Host, written by Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage, and Jed Shepherd, follows six friends who decide to host a seance over zoom. The seance does not go well, and an unwelcome spirit soon terrorizes the group. But the story features plenty of fun and innovative twists on the poltergeist story married to the screenlife aesthetic.
But part of the appeal of the movie is how it was made. Filmed in lockdown with actors in isolation, it’s a wonderful piece of ingenuity and scrappy-can-do filmmaking – which is precisely what we’re looking at today.
Treat Limitations as Opportunities
With Host, the writers have done a wonderful job taking the bugs of their premise and turning them into features. A lot of the usual techniques we use in telling a story aren’t available for screenlife movies. Your story is happening in real-time and is limited to what the computer screen can see. A host of other minor resulting issues further complicate how you can tell your story.
But here these issues have been transformed into ways to be creative in your storytelling. A water break with everyone leaving their computer becomes an exercise in searching the empty screen for any sign of the approaching spirit. Choppy data results in glitchy feeds and unnerving visuals. Actors stuck at home with whomever’s on hand makes for lived-in sets and supporting characters. Any time you cut to cover a special effect set-up you need to cover with a reaction shot, so they write to those beats.
Even the length of the movie – just under an hour – is a payoff on the fact that free Zoom calls only last for 45 minutes. The film takes on each challenge and uses it to strengthen the story. Each of these choices keeps the story fresh and makes it rewarding for the audience.
Apply to Your Own Script
This advice comes with two sides. The first involves examining your premise – here, a seance over zoom. Consider how that premise makes it harder to tell a story. List out the problems. Then work your way through, trying to find the most interesting storytelling solution. Often this will result in a fresh story element.
The second part really only applies if you’re planning on going into production. The filmmakers had to deal with everything that comes with quarantine when it comes to marshaling a film production. But same as with the script, work out what the issues are going to be and then focus on finding the most interesting solution to each problem.
By taking this approach, you open yourself to all new ways of telling your story. So next time something snags your script, don’t think of it as an issue but an opportunity.