Interview with Danny Boyle

I had a very lucky and amazing opportunity of interviewing Danny Boyle whilst working as a sensory technician during the summer at a festival in my local area.

Danny Boyle offered me great advice about making my own film.

When I asked Boyle about the key conventions of horror he said that the most important thing about horror films is creating a atmosphere of 'dread', playing with the emotions of audience by making them fear the unknown. One of the conventions of horror Boyle has challenged is the zombie persona, with 28 Days Later he changed the perspective of zombies and how they are presented, this is something that I will think of when looking at the conventions of horror, how I can challenge and personalise my horror film in order to create an new atmosphere of suspense and fear that horror audience's are not often exposed to. Boyle reinforced the importance of sound and addressed how crucial it is in setting up the audience's fright or moment of fear. An interesting point Boyle made about violence was that people often get a thrill out of seeing it in the media in the form of a film as it is something that they experience vicariously and can identify without going through with it themselves which is something I could exploit by playing on real emotions of violence.

By conducting this interview with Danny Boyle I have come to understand that when making my own film I need to take into consideration sound as it is very importance in inducing an audience, also I need to make sure that I meet the expectations of all my existing target audience- the ones who enjoy gore as well as the ones who get scared and enjoy watching films that instil a level of dread and deal with the anticipation as Danny Boyle mentioned. I have taken inspiration from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and have come to the understanding that in order to really grip my audience I need to challenge existing conventions of horror and replace them with sophisticated and unique ideas.