OCULAR ENGINE

OCULAR ENGINE was first conceptualised on January 17th, 2022. This project emerged before my efforts as a writer, initially taking shape through scattered notes rather than a complete script. Though never formally structured, the narrative, dialogue, and use of music from Mark Korven's The Lighthouse original score were meticulously detailed.

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The idea was born from my time sitting in my secondary school hall during assemblies. I began to imagine a deranged showman, lost in his mind, living out his days in an empty theatre - believing himself to be performing for a grand audience. This theatre became his sanctuary, a place of refuge from the outside world, which he feared in an almost vampiric sense.

To visually reflect his fractured perception, trained OCULAR ENGINE, I opted for two distinct styles: his delusion in stark black and white, while reality unfolded in muted colour. In my mind, the theatre in reality was abandoned and decayed, a stark contrast to the grandeur he envisioned. However, working within the constraints of a low-budget production, I had to embrace creative solutions to bring this vision to life.

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With the use of my Sony A6400, shooting took place over five days, between March 12th and March 18th, 2022, during and after school hours. The entire production ran on an extremely limited budget of just £10 - every penny spent on fake blood.