unforum

[lifegospel]

Do it!

Oh, and I'm not sure if you want me to email this in, but this is just an add-on to one of the above answers -

I assume (because there were cops) that the building you used for filming was restricted. Why not use a different area?

[xxxblindxxx]

probably because the scene required that type of area, and those are normally restricted. a better question to ask would be, why not get a permit from the city to film in those areas.

[AKLY]

MARBLE KOMBAAATS! XD

As awesome as it would be, I've never done anything that complicated before. o_0

[Dray]

No reason not to try! I imagine you'd pick two or three characters, make a couple of walking images, a couple of attack image sequences, a duck and a jump and then a background image... at that point I have no idea what you'd do to make it into a game, but that's where you hand it off to someone who knows flash! You could build on it from there, I imagine, though you wouldn't have to start out complicated!

[Guest]

Re: MH Q&A

[TroyMH]

MH Q&A 2

Q: I was just wondering about the scenes in the "boiler room / bath house" area. How scared were you to be walking around down there alone?

Me: It was just KYIH and I for both entries that took place there. We went beforehand with a small group of friends a month or two prior, so we had a basic idea of the layout. We attempted to shoot a few things on that first visit but none of it ended up being used. It was definitely more unsettling to be there with only one other person. All of the shots used took place in the basement, and honestly, it was less creepy than the upper levels (the building itself was 4 stories not counting the basement if memory serves). They were nothing but long, dark hallways. Very spooky to walk through at night.

KYIH: When it is dry it isn't outright scary. You are more worried about police and coyotes than anything. When it was wet for the last one we posted involving the boiler room/bath house it was nerve-wracking. We were already on our toes because that night we had to get crafty to even get into the building so when you compounded that nervousness with the cold, the drip drip dripping of water from one floor to another, and the wind blowing through long-abandoned hallways, you have a rather terrifying atmosphere to work in.


Q: How do you decide on locations? Is there specifics you look for, or did you just decide to stick with local monuments?

Me: With exteriors, starting out, we would simply drive around and stop to film wherever looked best (Entry #2 is a good example). In the later entries, we either had a good idea of a location, or we would scout before actually shooting. For interior shots, we would use anyone's house that was available and hadn't been used yet. We had to alter almost all of them, namely "the house" that Jay kept returning to.

KYIH: House shots were done where it was convenient. There was no reason for us to borrow someone's house when we could use our own (the exception being Alex's house in the final entry, that was "Amy's" house) but for outside shots we had to scout them out in advance. They had to be places where we could set up shots that at least looked like they were in the middle of no where as well as being places we could easily shoot in. The one exception being the boiler room/bath house set. While that wasn't an easy place to shoot in, it was absolutely necessary because there was no way we could recreate something like that artificially.


Q: Was it frustrating to see players focusing on wrong aspects of the videos at times (zipcode, fire in the picture, etc)?

Me: Not particularly. I enjoyed seeing all of the speculation and "where's waldo" feel of each entry. If we just had a straight line of clues leading right to Alex it wouldn't be all that interesting.

KYIH: Not really. Keep in mind that we set up the story to have a very limited viewpoint. J is just as lost as the viewer is so making wrong assumptions is bound to happen because we intentionally didn't want to have too much direction involved. Truth be told, there were red herrings littered throughout the series for this very reason. Personally, I think it adds to the production as a whole that the viewers can't always be sure that they are on the right path in terms of figuring out everything presented to them or if what they are presented with is even relevant.

Me: And who said the painting wasn't significant?


Q: How hard was it to film a project like this, which demands so much secrecy and surprise, on location (ex: at the park with the red tower)?

Me: All of the locations were very secluded, either because they were in very low traffic areas or just in private residences. We never had an instance of some random dude coming up to us while we were filming and talking about it. We never revealed any exact locations for this reason. Although a few people did find them after the fact.

KYIH: Not hard at all. We never had any issues with the actual filming aspect of the production.


Q: Many of the entries seemed like they must have been fairly labor-intensive for something you were doing for fun. How did you guys keep the energy up to while making Marble Hornets?

Me: Good question. Mainly the motivation of not wanting to let down the people who were watching it. We joked a few times about having a "twas all for boners" type ending, but we never seriously considered it.

KYIH: In the beginning it was easy because we were so shocked by the popularity of it all (FIVE THOUSAND VIEWS? HOLY FUCK). Towards the end it did feel like a grind but abandoning it was never an option. Even though we got tired, we really wanted to see it through and put out a quality production given our resources for the fans and for ourselves. We spent a lot of time thinking about other series to work on after this and that was a nice stress relief, too.


Q: Have you guys run into trouble while shooting (cops, fan interference, BEARS, etc.)?

KYIH: Cops twice in person, patrols around the boiler room/bath house once, and cats meowing at inopportune times.

Me: Yeah, there were two instances of cops getting onto us. We were out looking around at various parks for Entry #4 and as we were leaving one a cop drove up to us and told us to get lost, nothing serious. However, I think it was after shooting Entry #22. After leaving the abandoned building and walking on the dirt road to the parking lot where we had left the car, we found a cop car was sitting there waiting for us. He threatened to arrest us if he saw us again. All I really could say was "Uh...we will never come back ever again..." and awkwardly drove off.


Q: Were there any entries that made it to the conceptual stage, but never got made due to technical issues, or ideas that you couldn't find a way to pull off? If so, are there any that you could share with us now?

Me: Yeah, like I said in the previous Q&A, there were multiple plot points the were never used after being written down at that first meeting KYIH and I had. A good example: Totheark was never even supposed to exist in the series. The first response video was made only a day or two after I came up with him. Glad I did, in retrospect.

KYIH: There were a lot of shots we couldn't do because of technical issues caused by being two jackasses with a hand held camera instead of a budget and there were some we chose not to do because they would be redundant or it wasn't practical to go to that location again (moving mid-production killed several shots by itself). The main one that comes to mind is the original ending we thought about on the first night of writing. Without going into too much detail, it involved driving down the road on a foggy night illuminated by those eerie orange street lights (there is a road near ce gars' house perfect for this) while J freaks the fuck out and [The Operator] appearing on the side of the road under each light and finally one at this intersection. Screen cuts to black, J says he is safe but not updating anymore as preservation is key, end series. Really neat idea that is 100% impossible for us to do without wanting to kill ourselves.

Me: I think the ending was the thing that changed the most throughout all of this. There were some crazy ideas thrown around.


Q: Did you find there to be a change in your social life after you the series started gaining fame?

KYIH: Not really. I've never met any fans in person though ce gars has something on that front. I have doubled my facebook friend count, though.

Me: I was stopped by a guy while walking to class one day who told me he enjoyed MH, but I think that was the only instance of a stranger recognizing me "on the street". After Entry #26, I met up with some people from a nearby school that wanted to meet me. They were really cool and I enjoyed getting feedback face to face.

Q: What is your personal favorite entry? Why?

Me: I really enjoyed making all of the totheark videos, namely "Warning" as I said previously. As far as actual entries go, and it's a tough call, but I think I like entry #7 the most. It was the only one that we had to completely reshoot on another day after looking at the footage, which was annoying after spending multiple hours on it, but it was very rushed. I'm so glad we decided to go back though. I think we succeeded on our plan to have a "boo" moment without the use of some loud noise. It's also one of the few instances of comedic relief through the use of Alex Kralie's awful scriptwriting in action.

KYIH: Entry #1's head jerk was a spur-of-the-moment thing that turned out perfectly. I love that it was so short but so spooky. Entry #18, #22, and #23 were all great in terms of how they turned out given how they were filmed (ce gars is a pro editmaster) and Entry #26 was fantastic, in my opinion. However I think #6 takes the cake for me. The atmosphere and the simplicity of the shot added onto that being the first time we get up close and personal with [The Operator] really made for a high quality entry. That may just be me, though.


Q: Was ce gars' post about piracetam in-game or just a coincidence?

Me: Coincidence, but it didn't seem to hurt.


Q: Was the story written or altered much in response to fan reaction?

KYIH: Sometimes but very rarely. While writing the story remained a fluid process throughout, we had our major plot points already thought up so nothing major was altered because of fan reaction. Sometimes we'd add something to drive home a point that we wanted the fans to pick up on but the times when the entries almost mirrored a fan prediction really were purely coincidental. Great minds think alike?


Q: Do you ever regret letting your fans contact you via Facebook?

Me: They found us. We never advertized ourselves. That being said, I don't mind it. The vast majority of those that have "friended" me are respectful to my privacy and don't make "gimmie 20 dolla"jokes constantly.

KYIH: Eh, I don't like it when my status updates become message boards but I don't really care. A few of them have turned out to be pretty cool and I chat with them regularly and play TF2 with them and whatnot.


Q: I noticed you usually posted videos around 3am Eastern Time. Did
you wait until this time for extra creepiness or was it coincidence?

KYIH: Blame that one on erratic work schedules causing editing and uploading to extend far into the night. Happy accident.

Me: While we always tried to post new entries at night, some would get delayed a few hours. Typically it was because of me trying to fix tiny, minute details in the videos that most people would probably never notice but it would bug me if I left it in. Sorry to any of you dedicated folks who stayed up past your bedtime to see it.

Q: Was there anything hidden in the TTA videos that we failed to figure out or where they just weird to be weird?

KYIH: There are a few unsolved codes and connections.

Me: A few things were placed for the sole purpose of creating a creepy atmosphere and nothing else. But I'm not going to reveal anything else. Sorry.


Q:What was the most enjoyable part of making MH?

Me: Most of the entries were fun to shoot. Some of them grew into "events" where we'd spend a lot of time with our friends before and after shooting. The day we shot Entry #17 was so much fun.

KYIH: Basically everything that doesn't make it on camera. Every time we sat down to write or film we wasted an hour or more just dicking around. Finding ridiculous "endings" for the series on youtube, bread football, and everything else helped take the edge off.

Me: Bread football is exactly what it sounds like.


Q:What inspired you to use Silent Snow, Secret Snow by Conrad Aiken in the post "Signal" from totheark?

Me: It was very strange how that came about. I just came across Silent Snow, Secret Snow by accident. After watching it, all I could think was "This is just too perfect not to use somehow". If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it.


Q:Are you guys horror buffs who unintentionally set out to produce work in the genre, or did it just happen to be the best fit for the story you wanted to write this time around?

Me: I'm not into gory, gross out kind of horror, nor do I particularly enjoy the majority of thriller movies out these days that consist entirely of cheap jump scares. I like movies that create an unsettling, mysterious atmosphere and run with it, which is unfortunately rare to see. Mainstream Hollywood needs to learn how to take chances again instead of taking something old that worked well once and sticking it into a copier. I do love horror comedies though, but that's another thing altogether.

KYIH: To be completely honest, I really am not that into scary movies. I like comedy a lot more and would actually rather have written something in that genre.


Q:Were there any significant conflicts between the two of you (Or anyone else) regarding what you did or didn't want to put in any particular entry or even the direction you wanted to take the series in. Obviously it's probably fair to assume there would have been some conflicts in ideas, but were there many things which you really spent a lot of time debating?

Me: We bumped heads a few times on minor plot points, but we always found a way to meet in the middle if we both wanted different things.

KYIH: We never had any fights in regards to what we did in the story, no. If one person felt really strongly about something then the other would usually bow down. At the worst we at least would try the idea and if it didn't work, we scrapped it. There were times where one of us would cave to an idea the other had and it ended up looking like shit, and others where it worked great. Really the most conflict came from the bumps at the beginning of the season. Trying to decide how to word stuff took forever with both of us doing it and eventually I just stepped out of that part of production, much to ce gars' delight, I'm sure.

Me: Yeah you're kind of obsessed with proper sentence structure.

Q:Have you become scared by your own production?

KYIH: Not at all. When we first started I could give myself goosebumps thinking of the atmosphere we wanted in a particular shot but after a while I got to the point where I was more analytical of our stuff than anything. It is hard to be scared of something when you know every single inner working of it.

Me: Exactly. Plus we have enough bloopers tucked away that we could probably never look at Marble Hornets the same way everyone else does ever again.

Q:Do any of you have Theatrical experience outside of Marble Hornets?

Me: I'm a theatre minor at my school and I've been in a couple of plays and a few films outside of MH. I don't want to be an actor by profession, but I do enjoy it.

KYIH: I was supposed to be in a high school musical my senior year but I dropped out because, frankly, the whole production sucked.
-----------------------------------

I feel like we've covered pretty much every question that could be asked, given our perimeters. If you send a really good one to the email address I may answer it directly, but for the most part, I think this wraps up the Q&A for now. Thanks to everyone for participating!

[SticktheFigure]

Cool, thanks for all the info guys. Can't wait to see how things turn out. I also can't wait to see us all scramble around to find missing connections. Hope to talk to you guys once this is finished. Maybe catch some bloopers and tricks. The thing I am most excited for though, is hearing how you had the whole [Operator] thing working.

[Theycallmehsexypants]

Guys, I'm confused, is the series over or is there a part 2?

[Shadow4x0]

hes back!

[MetalGearSamus]

Re: hes back!

[Theycallmehsexypants]

Re: hes back!

[GnomonRose]

Re: MH Q&A

[Dray]

It ain't over 'til it's over, sex'pants. Give 'em a few months to not be dark and chilling masters of suspense... sounds like they've just about had as much as they can take of that without burning out.

As for the TTA clues, I'm not sure about those. I do hope that people stick their noses in it and make some correct guesses, but I have a feeling that I'm probably not going to get anything new out of blitzing through them again. I like to idly speculate and wool-gather for hours... but codes are not my strong point.

...Still. Might be worth another go-through, if only to see everything in completion since PART I has wrapped up. I'm fairly certain that they've left us with more gaps than a goth's shitty old pair of pantyhose, so I'm not sure that there's anything that we can conclusively say other than that, oh shit, there's a whole lot of personal space invasion going on here and it just ain't natural.

[JKatkina]

[Mops]

I honestly wonder how many intensely creepy "MARRY ME TIIIIIIM" emails they got?

Anyway, that was so awesome, thanks for answerin' all those questions, guys!