Tactile And Intensely Lucid: Michael Houghton On "The Burglary"
A moving image professional with a First Class degree in Film and Television from the University of the Arts London, Michael is an experienced and adept technological creative. Working as a writer, director and editor, with post-production skills including online editing, color, sound mixing and distribution, Michael has a rich knowledge across the board.
Since completing his first short film in 2014, Michael has worked on multiple award-winning feature and short form projects, which have been received by audiences internationally. He has also created imagery and film for a range of start-up and established companies.
After his flat is burgled, Seth K. struggles against his flatmate, the police, and the tower block in which he lives to regain his stolen possessions and find the intruder(s).
The Burglary, a surrealist short film set almost entirely inside one flat within a Kafkaesque tower block, is currently making its festival rounds at the moment. To find out more and follow the film and its maker, you can check out Instagram (@michaelhfilms and @oxygenfilm), as well as Oxygen's website.
How did the concept for The Burglary originate?
The idea came from a dream I had during the first COVID-19 lockdown back in 2020. I have really vivid dreams generally, but this one was tactile and intensely lucid. After I woke up, I felt like I'd just switched lives. I wrote the whole thing down and then wrote a short story in prose based on the dream. This was then buried amongst other shorts I've written, and it wasn't until the start of 2021, around a year later, that I rediscovered it and thought that it could be really interesting to try and translate it to film.
The film has a fascinating and unnerving psychological focus that questions reality and explores the anxiety one feels when they no longer know who they can trust, whether that be a roommate, the authorities, or themselves. What excited you most about delving deeply into the psyche of your character and exploring this subject matter?
I was first motivated by an urge to understand the dream that the story is based on. I had been reading a bit of Freud at the time and his interpretation of dreams, and whilst he's flawed, I think he still raises some interesting questions about the nature of dreams — where they come from and what they mean. I changed my mind at least three times about what I think the dream means and was struggling to find some kind of closure to the film adaptation. Then someone wise told me that dreams can stick in your head for many years after you've had them and that their meaning to you will also change as you change. So, I stopped trying to pin it down to one single thing and instead added layers so that it could mean several things, not just related to me but have some kind of wider significance too. The plan is that multiple people can watch it and each come away with their own experience and interpretation of the film, depending on what they pick up on.
The film effectively plunges viewers into a strange, yet familiar world and immerses them into the headspace of its jumbled protagonist. Can you talk a bit about the various methods you employed to achieve this and create such a palpably surreal experience?
For sure! Sound design was extremely important. Echoing screams in the staircase, construction sounds, dogs barking, etc, were almost all pre-planned at the script phase. I also wanted to make it obscure what the time of day was, where we were, and what time period we were in, which was done through art direction and lighting. So yes, hopefully, everything feels familiar; you recognize the things you see but they don't fit together. You can't place yourself in time or physically, and all of this adds to the unease because, like Seth, you can't get a grip of the situation and you're constantly trying to understand and keep up.
You touched on a bit already, but the film has some wonderful sound design that bolsters the atmosphere and makes the world even more nightmarish. Can you talk a bit about that process and how you found the right soundscapes to fit the world and film's tone?
Thank you! Yeah, so a lot of the sounds were preplanned at the script phase and the sound was really important in guiding the tone of the whole piece. So, I had to figure out the timings of small things like dog barks, screams, babies crying, construction sounds etc. Because I didn't want to just throw all these sounds in for it to feel 'creepy', I felt like there needed to be intention behind every sound, like you do whenever you set up a shot. When I started on the sound design, I first put in all of those sounds from the script and watched it through. Then, I started to add more to fill it out a bit and make it feel like a real world. It also came a bit in the offline edit, as I watched some of the reactions from the cast and would think, "a sound can go there." So, it feels more that they're connected to the world around them. It was a really fun process!
What are some of the challenges you faced making this film, and how were you able to overcome them?
The flat we shot in was tiny. That was a blessing and a curse. We shot in August so it was incredibly hot and the front door of the flat was essentially our fourth wall so it was entirely blacked out and there was no breeze. So, we had to make sure we were taking breaks and not going stir crazy like the characters in the film. The small space also made it difficult to operate within as there weren't many places for our wonderful 6ft+ sound recordist, Devon [George], to hide in! But obviously, the size of the flat contributes to the claustrophobic feel, so I don't regret the location, it just meant we had to be flexible and reduce the on-set crew whenever we could.
The film really rides a lot on the cast, and you found some terrific actors to fill the shoes. How did you find them and what was your process from getting them in tune with your vision?
Yeah, we were really fortunate to work with Tom [Rainn], James [Coutsavlis], Chloe [Mitchell], and Ian [Ray-White]. They gave their all for the project, and I'm really glad it shows on-screen. Tom and James came recommended by other people; whereas, Chloe and Ian were found on casting websites. When talking with them about the film, I found it was best to keep all conversations grounded in emotion and character motivation. I think it's really easy with a film as surreal as this to get caught up in meanings and metaphors, but for the cast that is usually not helpful. So, there were a few references I gave them to help give an idea of the tone for their performances, and then after that, it was about going from moment to moment. Like, "How is Seth feeling here?" And, "What are Joel's intentions?" They were all happy to throw themselves in and see what worked and what didn't, and that experimentation is super important for finding the right performance. I'm really pleased to have worked with them!
It certainly turned out well! Let’s talk cinematography. How did you work with cinematographer Rose McLaughlin to create the film’s aesthetics and nail down its final look?
We created a bunch of mood boards and spoke about other films with similar lighting and tone. We decided to go with longer lenses like the 85mm and 50mm because it made the image look flatter and so the space became even more claustrophobic. It was just an ongoing conversation from the moment she came on board and throughout the shoot itself to figure out how Seth is feeling and what can we do to exacerbate that with camera positioning and lighting. She was really responsive to my original ideas, contributed a bunch of her own and, unlike Devon, comes in at a much shorter height which certainly helped with the tighter shots!
Do you have a favorite scene or moment from the film?
When Joel licks his lips and pouts at the police officer is probably up there. I think this is the moment when Seth feels like he has completely lost control and you can see it drain from his face; Tom and James both did a great job here. I also really like when Seth gets back into his flat after chasing the police officers and tries to jam the door shut with a chair, but the chair is too short. This was completely unplanned. Originally, he was meant to jam a chair under there, but the chair we had on set was too short. After wondering where else we could get a chair from, it became apparent that this actually worked really well and highlights his resignation when he walks away. I thought it was funnily tragic.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
I first started taking pictures as a kid, my dad's a photographer and he bought me my first camera when I was maybe eight. I've also always enjoyed writing stories and so the two just merged I guess. I love film, but it's certainly not the be-all and end-all for me. I think it's good to explore many different kinds of art forms as they tend to complement and inform one another.
What films or filmmakers have inspired you, your style, or your approach to telling a story?
Kubrick was my favorite filmmaker for a long time, Lynch was inspiring me more recently before I made The Burglary, and Charlie Kaufman is definitely up there as well. Though, I tend not to think about this too much anymore. I shoot however I feel is right and forget about whoever it may be similar or dissimilar to. I think if you concentrate on style too much it can be paralyzing as a creative.
That’s a good way to look at things! What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
I hope that people can take away something unique from one another and that this in turn generates conversation. But, I don't have any expectations of what that takeaway will be — I've let go of the film now. The more diverse the takeaways, the better! I find discussing art incredibly fun and when it's something you've made yourself, even more so. So thank you for all these questions!
Absolutely! Last one for you: do you have any future projects in the works that you can share with us?
I'm currently juggling a few things; a documentary, and then a few fiction pieces. One of the fiction pieces is called Electric Love, which follows a young sex worker living in a world of ravaging wealth inequality, and he uses a new technology to augment his appearance to his client's wish. This is going to be massive, a real challenge, and I'm really pumped for it. We've already got a great team together at Oxygen Films and some wonderful cast. Watch this space!
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