Analog Medium
2024 · 18m · Australia
Directed by Tom Campbell
Tones: contemplative, dark, surreal
A musician duo retreats to a rural estate to record folk songs on vintage reel-to-reel tape, but something ominous is captured in playback that leads one of them down a disturbing supernatural path.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Sound-design-as-horror folk recording with Emma Bortignon doing the audio — that's the right person for the job and the premise has texture. Password-protected Vimeo means I'm rating the pitch, which is strong.
Campbell's reel-to-reel folk-horror conceit with Emma Bortignon (Talk To Me) on sound design positions itself in the Strickland Berberian Sound Studio lineage with serious intent. The password-protected Vimeo is unfortunate; I cannot confirm without access.
Password-protected, so I can't see the cut — but Emma Bortignon (Talk To Me sound designer) on a folk-horror reel-to-reel concept is the strongest possible craft signal, because that film prioritizes audio horror as primary device. The right designer on the right premise.
Reviews
A film that ingeniously utilizes soundscapes in place of practical or special effects, Analog Medium conjures fear from your very imagination.
The success of Analog Medium lies in its ability to use sound as both a plot tool and an entity all of its own, with sound becoming the bridge to a presence that we can't see and therefore can't control.
Festivals
- Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024
- Melbourne International Film Festival 2024