interview with warren dudley - director of the cutting room

warren dudley wrote and directed a rather creepy and effective found footage horror film called the cutting room, which i reviewed last week.

it turns out we follow each other on twitter so i asked warren if he would be up for answering a few questions about the film for my blog and he kindly agreed. here's the interview -

what made you decide to make a found footage horror film, and were you a fan of the format before you started?

I love the format yes. I think when it's done well (particularly with horror) that you can really take the audience to the centre of the story. The tunnels sequence at the end would not have been half as scary shot traditionally I don't think.

i feel like there's a misconception about found footage films that they're somehow easier to shoot. did you find anything about the process easier than shooting a more traditional feature, and equally was any of it more difficult than you thought it would be?

It's easier technically. If you set out to make a film look like it's been shot by students you take away a lot of the normal pressures regarding cinematography etc... however it can get boring and hard to watch pretty quickly if done badly. We tried to find a happy medium though and kept the camera fairly steady throughout.

how did you find the location for the end sequence, and was it as terrifying to film there as it looked?

The underground tunnels are at Newhaven Fort in Sussex.... my wife is the Events Manager there! It's always less scary when you are surrounded by a film crew however one night I was left on my own down there mopping up fake blood in the dark... not for the faint hearted!

The Fort is open to the public so you can visit the set if you like.

how did you find your cast, and what did you do to help them appear so natural on camera?

Casting Call Pro. We had 1,100 applicants for the three main roles. We saw about 20 people and Lucy, Lydia and Parry stood out... particularly during the improv stuff we asked them to do. We didn't rehearse much so their performances on set were lovely and natural.

You can see their first auditions on our 'Making Of' film on the DVD.

did you have a full script for the cutting room, or was some of it improvised?

It was about 90% scripted I think and a bit of ad libbing thrown in. I'm never precious with scripts. I'd rather actors felt natural with dialogue as long as the point gets across by the end of the scene.

what are some of your favourite horror films?

I'm a fan of the classic 70's horrors like The Omen, Rosemary's Baby etc. They evoke an unease that modern horror doesn't seem to do.

Oh and a mention for An American Werewolf in London. A classic of my youth. The tunnels stuff in TCR was my little homage to the London Underground scene in the movie!

did you have any issues or take any special precautions to record the sound? it seemed really clear throughout, which is impressive considering how much the camera is moving around.

Just a great sound recordist. It's one of the areas with low budget film that seems to always get forgotten, yet it's something an audience won't accept. So hats off to Kirstie Howell.

where did the idea for the story of the cutting room come from, and was any of it based on real stories?

Not based on any true stories no. Obviously the idea of three students making a film for college and getting caught up in a terrible situation is not a new one (Blair Witch!) So I just tried to give it a dreary British feel. We also didn't use a supernatural element which most FF films seem to fall back on. Our bad guy very real.

the killer has a pretty awesome mask. was that something you had designed for the film?

£8.99 paintball mask from eBay + stage blood and mud...!

what are you working on next?

My next feature is a Psychological Thriller called 'Cage' - due for worldwide release in the summer. It stars Lucy from The Cutting Room. Here's the trailer -

thanks to warren for agreeing to the interview and for providing an insight into the making of the film.

you can follow warren on twitter for more cutting room and cage news @warrendudley

also, check out the cutting room website for information on where to find the film.

the cutting room

the cutting room is a british found footage film about three teenage media students tasked with making a documentary by their college tutor, himself a failed filmmaker. in addition, the tutor asks them to document the filmmaking process, hence the perfect set-up for a found footage film. the students decide to tackle cyberbullying as their subject matter but their investigation soon leads them into dangerous territory.

from the opening minutes the cutting room looks as though it's going to be a rather grim torture porn movie set in a creepy location. there is a sub-genre of horror that i'll call location-inspired horror, where the filmmakers have found a cool location and decided to set an entire film there. thankfully, that's not the case here. writer/director warren dudley instead spends time developing the characters and the story first, pulling back on the horror until the last possible moment and this really pays off.

the three main characters, charlie (lucy-jane quinlan), jess (lydia orange) and raz (parry glasspool) are all really likable and the cast do a great job making them feel real. there's a perfect naivety in the script and the performances that makes it totally believable that these characters would plunge themselves into a highly dangerous situation without fully considering the consequences. there's a great scene where the three are discussing possible topics for their documentary and it really reminded me of working on similar college projects myself without any thought of the practicalities.

the investigation into cyberbullying and one case in particular is actually the most enjoyable portion of the film and there's a nice balance between showing that these kids have no idea what they're doing and also having them make some genuine progress. at the same time there's a sense of constant creeping terror as they move closer to the truth, or at perhaps the truth moves closer to them. all this builds to a third act finale where full use is made of the aforementioned creepy location.

the cutting room perhaps isn't as innovative or ambitious as some of the films i've reviewed recently, but it is a well-produced and effective horror film bolstered by a talented cast and an interesting location so it's definitely worth seeing.

the found footage blogathon will run throughout february in which time i plan to review as many films as possible and maybe throw in a few extras as well. if you'd like to be involved and post your own content, send me a link via twitter with the tag #foundfootageblogathon. i'll retweet your link and will include it in a summary post at the end of the month. you can find a full list of the films i'll be reviewing here.