[Weekly Update] November 1st, 2020

We hit 200k! Yeah it just kinda creeps up on me, and I didn't even noticed we hit a mile stone until a week ago.

Just like our 100k, I'll highlight some smaller channels that deserves attention, and post them on social media and community tab.

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• November will be a slow month for Accented Cinema, as we only have one video planned, plus the usual updates and bonus video. Due to mounting stress, my headache is becoming more frequent, so I decided to slow down and do something else.
• But we'll come back bigger than ever in December, with two anime films episode planned, one of which is a collab! More infos to come in the coming weeks.
• Like last year, I'll probably take an unpaid leave on February. Just like last year, there will be no update, no bonus video, and I'll suspend Patreon for a month, so you won't be charged for February. Again, nothing is set yet. I'll keep you updated!

ABOUT MEDIA

• Have you play a game called Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube?
• If you don't know, Eternal Darkness is a horror game, famous for inventing the sanity effects. It's a brilliant horror element that physically messes with the player.
• For example, if your character is losing their mind, the game may pretend to mute your TV, or show you a crash screen, or tell you your game demo has ended.
• It's a level of meta that, I have not seen in movies yet.
• During my film school years, one of my main topic of exploration is this type of fourth wall breaking story telling.
• There certainly exists meta-horror. Scream, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Cabin in the Woods are all examples of meta horror, in which the film knows its own genre convention, and plays around its own rule. However, none of them truly breaks the fourth wall, let alone using it to play with the audience.
• In some way, the closest one is found footage horror. The format itself is a horror effect. It makes it intimate and, in ways, realistic. It's a form of scaring the audience using its presentation, not the content within.
• Over the years, I wrote a few script in an attempt to replicate that style of horror. And it is way harder than you think.
• Simple tricks like showing a blue screen, or muting your TV, or showing the progress bar, is still something I can do. But they come with a problem: They feel very disruptive.
• Instead of a game, where you are always in control, and thus, always in the game, movie audience are very passive. If their experiences are interrupted in anyway, they are out of the story. In terms of horror, that means the horror atmosphere is gone.
• It becomes a very delicate balancing act. It means I have to break the fourth wall and have fun, while letting the audience know this fourth wall break is part of the story, that the film isn't actually muted.
• Over the past few years, it would seem my topic of choice does have potential. With the amount of webcam movies being made these days, and likely even more being made during quarantine, these types of horror will likely evolve into the meta version of themselves soon.
• So, here is my prediction. There will soon be a Netflix original film that will pretend your app has crashed and relaunched, and then show you a cursed version of the Netflix app.
• Heck, maybe it'll be made by me. We'll see.

Anyway, it's November! The weather is getting colder, which means it's easier for sickness to spread. Take care of your health, everyone!

We'll see you next week!