Welcome to the Nick Taylor Horror Show!

As always, each episode of The Nick Taylor Horror Show explores how today's horror filmmakers are getting their movies made while deconstructing their methods and career strategies into practical insights that you can use on your own horror filmmaking journey. This includes their creative processes, funding resources, favorite books & tools, key life lessons, and much, much more.

Today’s guest is Charlie Saroff, a cinematographer who has quickly established himself as a powerhouse in the horror genre.

Charlie's breakout work on Natalie Erika James' Relic garnered widespread acclaim for its haunting atmosphere and masterful visual storytelling. This success led to his collaboration with Parker Finn on Smile and his upcoming work on the Smile sequel.

In today’s episode, Charlie and I dive deep into the craft of horror cinematography, and strategies for creating tension and fear through visuals. We also get into his keys for successful collaborations between directors and DPs and Charlie shares valuable advice for filmmakers looking to enhance their overall visual storytelling skills.

Here are some key takeaways from this conversation with Charlie Saroff:

Utilize Misdirection. Scares often rely on the element of surprise. When crafting shots that elicit fear or tension, use decoys and misdirection to direct the audience’s attention in one direction so you can surprise them from another. This is largely achieved through composition and lighting. This relies on the principle that what the audience doesn't see is as important as what they do see. By manipulating their expectations, you can create a more impactful scare. For example, using dark corners or areas of the frame to hint at something lurking just out of sight can build suspense and heighten the eventual reveal. This, of course partially relies on editing but starts with what’s on screen.

Plan but Be Flexible. Charlie says that no matter how much you plan at best 90% of it will go right while the other 10% will be complete chaos. It’s important to put yourself in a position to leverage that chaos. Thorough prep with shot lists and storyboards is crucial, however, it’s equally important to remain open to spontaneous opportunities that arise on set. David Lynch advocates for being fully present on set to recognize and maximize visual opportunities that present themselves serendipitously. While planning ensures you have a roadmap and backup plan, being flexible allows you to adapt to the changing dynamics of a scene, which can often lead to unexpectedly brilliant shots.

Test your gear, test your look. Testing is crucial to understand how different lenses and cameras perform under various conditions and to ensure consistency in your film's visual style. Charlie conducts thorough camera and lens tests to determine the best equipment and experiment with different desired looks and uses the results to determine which gear to use before he makes his final selection. He will even go so far as to test out how different paint colors read with different lenses and cameras. This thorough testing process ensures the film's visual consistency and quality.

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Welcome to the Nick Taylor Horror Show!

As always, each episode of The Nick Taylor Horror Show explores how today's horror filmmakers are getting their movies made while deconstructing their methods and career strategies into practical insights that you can use on your own horror filmmaking journey. This includes their creative processes, funding resources, favorite books & tools, key life lessons, and much much more.

Francis Galluppi is the director of The Last Stop In Yuma County, a southern-fried, hard-boiled crime thriller that plays within the traditions of Tarantino, The Cohen Brothers, Taylor Sheridan, and Elmore Leonard while still establishing a feel and style all its own. I loved this movie - it’s a fun, lean and mean piece of cinema bolstered by an incredible ensemble cast including Richard Brake, Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, Barbara Crampton and many more.

The Last Stop in Yuma County is Francis’ feature debut and the film caught the eye of Sam Raimi and ultimately led to Francis being handed the reins of an upcoming installment in the Evil Dead franchise which is really awesome news.

Prior to Last Stop in Yuma County, Francis’ short film High Desert Hell, won several awards, including the Wes Craven Award at the Catalina Film Festival in 2019 while his followup, The Gemini Project, won Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Film' at the Burbank International Film Festival in 2020.

In this conversation, Francis and I get into the grueling story behind the making of Last Stop in Yuma County, which was a four plus year labor of love involving blood, sweat, tears, and mortgaged houses. This is an excellent account of true indie filmmaking, the importance of preparation, working with an all-star cast, and never giving up. I owe a big thank you to my friend David Guglielmo for putting me in touch with Francis, thank you David. Now, please enjoy my conversation with Francis Galluppi.

Prepare Extensively: Preparation was crucial to Francis' process, and his level of prep was extensive and very impressive. Every shot was meticulously storyboarded and diagrammed with detailed blocking directions made months before production began. Ultimately, this prep enabled him to achieve complex and high-production value work on a relatively low budget. Francis also engaged in extensive conversations with the actors, fully fleshing out the script and characters and every line of dialogue over zoom. By the time everyone arrived on set, the team was well-prepared to hit their marks which is critical on a lower budget. Francis’ process demonstrates that there’s no such thing as over-preparing. All of this ensured a fairly smooth production and Francis’ ability to pivot when things went wrong.

Set a Deadline and Make It Happen: Francis stresses the importance of setting a hard deadline and committing to it. Waiting for perfect conditions or resources can delay or prevent the realization of a project. He emphasizes the importance of prepping before you’re greenlit, which may seem counterintuitive to filmmakers hesitant to invest time in a project that may not happen. However, extensive preparation increases the likelihood of your film coming to fruition. This preparation not only creates a sense of reality and momentum for your project but also impresses producers and investors, making your project appear more tangible and ready to go and ultimately easier to greenlight.

Edit Your Own Work. Francis quickly mentioned that early on directors should edit their own work because doing so is a valuable learning experience. It forces you to confront your mistakes and understand what works and what doesn’t about your shooting style and directorial capability. Being able to be objective at this level will ultimately make you a better...

Hey everyone, welcome back to The Howl, our monthly segment where my cohost Adam Cruz and I break down the latest horror news, share what we've been watching, and just generally geek out over everything horror.

The Howl is all about giving you a comprehensive yet entertaining look at what's happening in the world of horror, providing top-notch movie recommendations, and delivering a dash of humor along the way. If you want more of The Howl in your life, be sure to sign up for my newsletter at nicktaylor.com/thehowl, where you'll get a quick-read version sent right to your inbox every month.

As always, we'd love to hear from you on what you enjoy, what you'd like to see more of, or any other feedback you have to help us refine this segment. Plus, if you prefer a visual experience, check out The Nick Taylor Horror Show YouTube channel for the video version of these episodes.

So without further ado, here is me, Nick Taylor in conversation with Adam Cruz on this month's episode of The Howl.

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Movies Mentioned:

• Hereditary
• Martyrs
• Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
• Last House on the Left
• Poor Things
• Late Night with the Devil
• Ready or Not
• Monkeyman
• Universal Monster Movies
• Renfield
• The Last Voyage of the Demeter
• Dracula (Nosferatu)
• In the Mouth of Madness
• Guillermo del Toro
• Killing of a Sacred Deer
• Omen Prequel (Immaculate)
• Satanic Hispanics
• Baghead
• Servant (Apple TV Show)