While relaxing at home, film actress Lindsey Bean, receives a menacing call from one of cinemas’ most dreaded slashers.
A WORD FROM CHRIS
For years I’ve been asked to make a Scream fan film, and in all that time, I never had much of a take on the subject. Ghostface was never really scary to me beyond the first film because he wasn’t a singular person. He was always someone new, and they always end up getting killed by the end of each film. That’s not scary to me because each time we see a new Ghostface, the stakes are once again back at zero, whereas a more notable slasher like Michael Myers has survived previous installments. That alone shows the character is tough and harder to kill. And because of that, for years, I was unable to conjure a decent Scream story, and thus, never bothered with it….. until now.
With the new Scream rebootquel coming on the heels of the original film’s 25th anniversary, it finally dawned on me- Ghostface is an idea. He’s not just one person- he never was. And each film was a meta-commentary on the current state of Hollywood. So if I was going to do a Scream fan film, it would have to be a meta-commentary on the state of fan films, or rather, the power of them.
Fan films are incredibly powerful. They are made by dedicated fans who more often than not, upstage their Hollywood counterparts. This isn’t a brag either. Some of the best fan films out there can put a big budget movie to shame with their authenticity and pure love for the source material. With that in mind, I came up with a pretty solid take on how I wanted to approach Scream. My goal was to do something I’ve never seen done in both a big budget movie, or a fan film. And I really think the ending for this short did just that.
If you’re a fan of my work, you will probably notice the production quality of this short is significantly better than my previous films. That is 100% thanks to my cinematographer- Dylan Sides of Controlled Chaos Films. The Scream Fan Film marks my first true collaborative effort with Dylan acting as my DP for this project. Dylan is an accomplished cinematographer and brought with him a Red camera, and a bunch of really cool equipment. The film was shot in 8k, and the production value really shines here. For years, I’ve always had to compromise my shots due to lack of equipment- dolly shots, tracking shots etc. This was one of the first times I really didn’t have to do that at all. And I loved it.
I raised $420.00 for this project. The rest came out of pocket. Production took two nights. One major lesson I learned here was that things move a lot slower when you have an actual crew helping you. But it was definitely worth it. I was actually able to just take my mind off of doing EVERYTHING, and actually focus on directing. That was definitely a blessing for me.
I knew going into this, I wanted to play Ghostface myself. I didn’t do the voice, that was Michael Chaisson. But I did wanna play the actual guy, especially since Lindsey Bean, my wonderful wife, was going to be playing herself. I felt it was only right that her loving husband be the one to stalk and kill her.
