The House Between - John Kenneth Muir

Posted by Steve on 10 September 2010 | 0 Comments

Tell us about your sci-fi web series.

The House Between is an award-nominated (Airlock Alpha "Best Web Production," 2009) original sci-fi web series about five strangers who awaken to find themselves trapped in an empty, old Victorian house. The mysterious house is surrounded by a null zone of impenetrable blackness. The series consists of 21 half-hour long episodes, filmed over three years, featuring the adventures of Astrid (Kim Breeding), Arlo (Jim Blanton), Theresa (Alicia A. Wood), Travis (Lee Hansen) and Bill Clark (Tony Mercer) as they attempt to solve the riddles of the "magical" house, get along despite personal differences, and escape from captivity. In broad terms, The first season concerns escape; the second season is about sanctuary, and the third season revolves around the idea of letting go of the past.

Where did the idea/concept for your web series come from?

Well, I wanted to tell, in microcosm, the story of man on this island Earth. In essence, we're all strangers trapped in a house surrounded by blackness (outer space), forced to consider how to get along for the common benefit of the species. As a starting point, I re-read Jean Paul Sartre's 1944 existentialist play, No Exit. I wanted to play with the idea that "Hell is Other People" and do variations on it; see if the proverb holds up.

Name some of your sci-fi influences. Any favorite movies, TV shows, novels?

For the grainy, primitive look of the series, I sought to emulate TV classics One Step Beyond (1959-1961), The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) and The Outer Limits (1962-1964). I shot in black-and-white, added film grain, scratches and dust... and basically wanted audiences to get a timeless feeling or vibe from The House Between. Like you had turned your TV on at 2:00 am and suddenly intercepted this weird broadcast from who knows when, and who knows where. That was my experience growing up in the 1970s, first encountering late night fare like One Step Beyond. It seemed piped in from another universe.

Tell us about the technical production of your show. What camera & equipment did you use? Editing software & hardware? For visual effects, etc?

We used Sony Handicams to shoot The House Between, and two standard lighting kits. For sound, the first season of the series we used a shotgun mic. We weren't thrilled with it, and for the second and third seasons used a wireless bluetooth mic that was pretty amazing. As far as editing goes, we used Sony Vegas Platinum as platform, and for special effects we utilized FXHome, both the green screening (compositing) and the fx software.

Can you tell us any interesting facts or trivia about your show? Any funny stories?

Well, for the third season of show, we relocated our soundstage to a building overlooking a small, main street, and so we had to constantly deal with drunks at the neighborhood bar, and loud line dancers partying through the wee hours of the night and morning. It made recording sound a real challenge.

The House Between can be found online and on Twitter.

The House Between - SciFinal Page

More behind the Scenes from The House Between below:

BtS on The House Between

BtS on The House Between

BtS on The House Between

BtS on The House Between

BtS on The House Between

BtS on The House Between