by Valarie Thorpe

ost of us don't know how to make movies and yet as horror fans, we've always harbored this little part of us that thinks we just might be able to. We critique, deconstruct, fawn over, tear apart and admire horror movies but way deep down, all we really want to do is make them. UrbanChillers.com is giving us that chance. This site contains some great short horror flicks, enmeshed in an Internet experience. You're not just downloading a clip, you're getting a horror story as you explore. And if you really do know how to make a great horror movie, then Urban Chillers wants it!

David Court, Urbanchillers internet content producer, graciously took the time to answer some Really Scary questions about what they're doing, where they're going and how they're going to scare the hell out of us.

: How did Urbanchillers get started? When?
: Urbanchillers started unofficially about four years ago, however we started working on it full-time from last year.

: What did you do before this?
: Before this I worked as a frustrated investor! I finally realized that I didn't want to be clutching my heart at 60 thinking "why the F**k didn't I do that?" So I gave it all up and followed the dream!

I have been a best friend with Nick Stillwell since the age of 16 when we went to school together. Nick and I have been planning to work together pretty much from that day and shared a mutual interest in movies.

: Who all is involved?

:

Photo courtesy of Urban Chillers A shot from Urban Chillers film The Apartment.

There are four key members to Urbanchillers:

Myself - Internet Content Producer I deal with the creative content and overall look to the website. I see my job as building a community around the site. I am also directing the next series for the site "The CCTV Files."

Nick Stillwell - Director ... Nick has directed the first three movies on Urbanchillers.com. He has in the past directed films for Amnesty International and The BBC working with people like John Hurt and Alex Kingsley.

Ean Thorley - Exec Producer...Ean has spent the last 13 years working for MTV. He was the youngest ever exec producer at MTV and has worked in London, Singapore, New York and Hong Kong. Ean exec produced the three shorts you see on the web site.

David Reilly - Writer...David co-created "Urban Myth Chillers" with Nick. He currently has two feature films in preproduction, one with Dreamworks and one with Neil Jordan.

: How many movies are on the site now and can you tell us a little bit about them?

: There are three movies on the site at present. These are the first three in the series called Urban Myth Chillers. We are currently negotiating with a major studio for distribution of the next 20 of this series. The films vary between 2.30 and 5 minutes long and are based on the chilling urban myths that have been passed down from generation to generation. They are all shot on 35mm film so the quality is second to none.

: You mentioned the first three movies you have on the site now were made for Universal Studios Networks. How were you able to secure the web rights for those? Is that a difficult process?

: Not particularly difficult. We have always declared that we wanted to secure Internet rights and so when negotiations took place there was never any bullshit between the two parties. Universal couldn't have been more corporative -- they knew what they wanted out of it and so did we.

: The movies don't just exist on their own on your web site as simple downloads, they're surrounded by great montages of art, text and sounds that complement the actual movie. Did the Urban Chillers team build these elements? Do you view the movies and then build sort of a "web experience" around it?

:

Photo courtesy of Urban Chillers A shot from Urban Chillers film The Dorm.

Yes! Exactly! We invite all of our users to explore the story. When you have also downloaded the movie there are secret files that are made available to you. Urbanchillers.com are keen to give users the best possible experience in visiting the site- we have had too many frustrating experiences ourselves on other people's sites not to care.

We have also developed a wealth of material to wrap around these movies whilst they are being downloaded from the web (case files, digital postcards, newspaper reports, Urban Forums, etc.) We want our users to get the best possible experience from viewing our website. Too many movie sites do not consider the user and the time invested they take in downloading your product. Urbanchillers.com have always been about respecting our user and delivering a new experience in chilling entertainment. I believe that the Internet will change the shape of movies forever -- when you watch a movie in the theater you have a linear experience. On the Internet all of this changes...you watch the movie either on the screen or on the net and then when you visit the site there is so much more. Characters can be explored, unseen footage can be seen, and films can be added on to and taken in a new direction.

: Who are the filmmakers that made the movies you have live now? What about the movies coming...same people? How do you find your filmmakers?

: We all made the first three movies--Nick and David co-created the series. Nick then directed the three, Ean was exec producer, David the writer, and I directed second unit and built the pages that you see wrapped around the movies on the web now (there are also some bonus bits of material to come out -- police interviews, victim interviews, etc.) The rest of the crew (between 18-30 people) were brought in on their merit.

: What movies do you have in the works?
: Well, we are due to start shooting a half hour in August called Skin. Nick again will be directing -- it is about an artist who discovers the true meaning of his art and ends up becoming an exhibit himself! Very gruesome. These will be available as a half hour but for the Internet we will also be serializing them and releasing them over a period of weeks.

In the next four to six weeks I will be directing a series designed for the narrowband capabilities of the web. This will be called "The CCTV Files."

: Will all the movies you run receive the same sort of build up (all the art and text)?
: Absolutely! We will react to our audience and if they like what we are producing around these movies (the feedback is good so far) then we will carry on. CCTV may not have so much interaction as it is a stand-alone piece but we have been working in the interactive elements for Skin for quite some time now. We are also inviting filmmakers when they submit their own movies to submit any interactive elements they may choose.

: How do you get around the biggest problem facing high-memory downloads, bandwidth issues? Do you worry this will keep people from fully exploring Urban Chillers?
: This is why we developed the Case files, so that when people started to download they would have more to explore. As broadband comes in we will react accordingly (longer movies, more interaction). I hope that when people hear about urbanchillers.com they will realize what we are about and explore to their heart's content. It's as much their site as it is ours -- we intend to feed of each other!

Our site is not so much about gore but about what you DON'T see that scares you. Your own personal demon is far scarier than we could ever show you but if we can tease it out of your subconscious and make you think about it when the lights are off...then we are on to something.

We want to find out what scares our audience as much as we want to show them what scares us. That is why we invite then to send in their movies and we invite them to send in their short stories. And what's more, instead of ripping off these geniuses for their content, if we upload it on to the site then we financially reward them.

We don't want anyone to suffer the same frustrations that we had wanting to break into this business when we were younger. It's taken the Internet to realize/release my frustrations and potential!

: How will Urban Chillers support itself? Will it be a subscriber- and/or ad-based model?
: We are a production company that gets its revenue from commissions. On top of this we get revenue from the web site from advertising, licensing (to other platforms). Plus in the future - when video downloads are available on mobile phones and Internet/TV is here we hope we will be able to premiere movies on our site and micro charge to watch them for a few cents.

: How does the Urban Movie Incubator work?
: The Urban Movie Incubator (U.M.I) is where we invite film makers from all over the globe to submit their own original chilling shorts. If we like them and they scare us, we will upload them on the site and pay up to $4,000. If the filmmakers really shine, then we will commission them to make future movies for the company.

: Tell us about Urbanchillers' future plans.
: Over the next few months we are uploading a brand new series "The CCTV Files" (one-minute chilling tales of nightmares caught on CCTV camera).

"Skin" - a half-hour macabre tale of an artist, filmed on 35mm and serialized over six weeks on the site. We are also in negotiations with a major studio for this.

Chiller of the day -- where we have a text chiller and we invite users to submit their own chilling stories for the site.

Chiller Quiz -- where users battle it out for a weekly prize!

Chiller Poll -- what's your favorite/worst chiller of all time - enter and win a weekly prize!

We also look forward to uploading the first few U.M.I submissions and will be putting a questionnaire on the site to let other people tell us what they want to see and what they would change. That way we can build the sort of site people want to come to.

Overall we are hoping to continue building this online chiller community. We already have the Urban Forum up and running, and that is getting a very positive response -- you should read some of the entries!

: Take bandwidth issues out of the picture and ideally what would you envision as the future of Urbanchillers?

: We want to capture the global audience for original chilling entertainment on the web.

: Do you think the audience for the horror market is large enough to support a film site such as Urbanchillers without your having to cross over into general interest categories such as Atomfilms.com? Why or why not?

: Yes I do. The trouble with companies like Atom is that they can tend to come across as a little bland -- they seem to have a bit of everything without actually specializing in any field. People will know exactly what they are going to get when the visit our web site. They know they will get scared and that we will deliver that with high quality material/movies. We have seen from the box office that high quality horror/chiller gets the returns -- people love to be scared -- it creates the body's most powerful drug…adrenalin. Other web sites seem to be so desperate for content that they just upload anything. We won't even consider insulting our audience's intelligence like that. If something gets put on the site, it's because it's good, and both filmmaker and viewer gets rewarded by the experience.

: Please feel free to write about anything I may not have touched on.
: One last word to your readers who may be considering submitting a movie -- just do it! The chances are what scares you is sure as hell goanna scare me! You don't know unless you try, and we are here to help along the way. Any questions people want to send me about making a movie or any questions about the site, just mail me at studio@urbanchillers.com. Get The Fear !

David, thank you for this opportunity to introduce UrbanChillers.com to Really Scary readers!

For more information on Urban Chillers, their movie incubator, or just to check out their truly creepy Internet films, click here!