Silent Hill Discussion

[StarZander]

Woo! Pictures of the movie on Yahoo. I'm pretty sure these haven't been posted here yet.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808718754/photo/stills

I give this a resounding YES.

Am I the only one who thinks this looks really lame? The arms, I mean. They look... plastic. Although, in an interview I read, they were supposed to make them platic and/or rubbery, just like they are in the game. Like, shiny. I'm very sceptical to this.

[McCorvic]

Can anyone direct me to a list of sorts for movies that "inspired" SH games in some way.

I saw the movie Repulsion (1965) by Roman Polanski this week-end for the first time in a very long time and I couldn't help but think of Silent Hill 4 the whole time.

Woo! Pictures of the movie on Yahoo. I'm pretty sure these haven't been posted here yet.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808718754/photo/stills

I give this a resounding YES.

Am I the only one who thinks this looks really lame? The arms, I mean. They look... plastic. Although, in an interview I read, they were supposed to make them platic and/or rubbery, just like they are in the game. Like, shiny. I'm very sceptical to this.

Eh, I don't think to much of it. I've learned that movie stills usually only give a rough idea of what the actual scene will look like on the screen. The arms in question might very well look better when moving or seen in context.

[UnforgivingEdges]

Can anyone direct me to a list of sorts for movies that "inspired" SH games in some way.

I saw the movie Repulsion (1965) by Roman Polanski this week-end for the first time in a very long time and I couldn't help but think of Silent Hill 4 the whole time.

Session 9, Jacob's Ladder to name a couple. I hear Stay, even though it's recent, is pretty Silent Hill-esque.

Eh, I don't think to much of it. I've learned that movie stills usually only give a rough idea of what the actual scene will look like on the screen. The arms in question might very well look better when moving or seen in context.

I'm inclined to think that the arms will look better in motion.

[BocoDragon]

Session 9, Jacob's Ladder to name a couple. I hear Stay, even though it's recent, is pretty Silent Hill-esque.

Jacob's Ladder is very important to mention, since I'm of the opinion that the Silent Hill series is more or less based off it, in the way that RE can trace its origins to Romero's Dead movies.

The confused, disoriented protagonist who finds himself in a subjective and disturbing version of reality (and with a James Sunderland jacket to boot). Strange, freaky monsters who follow him, and who may or may not be torturing him for his personal sins. It's pretty much Silent Hill the movie (though with less actual confrontation with the monsters, as its not a videogame).

Hell, the subway in Silent Hill 3 is based off the area of the New York subway that the protagonist is in at the beginning of JL.

[UnforgivingEdges]

Session 9, Jacob's Ladder to name a couple. I hear Stay, even though it's recent, is pretty Silent Hill-esque.

Jacob's Ladder is very important to mention, since I'm of the opinion that the Silent Hill series is more or less based off it, in the way that RE can trace its origins to Romero's Dead movies.

The confused, disoriented protagonist who finds himself in a subjective and disturbing version of reality (and with a James Sunderland jacket to boot). Strange, freaky monsters who follow him, and who may or may not be torturing him for his personal sins. It's pretty much Silent Hill the movie (though with less actual confrontation with the monsters, as its not a videogame).

Hell, the subway in Silent Hill 3 is based off the area of the New York subway that the protagonist is in at the beginning of JL.

That movie is awesome. Some really creepy stuff in it. The only thing I didn't really like was how they beat you over the head with the symbolism at the end. I understood the metaphor, and then they basically explained it to me like I was a 2 year old.

Overall good movie though.

[RazorOutlaw]

That's funny, because the original ending was down right mortifying.

[ifirit]

Usually, for film and book references from the Silent Hill games, I let Eccles handle it. But, since he hasn't said anything yet, I'll make a short list.

Film References/Inspirations:

Green = reference

Blue = inspiration

Bold = Greatly influenced

Orange = Eccles' citation

Silent Hill:

Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyne

Lost Highway by David Lynch

Twin Peaks by David Lynch

Village of the Damned

Event Horizon

Phantoms by Dean R. Koontz

The Exorcist (Eccles)

Exorcist 3 by William Peter Blatty

The Shining by Stephen King (Eccles)

12 Monkeys by Terry Gilliam

Little Shop of Horrors

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Lolita by Stanley Kubrick

Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick

Santa Sangre by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock

Carrie by Stephen King

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark with Harrison Ford

Alien with Segorne Weaver

Mars Attacks

Natural Born Killers by Oliver Stone (Writing credit to Quinton Tarantino)

Wizard of OZ with Judy Garland (Eccles)

Silent Hill 2:

Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyne

Lolita by Stanley Kubrick

Betty Blue (Integral Version)

Blue Velvet by David Lynch

A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick

Alice by Jan Svankmajer

Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Silent Hill 3:

Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyne

Santa Sangre by Alejandro Jodorowsky

A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick

Session 9 by USA films, with David Karusso

X-Files with David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson (Eccles)

Silent Hill 4: The Room:

Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyne

Eraserhead by David Lynch

Dune by David Lynch

Twin Peaks by David Lynch (Eccles)

"Pi" by Darren Aronofsky [Film Website]

Frighteners by Peter Jackson, with Michael J. Fox (Eccles)

Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock

Miscelaneous:

El Topo by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky

The Cell by Tarsem Singh

Gokumontou by Kon Ichikawa

Complete Volumen by Chris Cunningham

There are several more, but these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. You'll notice that the ones from Silent Hill (1) outnumber those from the other games. The reason is that the first game did a good job of documenting the referenced and influenced films in the game, by having a picture or name cited. The other games try to avoid royalty fees by simply referencing a specific moment or image from a film. So, it is very possible that some references have not yet been discovered in the sequels.

Also, if you notice what appear to be book references in my list, what you should remember is that the film versions of these books are referenced either instead of or along with the novels. Happy viewing.

EDIT: Peacer has released the teaser trailer for the last chapter of Silent Hill: No Escape. The final chapter of the mini-series should be released sometime around Thanksgiving (Nov. 28). Peacer is considering also releasing a documentary of sorts that lists the references from the story and also details and explains various aspects of his story and thinking. If he plans on releasing this "Making of Silent Hill: No Escape," we should expect it sometime after the release of Part 6.

EDIT 2:

Woo! Pictures of the movie on Yahoo. I'm pretty sure these haven't been posted here yet.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808718754/photo/stills

After seeing those clips, I'm convinced more than ever that the Silent Hill film will be good. Personally, if the arms in the picture turn out to be anything like the ones in the Siren 2 trailer, then you won't really notice the plastic look. Also, make sure to keep an eye on Silent Hill Resorts, because they will be doing another dissection of the production stills before too long. It seems this site will be spending all its resources covering the Silent Hill Film, as they are also hosting mirrors for all the official images released so far. So check there for new updates, but make sure to check around the forums, too.

EDIT 3: Added Eccles' references to the list. Thanks again, Andy.

It took me a while to remember Frighteners since it's been so long since I've seen it. I remembered that I hated dark comedy of that nature, but I still managed to watch the film to its end. I think I did so, because I was intrigued by the visions Michael J. Fox's character could see. The numbers carved into what would be the next victim's body was so awesome to me at the time, that I couldn't help but watch. Now, I want to watch it again, so I can see those references again.

As far as Lewis Carroll is concerned, I already mentioned Alice. Jan Svankmajer's animatronic works are masterpieces; they are weird and dark and surrealistic, but display so much character in his puppets that you also feel a strange sense of wonder. If you watch Alice, you'll notice a familiar SH2 puzzle in the film. The Brothers Quay, Svankmajer's successors, carry on his style and also make many references to his work. You may recognize some of their pieces from either the Canadian Metropolitan Arts videos that "edutained" people about the arts in the early 1990's or from their work on the music videos for the band His Name is Alive for the song "Are We Still Married?" (aka "Still Nache II") also in the early 1990's.

Oh! Here's an interesting story about one of Bob's appearances in the Twin Peaks series. The sets used for the show were originally from real places in the town of Twin Peaks. One scene which was shot in a log cabin, had space so tight that one of the set workers could be seen in the reflection of a mirror in the shot. He was ducking down under the bed, to try to stay out of the way. Unfortunately for him, the production team saw him and stopped the scene, but fortunately for us, David Lynch decided to keep it as part of the scene and even altered it so that the character saw him too, one of the more bizzare moments in the series. This eventually lead to adding Bob to the list of characters in the second season.

[Eccles]

Don't forget David Lynch's "Twin peaks"...Bob the serial killer served as the basis for Walter Sullivan

Rawr!

Other things...

Silent Hill 1 has a poster for The Exorcist on the side of the wall of one of the night club (El Encanté)

SH1 also has REDRUM scrawled on a garage wall. Also the Jim Beam whiskey logo.

SH1 also references the Wizard of Oz twice. The three keys are Scarecrow, Lion and Woodman...and Lisa Garlands surname is, on admission of the character creation team, referencing Judy Garland.

And don't forget John Wyndhams book "The Midwich Cuckoos" and South Park, possibly...that could be a coincidental name, however.

---

Offhand I can recall SH2 referencing Lewis Carroll and and Ruth Rendell in street names.

I can't name any specific books, but Brookhaven is supposed to be a real FBI lab. Several stories have been based off it, though...as I say, I can't name any specifically.

---

SH3 doesnt have many that haven't already been done. I've heard some people suggest the X-Files has been referenced in the cigarette you find smoking in the apartment block.

---

SH4 references the 4 ring films. (those who have played the game will know what I mean).

It also references a Peter Jackson film: Frighteners. This happens in the way the ghosts push their way through the walls.

[RazorOutlaw]

http://www.myspace.com/akirayamaoka1 o.O

Ah, nevermind it's just a profile dedicated to his music.

[DarkPoinko]

Don't forget also that a lot of the street names in Silent Hill appear to be references to authors as well, i.e. Sagan, Chrichton , Koontz, etc. Those aren't exactly inspiried to the actual story or SIlent Hill, but references nonetheless.

[leokef]

Session 9, Jacob's Ladder to name a couple. I hear Stay, even though it's recent, is pretty Silent Hill-esque.

Jacob's Ladder is very important to mention, since I'm of the opinion that the Silent Hill series is more or less based off it, in the way that RE can trace its origins to Romero's Dead movies.

The confused, disoriented protagonist who finds himself in a subjective and disturbing version of reality (and with a James Sunderland jacket to boot). Strange, freaky monsters who follow him, and who may or may not be torturing him for his personal sins. It's pretty much Silent Hill the movie (though with less actual confrontation with the monsters, as its not a videogame).

Hell, the subway in Silent Hill 3 is based off the area of the New York subway that the protagonist is in at the beginning of JL.

That movie is awesome. Some really creepy stuff in it. The only thing I didn't really like was how they beat you over the head with the symbolism at the end. I understood the metaphor, and then they basically explained it to me like I was a 2 year old.

Overall good movie though.

Yeah, Jacob's Ladder is the only film I can recall that really hits upon the same atmosphere and themes of Silent Hill. I always think of the scene wherein Jacob is sent for X-rays and the hospital gradually turns into a nightmare world, quite in the same manner of Dark Silent Hill. The insane people, grating, a fan, the box the shaking-head man is in, and especially the soundtrack which suddenly fills with ominous clangs and mechanical noises. And the fact that it's a hospital, after all. And the symbolism of the broken bicycle at the start of the sequence... sheesh, the whole Silent Hill series could trace its roots to those five minutes of film.

Man, I'm watching that film and returning to Silent Hill 3 tonight.

[BocoDragon]

I always think of the scene wherein Jacob is sent for X-rays and the hospital gradually turns into a nightmare world, quite in the same manner of Dark Silent Hill. The insane people, grating, a fan, the box the shaking-head man is in, and especially the soundtrack which suddenly fills with ominous clangs and mechanical noises. And the fact that it's a hospital, after all. And the symbolism of the broken bicycle at the start of the sequence... sheesh, the whole Silent Hill series could trace its roots to those five minutes of film.

Exactly what I thought as I watched it. This is where Silent Hill came from. Cheers!

[ifirit]

Well, it's update day, so I'm going to post a few things that have caught my attention while viewing the Silent Hill Forum.

Silent Hill - Avant Garde Film Project:

A new site project has begun on the Silent Hill Forum, by one of the newer members, tbt204, aka Bradley Thomas. Bradley is new to Silent Hill community and hasn't developed a reputation yet, but his energetic and enthusiatic ideas, along with his creation of a few other projects, are quickly earning him a place among the SH communities' top creators of fan art and media.

Anyway, the purpose of the project is to create a compositional film using animators from the Silent Hill Forum community to tell another SH-inspired story, similarly to Silent Hill: No Escape. Each animator will create a section of the story, using whatever type of animation they are good at, be it cartoon-based animation, CG animation, animatronic animation, etc. The project aims to combine the best of what the fans have to offer and is exactly the kind of project that I have been waiting to appear in the community. The project will be structured very much like OCR's site projects, as it will coordinated by a project manager who will review audition pieces from forum members to decide to add to the project. Each member, once choosen, will be assigned a scene to work on and will be given complete artistic control of the scene, but must inform the manager of his/her intentions. In addition to that, Peacer has already confirmed he will be contributing to the project, once No Escape is completed. I've also decided to throw my hat into the ring and will be putting together an audition piece to submit to the project. So keep you eye out for that in about a month's time.

I really want to encourage as many people as possible to audition for a part in this project as it is one of the few major projects that involve this level of fan contribution. (I'm so excited and nervous about my audition. Come be excited and nervous with me.)

Silent Hill Avant Garde Film Project - Thread and Details

Silent Hill Film Update:

Again, this really isn't an update, but just something that is trying to document the film's progression completely.

Production Stills - Set #2:

As was recently posted, more production stills have been released from the film's post-production status. Two new mirrors have been set up to host these images and report to fans some information regarding them. IGN and movie-fever.com are hosting mirrors for the gallery of images. I would suggest checking out IGN's gallery, if you have already looked at the stills before, because they have large, higher resolution images posted that show off some greater detail than in the ones posted by Yahoo Movies.

Silent Hill Film Production Stills #2 - IGN Mirror (with Larger Images)

Silent Hill Film Prodcution Stills #2 - Movie-Fever Mirror

Interview with Director Christophe Gans:

In other news, Christophe Gans has completed his first, which I presume will be many, press interview about the Silent Hill Film. The interview was given by french magazine Écran Fantastique, which unfortunately was only printed in French. Although Boblecon1096 has provided an English translation, I'm hoping that someone else could offer some insight into whether the translation is accurate. Warning: Possible Film Spoilers

Christophe Gans' Interview with Écran Fantastique - Magazine Scan

Christophe Gans' Interview with Écran Fantastique - Rough English Translation & Thread

Post Production Team Seeks Film References from Fans, Reveals Additional Details about the Film:

On another note, one of the artist working on post-production computer-generated cinematics, belonging to the production company, C.O.R.E. Digital Productions (registered at SHForum as moomoo) sought out fan input for referencing the windmills used in the first game. His comment was that the director was unhappy with the initial designs, asking for something that looked closer to the ones in the original game. It is incredible how involved Christophe Gans is with this film, that he is not only looking over specific details such as the look of the background, but also his own knowledge of the game itself. You can tell that he has played the game more than once. Anyway, the fan response was great and it shows that even as fans, you can still have some influence in the film's production. However, what he said that I found most interesting was that as of October 16, 2005, filming for the Silent Hill film was still going on. The animator, Mahmoud, said that they had completed shooting the middle section of the film, but were then in the process of shooting the opening and ending sequences. Hmmm..... (Finney Alley scene? Multiple endings, anyone?) You can read more in the thread listed below.

Also, C.O.R.E. Digital Productions is the CG-production who worked on such films as: Saw 2, Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse, Blade II, X-Men, Mimic, Spawn, Johnny Mnemonic and Cube (one of my favorite films).

VFX Production Animator Seeks Fan Help - Thread and Documentation

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't realize how late it had gotten yesterday. Anyway, to continue where I left off.

[RazorOutlaw]

What would you kiddies like to see?

G) Silent Hill 3 Fan Comic (Unusual art-style, but great reinterpretation of story.)

H) Siren Ripped Game Soundtrack

or

I) Incredibly controversial Silent Hill Fan Comic (I won't mention why it's controversial, unless it's requested, but despite that the comic is really well-written having both strong character development, psychological depth, suspenseful action and a great 3-D CG/painted art style.)

I missed this post entirely, so I chopped it down to the three options that appealed to me (especially since no one elsed asked). I'll take them all, if you're willing.

Ah, and I hope you don't mind if I prod for more information (you're gracious enough as it is providing updates) but SH5 is using a story developed by Sato, correct? Have you heard anything more on that?

Last I heard, any word on the story is that it was about an inmate in an asylum recounting his story via flashbacks after he had visited Silent Hill...

[Jenga]

Check out Somethingawful. Lowtax wrote a decently funny article poking fun at Silent Hill.

[Eccles]

I'm all for controversial comics. Gimme.

[Jenga]

I'm all for controversial comics. Gimme.

Me too. PM please.

[ifirit]

Woah! [/Keanu Reeves impression] I didn't expect this much of a response. Well, since it's what the people want, here we go:

Silent Hill "Bridge of Thread":

While looking around DeviantArt.com for Silent Hill inspired fanart, I came across an item that seemed to have a large response to, but didn't really know what was going on. Like wading through a crowd of people to see what the commotion was about, I stumbled across this fan graphic novel.

I wasn't really aware as to what I was getting myself into, but please be warned: This comic contains shounen-ai (boy and boy relationship). Yes, that's right, a gay main character in an original Silent Hill comic. Call me naive, but I didn't really put it together until about page 7 how serious the warning was. Considering this, I decided not to let other people know about this material, because 1) it made me uncomfortable (causing me to skip to about page 15 and then to page 26 and then to page 47), and 2) people might not be open enough to take a gay character seriously. After I thought about it for a little bit, I realize that despite the taboos, the comic actually gave an honest portrail of a regular guy dealing with a lot of personal issues, and that is the kind of basis for a story worth looking at. I just hope people here will also come to the same conclusion and not rag on me or the author for his/her work.

Silent Hill: Bridge of Thread was created by chaobell and can be downloaded off the website, which includes character bios, monster images and some extra downloadables. Right now, you can download the first 59 pages (including the cover) on the site. Please note that the comic has been up since July, but the site will be moving shortly, once the author can set up the website to a more permanent location. In the meantime, I'll post a little description of the comic's story.

The story deals with David Garnett, who after going out on a night on the town in Old Silent Hill with his friend Eric McKinney, is confronted by an unfamiliar person threatening him about his friend. Managing to escape the confrontation, he is forced to follow the attacker's trail only to discover something shocking. The story then shifts to the next morning where he recalls the events of the night before and goes out to deal with his hangover, only to find the town deserted as a morning fog covers the streets...

Silent Hill: Bridge of Thread - Main Site

Silent Hill: Bridge of Thread - News Updates

Silent Hill 3 Fan Comic:

Although I had known about this comic a little longer than I had about "Bridge of Thread," I also found it while looking for Silent Hill fanart. This nameless graphic novel, created by aeon-of-sorrow, reinterprets the story from the game to express with greater detail the character development behind Heather, while also throwing in a few new twists and turns to keep the story fresh. Granted the artwork isn't very impressive (you might even critize it for being horrible compared to other comics), I find that the story more than makes up for the artwork which I find to have a strong foundation in camera angles and overall shot layout.

Check it out for yourself, but don't expect Heather to get it on with any of the girls. If you want that, prevs, you can find it here.

Silent Hill 3 (Fan Comic) - Main Page (Check the author's comments for links to additional pages.)

Silent Hill 3 (Fan Comic) - SHF Thread & Updates

Siren Ripped Soundtrack:

I was looking for some information on the game to see if Sony had released an official soundtrack for this game (which they haven't), and came across some information on a ripped game soundtrack. Following the trail, it lead me to the back door of Macabre Productions, website for John Anthony Mathewson (creator and re-arranger for the Broken Notes Soundtracks and the Silent Hill Fan Album). Some people just don't lock their back doors, and allow people like me to sift through their websites.

Anyway, the ripped version of this soundtrack has not been officially released and I'm sure if John Anthony finds out about the leak, he'll likely close it down. Besides, not many people actually played Siren enough to enjoy the music (mostly ambience) or to even want to download the soundtrack. But, remember to only download the soundtrack if you OWN a copy of Siren (or Forbidden Siren in Europe). The soundtrack itself is divided into two discs, containing the first 11 tracks on the first disc and the second 11 on the proceeding disc.

Personally, I loved the game and very much enjoy the soundtrack because of it's combination of traditional and experimental forms of ambience. From the use of plucked violin strings to beats on washpans to constant sounds like rain, the music creates a dark and hard to navigate environment that matches the game's imagery perfectly. Besides, the two credit themes make it an obvious download in my book.

Siren Ripped Game Soundtrack - Macabre Productions Directory Page

Enjoy!

-----

As far as the story for Silent Hill 5, that premise is simply rumored to be the main story of the game. As I said before that information was reportedly given exclusively to Silent Hill Heaven (no longer functioning as a site) by a member of Konami's Press Staff, which was later reprinted on Silent Hill Genesis. The information is second hand information given by a source that was not clearly cited and without evidence that the person was even involved with the project. So, don't get too attached to it.

If you're looking for information on your own, try checking through the main Silent Hill forums. If you guys need anything else, I'll be in the Matrix.

[RazorOutlaw]

First off, Ifrit, you rock.

Second, I was listening to the Siren soundtrack and something caught my ear. On the track entitled "Cowering From Sight, As The Evil Approaches" at 1:35, pay attention very closely.

Listen to it now...do you recognize it?

The sound you hear in the background is the foghorn from SH3. It's the very same sound! Whether they're following the same tune, or notes, I don't know. I'm not a musician. But anybody whose listened to the SH soundtracks should recognize the foghorn sound at the 1 minute and 35 second mark.

[ifirit]

Warning: Siren & Silent Hill 1 Spoilers

The sound you hear in the background is the foghorn from SH3. It's the very same sound! Whether they're following the same tune, or notes, I don't know. I'm not a musician. But anybody whose listened to the SH soundtracks should recognize the foghorn sound at the 1 minute and 35 second mark.

Actually, if you played the game (to the full ending), you know that 1) Siren is the Japanese version of Silent Hill, 2) that siren appears very time you are near the "sea of red water" (the boarder to the two worlds) and 3) not only was the siren from the Silent Hill series reused, but the director (and a great deal of the production staff) for Siren was also involved with the production of the original Silent Hill game. For those who made these connections, you know that the Siren series is the "cousin that looks just like Laura Palmer" of the Silent Hill series.

To those who only played the game casually, or only to the end of Kyoya's loop, you may not see the connection between Siren and Silent Hill. To sum up the entire game of Siren, it involves "a woman who is trying to resurrect an alien god through a religious ceremony using an adolecent girl who has strange powers. The ceremony, however, is interrupted and the town in which it takes place is thrust into an alternate dimension that looks exactly like the real world except decayed and ruined, but is inhabited by strange monsters. Eventually, the main character confronts the woman, who until the end you believed was helping you, only to have to kill the alien god which has been resurrected."

EDIT: Weekly Update (Edit Style)

Silent Hill - "Making of" Videos:

In case you haven't checked recently, Dustfungus has uploaded the "Making of Silent Hill 2" and "Making of Silent Hill 3" videos on his website. These files are presented in .wmv format and have dimensions 320 x 240. The files are fairly large, being 123MB and 96MB respectively, so make sure to save them (and back them up on disk) so that you don't abuse his bandwidth.

For those who may not know that these "Making of" videos are, they are documentaries of the production of the second and third games. The videos contain interviews and commentaries from the creators along with never-before-seen behind-the-scenes images and material. These are definite collection items to have for any Silent Hill fan.

Despite what you may hear from other sources, these videos are not found on the "Art of Silent Hill" nor the "Lost Memories: Art and Music of Silent Hill" DVDs. The "Making of Silent Hill 2" video was originally on the bonus DVD included with the PAL (Europe and Austrailia) version of the game, entitled Silent Hill 2: Special Version. The bonus DVD also featured some additional publicity and prodcution materials exclusive at the time. On the other hand, the "Making of Silent Hill 3" video was only release on the additional DVD included in the British magazine "Playstation World" (Issue #43). The DVD includes other videos and demos for the magazine, but the documentary film was not released in any other format, making this video a very rare item.

Although Dustfungus is not the only person to host these videos before, this is the first time a reliable website has hosted both files for public viewing.

"Making of Silent Hill 2" - .WMV Video (Dustfungus Mirror)

"Making of Silent Hill 2" - Transcript and FAQ (GameFAQs.com Mirror)

"Making of Silent Hill 3" - .WMV Video (Dustfungus Mirror)

"Making of Silent Hill 3" - Transcript and FAQ (GameFAQs.com Mirror)

Silent Hill 4 - "Making of" Videos?:

Another reason I wanted to bring up this topic was that I wanted to see if anyone knew about (or preferably recorded) the Silent Hill 4: The Room "Making of" videos. There were a total of 5 ~1-minute videos (scroll to bottom) that contained interviews and commentaries on the production of the game, its soundtrack and the bonus story "Impenetrible Rain of Yoshikawa." I had mentioned them before the release of Silent Hill 4: The Room in several updates, but the files were only streamed video from Konami's mainframe and were deleted after the game's release. I had linked up the streams on my website, and saved the .asx files (but that hardly does anyone any good).

I'm just hoping that I made enough noise about them that someone else saw or recorded these videos for others to see. If not, we'll just have to add this to the other lost memories from Silent Hill. Let me know if you hear anything.

Until I can find anymore information on the Making of Silent Hill 4: The Room Videos, I'll just provide links to official Konami Announcements and News on the game. Below are the still active links to the news reports featuring material from Silent Hill 4: The Room and its production. Please, please try to find a way to save them off the Konami server.

Konami Announcement of SH4 OST & Kyodan + Interview with Teisui Ichiryusai - Broadband

Konami Announcement of SH4 OST & Kyodan + Interview with Teisui Ichiryusai - 56k

Konami at E3 2004 - Broadband

Konami at E3 2004 - 56k

Stage Performance of SH4 Kyodan with Teisui Ichiryusai - Broadband

Stage Performance of SH4 Kyodan with Teisui Ichiryusai - 56k

Silent Hill 4: The Room Hits Stores in Japan - Broadband

Silent Hill 4: The Room Hits Stores in Japan - 56k

Konami Interview with Executive Producer Akira Yamaoka - Broadband

Konami Interview with Executive Producer Akira Yamaoka - 56k

Akira Yamaoka Speaks Silent Hill at Game Developer's Conference - Broadband

Akira Yamaoka Speaks Silent Hill at Game Developer's Conference - 56k

Akira Yamaoka Branches Out - Broadband

Akira Yamaoka Branches Out - 56k

I personally like the first and third videos, because Teisui Ichiryusai is considered a national treasure in Japan, but mostly because I want to find a translation of the SH4 Kyodan "Impenetrable Rain of Yoshiwara" and the Special Chapter that came with the deluxe package in Japan.

EDIT 2: How about some more SH goodness in EDIT form.

Silent Hill Film Update:

According to IMDb, a new synopsis has appeared on the internet about the upcoming film. Although seemingly derived from the initial film synopsis, it explains with greater detail the premise of the film and its story. You can read more about it below. Be careful though, because the original film synopsis is still listed on the IMDb website. (Warning: Possible Film Spoilers)

Silent Hill Plot Summary - Revised Version

"Living a life of hell, little Sharon is terribly sick. Always muttering the town of Silent Hill, Virginia under her breath, her parents, Christopher and Rose, are worried she might be delusional. How does she know about that terrible, murderous town, just miles away?

After Sharon tries to sneak out of the house to go to the town, Rose, not wanting to accept her daughter's illness decides to kill two birds with one stone by going to Silent Hill. This will end her daughter's protesting and bring a light to the end of this dark tunnel. There is rumored to be a faith healer there. Maybe, by some supernatural factors, the mysterious healer will put a stop to the suffering the family is facing. Sneaking out with her sick daughter in her arms, she leaves for the nearly abandoned village. There is a car crash, Sharon is missing, and Rose is left alone in a dark, foggy world haunted by murky shadows and grotesque creatures.

Joined by a cop named Cybil, who has been sent by Christopher to bring her and Sharon back, they look desperately for the little girl in the eerie town, and try to find out the haunting history of the just about empty, remote village. They learn that the Silent hill is no longer ran by people, but a Demon brought to life by an ancient occult, and that remaining villagers, all on different planes of existence, are forever trapped in torment that symbolizes their own fears, failings, and past regrets. Will they unravel the truth about this monstrous place? Or will the darkness controlled by an uncontrollable demon eat them alive."

[Nulion]

Very nice movies, all of them were awful interesting. I'd never known that Making of SH3 video existed, hehe.

About that "Inescapable Rain in Yoshiwara", do you know why that was even slipped in there? I could never understand why, or from what perspective that whole thing was being read even. I'm imagining Henry's perspective, but then I wouldn't know why or what for. Guess a lot of that is unknown till somebody translates it.

Also....I'm proabably going to sound like an idiot, but who is Teisui Ichiryusai? He did seem pretty important, and he isn't exactly the type of guy I'd expect to show up in anything SH-related.

Ah well, very great stuff, I really enjoyed the movies

[Parjay]

Some people just don't lock their back doors, and allow people like me to sift through their websites.

Anyway, the ripped version of this soundtrack has not been officially released and I'm sure if John Anthony finds out about the leak, he'll likely close it down.

Now why the freaking hell would I close it down? It was created and put there for Siren fans. It isn't actually a backdoor as such, I just never got around to building a page for it, heh. Same deal for my SH1 and 2 complete rips.

[ifirit]

Warning: Silent Hill 1 & 3 Spoilers

Very nice movies, all of them were awful interesting. I'd never known that Making of SH3 video existed, hehe.

Not many people did, since it was only released in Great Britain, again from Playstation World Magazine. What I think people should find most interesting about the documentary is that in the opening you hear a sound effect that was editted out of the final version of the game. This sound was the baby's cry as Heather leaves the area; it's what makes her turn around. Although, it doesn't explictly say why that sound was editted out of the game, I suspect that the creator's didn't want to leave the ending unresolved. I also suspect that they didn't want to have to create another sequel to explain what happens to the baby. However, I believe that the reason why it was included in the first place was that it followed logically from the first game, as being part of the cycle of reincarnation of the god and it's mother. I think I've already explained my theory on this before, but if need be I can discuss it further.

About that "Inescapable Rain in Yoshiwara", do you know why that was even slipped in there? I could never understand why, or from what perspective that whole thing was being read even. I'm imagining Henry's perspective, but then I wouldn't know why or what for. Guess a lot of that is unknown till somebody translates it.

If you've ever studied Japanese language and/or Japanese folklore, you'll know that the word "kyodan" translates into the word for "storytelling." And, that is exactly what the second disc in the soundtrack (Japanese) is, a story. From what I have gathered from rough translations and word of mouth, the story follows a man, Yoshiwara, who is haunted by the ghost (thus, the tie to Silent Hill 4) of his dead wife (thus, the tie to the Silent Hill series). Each chapter (track) follows one month (as the names of each track mean; they are also the names of the 12 notes used in traditional Buddist chants) of the life of Yoshiwara during a year. I don't know any more particulars, but after listening to it myself, I don't think the story as a happy ending. There are people from the Silent Hill Forum that are working on a translation, but the kyodan is spoken in an ancient dialect of Japanese, which only the older generations of Japanese people can speak.

Also....I'm proabably going to sound like an idiot, but who is Teisui Ichiryusai? He did seem pretty important, and he isn't exactly the type of guy I'd expect to show up in anything SH-related.

Teisui Ichiryusai is the only living master of the ancient art of Japanese storytelling today, which is only passed on orally, never written. He is considered to be living history and thus the nation has honored him by naming him a national treasure (every strange for a person to be named such). As such people must respect him as Americans would respect a national landmark or the Europeans a historical building.

As far as his connection to Silent Hill, Akira Yamaoka wanted to create a ghost story to add to the soundtrack, told in the same manner as some series have, as a drama. Some anime series will create dramas written for live performance at parks or public shows to raise attention and awareness to the show or just to have fun. Akira Yamaoka though, doesn't just do things, he likes to do them big (characteristic of his ambition). So, he worked out a deal between Konami and Teisui Ichiryusai to perform his drama in the style of a kyodan. From what I have heard, apparently both sides were very eager to work with each other and the deal came together in a matter of weeks. Having a master of storytelling read the tale, you can only imagine how great the ghost story was to hear for the Japanese people. Thus, once you realize the backstory and intentions in the kyodan, you realize that there really couldn't have been anyone better for the project.

Now why the freaking hell would I close it down? It was created and put there for Siren fans. It isn't actually a backdoor as such, I just never got around to building a page for it, heh. Same deal for my SH1 and 2 complete rips.

Wow, it's Parjay! Let me be the first to welcome you to OCR. I have to tell you how much I appreciate your work on so much of the audio rips and fan soundtracks that you've put together over the years. The Broken Notes and Intermission albums are phenomenal. (For those who may not know, Parjay is the forum name of John Anthony Mathewson, co-creator and musician for the Broken Notes and Intermission albums.)

Anyway, as far as the Siren album is concerned, I wanted to be careful of what I posted, because some webmasters don't like having unlinked items from their websites posted on forums or chatrooms. Although, I had suspected that it was released or soon to be released at the time I posted it. But, I appreciate your generousity in allowing us to hear the music.

By the way, what's new in you neighborhood? Working on any new projects that you might like to share with the community? I know you're still working on Broken Notes: Sanatorium, but how's that project coming along?

[Nulion]

Whew, Broken Notes? I'm always checking up on that, extremely wonderful job you guys have done over there, best of luck in the future

And ifrit, couldn't have asked for a better reply I'm thinking when we finally have Inescapable Rain in Yoshiwara translated, it won't make entirely too much sense to us. Does a kyodan have a form, similar to a haiku?

Either way, I can't imagine how captivating some of those stories can get, especially told from a living legend like Ichiryusai-san. (Ugh, I tell ya there's a lot of times I wish I was born in Japan )

[ifirit]

I'm thinking when we finally have Inescapable Rain in Yoshiwara translated, it won't make entirely too much sense to us. Does a kyodan have a form, similar to a haiku?

I really can't say whether or not the kyodan follows a pattern of verse such as haiku, but there is definite rhythm to the way that it is told. I've not looked too much into the topic for a while and very little about the traditions and characteristics of Japanese storytelling are available in English, but I'll try to find something for you.

As far as being able to translate the Kyodan into English, the translator has been working dilligently to provide an accurate translation, but associates the process as if you were to take the works of Shakespear and put it into modern English and then translate that into another language. Here you try.

"This is now the winter of our discontent."