Film Name: Pareidolia
Director: Aaron Truss
Writer: Aiden Truss
Starring: Diane Franklin, Graham Cole, Carolyn Pickles, Joe Acres, Dawn Perllman, Sandy Johnson
Pareidolia tells the story of Sinead (Diane Franklin), a university lecturer studying the subject of pareidolia, who becomes convinced she is being stalked by an entity hiding within her house. Meanwhile, a mysterious death is brought to the attention of a local priest, Father Cavanagh (Graham Cole), who realises that his past is beginning to catch up with him.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask director Aaron Truss a few questions about Pareidolia ahead of its world premiere at Frightfest.
Q. Your short film Pareidolia has been selected to play at London’s FrightFest 2023. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. Everything I have in my arsenal. I’ve literally thrown my heart and soul into this film. It has chills, fantastic characters (brought to life by an amazing ensemble cast) and the best production team I’ve ever worked with. Notice how I’m deliberately avoiding the question…ha! I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say this – we only need 13 minutes on screen…for now…
Q. What attracted you to the script for Pareidolia which was written by your father Aiden Truss?
A. I love my dad’s writing, especially his novel Gape. We have very similar tastes when it comes to horror and comedy. To direct something my father has written is certainly different to anything I’ve ever done, there’s a great deal of pressure thrown in for good measure – If I fuck up, I might not be invited back home for Christmas dinner! It was nice to sit and craft the story together, watching my father build this story from a simple notion involving pareidolia as the core subject. It’s a killer script! He should be incredibly proud of it, so much fun to bring to life!
Q. The film features actress Diane Franklin who is known for films such as Amityville II: The Possession, and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. How did she get involved in the film and did you have her in mind for the role when you read the script?
A. Stuart Morriss, our producer from Misty Moon called me one day after a project I was pitching for TV had fallen through – and told me Diane Franklin was coming to the UK and asked if would I be interested in filming something with her. I jumped at the chance, I knew it would have to be something special and that’s when I approached Dad for a story idea. But we built pre-production around the fact Diane Franklin would be our main protagonist. She makes a point of not taking on short films, so I wasn’t going to be the director who screwed up her rare appearance in one. Diane, from day one was always going to be in Pareidolia (pending a script approval of course!).
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Thank you for asking this question. It was important to pay homage to some of the horror screen classics of the past – John Carpenter’s Halloween was a big influence in terms of lighting and sets. With editing, I went back to my hero David Lynch (my visual effects designer and sound designer, Dan Grant and Mario Vidali – LOVE Lynch) – Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet in particular. We shot on location in Robertsbridge, a very rural location with a lot of nature and I like how Lynch can personify this in his films. The town we shot in is a character within itself. Colour grading was another important fixation for me (thanks James Shovlar) as I wanted to bring out colours that were reminiscent of classic horror movies too – like Ringu or A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Definitely. I’m not sure how many drafts there were between the first script and the shooting script, but characters were cut down for time’s sake, and the ordering of sequences changed from one day to the next until myself, Stuart and my Dad were happy. Jake West (brilliant film director and Billy Idol fan) was my edit consultant on the film and he was incredibly generous with his time and sharing his wisdom. He taught me that the final edit of the film would be the final draft of the script – it ends with the edit – and he’s right! There was way too much humour from Jonty’s character (Joe Acres) and that’s because he’s an absolutely brilliant character actor – but for the sake of the film, we knew we needed to trim him down – otherwise, it wouldn’t be right tonally. Jean (Carolyn Pickles) also had a few revisions in the early stages of development.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Oh, there’s loads! But I’ll narrow them down. The crew and I had clearly been watching too much Brooklyn Nine-Nine before shooting as we ended up playing the ‘Title of your sex tape’ game in between takes. Yes, I know – so professional…but to be honest, the laughter on the set helped to break any tension or stress. Graham Cole singing to the residents of Robertsbridge in between takes when we shot the arrival of Fr. Cavanagh at Scrimm Cottage was very amusing, everyone was cold and it was late and he had us all entertained.
Working with Diane Franklin was full of moments. I was incredibly nervous about directing Diane as she’s from Hollywood and has been in the business for years, and there’s me with my VHS documentary…But she was incredibly caring and humble. As filming progressed, I got to see her cheeky and humorous side and once that happened – all bets were off! She was and is brilliant, and a fantastic actor. I remember a certain scene (which I can’t describe because of spoilers) that I was worried about filming and to break the tension, I asked her what it was like to kiss Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted.
Staying in a hotel on location with my DOP is another highlight, but he’ll say otherwise. He almost murdered me as I snore and it was one of the first nights away from his parental duties. The following morning, he described the number of ways he almost killed me, and they were really detailed too! But to be honest – James Dean, Camille Cremades (1st Assistant director), Felix Waverly-Hudson (sound recordist) and Alexander Pearce (production assistant) were the dream team – simply because when we weren’t shooting, we were laughing our arses off. Could have been nerves, but I honestly think it’s because I can’t be in a room with these guys for longer than two minutes before breaking into laughter.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Yeah, James Dean tried to kill me. Ha! No, we did have to compete with so many issues. Bloody train strikes caused us to reschedule several times. The day with the shot with Diane Franklin was crazy, the village flooded and there were storms the night before! The river you see in Pareidolia isn’t a river, it’s the cricket grounds that have been flooded! Luckily, we caught it on camera along with some other brilliant scenic shots. Stuart Morriss managed to keep us all happy with food and morale though, so that powered us on to do our best – cast included!
Q. What makes Pareidolia stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I think what makes it different is the fact we haven’t over-complicated the plot, we’ve gone back to good old basics with a classic ‘ghost story’. Films like Smile were a big influence, especially as most of us saw the film whilst were in production. I remember watching Smile and jumping back into Premiere Pro and changing everything on my timeline! It was a huge wake-up call, whilst horror is subjective and dependent on taste, you can’t deny the production elements that make that film brilliant. Our film doesn’t pander to any typical horror tropes (Okay, we have a priest) but aside from that – we wanted to borrow elements of mystery and thriller instead rather than gore and Luton bus moments for horror’s sake.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope they’ll want to see more! I hope it stays with them after they leave FrightFest, especially when they turn the lights off to go to bed…I mean that’s the GOAL!
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I’m currently taking some time to give some attention to my girlfriend who’s had to put up with a four-year stint of making (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story, The Understudy, Cult of VHS and now Pareidolia. She has the patience of a saint! She hates horror films, so as you can imagine she’s been having the time of her life…
But at this moment, I’m currently developing Pareidolia into a feature film script with the help my father and Jake West. Stuart and I both believe this has legs, so let’s see where the story goes! Members of the Q Cumber Films production team have begun working on their own short film scripts too which is amazing. Our visual effects designer, Nacho Mazuecos is working on his script For You and our co-founder, Adam Brown has plans to work on a short film he’s had in mind for a while.
There’s another project that myself, Joe Acres and Jake West have wanted to develop for a while called Hub, but I think for me – Pareidolia the feature is far more important!
Q. If someone was looking to direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. I don’t like giving advice to people really, I would only tell them what I would do or try to help them with what they’re trying to achieve – as long as it comes from a very deep and meaningful place. Don’t run before you can walk, sounds daft but honestly – I did my time in post-production houses, acting as a sponge and learning all the tricks of the trade when it comes to knowing what tools you have in your arsenal – If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Knowing your limits too, whether it’s budgets or mental health. Most importantly, just fucking go for it. What have you got to lose? Try and fail rather than never try and wonder why. These all sound like platitudes, but the older I get, the more I realise why these things are said in the first place. Make YOUR OWN experience and don’t forget to laugh along the way!
Oh, and for god sake! Back up your backups!
Pareidolia will premiere at FrightFest as part of the Short Film Showcase. You can find out more and purchase tickets here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
