The Hospital

Story Notes

From a story standpoint, the hospital was critical because I wanted to set up the concept of the spectrum of personality and the various interpretations of reality. What better place for this than a psych ward?

Also, the central anchor of the movie is a massive "therapy session" between a psychologist and a malevolent other worldly entity. It was thus pretty important to show how our psychologist worked and what sorts of techniques she employed to get results.

Another key element element in making the story more visceral is to make people feel at ease in a space. I want people to feel that they know this environment and these people. That way when something happens it is much more effective.

Filmmaker's Notes

There's a certain mood created in a dark hospital at night. A certain color palate which is particularly valid there. I can't tell you how lucky we were to get this facility. It was only available during the time we were shooting and it was laid out almost exactly the way I had seen it in my head during the script writing process, which allowed the sight lines and positioning tricks to work perfectly.

I needed people to know where patients were in relation to each other, specifically, where Cage's room was. I wanted people to feel that they ultimately knew their way around, that way I could deny them access or imply a direction and it would have dramatic meaning.

Like each character, each location had a color palate, and a corresponding identity. Our amazing DP Matt Coale worked closely with us to dial this in as much as possible to give us the look we wanted, without sacrificing a clean and versatile capture for later manipulation.

Shooting in the hospital was also complicated by the fact that it was somewhat haunted. I've written fairly extensively about this in the stories below. Check 'em out.

 
 

Interviews

Selected Scene Explorations

  1. Opening Montage
  2. The Intruder
  3. Opposites Attract
  4. The Hospital
  5. The Patients
  6. First Impressons
  7. An Issue of Trust
  8. First Big Clue
  9. A Door is Opened
  10. Confronting the Witness
  11. Testing a theory
  12. Enter Mason
  13. The Conversation
  14. Leanna is Lost
  15. The Entity Forms a Plan
  16. Leanna's Call, Bill's Epiphany
  17. Only one of us can stay
  18. Resolution

Thoughts and Spooky Production Stories:

HInts and Inspirations.