Before they even wrote the screenplay, William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman knew where STAY ALIVE had to take place: in New Orleans, the famed city of vivid nightlife and haunting gothic beauty that has recently been in the headlines after Hurricane Katrina after production wrapped but has always been a place where chaos and mystery come to the fore.
"New Orleans is such an old, atmospheric city and it has this whole history of spells and curses and vampire legends, so it was definitely the best town in America for the story," says Bell. "I think it's a place that also mirrors the motif of marrying the old with the new. In New Orleans, you've got the rust and the peeling paint and the thick fog in the air and the vibe of this very old place, and then you've got gamer kids playing the most modern video games."
Later, the mesmerizing effect of New Orleans reverberated down to the cast and crew. "This city has such a history of ghosts and hauntings and voodoo, so being surrounded by that really helped us to get in the mood of the story," explains star Jon Foster. "It's easy to get completely into the horror mindset when you're shooting in cemeteries and old mansions and places like that."
When it came to the look and design of the film, William Brent Bell wanted every element to go to the edge. "It's a story of extremes," he explains, "so it was important that every aspect of the film be created in as unique a way as possible. Everything from the way the camera moves to the way the music tells the story will hopefully be new to horror films."
Most of the film was shot day-for-night which gives it an even more surreal feel. Under these challenging conditions, Brent Bell worked closely with cinematographer Alejandro (Alex) Martinez, who cut his teeth in the world of international ad campaigns -- to create a look for the film that combines contemporary style with classic horror devices. "Alex was simply amazing,". says Bell, "He was able to play with these beautiful wide shots for scares and at the same hone in on the most exciting sequences with really tight, long lenses."
While searching for a production designer, Bell and Peterman saw the vampire-themed thriller "Underworld" and knew right away they wanted that film's designer, Bruton Jones, to bring his uniquely architectural vision to the design of STAY ALIVE.
It turns out that Jones was not only well versed in the styles of modern horror but also had experience in the gaming world, having garnered an Art Direction Award for his work on the classic videogame "Zork." Even better, the production designer was hooked from the minute he read the script. "I was very impressed by the script and I saw that this was a great opportunity to do something new - to merge the world of gaming with the real-life world of New Orleans," Jones says. "I loved that this was a movie unlike anything tried before, and I was excited to see just how scary we could make it and how audiences would ultimately react."
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