SYNOPSIS

Back in the place of her childhood, in an oddly sinister port city, a young woman plagued with traumatic memories will discover that her destiny is even more cruel than the creatures running after her...

PROJECT GENESIS

Fascinated by the world of H.P. Lovecraft since the age of 12, from the time I started directing I always dreamed of putting the writings of my favorite author on the screen.

In parallel, the films of John Carpenter have also had a great influence on the choices I’ve made.

The universe of Lovecraft (1890-1937) revolves around a mythology of his invention, extremely thorough, which connects each of his novels to the others. After Lovecraft’s death, many colleagues, disciples and even fans were thus able to pick up the torch making him posthumously one of the greatest science-fiction/fantasy writers of the twentieth century.

Of all of his novels, The Shadow Over Innsmouth is probably the most representative of the Lovecraft method : infuse terror into everyday life through a clear and rational explanation. In this case, how a small port town was cut off from the world and gradually fell to pieces when its inhabitants made a pact with creatures coming from the bottom of the ocean. Mating with them, they engendered hybrids that, born human, take on traits and mannerism much more ... aquatic, over the years, until they one day join the depths of the ocean forever.

The idea of inevitability has always fascinated me and I see it as a good engine for a solid story. But I still lacked some experience and a few ingredients before I could hope to put the project in motion.

All this changed the day I listened to an album of CARPENTER BRUT. Following in the footsteps of Justice, French electronic music artist CARPENTER BRUT has been receiving more and more attention because of his inspiration from horror films of the 80s and the success of his compositions. His song Escape From Midwich Valley attracted my attention by its title, which is clearly a reference to John Carpenter and his series Escape From NY and Escape From LA, and reminds me of The Shadow Over Innsmouth which tells the story of a man pursued by the terrifying inhabitants of Innsmouth.

Listening to the song, everything becomes clear - I have my story, my thread, my pace. I developped a synopsis and scenario, and finally, a detailed storyboard. I contacted CARPENTER BRUT who granted me permission to use his song. The project is running. It will be a short film (not really a music video) of 6min30 without any speech or dialogues.

More motivated than ever, I began to gather experienced technicians and actors who immediately accepted to participate in the project.

STORYBOARD EXTRACTS

Story_kisskiss

INTENTIONS

H.P. Lovecraft has many admirers around the world. His grim works speak to a wide audience, because they play out in such a plausible context. The music of CARPENTER BRUT meanwhile, is not reserved to aficionados of the electro scene. It is truly cinematic and can easy substitute for any dialogues in the film.

The structure of the movie will alternate between a woman in present day Innsmouth, and her childhood in the same city where she was violently extracted after her father died under horrendous circumstances. Thus two worlds which gradually intertwine leading us to the climax revealing the key to the young woman's trauma.

With Escape From Midwich Valley, I intend primarily to provoke strong emotions, either through terror , violence, or simple force of destiny, sometimes more cruel than the worst monsters from the ocean. A direct and efficient short film (6min ), supported by an experienced technical and artistic team.

DIRECTOR

PH DEBIÈS

Born in 1980, I have been shooting short films since the age of 15 and have always been a cinema boy. I studied theory at the University of Poitiers and practice at Audiovisual Direction Superior School of Paris. I have held posts in numerous productions : short films, feature films, music videos, and commercials, as director, 2nd unit director, assistant director, cameraman , storyboard artist or stills photographer. I now work primarily as a director of corporate videos, in parallel with my short film projects.

Although my films are mainly in the realm of science-fiction/fantasy ( 36ème Sous-Sol ), I still keep drama (Strain ) and comedy (Poney Club) in close sight.

Filmography:

- Mars Requiem (2003)

- L'Appel du Large (2004, Grand Prix du Jury Festival du Court-Métrage de Poitiers)

- Tic-Tac (2005)

- Panic Zone (2006)

- Au Bout du Nerf (2007)

- 36ème Sous-Sol (2010 - more than 30 selections in festivals)

- Strain (2012, actually in festivals)

- Poney Club (2013, actually in festivals)

My movie 36ème Sous-Sol received honors at more than 30 film festivals worldwide in 2010 .

MUSIQUE

CARPENTER BRUT

Sigle_carpenterbrut

"Behind the pseudonym of Carpenter Brut hides a guy who has obviously decided to pay tribute to John Carpenter and the famous soundtrack of his films. Beyond the obvious homage sounds into the name and track titles , we feel a desire not just to pure kitsch retro, but rather to also incorporate a certain modernity. This is a bit like a Justice decided to resume BO of Carpenter's 80-90's films and the idea is excellent because if the sounds are undeniably retro, Carpenter Brut fortunately avoids wallowing in kitsch, and his music sounds the same perfectly present time. "

Extract from the website eklektik-rock.com

To hear the track Escape From Midwich Valley, it's HERE

To hear the other songs by CARPENTER BRUT, it's HERE

PHOTOGRAPHY

SYLVAIN SÉCHET

Skrillex-first-of-the-year

Sylvain Séchet, with whom I have already had the pleasure to work in 2010 on my movie 36ème Sous-Sol, is one of those precious directors of photography because he is extremely efficient, and able to optimize quality even when production conditions do not allow for what is normally required.

Among others projects, he is credited with the photography of several music videos including Skrillex's First of the Year, nominated at the Grammy Awards for best music video of the year, and best electronic dance music video at the MTV Video Music Awards (153 million views on Youtube).

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A Deep One © Pasi Juhola

PRODUCTION

FORGE & ART PARK PRODUCTIONS

Forge-artpark

FORGE and ART PARK Productions are two production companies, each with a very different field of activity, but which both believe in the potential of such a project.

FORGE produced many ambitious short films, most of them related to the fantastic, as well as the feature film Day of the Comet.

ART PARK is more rooted in workshop-style projects such as the FILM FABRIK concept, which gathers teams of technicians and artists from around the world for a month in a unique palace (France, Finland, Czech Republic...) to shoot several short films one after the other.

Although these companies will not contribute financially to the project, they nevertheless will invest to help structure the production, provide material support and experienced technicians to contribute to the film.

CASTING

SOPHIE CHAMOUX

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JULIEN GUIBERT

Guibert

© ART PARK

Eclectic actor and student at the prestigious Cours Simon acting school, Julien Guibert has participated in many dubbings under the direction of Jacques Kramer and created the internet series; "The Kitchening of Gigi and Jean-Luc on Direct Cuisine" with Anne Coupron. Julien is as comfortable in drama as he is in comedy.

Constantly alternating subtle elegance with absolute mediocrity, he is the secret weapon in any self-respecting production.

EDOUARD AUDOUIN

First-of-the-year-by-skrillex

© HK Corp

Edouard Audouin had his first roles on video with Les Films de la Lymphe in 2002 giving him the opportunity to play in different audiovisual productions, music videos, short films and one feature film: Deka Bros' Sodium Babies. At the same time he participated in multiple shootings with various directors: Tony T. Datis (Skrillex' First of the year), Yann Le Quellec, Je sens le beat qui monte en moi, Mathieu Berthon, Le réserviste, among others)

RURIK SALLE

Rurik_sall__2

Also a composer (original soundtrack for silent films, songs for the feature film Livid, the band Fugu Dal Bronx ...), Rurik plays in short films as Bloody Christmas 2 by Michel Leray, The Reservist by Mathieu Berthon or Zombinladen by Clement Deneux. He plays the main character of Innocence by Jean-Christophe Savelli and Désaffecté(e) by Romain Planque, the bad guy in the feature film Dead Shadows, and appears in the sketch signed Xavier Gens for ABCs of Death.

On stage, he played an aging Hubert in the play by Copi An Untimely Visit, and interprets each month a different character in the show-fiction Distortion on Metalunamag.com.

Casting still in progress...

SETTINGS

TROUVILLE-SUR-MER

Intimately linked to the world of cinema by its beautiful setting and Off Courts film festival, Trouville-Sur-Mer, located in Basse-Normandy, France, is the ideal candidate to prefigure - with some modifications in the filming and post-production of course - Innsmouth, the sinister city created by H.P. Lovecraft.

With its winding streets, its harbor, beautiful waterfront homes, beaches and cliffs, no doubt that this is the ideal place to bring our cameras. In addition, we will receive on-site logistical support from the association Off Courts, which organizes an annual film festival, and can accommodate a large part of the team and provide a part of the cast and the local technical team.

Trouville

Trouville-2

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(photomontage - The Great Cthulhu has for the moment not yet answered to our numerous incantations but we do not lose hope.)

INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCES

28-days-later-28-days-later-32064356-1198-766

28 Days Later, Danny Boyle

The-wicker-man-6

The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy

Fog2041511

The Fog, John Carpenter

Dagon-the-movie

Dagon, Stuart Gordon

Dark-corners-of-the-earth

Call of Cthulhu, Dark Corners of the Earth, Bethesda Studios (video game)

Escape_from_innsmouth

The Call of Cthulhu, Chaosium (roleplaying game)

PARTNERS

CARPENTER BRUT - Escape From Midwich Valley