ifirit
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Well, since it's Friday, I guess it's time for another update.
The Return of Silent Hill Media: This one came right out of the blue, everyone. I haven't gone crazy and I'm not fooling around. However, Dustfungus' Silent Hill-related media site: Silent Hill Media has returned! Now, to anyone who asks for a music file, audio file, or sound file (or anything else media related, including The Art of Silent Hill and Lost Memories: Art and Music of Silent Hill) from any of the main 4 games, you need only turn to Dustfungus. Unfortunately, none of the material has become available for download just yet, but that will likely change once the final design for the site is set. So look out for that soon.
As a service to everyone who wants know what you can get from the site, I'll list what you can (later) download and where.
Silent Hill 1:
- Audio
- Sound Effects
Voice Dialogues (Music-Free)
Rare Voice Dialogue (Music-Free)
Original Soundtrack
Complete Soundtrack (Dustfungus Edit)
Unreleased Music Files & FMV Music
Silent Hill MIDI's
-Pictures
- Fan-Submitted Wallpapers
-Movies- Silent Hill Opening (From LM)
Silent Hill UFO Ending (From LM)
Silent Hill 2:
- Audio
- Sound Effects
Secret Sound Effects
Voice Dialogues (Music-Free)
Rare Voice Dialogue (Music-Free)
Original Soundtrack
Complete Soundtrack (Dustfungus Edit)
Unreleased Music Files & Rare Music Files
Music from Trailers
- Pictures
- Fan-Submitted Wallpapers
- Movies- SH2 Trailers (North America & Japan)
The Making of Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3:
- Audio
- Sound Effects
Voice Dialogues (with Music)
Original Soundtrack
Complete Soundtrack (In Progress)
Unreleased Music Files and Rare Music
Music from Trailers
SH3 MIDI's
SH3 Limited Edition Soundtrack
- Pictures
- Press Kit
E3 Trailer Screens
TGS Trailer Screens
Official and Fan-Submitted Wallpapers
- Movies
- "You're Not Here" Music Video
Story Board Comparisons: "Gun Acquisition"
The Making of Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4: The Room:
- Audio
- Music from Trailers
Original OST Clips
- Pictures
- Original Renders
Fan-Submitted Wallpapers
- Movies
- Trailers
The Art and Music of Silent Hill:
Pretty Simple: Everything from the DVD's.
Silent Hill Remixes:
Various Arrangements, Covers, Originals and Sound Compilations created by fans.
So, as you can see, this is a pretty big deal when you say that this kind of site is coming back. But, please remember why the site went down last time and don't abuse his bandwidth. Enjoy.
- Sound Effects
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For those people who have been starved for some info on the next title in the Silent Hill series (Silent Hill 5), keep fasting because nothing has been posted by anyone officially. But, I've got good news, I just sav....(No, no inane car-insurance-company-slogan-parodies today!). Okay, okay. What I wanted to say was that I have managed to scrape up some rumors about the next title. So on to the update. (Yay! Fridays are Unofficial Update Day!!!)
Silent Hill 5 Rumors:
E3 Announcement?: Apparently, according to an unaccreditted, uncited source, Konami was actually planning to release some information on Silent Hill 5 during this years's E3 convention alongside other titles that are planned for the next generation of consoles. The source was supposably a marketing executive who was in contact with Konami during the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3) and was given a small promotional item which was to be distributed in conjunction with the announcement. Along with the image was the tagline, "Your days are numbered. 2006. Horror is taken to the next generation." However, no such announcement was made, therefore, that was the reason the item was not distributed. (Hmmm...)
Anyway, the item was apparently a poster displaying an image of a face with the title of SH5 followed by short, spooky phrases and the release year. The last thing on the image is the phrase "Your days are numbered." The image is a fairly low quality and the phrases are somewhat unlike things that might appear in a game, but you never know. I doubt it is real considering that there is no marker identifying Konami on the poster and the title lacks a copyright symbol, details which Konami has always taken care to produce in the past few games. You can read more about this rumor in this thread.
Rumored Silent Hill 5 Poster #1
An Early Concept Screenshot?: Another rumor to appear in forums revolves around another image that was unaccreditted and uncited. This image was rumored to have been intercepted from a Konami employee's email account in a subfolder that was titled "x05." No other information was given about the work or anything to the validity of the claim. If you consider the originally rumored storyline for Silent Hill 5, which would feature a mental patient trying to remember his experiences in Silent Hill (which now that I think about, sounds an awful lot like the premise of "Silent Hill: No Escape"), then the image might make sense. However, there is no real way to tell.
The image itself is a CG drawing of a patient's room in a modern hospital. A grainy filter was placed over the image to give it that trademark "Silent Hill" look, but the quality of the filter has been greatly called into question. The image shows the room empty with a bed facing an empty dresser/cabinet. A cage-like object is placed next to the bed (a crib, maybe?). The dim lighting of the room make for a dark and etherreal setting. If you'd like to know more, you can discuss it in this thread.
Rumored Silent Hill 5 Screenshot #1
A Change in the Plot?: Another rumor to spread across the forums is that the storyline for SH5 is actually going to be the unused storyline from SH3. If you recall the interview with Takayoshi Sato I posted above, you'll note that Takayoshi Sato (who had just left to join Konami North America) was outsourced by Konami for a storyline to make SH3, but was rejected by Konami executives when presented with his idea. That marked the official break between Konami and Sato, who was fired shortly after due to budget cuts. Anyway, if this rumor is true and Konami is planning to use the former ideas of Takayoshi Sato, then we might expect another thought-provoking and psychologically twisted version of Silent Hill (which I was hoping for, considering how poorly developed SH4 was).
Silent Hill Film Update:
There really isn't anything new to report thus far, so I'm just going to post some old articles about the film for the sake of being complete.
Mirror of Roger Avary's Journal Entry (June 19, 2005)
Sean Bean's Interview with ComingSoon.net (July 12, 2005)
Mirror of Sean Bean's Interview with ComingSoon.net (July 12, 2005)
There's also still a rumor floating around about the trailer to the Silent Hill film being shown during the preview section of the remake of "The Fog." If you want to check it out, let us know if it's true or not. The Fog comes out in theaters October 14, 2005.
P.S. For anyone who is interested, new Siren 2 production material (new music and new trailer!!!) has been released on the official website. Siren 2 will be released in February of 2006.
EDIT: It may not be of any interest to anyone, but I also wanted to announce that Akira Yamaoka is releasing a new album on the Konamistyle record label. Unlike the previous tribute album, which featured previous works by Yamaoka-san through Konami games, this album will contain completely original works. The album is titled iFUTURELIST. You can also view a preview of music video featuring Akira Yamaoka on vocals. (Why is he dressed like a yuppie-art student, playing on the German film styles with a Russian/Communism motif?) I don't know Inner-Dialogue Voice, but now you can see that rumored arrogant-rockstar attitude that has been associated with his reputation.
EDIT 2: Lastly, for the biggest rumor of the day: Konami and Capcom merging? What?! (Hey! You got RE in my SH. No! You got SH in my RE.)
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I've had some set-backs in working on my projects recently and I'm having to do a lot of things myself now. Anyway, sorry about not posting anything relevent recently, but I'll try to pick things up again, especially news about the upcoming film (which has been official given a release date: April 21, 2006). I'll also post a few more theories about Silent Hill 3, 4 and No Escape that may offer an interesting perspective on the games. (I have a lot of hand-written notes, but nothing typed up yet.)
In the meantime, I'll just post a few goodies to keep you guys happy. It seems that people have just been busy laboring over their own Silent Hill inspired projects for a while now, because they're just coming out of the woodwork. Take this for example.
"Taking Back Sunday" featuring Silent Hill 4 - The band "Taking Back Sunday" who recently released their video for the The Photograph is Proof (I Know You) single has created a Video Mod featuring Henry Townsend in the Daisy Villa Apartment Complex. (Scroll down to the list of videos available for streaming and click on the SH4 Video Mod.) The video also contains visuals of monsters from Silent Hill 3 & 4, but not other characters. Certain aspects of the video may remind some of you of SH2, but only on a small scale. Personally, I don't think the band is very good, nor is the single; and the direction of the video is decent and faithful to the games, but nothing breath-taking. The only reason I feel that this worth presenting is that this breaks the bubble from the cult-status [sH humor] into the mainstream, which the film will (hopefully) progress further (maturely and honorably). Also, it adds to the sense of both game production as an art and as a basis for visual media outside of the video game world itself. Although I feel the execution of this project not to be the best it could be, I applaud the effort and know that we are coming a step closer to having the mainstream respect and encourage the pursuit of game development as a form of art.
You can download the video itself on one of these alternate, independent links: here and here. (Please be aware that the downloads are slow, even with broadband connections. Also, please do not distribute these copies without consent of the webmaster.) [Requires most recent update of .mpeg-compatible player]
Broken Notes: Intermission Vol. 2 - Before the group at http://www.brokennotes.com releases their next Akira Yamaoka-inspired ambient album: Sanatorium, they have released the second volume of their intermission mixes, which are rearrangements of classic videogame music, including non-ambient Silent Hill tracks. The first volume of Intermission was a fun little break from the dark, forboding sounds of Silent Hill and this next album is much the same. Granted the tracks aren't going to appear on the OCR front page anytime soon, they do have a charm all their own. In all honesty, I'm simply using this to help promote the next album and to inspire more people to make more OCR-style remixes of the music from Silent Hill.
To download the album, scroll down to the last entry and right-click the link. The tracks are all downloaded at once, unlike the previous webdesign, which allowed you to download individual tracks (likely a result of bandwidth abuse). [Requires WinRar or a .rar decompressor]
Gamasutra Interviews Takayoshi Sato - Gamasutra, a great insider-game developer community, recently conducted an interview with Takayoshi Sato, CG animator for Silent Hill and director/writer for Silent Hill 2. In the interview, Sato-san explains his involvement with the Silent Hill series and details how the creative process runs within Konami, as well as his reasons for leaving Konami, joining EA and working in America. I love how he explains the way he creates character models and how his style is immediately recognizable at looking at screenshots. His absence from the Silent Hill series has been well-missed by myself and only wish that somehow he could bring his insightful character-development back to the series, even if as a guest director/producer/creator. If you have the patience, I really encourage everyone to read this interview as it really becomes apparent how style is incredibly noticable in computer animation, something people may not have considered before.
Another reason I wanted to bring this interview up is so that you can visit Takayoshi Sato's official website. You'll find original screenshots and character concept designs from SH1 and SH2 under the respectively-titles sections. The images are very good resolution and clearly better than available in the games. Definitely check out his animation screen tests under the section Master Class for some great, though slightly over-expressive facial movements. Also, if you look under the section titled Sketch and Stuff, you can find a variety of character sketches from Sato's resume, including previously-unreleased sketches from Silent Hill 2. (Awesome!) Maria looks so different from the game.
Lost Memories: Art & Music of Silent Hill - Production Images - I recently found a thread that has uploaded a large section of the production images ripped from the Lost Memories DVD. The production items are pretty cool to see and include variations on some of the most classic screenshots. Please note that the images may take a while to load as there are over 182 images on a single page. (That means it's not 56k friendly.) Check it out if you can.
Some of my personal favorites include this, this and this. Please note that the alternate costume designs in the SH2 character models are based off the concept drawings by Takayoshi Sato (mentioned above), which were later modified for final presentation.
I hope that will keep you guys tied over until I can make a more relevent post. A film progression update will be coming soon.
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Also it seems that the same person who voiced Heather Morris also voiced Eileen Galvin. Can't say I noticed that one, really...maybe I'm not paying enough attention.
Sorry, but that's wrong. Eileen Galvin was not voiced by Heather Morris. That rumor was spread around the internet by imdb.com after posting the information on the wrong game. Many people just got too excited over the rumor and spread it like wild fire. This myth was disspelled when Jeremy Blaustein (Translator/Supervisor for English VO for SH2 - SH4) revealed part of the cast listing for SH4. Although, he said that he couldn't remember the entire cast, he did say that Heather Morris was not the voice of Eileen. Since Konami was so hush, hush about the cast (because you remember what happened last time the cast list was revealed: Donna Burke started speaking to press and saying things like I'm auditioning for Silent Hill 4, forcing Konami to put together a rushed game in order to quell the media). They didn't want that happening again, so the only people who really know are Jeremy Blaustein, Akira Yamaoka and the cast from ZRO Productions. I've already posted what JB has already revealed. Guess you'll just have to sneak into ZRO and look up outsourcing to Konami.
As it turns out, Silent Hill 4 was never meant to be a stand-alone title. In an article from FPI Magazine, Silent Hill 4 was actually supposed to be a sort-of "Born From a Wish" type scenario for the actual third sequel. The image scans can be found below. (Courtesy of colinasilenciosa.net)
And finally if you want to know where Silent Hill is...the answer is Michigan. All of the cars in Silent Hill 2 and 3 (at least the parts when you're in Silent Hill as opposed to the area where Heather begins) have Michigan State number plates.You know you've played a game too much when you look for things like that...
I think I've said this before, but in the Silent Hill 4 OST (Japanese) Production Notes, the address for Heaven's Night is listed as 2121 Carroll St., South Vale, ME. For those not living in the US, ME is the abbreviation for Maine. Although, it's been said that Silent Hill doesn't really have a true location, I'd rather not discuss it. However, in terms of discussing clues, I'd rather trust the address listing in an official Konami product of a building address (immobile objects), rather than the word of someone on the internet who's source was the license plate of cars(mobile objects), which could just as easily be the cars abandoned by tourists traveling together. But, like I said, I'd rather not discuss it.
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A Brief Discussion on "Atmosphere."
It's interesting that the person who wrote that quote was scared twice by events not relative to the storyline. Since he/she claims that atmosphere has little to do with being scary or causing fright, it is just ironic that the scary aspects of the game, according to his/her claims, were features that are produced as the outcome of atmosphere.
I'm glad this discussion came up, since I've been itching to discussion the mechanics and principles of mood and atmosphere. If the atmosphere really had little to do with the scary aspects of the game, such as being jumped and attacked by a monster, those things wouldn't really have been so scary, would they? In every game, there is at least one point where you are suprise-attacked by some enemy/creature/monster; so, why not jump at any game. (Truthfully, if I got scared by surprise attacks, I'd have never played a "Final Fantasy" game, due to the amount of surprising random-battles.) In truth, when we look at the exact reasons why we get "scared" by these events, it is derived from the atmoshpere. The mood that is conveyed on the screen and to the player influences his/her reaction when an event happens, such as being jumped or unawaringly attacked. It's also true that some people will not be as scared as others from exposure to the atmosphere. That simply depends on the person.
However, what makes the Silent Hill series so great, isn't simply that the atmosphere is dark and chilling, but that for even the most fearless player, the atmosphere still gets to you. That was why Klashbash became scared at those attacks, because even though he was prepared for the jump-and-scare tactics of horror games and films, the fear of being randomly attacked still crept into his/her mind and was released when he/she was attacked by the Puppet-Nurse and the Romper. The true mastery of the game isn't in having a scary atmosphere, but in having an atmosphere that plagues and daunts the player without his or her acknowledgement (until it's too late
).Ultimately, when you consider what "atmosphere" and "mood" are, it comes down to this: Atmosphere is the potential to spark an emotion from a person, such as Mood is the influence to build up emotions within the person. These two things are simply the marinade in which people stew before some simple action or event releases their emotions; whether it be fright, anger, sadness or joy. How well a creator uses the atmosphere of the story determines how well the audience reacts to it. Thus, if things build too much, the audience becomes pent up and frustrated at the lack of release, while if the story releases too quickly, the audience can become exhausted or jaded by the experience. (Of course, there are exceptions to the rules, such as a short release that is used to help build up the atmosphere.)
Anyways, show some love for the Resident Evil (Biohazard) community as well. The creators of RE are good at what they do, just as the creators of SH are good at what they do. (Which is probably why RE4 sold much better than SH4.) There's really no point in comparing them. It's an entirely different apple to a very different orange. [/soapbox] *Turns up volume on Biohazard 2 soundtrack.*
Questions and comments on "Silent Hill 5."Before you become too quick to comment, check the dates of each publication and the source. The second article, posted on Silent Hill Genesis, comes from Silent Hill Heaven shortly before the release of SH4, and simply from word-of-mouth by a Public Relations employee of Konami (her name escapes me right now, but it's best to just leave it as "anonymous"). The story was given exclusively in confidence to the staff at Silent Hill Heaven, which was reproduced by Silent Hill Genesis. Whether that is permissible or not, is really up to the staff at SHH. In constrast, the first article comes directly from one of the creators of the game and was written a couple of weeks after the second one, during E3 2004. Also, in an article featuring an interview with Akira Yamaoka (lead producer for Silent Hill 4:The Room), he expresses the same things as Masashi Tsuboyama. However, Yamaoka-san does say a couple of things that Tsuboyama does not. Akira Yamaoka stated in his interview that the game will be produced for the next generation of consoles, but that the game may not be titled "Silent Hill 5." As far a any new details about the game itself, nothing has been released officially that is directly tied to the game. However, Konami officially stated that a Silent Hill game will no longer be featured on the current generation of consoles.
If I come across the official report again, I'll link it here. But just know that any news of the next Silent Hill game will not break until the next consoles are available on the market.
Hmm, well I just made this little chart tonight for no reason...I didn't really feel like typing everyone's names out (this comp only has MS paint for imaging), so I just initialled them instead...But I put some clues as to who is who. It is very interesting to see who is linked together and exactly how. After reading into it, it's funny just how connected all of the characters in the series really are. Anyway, if anyone wants to take this and make their own version (and hopefully better) for no apparent reason just like I did, go right ahead...And as for the small links between Andrew and the other people, I only included that because of his cult ties and the Wish House. *by the way, what sect created the Wish House? I can't seem to remember...I could probably look it up...but I'm done with this thing anyway...I probably left some people out too.* So that's just a bit off. And I linked Joseph Shreiber with the cult line because of his article. (not sure what sect that was about either, but you get the picture)http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=silenthillfamilytree3nl.jpg
enjoy the mspainty goodness.
It's an interesting character relation chart, but a few have been published before. I don't want to undermind your work, but a character relation chart for characters up to SH3 was printed in the "Lost Memories: Chronicle of Silent Hill." The link can be found on translatedmemories.com as part of the translation of the Konami Official Strategy Guide. This character relation chart was also available on the official website (which is no longer available). Also, in the Brady Games version of the Silent Hill 4: The Room strategy guide, a pull out post was published at the end of the guide which featured, on the back, a character relation chart featuring characters up to SH4. I have a copy the guide that I'm tearing apart (not literally) in order to scan the images as a digital copy. I'll try to post an image once that task has been completed.
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Just a quick bump, until I can post more information. There's a lot happening in the next few weeks, so look for more in the future.
Warning: Silent Hill: No Escape Spoilers
Hmm...wow, this page has dropped pretty far down, hehe. Not much to talk about I guess...but anyway, Part 4 of that Silent Hill: No Escape movie was released - go see itI've just finished watching this episode and I have to remark at how well the series on a whole is coming together. The direction and unfolding of this episode is the best yet. Not simply because more story is revealed in this episode than in previous ones, but that the director's style is much more apparent in this one. There are so many little things that just excite and provoke my intellect in this episode. I guess it's the little things that count though, right? Overall, what I was impressed most about was how the director captured the sense of impending danger and terror that comes with being helpless to stop it. (A part of the Silent Hill series that is just not played with as much as I'd like to see.)
Metaphors and representations abound in Episode 4 as Michael enters the abandoned Brookhaven Hospital and moves deeper into the madness that plagues his mind. As he enters the seemingly abandoned building, he uncovers clues about his accident and begins to see figures from his past (or is it present?). Since the story continues to unfold in the simultaneous, layered events, I will refer to each location as Ego Brookhaven (EB), Super-Ego Brookhaven (SEB) and Id Brookhaven (IB). [Please note that these names are not official and are references made by myself in a previous post. Also, when it comes to the subject of separation of the mind into these three forms, I don't think it really is that simple. Like I mentioned about Episode 3, there is a blurring of worlds in this part of the story. Michael may be in three different locations at once, but that also may not be the case. The answer seems to be more astute than that, but it escapes me at the moment.] Anyway, the apparent "blurring of worlds" in this episode is becoming much more prominent as events happening in Ego Brookhaven are now occuring concurrently, if not simulationeously, in Super-Ego Brookhaven and Id Brookhaven.
As I mentioned, the little things count. Subtle images and pieces from earlier episodes are now being paid off as Michael dives deeper into the space of his mind. Unfortunately, Michael is not in session with Dr. Harvey today and cannot rely on his moral support to help him through the ordeal. As such, he is beginning to experience more pain and anguish as the demons draw nearer and nearer.
As Dr. Harvey's notes reflect on this, she believes he is become paranoid and suffering from delusions as he explains that he feels that there are "others" (refered to as "they") that are constantly watching him. She feels that this is worsening his condition and a sign that he is going mad. However, to the audience, we can see and understand his reasons why he feels that he is being watched since we are exposed to the same situations that provoke the emotion. (Basically, we see things from the eyes of the demons and the video that shows the disection of Quinton.)
There's more that I'd like to point out, but unfortunately, I don't have time to finish this. I'll add more later.
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Silent Hill 4 Spoilers
Having completed it three times over, I present questions that Silent Hill 4 left unanswered (spoilers ho!)1) Why didn't Sullivan kill Henry when he had the chance? Henry wakes up in the ER and Sullivan is attacking a nurse...why didn't Sullivan kill Henry? He'd already completed the other sacriments so it doesn't really make any sense. It could be because Eileen hadn't died like the others, but that raises the question of why does Sullivan attack you in the field rather than eileen?
In order to answer this question you have to ask yourself, "how do the victims die in reality?" And even then you have to ask, "What is reality and what is not?"
You see, in SH4 the entire game takes place in the Alternate universe created by Walter Sullivan. You have to realize that Henry is still dreaming through the whole game. Walter cannot physically hurt Henry. However, he can hurt him mentally. And that is what the game is about. Walter is torturing Henry until his body cannot take the suffering any further and he dies. There are a few things that help reveal this in the game, but it mostly involves the endings.
The "21 Sacraments" Ending reveals that all five of the last victims are discovered in the woods of Silent Hill, not individually as the radio suggests throughout the game. All of the victims died of the same injuries and had the numbers carved into their flesh as well. Eileen was the only one discovered alive, but she eventually suffered the same fate. Also, because Henry dies too, his body has the same marks and injuries as the other victims, which is what ties him to the case. However, according to the news report, Henry seems to have suffered more than others. What's more is that the other resisdents and several police officers begin to suffer in the same manner. Ultimately, everyone dies the same way: Cardiac Arrest (or Heart-attacks to the layman). Therefore, you have to understand that these people are not dying the horrible deaths that Henry sees, but the torture of thinking that they are being killed is enough to trigger their bodies to respond in the same way. (It's like the old wive's tale: "If you die in your sleep, you die for real.")
What the creators have done is to take that idea and stretch it out a little. They thought, what would be enough to kill a person in their sleep. In essence, it is a question of what scares a person so much that they are willing to let their bodies die just to avoid the pain of the experience. For many people, death is that scary. So, in their dreams, Walter kills these people. Cynthia by stabbing, Jasper by fire, Andrew by drowning, Richard by electrocution. I have to assume that these people had a subconscious fear of that form of dying if it was enough to actually kill them in real life. Speaking to some people, they are more afraid of dying in a particular manner than dying in general. (Most specifically, by being stabbed.)
Which brings us back the subject of Henry. What is enough to make Henry (and Eileen) want to let his body die? Well, it's hard to say for sure. Henry goes through a lot, and he gives a sense of being timid in most regards. But, what I like most about Henry is that despite his outward timid nature, he is very brave and noble at his core. (Also note that Eileen too is a very brave person when she is not by herself.) And that bravery is what allows him to survive all the way to the end. Still, Henry is a very private person and what he is most afraid of is letting his privacy go. Please, hold on to that thought as I explain why I think that is true as I explain the actual modes of death that Walter uses to kill people.
According to the official website and the Brady Games Strategy Guide, the ending that you get is determined if you managed to fight out the curse placed on Eileen and Henry. In other words, we can determine whether or not Eileen and Henry survive based on if they became susceptable to the curse. However, each is affected separately. Eileen's curse happens on her body. What is interesting about the curse though, is that it is not spread by being physically attacked by the monsters (at least not to great extents). It is quite different. According the Eileen thread on the Silent Hill Forum, Eileen's curse is spread whenever she is left alone for long periods of time and if she is left alone with monsters. So, in a sense, what Eileen fears most is isolation. Eileen is more scared of being left alone in a dangerous place than she is of death itself.
Yet, in terms of Henry's curse, Henry is cursed as his apartment is haunted. The more hauntings that afflict his personal space, the greater the curse spreads in him. Also, please note that I think Henry's apartment is a metaphorical representation of Henry's mind and personal life. As the presence of another being slowly invading his space becomes more apparent, the deeper his fear becomes. I don't know if Henry has anything to hide from others (though, personally I don't think he does), but whatever he is holding on to, he is willing to let himself die before letting it go. Thus is how the curse on Henry works.
You can see the affects of the curse on Henry, just as you do on Eileen during the "Red Box" cutscene near the end of the game in the Apartment World. If Henry is cursed, he will react more violently when he opens the red box, just as Eileen will react more child-like when she is cursed.
2) Continuing the questionning of the ER...why doesn't sullivan follow you out of it and why isn't he in there when you go back in?Considering what I wrote above, try to think about how Walter's Alternate World is much like a dream where a person can be in one place but not really be there. But, another theory is that since it is his world, he can move as freely as he wants, just as in the final battle.
Still, what I think you are asking is why Walter doesn't do anything directly to Henry when he is discovered in the O.R. Well, I think that it is part of the slow torture and ultimate cursing that Walter has planned for Henry. By scaring him into thinking he will kill him, Walter hopes to bring Henry to that brink which will drive Henry to let go of his life. In other words, Walter was just trying to intimidate Henry, which seemed to work on the soft-hearted Mr. Townsend.
3) Why does Eileen act like a child when she gets beaten up? I dunno if anybody has ever let her get damaged a lot, but she will often cry for mommy and daddy or whine "Im scawed". She'll also start hitting herself sometimes.This is the effects of the curse on Eileen. What happens to Eileen as she gets cursed is that she becomes slowly possessed by Walter Sullivan (the child, but also slightly by the adult). She begins to emulate Lil' Walter's cries for his mother, his isolation in the Water Prison and his beatings by Andrew DeSalvo. These are often the extreme cases of the curse on Eileen. As in the scene where Eileen finds Lil' Walter's sketchbook, Eileen's curse also allows Eileen to feel his pain and feel the things that the child Walter is going through at the time.
Conversely, Henry's cursing will also have some effects on Henry. Henry will become more vulnerable to the effects of the ghosts while cursed and health items will have a slightly lower effect than they do when the apartment is clear of hauntings. Also, Henry will see a greater number of images in the "Red Box" cut-scene when he is cursed and can feel the same things that are happening to adult Walter at the time.
So, if you fail to prevent the curse from taking hold of either Eileen or Henry, they will allow themselves to die. Eileen by walking into the blood-pool and Henry by not avoiding the ceiling from collapsing on him.
However, that brings up some interesting questions about the "Mother" Ending in which Henry escapes out of the Apartment before it completely secomes to the cursing, but I'll save those for later. This topic will take some time to absorb.
Okay, something else that the game doesnt answer...Why does little Walter save Eileen, but not Richard? He's there for both of their deaths, but he stops big Walter from killing Eileen (she said so).
This question can be easily answered if you've read "Another Crimson Tome" off the SH4 official website before it was taken down. (If you haven't, no worried since it is still available on translatedmemories.com.)
In the character descriptions, titled "The Victims and Him," it describes the initial interactions that Walter Sullivan had with the last six victims. Everyone met Walter once in their life before the events of SH4 took place. Cynthia met Walter in the Subway, when he was living there after just escaping from the cult. Basically, he wanted to talk to her, but she shot him down before he could say more than her name. She was pretty cruel about it too and Walter took it personally. Jasper was a witness to the second murders of his best friends and was giving away the identity of Walter to others (even though nobody believed him). Andrew is self-explanatory.
Richard, however, met Walter when he was a child and sometimes caught him hanging outside Rm. 302. Richard's temper and intimidation scaried the child Walter, so why would you want to save someone who bullied you was a child?
Eileen met Walter too in the Subway, but he was an adult then and her kindness toward him was suprising and strange to him, since few people were kind to him at all. The duality of this is probably what split his personality and allowed Eileen to survive and get bandaged at the hospital. In a sense, Eileen is Walter's Lisa.
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Oh, btw Ifirit- the dude at No Escape took what you said in here about his story and posted it on his Forums:
That totally made my day. (Totally, man.) I feel like I'm becoming a part of the internet culture. (That's so cool.) Anyway, I left a short message on their boards and will probably add any further discussion of No Escape on their forums, but I'll be sure to link it here whenever I do. (Woah, I got even got a homepage mention. I am completely blown away.)
You know, I'm a little disappointed that people think that there's not much to discuss about Silent Hill anymore. Though, we have covered most of the basics, there are lots of ideas left to explore. Particularly, I'd like to talk about the style of writing used in the games and how the execution is created. Though, the stories seem very unique, they follow a specific set of rules when it comes to characters, locations and the sequence of events that take place.
Anyway, I'm working on a couple of things on my own right now, hence the lack of updates recently. However, I'll be checking by every once-in-a-while. It's really cool stuff, but my lips are sealed for the time being. By the way, Instrument, how is your fan work going? My offer to help still stands. I've had a few ideas here and there. I also have some small materials available for you to review. PM me when you get the chance. I might not get to it immediately, but I'll answer as promptly as I can.
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In an attempt to keep things moving, as some people think the topic has gone stale, I'm going to provide a short bump by helping you find and identify bootleg copies of the Silent Hill soundtracks. It will help to know where you should invest your money and which companies to avoid.
Bootleg Soundtrack Identification:
There are two types of bootleg CD's floating around on the internet: illegal bootlegs and legal bootlegs.
The illegal bootlegs are obvious to spot as they often feature covers that don't match those of the original CD's. These are often made by individuals that are just trying to make some extra cash. Versions of these bootleg CDs include: Dustfungus' Complete SH1 OST (not sold by Dustfungus), which features the image of Lisa from the waist up, smiling; Dustfungus' Complete SH2 OST (not sold by Dustfungus), which features an image of Mary on her deathbed looking very sad; and finally The Sound of Silence OST which features the images of the four games' main characters. These soundtracks were/are available for free. Dustfungus offered his for the price of materials and shipping, but a long time ago. If you see these copies of soundtracks available, notify the respective owners. In addition, some of these illegal bootlegs will feature remixes (including OCReMixes) on the CD not found on the originals.
The legal bootlegs are much harder to spot, because they are made by companies located in South-East Asia and the production is very close to the originals. The reason that these companies can make legal bootlegs is that the original producer has sold out of stock, yet demand for the product is still high. The producer then "leases" the product to other printing companies to print on their own. These third-party printings are thus legal, but not valuable. The three most prominent companies to produce these legal bootlegs are: Sonmay (which features the SM logo on the back), EverAmine (which also features the logo on the back), and Alion (which features their logo on the front of the CD). The easiest way to identify the bootlegs is by the CD Catalog number. If the Catalog numbers don't match those of the originals, then it is a third-party copy, not the original. The CORRECT catalog numbers are listed below.
Silent Hill 1 OST (Japan) - KICA7950
Silent Hill 2 OST (Japan) - KMCA120
Silent Hill 3 OST (Japan) - KOLA038
Silent Hill 4 OSTs (Japan) - LC1292
Be careful as well, since the special edition soundtracks don't feature the Catalog numbers and will be much harder to spot. This is due to the fact that most were never originally for sale.
Silent Hill 3 Limited Edition OST (Japan)
Silent Hill 4 Limited Edition OST (North America)
Silent Hill 4 Robbie's Tracks (Japan)
Also to help you identify the correct CD cover of the soundtrack, use MaskRider's catalog of SH soundtracks to find the right one.
MaskRider's Silent Hill CD and DVD Catalog
I've not gotten the information on the European Soundtracks, but likely, there aren't that many bootlegs out there. (If your wondering why I'm posting this now, I realized that all the copies I had were bootlegs. It sucks.)
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Hmm...20 years before Silent Hill 1? I'd actually always assumed that Silent Hill 1 took place in the 70's, as every car you see as well as many references to pop culture found in the game are from that era....Right?
The official word from Konami was that Silent Hill takes place in the same year that it was released (1999). The timeline of the first three games is expressed in the Silent Hill Chronicle.
It seems to fit to me, but then again I haven't looked at the timeframe of the games as in-depth as you probably have ifrit. But then, what leads you to believe SH1 is 20 years after the movie? If that were true, then Cybil being in there wouldn't make much sense....I guess it's too early to say anything just yet.The reason I mentioned this was to show that the games are not directly related to the film. What you will see and hear about in articles and forums is that the use of characters names in the film are similar (if not identical) to those from the games. Just because the names are the same, don't assume that they are the same.
EDIT: I read the post above this one, and.....oww...man, my head hurts now. I think I'll go and play Sesame Street ABC - nice and easy, with a nice ice pack on my forehead. (Very nice theories there
)Newbies all get that. The headache will go away after brief periods of vomiting and vertigo. If spots appear on the skin, rub on all your friends' controllers and memory cards. Any bleeding or hemorraging should be looked at by your family doctor. Other side effects include: prolonged insomnia, frequently asked questions, and sexual side-effects. (Do not use if you are pregant or nursing.)
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With a lot of talk about the film relating too much to SH1, I think the time is right for me to post my theory of Silent Hill (1). Granted, I came up with this theory back in 2001 (Yes, almost two years after playing the game), so the storylines of SH3 and SH4 have not been accounted for in my theory. Although, I came to the same conclusions as President Evil (who wrote material for the Brady Games Strategy Guide) without reading the guide initially, I have to give him credit for publishing it first. (Legal and moral reasons)
Silent Hill 1 Spoilers
The basic idea is that Silent Hill 1 was the battleground for the struggle to gain the power of god. On opposite sides were Dahlia (masterminding the entire birthing of god and manipulation of the characters) and Alessa (a piece of Dahlia's puzzle who managed to slip out of Dahlia's grasp). Note that I will be beginning from the endings and moving backwards, though I will probably do some jumping in between. I'll try not to lose you.
Dahlia began by wishing to bring god into the world to bring salvation to the world (or really herself and the cult). She performed a ceremony to conceive god within another woman with the help of the doctors at Alchemilla Hospital, who were likely also involved in the cult. Blah, blah blah... Alessa burns in a fire.
When Cheryl returns to Silent Hill, Alessa's power is restored. In order to escape from Dahlia, she creates an alternate world to hide in. In this parallel dimension, she uses Cheryl's body to run and hide from Dahlia, since her real body is unable to. Realizing that Alessa is trying to escape with her dream, Dahlia tries to go after her, but Alessa's world is too ellusive to reach her. So, Dahlia consults the Gyromancy and recuits several people (those hanging in limbo) to find Alessa for her. Luckily for her, Harry happens to be looking for his lost daughter, the body in which the combined Alessa resides. Preying on his vulernability, she gives him the Flauros, a device that will capture Alessa and allow Dahlia to tap into her power. And so, unwittingly Harry becomes her tool.
Dahlia now has a fighting chance on the battleground for the power of god, because she has a pawn to do her bidding just as Alessa has monsters to do her's. However, the battle does not intensify until Harry finally confronts Alessa in the Amusement Park. Having moved past all of Alessa's forces, he uses the Flauros to capture her. Thinking he had the upper-hand, he tries to get what he wants from her: information about Cheryl. However, with Dahlia pulling the strings, Harry is unable to do so and then gets caught in the compression that tears apart Alessa's world (Nowhere). Yet, Alessa still has one last move before Dahlia says "Checkmate." The same pawn that Dahlia used to capture Alessa is the one who can free her from Dahlia and her own power. By killing the Incubator or Incubus, Harry destroys the world around him, this causes the Flauros to break it's spell, since it cannot confine Alessa to a space if space doesn't exist.Being free from Dahlia's trap, Alessa recreates her world in another dimension attempting to escape from Dahlia again. However, since Dahlia's real body is in the real world, the form in Alessa's world as well as the forms of the other characters is still preserved.
By killing god, Harry has meerly allowed Alessa to slip a little farther away from Dahlia, but Dahlia still persues Alessa. And in the New Fear modes, you revise your role as the pawn in the newly reset world. However, like Dahlia had been doing all along the first time, see prevented Harry from remembering anything that had happenned before. So, this struggle of persuit and escape will continue forever until one side admits defeat. Since Harry is playing on Dahlia's side, while the game plays on Alessa's side, you (the player) must make the choice to continue to keep playing the game ad infinitum, or to stop and let Alessa be. Realizing that the ultimate ending of the game depends on your real life choices made it one of the greatest realizations of my life. (Side note: I decided to quit playing the game and haven't played it for a long time.)
Now, despite the rather quick description of my theory, there are some more ideas that can be expanded on. Mainly, why Harry is a pawn, why Dahlia continues to persue Alessa and why the game resets itself. However, this theory completely falls apart when you factor in Silent Hill 3. The reason is that my theory makes the game infinitely long, leaving no room for a direct sequel. Since the sequel was made, my theory is wrong since the game is said to have a finite beginning and end. As much as I enjoy theories about the philisophical and metaphorical aspects of Silent Hill, I cannot standby it, despite the amount of time and effort I spent working on it. But, that's my personal opinion.
If you do happen to come across the Brady Games Strategy Guide for Silent Hill or you find the link to President Evil's threory, read it and let me know. It explains the ideas much more clearly and subjectively.
EDIT: Here, I found it on gamefaqs.com.
EDIT2: Also, check out the forums on President Evil's site: http://www.dark-legacy.org. He's a much better analytical thinker than I am and has some greater insite and theory into the games.
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So much news has happened this week that we need to have another...
Silent Hill Movie Update:
This weekend, the casting for the Silent Hill film was completed. Although from word-of-mouth from the production crew on Saturday (April 23, 2005), Radha Mitchell and Deborah Kara Unger were said to have been choosen to play the two female leads. Word became official on Monday (April 25, 2005) when filming began on the set in Brantford. (Warning: Articles contain NEW Film Spoilers)
Cast Revealed for Silent Hill Movie? - Brantford Expositor Article
Brantford Expositor Article - Newspaper Clipping
Cameras Roll on Silent Hill - Brantford Expositor Article
Movie Magic Brings Silent Hill to Life - Brantford Expositor Article
Filming Photos (April 25, 2005)
As the article mentions, you can find all the photos and images from the first few days of filming on the horror-movies.ca website. What you might also catch from the article is that filming will also occur in part of the offices at the Brantford Expositor, which explains why the newspaper was able to gain so much inside info on the film. Also, according to the press statement by Don Carmody, the title of the film will be reverted to Silent Hill for fan purposes after post-production.
Gallery Collection of SH Film Photos
Beyond film sets and technical issues in the film, the cast of the Silent Hill film has been FINALIZED (finally!). According to movieonline.ca the finalized cast list is:
Silent Hill Cast:
You may notice that I did not mention Daniella Canjura (a relatively unknown 14-year-old actress). The reason is that I've gotten crossed wires on who the young female lead (Sharon) is going to be. Other sources (colinasilenciosa.tk & Brantford Expositor) have pointed to Jodelle Ferland as the actress to play Sharon. I can't say for sure just yet, but I'll be checking my sources before I add something concrete. Another rumor surfacing about the film is the appearance of Angelina Jolie in the Silent Hill film. According to bloody-disgusting.com, the actress has been spotted on the set watching and waiting carefully and anxiously as the filming took place. Nothing more than her sighting on the film set has been announced.
Okay, for some reason that website I just posted is actually asking me to register for an account to even see those links - I assume it does that for others, so I'll just post all the direct links to those pics hereThose pictures that you posted have now been posted on the main page of the site and can be viewed in a much cleaner, user-friendly thumbnail form on Silent Hill Bloodflame.
Personally, I would be careful about reading the articles and news surrounding the film updates. I'm beginning to see the overall plot of the film coming together and I have mixed feelings about it. However, note that the movie takes place in West Virgina, USA during the 1970's. This is at least 20 years before the first game. I can't say for sure where everything fits in, but the movie seems to be taking place during the mysterious deaths that surround the construction of the tourist resort, before Alessa is born.
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Judge, have you ever seen her act? She's actually really good, and has never played one of those screaming blonde idiots before. It's not her style, at least from what I've seen...So as far as female leads go, they could have chosen much worse.
(Aw man, the Street Fighter movie...I have no idea why, even though it wasn't the best film ever, it...err....I dunno, I kinda enjoyed it)
I don't give a fuck. The role has been done to death in other movies. It is now a stereotype; a cliche. Silent Hill needs as few horror movie cliches as possible.
It's strange that even though this film is being produced by a French company in Canadian film lots by consent of a Japanese corporation, with only a handful of American people working on the film, makes this film "Hollywood-ized." Let's try to stay focused. Remember that this film is being made by very artistic people not as a commercial money-maker, but as a piece of art that pays tribute to the game series which inspired so many nightmares in so many people. Again, this movie is a psychological thriller (not in the full sense "horror"), the amount of cliches that appear in the film may not even be noticable. Konami approved the script and its production so far. The producers and director are working hard to ensure that the film is as good a tribute as it can be. (Remember that the filming schedule is behind because the cast has not been finalized. Had they just choosen anyone to play the parts, filming might have already been completed. Also, try to remember that this film is a reinterpretation of the first two games, not their film adaptations.)
Again, go to the film sections of the Silent Hill forums and discuss why the film should follow the first game much more closely, or why the current interpretation is not fitting to the series, or why you think it just plain sucks. But, don't waste your time doing that here. Don't expect the film to be the best thing ever and don't expect the film to be the worst thing ever. Take the film with a grain of salt and go play the Silent Hill: Play Novel.
Even if the movie sucks so badly it affects the global economy, we'll still have our games.Until Silent Hill: The Movie: The Game destroys all hopes of SH every saving any face ever again.
Now that's just being stupid...
It's not likely that it will happen because Konami is being very careful with the Silent Hill license, so a game would only be produced by Team Silent. And as of right now, Team Silent is already working on SH5. So room to do a game adaptation of the film isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Also, if the film does become a success across the world and Konami does decide to release the rights to the film for a game, then it will likely only be to the right game company or most likely it will be made by Konami itself. However, since Konami already stated officially that a Silent Hill game will not appear on the PS2 or any current console, creating the game for the next generation of consoles would be too untimely for the film release. Besides, I'm not entirely sure where the rights lie with making a game adaptation of the SH film (but I'm guessing Konami). So, legalities might also prevent a company from making it into a game (which is actually a type of suck-age prevention).
Um, just to let ya know; Part 3 of No Escape is avalible for download.As for my input on No Escape; for being a peice of fan work, it's alright. However, I get the feeling the main character knows more than he should in the begining... but it's still early to say anything like that.
Actually, Dr. Harvey's notes make a point to tell us that she believes Michael knows everything that is going on but refuses to accept it, because he is afraid to accept something he doesn't want to acknowledge. We should note that the story is told such that we are in the psychiatrist's perspective and that we don't know the whole picture, yet Michael does, in a sense. (Which is why the medical records pertaining to Michael and his wife are sealed, why the story is being told in three different locations, and why the story feels disjointed.)
The set up of the fan work is made into three parts: Michael's dreams (Misty Silent Hill), Michael's nightmares (Alternate Silent Hill) and Michael's connection to reality (Brookhaven Room). Michael feels awake and lucid in his dreams of Misty Silent Hill. He feels that there is where he is truly himself. This space represents the Ego or the perception of the self as a whole. In his nightmares of Alternate Silent Hill, Michael feels isolated, in pain and other primal emotions. This place represents his Id or subconscious. In between, lies his presence in the Brookhaven Examination Room where he speaks to Dr. Harvey. This space represents the Super-Ego or his sense of morality and intellect. It is here that Michael is being told to control his pain and to explain his ideas and philosophies. In his nightmares, he simply feels or restates what happens to him, he expresses no intellect or morality, because the subconscious has none. And in between, in his dreams, Michael sorts it all out.
Although there is a distinction in the places where Michael is at different points in the story, his perspection is blurred between the three. He doesn't really know where he is exactly. Similarly like when you are drunk or stoned and you can't really tell what is real and what your mind is creating. This blurring of worlds became highly apparent in part 3. However, remember that we are in the perspective of the doctor and have to sort out all of things Michael tells us. Still, Michael is sorting things out, too. It's just that he has all the pieces, while we have to pick them up as he goes along.
Personally, I think this fan work is incredible. Despite saying so little, the videos say so much. I could probably go on for volumes on simply the idea of the mind separated into Id, Ego and Super-Ego without even touching on many of the other philosophical and psychological ideas layered in the story. The creator really has a great grasp of his concepts and knows how to play them out. (However, they could be a little better defined for my purposes.) On a whole, the story is really captivating.
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Oh I'll take anything thats just voicals, preferably from SH1 & 2(Best games in the series), thanks for the help
I'll try to host some of the files temporarily on my site, but that will happen in the next day or two.
EDIT: I've uploaded a few files on my site (Links Removed). (It is angelfire, so please don't waste my bandwidth.) Let me know it helps.
P.S:I havent heard about the Silent Hill movie for a while...anything new happening in that department?Well, since it's being requested, I'm going to provide both a Silent Hill Movie Update and an overall Silent Hill Movie Filming Progression. The update will basically cover the lastest in the news about the movie, while the filming progression will cover the progress from the day it was announced to pre-production to filming and production schedules. (It's surprising how open the film industry is if you know what to look for.) On with the show!
Silent Hill Movie Update:
If you remember from the Brantford news article I posted about the filming, you'll probably remember that filming was supposed to occur this week. However, production is behind schedule and only some partial sets have been constructed. According to moviesonline.ca, a fan of the series has managed to wander onto the filming site and captured a few snapshots of the set construction in downtown Brantford. The photos can be viewed off the moviesonline.ca site or from horror-movies.ca or colinasilenciosa.tk. (WARNING: Sites contain Spoilered Plot Synposis)
Movies Online Site:
Horror-Movies Site:
Colina Silenciosa Site:
Silent Hill Movie Filming Progression:
This section, as stated above, will show all the major points along the film's production line as well as what the future prospects are before being released. Please note that some things may change as the filming progresses and some items may not be 100% accurate.
Announcement: The movie was first announced on September 18th, 2003 by Konami when they posted a flyer on their website. Up to that point rumors of a Silent Hill film had been spreading on the internet. Konami announces that Davis Films is the lucky production company assigned to the film. Producer Samuel Hadida chooses director Christophe Gans to direct it at the time of the announcement. No further details are revealed by Konami at the time.
Konami Official SH Film Announcement Flyer
SH Film Announcement Flyer - Silent Hill Heaven Mirror
Writing the Script: After the announcement of the Silent Hill movie, all public talk stopped, until Roger Avary began writing in his blog (online journal). According to Avary, Christophe Gans approached him asking him to write the script to the movie. Enthusiastically, Avary agreed. Later, when he writes the subject as the title of one of his entries, news breaks loose.
In his journal, Avary details that he will travel to Paris to work in Gans' office to create the script in cooperation with him. He writes about the process and the progression of the script the same way anyone else would in a journal, but does not say more that he can about the plot. The only information given to the public is that the script is being written and that it is inspired directly by the games (SH1 & SH2). He states that the script is written in three weeks, yet claims that he was only able to do so because Christophe Gans and Nicholas Boukhrief had created over a month's worth of material before Avary was added to the team.
Unfortunately, Roger Avary has locked all his previous entries in the archive, which can only be accessed by password. Therefore, the original entries can no longer be accessed directly; however, reproductions of the entries can be viewed from many movie and media online publications, such as those listed below.
Avary Journal Entry (09-20-2004) - Film Force Mirror
Avary Journal Entry (10-18-2004) - Movies Online Mirror
Avary Journal Entry (11-02-2004) - Movies Online Mirror
Publicity Photos of Roger Avary during the writing of the Silent Hill script
Pre-production Planning: After the completion of the script by Christophe Gans, Nicholas Boukhrief and Roger Avary, random hodge-podge information popped by about the details of the filming of the movie. Avary states which members of Davis Films will be working on the production as well as the primary filming location: Toronto. The production team is stated to have many people from the Matrix films working on technical issues while the budget is projected to be in the range of 50 million dollars. No really reliable information is given and producers are tight-lipped.
Silent Hill Movie Random Information - Movies Online
Avary Journal Entry (12-15-2004) - Insomniac Mania Mirror
Revealed Production Members
Producer - Andrew Mason
Production Designer - Carol Spier
Costumes - Wendy Partridge
Additional Costume Design - Patrick Tatopolous (Underworld, Pitch Black, Godzilla, Independence Day, etc.)
A Plot Revealed: In an attempt to cleverly reveal that he too is working on the Silent Hill film, Don Carmody posts the synopsis of the Silent Hill film on his site. The synopsis is derived entirely from the completed script that he received from Davis films shortly beforehand. In his enthusiasm for his new project, he posts the ending of the film in addition to the plot summary on February 15th, 2005. Immediately, the forum circles and online media publications begin spreading the word. Because of outcry and the small media storm created by this, Carmody removes the synopsis from his site. However, plently of word had been reached and the synopsis can be found in many articles (unmarked for spoilers, I might add).
Don Carmody's Silent Hill Page - Location of Original Synopsis
Silent Hill Movie Synopsis - Movies Online Mirror (Warning: Link Contains Film Spoilers)
In My Restless Dreams, I See That Town... Brantford, Ontario: Rumors of the movie's filming location were confirmed when a local news article listed street closings for the sleepy town of Brantford. Despite the normality of the article, it was surprisingly detailed in the intensions, schedule and parties involved in the creation of the Silent Hill film. It even went so far as to connect the film to its alias Centralia, the name under which the movie is registered for filming lots. As a result, many forum circles began to spread word of this additional filming spot rather quickly. Needless to say, pictures and surveying of the areas set to film in Brantford have traveled far across the internet. The most recent news being the pre-production sets mentioned/shown above.
Brantford Expositor Article - Silent Hill Filming Location
Brantford/Colborne Street Home Video (Requires Quicktime Player)
Other sets of photos can be found in previous Silent Hill Movie Updates in this forum, but I'm too tired to repost them here and they are still easily accessible. However, I will post some pictures just to keep you guys off my back. (These photos are too much like a making for a fan SH film, but are filmed at the corner of Queen St. and Brant Avenue. It even has photos of the streets at night.)
Corner of Queen St. and Brant Ave. - Colina Silenciosa
hooryou?: Pre-production has been placed so well that the only things left to do are finalize the cast and film the movie (as well as post-production duties). Problem is, filming is being delayed because Christophe Gans has not yet chosen the leads for this film. (What!?) Well, like what has been happening since the film's announcement, many people are playing the "Who'll be in the Silent Hill Movie" game to pass the time and put pressure on the producers to choose lead roles. All updates for the past few days have been centered around the projected cast for the film. Nothing official and continued guessing (and flaming) about who will play what roles.
From Avary's suggested teenage actress to Johnny Depp and Bill Pullman to Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity of the Matrix films) and "the blonde chick from Pitch Black" (Radha Mitchell), everyone's got a person in mind for the roles. So, pick any Silent Hill forum and discuss away about how Carla Gugino would be better suited to play Rose than anyone else, but don't waste your time talking about that here.
Silent Hill Film Bumped Back (Production Delay) - Movies Online Article
That's it for the Silent Hill Filming Progression. It's unlikely that anything else is going to be updated until the cast list is released. Filming details are likely to be keep as secret as possible and the trailer will only be released once filming is complete and/or post-production is finished. However, despite that, it still looks like we will see a late 2005 release for the movie (Halloween maybe?).
Silent Hill FMV Torrent:
Well, since Bit Torrent has caught on as fast alternative to downloading movies, a recent torrent for Silent Hill FMVs has surfaced on the net. The Pirate Bay is hosting a torrent file containing FMVs from all four games. The file is over 2 GB in size and seems to be reliable (though, I haven't tried it yet). However, please note that these files were taken from MaskRider's site and are being distributed as someone else's. So, it is likely that the site will be taken down if MaskRider objects. (I can't say which, since MaskRider no longer hosts those files on his site.) So, if you're looking to watch the SH movies without having to play the games over again, especially the endings, you lazy bums, check them out. (Warning: Videos contain Spoilers [like that needs to be said, but anyway...]). Please only download the files if you own the games.
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Let me know what game you want them from. I'll go ahead and tell you that if you want dialogue from SH3, some tracks have the music still mixed in, because in SH3 (and SH4), Akira Yamaoka mixed in the music and dialogue on the same track (where as the first two games had sound effects, music and dialogue all on separate tracks). Therefore, only a few tracks are separate in themselves (ex. "Happy Birthday", "What Happened 17 Years Ago", "Toilet Humor").
So, if you want something in particular, let me know.
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I had not seen this site yet; very new and interesting. I really like this guy's approach. He seems to both have an appreciation for and true understanding of the SH series. What I found to be most admirable was his attention to detail and knowing that you need a really good story idea before beginning any production material. (I told you guys that as fans got better with programming, you'd be seeing more impressive fanworks.)
Anyway, just as the FAQ states, the story is pretty easy to follow. Everything is told in a linear fashion and has great supplemental materials to help decipher some of the tricker (unspoken) aspects. The philosophy is somewhat deep, but focuses too much Nietzsche's ideas, in my opinion. (I'd like to see a little more play on the opposing views of the mind and the perception of space.) I really like the monster designs, yet again like the FAQ states, he needs work on his animation. Also, there's something that DJP wrote in one of recent write-ups that seems to fit my overall feelings about the film, "I was trying to explain to someone the other day how, like a single amazing line can make or break any given poem, a single interval in a melody that is JUST right can change things dramatically." This fits into the piece so well, since there was a moment in Part 1 where things just clicked in my head (in the most literal sense) and made the entire piece so much more heightened for me. (Plus, I really like his imagery and metaphors, especially the metaphors.)
A few other minor notes and thoughts about Silent Hill: No Escape: I'm beginning to question his use of blatant attacks on religion and the heavy use of swearing (heavier than normal). However, only while reading Dr. Harvey's (Nice reference, by-the-way) psychological journals do I see the reasoning. It ties in so much with the philosophy and the personality of Michael, but it will not be obvious to everyone. Second, is the use of Brookhaven Hospital during the emergency room scene. I know it seems trite to argue this, but Brookhaven doesn't have the capabilities to handle medical emergencies. Likely, he would have been taken to Alchemilla Hospital for emergency treatment. I only mention this because a small part of the story surrounds it. Lastly, is how he creator depicts the isolation of the town. He shows Michael at the edge of a huge mound blocking the roads out of town, which is the opposite of what the games use (pits, chasms, voids). It seems that he broke traditions on purpose, despite that those traditions would have been better suited to the metaphors used. Maybe we'll see later why.
Hey I'm starting another Silent Hill ReMix and I'm wondering if any of you guys can help me in the search of some good voice samples from the game(mabye you have some lying around somewhere?). Any help is greatly appreceated. I dont know exactly how I'm going to do this mix but it will remix "AloneInTown" from SH2 and be a relaxing song with some (hopefully) spooky momentsActually, I remember a site that went down awhile back, Silent Hill Media. They used to have voice rips for practically all the games. Perhaps some people still have those voice rips on Direct Connect? Or some other program like that.As a matter of fact, I have all of Dustfungus' materials before Silent Hill Media became inoperative. Among these materials are the dialogue from the first three games, including some secret dialogue clips. However, as I've written in reviews of your WIPs, you are relying too much on audio effects and atmospheric materials in your work (at least in the past). In addition, I have a completely opposite stance as you in terms of what a "Silent Hill Remix" should be. Though, the majority of rearrangements have focused on the darker and gloomier aspects of the games, that is not the only way to approach it. I'd like to see much more liberal attempts at a remix as a whole. (Hey, even Akira Yamaoka took some pretty radical ideas when creating arrangements in the US version of the Silent Hill 4 soundtrack.)
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K, I'll give it a try.
But I'm guessing that if I wanted to play it in Japanese with subtitles I'd have to get the game imported and use a modded system right?
Tadashii, but just keep your version and work through the bad accents. They'll be fun when we can laugh about 'em later.
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So the english version isn't worth playing at all?
I picked up Siren at Walmart for $9, so if it isn't I can always return it. No big loss either way.
The voice acting is terrible in the English-dubbed versions, but the game itself is still worth checking out, especially for $9. I like the music too, very "Silent Hill 1"-ish.
Isn't Siren the game you can't use weapons on?Yes and no. The game plays through 10 different characters in a variety of scenarios, each character with different strengthes and weaknesses. Some carry weapons, some carry flashlights, some don't carry anything. It really keeps you on your toes.
EDIT: If you want an honest and funny opinion of the game, check out the review by X-Play (Right-click and open in a new window). I suggest you view it, just because of the good review at the end.
While you're at it check out their thoughts on The Dog Ending from Silent Hill 2. (Link contains SH2 Spoilers)
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I bought Forbidden Siren a few months ago. I played it once, and thought it was really lame. Not scary at all. It was almost funny. Funny in a bad way. Haven't played it since then.
Most people who played the dubbed version of the game will find it to be bad. Not just bad, but as quoted "laughable." However, those who played the Japanese version found it horrifying, I'm sure. Also, if you're not aware of some of Japan's more subtle customs and cultures, you're not as likely to enjoy the game either. Just know that before you pick this game up, it was created for the Japanese. There will be cultural references and boundaries.
However, for those that understand and embrace this, you'll find Siren to be an extremely rewarding game, especially in the end. That's why I'm so excited about the upcoming sequel which will hit much closer to home.
Check out the European website for Forbidden Siren. It's played in its original Japanese with English subtitles (or that of your choosen language). It's much more scary and exciting than even some of Silent Hill's sites. Plus, there are explanations and details shown about the Japanese culture played upon in the game. Make sure to look closely for clues and to not go back until you've found everything, because there is no going back. Hahahaha.....
When you're done, you can check out in-game videos and gameplay at the official UK Playstation Site. You can then read more about the Hanuda Incident at shibito.com. Or maybe you'd like to see a greeting card from Hanuda Village. You can also see a fan video created by TBWA, which you can download here. Enjoy.
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And the rest of the t-shirts?
('cept the golden rooster, apparently, since we've still got a question on that one outstanding)
I can't say what they all do, since I haven't figured it out yet, but I do know what the Golden Rooster and God of Thunder do, since I discovered the Golden Rooster myself and had been told what the God of Thunder did. So, I'll list the shirts that are Silent Hill originals. Also, what the shirts do is based on if and how they were unlocked.
A) Transform: Improves Heather Beam (Unlocked when you beat Easy Action difficulty)
God of Thunder: Improves Infinite SMG (Unlocked when you beat Extreme X Action difficulty)C) Golden Rooster
D) Royal Flush
E) Block Head
F) Don't Touch
G) Onsen
H) Heather
I) Killer Rabbit
J) Transience
K) The Light
L) Zipper
EDIT: Oh. My. God. I cannot believe what I just found out. SIREN 2 is being made. That is totally awesome! I love Siren (Forbidden Siren).
Check out the official Playstation 2 site for a few details, production materials and a teaser trailer. As far as I can tell, the story is set 29 years after the first game. The same events that happen every 29 years in the small Japanese village, but this time things are getting worse. The game's pre-production materials look vamped up for the sequel and it now looks like a PS2 game. The music is even more haunting than the first game, still using a vocal chant, but in a more western-music style than the ethnic chant from the first game.
I noticed that there seem to be a lot of similarities between this game and the original Silent Hill. This is likely due to the fact that the director from Silent Hill directs this series. What I noticed is that the game seems to be focused on the construction of a tower on the island's hilltop, but it resembles more of a lighthouse to me. Also, you'll visit an amusement park in the next game. Hmmm. I'm definitely keeping my eye on this one.
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The "God of Thunder" T-shirt improves the firing power of the SMG and Infinite SMG, however, only when the T-shirt is unlocked. That means you'd have to beat all ten levels of the Extreme Mode difficulty to do so, which really doesn't seem worth it since that basically means completing the game to its fullest only to be rewarded with something that actually hurts your ranking afterwards. (Using the special weapons gives your a one-star ranking reduction.) But, hey, if you want to do so, go ahead. (I'm still working on beating the second Extreme level.)
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Of course you could leave the lines un-CGed and it will still look nice as long as it isn't too messy, but one thing that really needs to go is that crayon coloring. Either leave it B/W, learn some CG skills, or use some other analog method.
I concur. However, I think the lines look fine, it's the coloring that off sets the pictures. I would suggest that you use a graphics program to do coloring if you intended. It would look much cleaner and more natural than it does presently. (Oh and don't forget about shading your colors, too. Nothing is worse than solid coloring on skin and clothing.)
As far as text fonts are concerned, I think you should try to get a font that looks more hand-written, though thin-lined, to match the drawing style. If you can write clearly enough, you might even consider writing the text in yourself.
The only part of the drawing that gets me is the hair. It looks incredibly unrealistic. I know that is common with many anime styles, but it just goes over the top for me. Try making the strands come down much more closely to the skull and make them shorter. The back strands bother me too, but if they are part of the character, focus on making them look more messy (as real hair would) and again not as long. They should be about as thin as the third panel, if not thinner. That seems to be a reucurring theme, a lot of the proportions are too think. If you can refine the look to be thinner, you might be able to do more with less.
As it stands it looks good, but I can see that you're going to have problems later when you introduce more characters or locations, because you'll have to pull the panel back more to include the additions (which means having to use bigger panels or smaller drawings, and that can be a pain). However, if you can just make the proportions thinner, you'll be able to maintain a clarity of picture and a well-balanced spacing between objects. Though many comics use separate panels to show detail for each character, especially during dialogue, you'll want to add some dynamics to the interactions by including the characters in the same panels. It just draws the reader in more.
With regard to the story, I can't say much since there isn't much to go from right now, but if you're going to be playing the self-pity angle, you'll need to establish reasoning and proper timing. If you linger too long on it then you risk losing your audience; however, if you don't give proper attention to detail you undevelop the character. Also, to balance out the emotion of self-pity, you need to make sure to offer incentives to the character for looking beyond himself. No one likes a cry-baby, unless you don't want the audience to like the character. Hmmm... I haven't seen that before.
Also, there's one thing I wanted to say about the scripts of Silent Hill stories, which may or may not apply to your comic, TIoG. Silent Hill games always have great one-on-one character interactions that define the series, but often they don't play up on group interactions. Very few scenes in the games have three or more characters at a time and when there are three characters in the scene, one usually just watches the other two interact, until they leave or have finished their role in the scene. I'd like to see more of a group dynamic used in the series, but with continued use of one-on-one relationships.
2) What was the name of the fast-food place in the South Park area?Offhand I can only think of the answer to this question..."AEC Burger"...or "AIC Burger" something along those lines.
I'll accept AEC Burger. That's one.
3) What does the Golden Rooster T-shirt do, and how do you get it?I didn't know the costumes let you do stuff (save for the Princess Heart one)...'sides, I always stuck with the God of Thunder one.
The Silent Hill "original" T-shirts, when combined with a certain items, let you do different things. Although, it's not usually obvious as to what. Anyway, the "God of Thunder" T-shirt also does something.
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Silent Hill 3 Spoilers
Alright, I got a "Q" for ye Silent Hill fanatics.Is Heather's last name Morris, or Mason?
Some say it's Mason, others say it's Morris. Which is it? I need to know.
The name that is used in the game "Heather Morris" is an alias used by the lead to avoid being found by any more "religious fanatics." However, based on the Normal Ending and various notes found by Heather, we learn that her real name is Cheryl Mason. To avoid confusion between Cheryl from the first game and Cheryl from this game, many people will use the alias in combination with the real name, i.e. Heather Mason.
In truth, I would only use this name as a transitional name from when we learn the family connection and when Heather avengers her father. However, since Heather is Cheryl is Alessa, any name (or combination of) this person would be correct. However, in order to keep the names straight, I would suggest you simply refer to the characters by their manual names, so everyone is clear about the identities and no spoilers are given away.
Heather (17) --> Heather Morris
Cheryl (7) --> Cheryl Mason
Alessa (14) --> Alessa Gilespie
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Go Home.
Silent Hill Discussion
in General Discussion
Posted
I guess it's time for a weekly update. Well, as you know, with the return of Silent Hill Media (Downloads are still not available, but will be within the next week), everyone's excited about getting new media for a quick Silent Hill fix anytime. Well, here's a few more to feed the fix.
Silent Hill 4: The Room Complete Soundtrack (Disk 1):
MEMDB (aka Brandon), a Silent Hill Forum member and the guy who made the Silent Hill 3 Complete Soundtrack, has released the first disk of his Complete Soundtrack. The disk contains the unreleased music and ambience from the game up to just after the Hospital World. According to MEMDB, the tracks have not been "mixed together" like Dustfungus' Complete Silent Hill 1 + 2 Soundtracks. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this, but I personally like having the tracks "unmixed" as you can isolate songs or simply use the crossover function on your audio player to get a flowing audio experience. Anyway, the tracks are available for download on megaupload.com in a single zip file, making download simple, but please advise discretion when downloading (meaning that you save the file instead of just opening it each time).
Silent Hill 4: The Room Complete Soundtrack (Disk 1) - Zip Download (93.2 MB) / Soundtrack Information
Robbie's Tracks - Audio Files Available:
Thanks to Dog's on Acid and God Anubis from the Silent Hill Forum, who have generously posted a copy of the "Silent Hill 4: Robbie's Tracks" Remix Album. Unfortunately, the files have been compressed using a .rar compressor, so not everyone will be able to access it. However, I plan to decompress the files and recompress them using .zip format and will try to have it available for download within the next week, so look out for that. For those who don't know what the soundtrack is for or which songs are remixed, check out the Soundtrack Information (from Chudah's Corner) & watch the original Robbie Video (from Konami of Japan).
Silent Hill 4: Robbie's Tracks - Rar Download (28.0 MB) / Zip Download (.M4A Files) (28.18 MB) / Zip Download (.MP3 Files) (21.55 MB) / Soundtrack Information
Album and Song Descriptions:
- Each track was meant to be a stylistic reinterpretation of the music from the short CG animated video featuring Lakeside Amusement Parks's "Robbie the Rabbit" with music by Akira Yamaoka. Yamaoka takes a little musical vacation by remixing the video music in the styles of his favorite European electronica style: techno. While not exactly ground-breaking material, the album is a fun departure from the traditional dark and gloomy ambient style of Silent Hill's music.
German - This track is a German minimalistic techno rearrangement of the music from the original Robbie Video mentioned above. Believe me when I say this is minimalistic, because although the arrangement is creative in how it reinterprets the themes, it simply loops them over and over and over again. This piece won't make everyone happy, but if you like minimalistic techno, you'll find this to be pretty good.
French - The style represented here is French tech house music. While the song is very similar in structure and texture as the German track, the song offers more variety in terms of arrangement. As such, the tracks is much easier to listen to. Much more melody driven than the previous song makes this a much better dance song and easy to tolerate for the full 6 minutes.
Swedish - This tracks ROCKS!!! (This song is so awesome, I'm using correct English, no l33t for this.) The whole soundtrack seems to be made just for this song. The track, in the gabber style, simply makes you happy. I spent a good amount of time just looping this track over and over again this weekend. If you only listen to one of the three songs, listen to this. However, I recommend that you listen to the entire album first before getting to this track, as it makes your appreciation for this so much better. (I love the Swedish!)
Silent Hill 3 (Limited Edition) Promotional Kit - Artwork Files:
This is a treasure among Silent Hill media, as very few copies of Silent Hill 3: Limited Edition were ever released, and finding a reseller is impossible. So, ChoasKeeper, has graciously offered a link to the artwork from the Drawing Block/Drown in Black artbook that accompanied this promotional kit. Again, the artwork has been compressed using a .rar format, so unless you have a decompressor that can handle Rar Files you won't be able to see it. And again, I'll try to recompress this in .zip format and post a link before next week.
Silent Hill 3: Limited Edition (Promotional Kit Artwork) - Rar Download (4.75 MB) / Zip Download (4.75 MB)
I hope that you enjoy the files, and offer some feedback on what you like or dislike. Though, I know that a lot of this stuff is rare and high-sought-after, I filter certain things out that are Silent Hill related, but not necessarily of importance. So let me know what you think.
With that said, I guess it's also time for another...
Silent Hill Film Update:
In an interview given by Edge-Online with Roger Avary, Mr. Avary reviews and explains the entire process that has gone into the making of the Silent Hill film. He explains his involvement in a different light than in his blog, and how Christophe Gans' filming style is reflected in the film as well as Avary's modifications. It provides a very good insite into the thought-processes that go on with a director who is just as passionate about the project as the fans are. This is a good read for both fans and critics. (Plus, Avary mentions that he is in the process of negotiating the script for another Konami big-screen adaptation of a game. Hmmm...MGS?)
Roger Avary Talks Silent Hill: The Movie
Personally, I feel much more reassured about the film after reading the article. I hope people see the impact that Christophe Gans is trying to make on the Silent Hill world and that this form of media is not disposable as other films about video games are in reputation. Though, the companies involved might not realize it, but a lot of people are putting their hopes into the film. Here's hoping for the best.
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As far as the idea about a VR version of Silent Hill, it might be reasonable to produce, but with modern surround-sound systems, high-definition (HD) television and Konami's increasing use of first-person perspectives, the games are about as immersive an experience as you could get. VR would just be single push forward.
What I consider a better approach is similar to the one that Akira Yamaoka hopes to occur in the future (given in his speech at the Games Developers Conference this year), which is to "create a metaphor using computer graphics." Now, despite the vague nature of the comment, I can visualize the power that such an advancement could make on the player, when you can actually see different interpretations of an object within the game world itself. Until the time comes when computer graphics can accomplish this, Konami's plans in terms of Silent Hill are to continue to create a culmination of graphics, story and computer-to-player interactions in future installments.
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I've been talking to Peacer and reading over the forums at the No Escape website recently. As far as the films go, the last three films are the despictions of Michael's decent into madness, being that #4 = Questioning Sanity, #5 = Decent into Madness, and the last film #6 = Depths of Madness. As such, each film will become progressively more scary and incomprehensible as the story reaches it's climax. However, certain theories about the films' ending are surfacing with certain credibility. If you want to read more, check out the forums for No Escape.
Also, the story is meant to conclude in the sixth chapter, with a definite resolution, meaning that Chapter 6 will be the last of the films. Peacer has confirmed that he does not plan to add anything else to the story, but maybe I can change his mind.
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On a lighter note, who's getting ready for Halloween? Anyone dressing up as a Silent Hill character/monster? If you are and you do, remember to take some pictures and post them here or on the Silent Hill Forum. I'm thinking about it, which would make this the first for me use a SH costume, but I'm not quite sure what to dress as. Any suggestions?
EDIT: I've uploaded the Robbie Tracks in .zip format and converted the .m4a files to .mp3 files at 192 kbps. (If you have any problems with the downloads or the files, please notify me about it and I will try to fix the problem.)
For anyone who wants a description of the songs from the Robbie Tracks Remix Album, I've added it to the information above.