Yesenia Vasquez Serrano

Professor Greg McClure

Writing 39B
30 November 2016
The Only Escape Reflection
Making a film is not the easiest task to do, especially when youre a college student and
only have about two weeks to get it done. As a group, we decided to focus on Schizophrenia and
its effect as a monster in someones life. We are directing our film, The Only Escape to our
writing class, a different writing class, and any person in general who may know someone with a
mental illness. Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that affects the people around us, even if
we dont realize it. As college students, we tend to forget the vulnerability of others and focus
primarily on our personal needs. Our film will express to the audience the importance of paying
special attention to those who are struggling with loneliness and the monsters that are affecting
their lives. Our short film is a four minute long short horror film that includes a live performance
of one of our group members, Eugene as well as a special guest, Jacob, who plays the
antagonist. The film also targets a scholarly audience in the way that we show how a horror film
can consist of not only fulfillments of the horror genre, but the subversions as well. We use these
subversions to demonstrate how deviating from a typical expectation can also help with the
production of an argument. The purpose of this film is to inform the audience of the effects of
mental illness, such as Schizophrenia, and how we should take it into our hands to make sure the
people that suffer from it do not feel alone dealing with it. Our message is that an illness can
cause someone to feel pain that no one else will understand, yet we still need to make an effort to
help them conquer that loneliness and help them feel safe.
The film is set in a college dorm setting, specifically Prado in Mesa Court Housing, at the
University of California, Irvine, located in Irvine, CA, USA. This setting was used to describe

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how this situation can happen in a place that we go to everyday, yet we may not notice it. The
film is set in November 2016, the 21st century, a few weeks before the holidays. This historical
setting was used to reinforce the idea that a mental illness can be prominent even to this day,
whether we realize or not. It also shows how the side effects, such as hallucinations can lead to
loneliness, a feeling that can express itself more during the holidays, a time that should be full of
family, friends, and happiness. In this essay, I will be analyzing our film using Nol Carrolls
The Nature of Horror, an essay where the American professor of philosophy explains the
conventions of horror. I will also be detailing my contribution to the film and my groups
interaction during the process.
In the film, we use different rhetorical aspects in order to get our message across. We
referred back to Nol Carrolls The Nature of Horror in order to create our film using both
subversions and fulfillments of the horror genre. As we created the film, we had trouble finding a
way to make the audience scared, so we decided to make the antagonist a figment of the main
characters imagination that can interact with the environment. According to Carroll, Along
with the fear of severe physical harm, there is an evident aversion to making physical contact
with the monster. (Carroll, 53). In other words, Carroll is saying that because of the fact that the
main character is scared of being harmed by the monster, he also tries to stay away from the
monster. Our film correlates with Carrolls idea because in the film, the monster threatens the
main character, Eugene, with a knife and despite his attempt to push the antagonist away, in the
final scene the antagonist ends up choking him with a belt, when thoughts of suicide run through
Eugenes head. In the film, Eugene pushes the monster away and many times asks him to leave
him alone, since the monster constantly is invading his personal space.

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In regards to the threat of a monster, Carroll states that monsters are not only physically
threatening; they are cognitively threatening. We fulfill this convention of horror in our film
through the use of hallucinations. The antagonist physically threatens Eugene, yet also attacks his
thoughts and emotions. He is cognitively threatening in a way that he uses the main characters
loneliness as a way to interact with him. The main character attempts to find someone to comfort
him in his time of need, but finds himself on his own. The antagonist pinpoints that weakness in
order to threaten Eugenes thoughts about his current emotional state. This attack on Eugenes
cognitive state, in the end leads to him thinking about killing himself through overdose, what he
believes is the only escape.
The entire film is important in reflecting the 21st century because it explains the distress
that mental illnesses cause. Ingrid G. Farreras, a Professor of Psychology and Chair of the
Department of Psychology, wrote an article about the history of mental illnesses. If someone
from an earlier century were to see this film, they would not feel sympathy for the main character
since the view of insanity at the time likened the mentally ill to animals...who did not have the
capacity to reason, could not control themselves (Farreras). This idea contrasts to todays time
because the research on mental illnesses has proven that the people that suffer with them need
support due to the fact that they cannot control their symptoms. In todays society, we dont think
of people with mental illnesses as animals, instead we have been demonstrated to show
compassion for them, due to their incapability to control the situation theyre in. In the next
paragraph, I will be detailing my contribution to his film and the importance of my work.
When planning the filming process, my primary contribution to this film began as the
music director. Music is very important to creating a horror feeling in a movie. Its main purpose
is to create the certain atmosphere that is trying to be projected. In our film, we are trying to

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project a sense of loneliness, so the lack of music also helps set an eerie mood to the scene. In
horror films, it is very common to have sound effects rather than actual songs, but the type of
music that is used has a great effect on the audiences response to the film. The kind of music
that was chosen also led into the tropes that are used in our film: hallucinations, isolation. Most
of the songs used in the film are instrumentals which create suspense and uneasiness. This
reception is transmitted to our audience, in order to get them to feel terrified and unsafe when
watching our film.
When it came to the filming process, because I'm not that great at acting, I focused on
helping with the lighting and as a production assistant as well. Lighting is very important in
movies because even though the most important part of the film is the story line itself, lighting
can help determine the mood of the video. When we filmed, it was about an hour before sunset,
but the day itself was gloomy. The weather worked to our advantage, because there was some
rain, but we had to put an extra focus on the lighting to the point where it was dark, in order to
set the mood, but there was enough light to be able to see the characters of the video. Lighting is
extremely important in horror movies because the dark is terrifying in many occasions. There is a
scene in our film where the light turns off when the antagonist pops out. This will cause the
audience to get a chill because the spontaneous pop-up will create suspense.
Unfortunately, after we filmed, we realized that our film had an extensive amount of
dialogue and not enough horror/suspense. We decided to change the script and film once again.
The only availability that most of the group had to film was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving
and since I was the only one that was unable to go, I focused on rewriting the script to better fit
the horror genre. I suggested that we film Eugene as someone dealing with lack of social
connections, and that his death be filmed in a bedroom, a place that is more secluded and

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personal. Some scenes from the original film were kept because it added intensity to the overall
film, and allowed the audience to connect with the main character as well. In the end, my biggest
contribution was writing the script, as a production assistant, and as a lighting director.
Throughout the quarter, we have worked well together as a group, and the same can be
said about our interaction during this film-making process. It was difficult for us to meet because
of all the responsibilities we have during the week, both academically and personally. However,
we took time out of our schedules and worked on this film during the week and on weekends. As
a group, we interact well with each other and have learned to be efficient with our time. When
we met to film the first time, we finished the entire process in less than two hours.
The second time that the group organized to meet in order to film again, I was unable to
go due to responsibilities I had that Saturday. My group was very understanding, so I decided to
work on rewriting the script in order to make up for the fact that I wouldnt be able to be there.
During this process, we kept each other up to date with what was going on, and also worked on
the film individually when we could. When the film was completed, we all reviewed it and gave
our input on it. Katherine, the editor, was very accepting of our suggestions and included them in
the film. Overall, I am satisfied with our collaboration during this film-making process, and if I
ever had to make a film, I would most likely ask this group to help me with it.

Works Cited
Calvo, A.D. "So You Want to Make a Horror Film? On Jump Scares and Other Basics of Fright |
Filmmaker Magazine. Filmmaker Magazine, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
<http://filmmakermagazine.com/76622-so-you-want-to-make-a-horror-film-on-jumpscares-and-other-basics-of-fright>.

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Carroll, Nol. "The Nature of Horror." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46.1 (1987):
51-59. Web.
Farreras, Ingrid G. "History of Mental Illness." Noba. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
<http://nobaproject.com/modules/history-of-mental-illness>.
"Hallucination." Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders. Encyclopedia.com, n.d. Web. 16
Nov. 2016.
<http://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/psychology/psychology-andpsychiatry/hallucination.>
"Hallucinations - TV Tropes." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
<http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hallucinations>.