“Speak to Me” explores this concept of spectatorship within the age of social media, of characters who really feel not directly concerned in occasions unfolding in entrance of them—and shielded from penalties—as a result of they’re filming on digital camera telephones. Even the automobile of possession, the place characters let demons occupy their our bodies, permits them to expertise their actions vicariously with out being held accountable. What did you wish to say about social media and the psychology of a era raised inside it?
Michael Philippou: It’s the world that we grew up in. If we have been going to make a movie that was present and set in a world that we understood, it needed to be that. There are positives and negatives to social media, to that yearning for consideration that all of us have. You additionally see children utilizing social media as a mechanism for disconnection. When horrible issues occur, you pull out your cellphone and begin recording, as a method to dissociate your self from what’s occurring in entrance of you.
Danny Philippou: We’ve additionally seen the rise and fall of all these harmful traits, ones that folks lose their lives over. And we’ve seen rising charges of melancholy for younger folks, due to social media, and folks getting so insecure about physique picture. It’s humorous while you see influencers posting footage from behind the scenes. Abruptly, their smiles fade, they usually’re regular folks. I discover that fascinating.
Michael Philippou: Social media is loopy, as a result of what everyone seems to be attempting to realize is inconceivable. It’s a picture that I feel everybody is aware of isn’t actual, however we’re all nonetheless chasing after it. Nobody’s life is like their Instagram story, however we’re after that validation. And younger folks can’t make errors nowadays, both. Again within the day, should you did one thing embarrassing or mentioned one thing incorrect, it could be spoken about after which forgotten, whereas now it may be immortalized and introduced as much as punish you later down the road. What a wierd time for younger folks to be rising up in, since you haven’t even discovered proper from incorrect but.
One may additionally say that every one these characters are filmmakers, to a level, remodeling their first-hand experiences into leisure for others.
Danny Philippou: There are such a lot of positives and negatives to that. Individuals flip up their noses at YouTubers, however the entire of this subsequent era could have made and uploaded content material to YouTube or TikTok in some unspecified time in the future. It’s simply part of our tradition.
Michael Philippou: And it’s loopy that folks nonetheless make excuses for themselves not beginning out as filmmakers, proper? Everybody has a 4K digital camera of their pocket. So many individuals by no means begin, however you simply want to start out making content material and get higher with every thing that you simply make. On YouTube, the competitors is denser now, as a result of everybody has the power to start out. The whole lot’s really easy.