught in frame. So we devised a way to make the scene work. And that was the day i learnt to review footage on set before you move on to the next scene.
By this point, Kev & Bri are back and we get Edward P. Hatfield to help us out. So now we have a crew for the first time. So we do that last shot with all of them setting off traps and making noises. Brianne casts a shadow and hides and scares me from around the corner and i run off dropping the camera in a specific spot so she walks in frame sideways. That was rehearsed.
Around 6 months later we wanted to do a sequel and then we had the bright idea to add new footage in vlog form to the old footage. So the story is still changing, now the old footage takes place in 2008, and new footage present day. The character Jason is vlogging his ghost stories and putting all the footage up on youtube. In the process of doing that, the demon comes back and it starts all over again. We find out that Alan has died for some unknown reason and the demon is in a different form.
AJ plays the ghost now, so is the Demon taking the form of Alan now? Hmm the story is writing itself again, because we didn't plan that. So we go back and forth almost the whole way through the film with old and new footage. The 2011 footage ends first before the 2008 footage, and we don't know what happens to Jason. Why or how did Alan die? The movie is a puzzle leaving you with questions.
We would like to hear from you the viewer what you think happened. And tell us if you noticed anything in the story that we didn't. From our point of view, the movie wrote itself. We didn't write it. We just improved and followed where the movie was taking us.
Weird huh?
It might be a bit slow for some. but we incurage you to watch it if your a fan of the genre and give us your feedback.
Thank you.
~Jason Day-Boisvert
