Sometimes films come out at a time that lines up eerily well with real life. As Americans debate the ethics of the nearly ubiquitous Flock cameras that are being placed in neighborhoods all throughout the nation, with only vague information made available about how they will help police, citizens of all political stripes are worried about this increased monitoring. That real-life backdrop feeds squarely into the world of “Compound,” a thriller where privacy and surveillance push a community to the brink.
In the film, a paranoid family living off the grid constantly records their remote property via a series of interconnected cameras. Things get dire and violent as the outside world begins threatening the solitude of the well-armed family. The end result is a feature stitched together from the footage.
For me, the best type of horror movie is a movie that’s about something a little bit more. Finding these themes of paranoia and familial bonds really came to life once we started playing around on the property and really developing the characters and what we could do with the cameras.” “Compound,” which began screening as part of this year’s TIFF marketplace, was shot on location at a Texas cabin using real security cameras rigged around the property. While it was a way to keep the budget down, it called for a deconstruction of how the narrative would be shot.
In order to add realism, Mulcahy, who wrote the film with Max Perkins, created a system of filming he called “The Immersive World Approach.” “It’s a hot set everywhere,” he says. The actors really have to live in the scene. There might be a few pages of script, but we’re starting before those pages and we’re going after those pages.
Even when they think they are done, they still have to stay in character because another camera might be catching them. In post, it became a fun game to construct how it would be told because we had so many options.” One of the toughest parts of this approach was that the actors themselves were somewhat isolated, making it challenging to relay new ideas or tweaks to them. But that’s the nature of the shoot.
You’re kind of removed from the action at certain points, and we were too when we were directing and watching.” While more traditional filmmakers might balk at the approach, the “Compound” team embraced the quirkiness. We built them around the frame early. That became a lot of fun, and it became kind of a test.
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