The Slender Effect - A New Finnish Short Film Coming In 2013

Introduction

Hi!

My name is Sami Hakkarainen. I am a director/producer/screenwriter from Brainfog Productions, a new independent short movie production team from Finland. I have directed and screenwritten several short films in the past, some of which can be found in YouTube, but the reason I'm here is my new short film called "The Slender Effect" which is my first short film outside Voionmaa's movie school. The film itself will be published shortly, propably at the end of this month but I decided to do some advertisement beforehand here, where the potential audience is.

What's this about?

The idea of a slendershort isn't really new and it has already been overused but I decided to take the risk anyways. The reason the film was made was because I didn't find much of the already done material really satisfying. I found that most of these films are made by people who love Slender Man and want to make a movie out of it. I tend to look the situation from a different perspective - I love cinema, and I found that Slender Man could be an effective topic, if done in a proper way.

In The Slender Effect, I tried to move Slender Man out of the already overused concept of mockumentary similar to Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Actitivy. Instead of shaky cameras and poor video quality the film aims towards an expressionistic view, with dark shadows, beautiful cinematography and a surrealistic atmosphere. The film explores the theme of the unknown, the feeling that almost everything is obscured and you can see only the limited area that the flashbulb shows us. This is the feeling I felt made the original game so effective. The horror doesn't arise when Slender Man is shown, but when you just wait for it and think about it but nothing really happens and the suspense is just growing unbearable. This is the same atmosphere that the writings of H.P. Lovecraft intented to express and as a fan of Lovecraft also I decided to add a little lovecraftian feeling into the film. The film itself hasn't got anything to do with the Cthulhu mythos though.

The film tells about a little girl and her teddy bear. One day, as she is having a juice drink with her friend, she hears noices from the attic and decides to go and find out. The main conflict in the film is between the security the teddy bear offers to her and the unbearable unknown which is enbodied in Slender Man.

Teaser, YouTube, Facebook

You can find the teaser for the film by typing "The Slender Effect teaser" into YouTube. I see that because I am a new member I am not allowed to link pages to this post in 7 days.

You can also follow us in facebook. The film is being made by finnish, so there might be some finnish information on the site for now, but we have made the film as a international production, and as the audience grows we will turn full-english on the facebook site also. The film contains almost no dialogue and all verbal communication is made in english, because we knew from the start that Slender Man is a whole lot bigger phenomena outside Finland. In our country this is just for the freaks.

My intentions and goals

I would also like to tell something about myself as a director. My intentions are dead-serious about this. Even though this is made as an amatour production my intentions of proadcasting this film are a whole lot bigger. When published, we will try our best to get it to international short movie festivals to spread the word of Slender Man, but also the word of Brainfog Productions, which will of course continue to do other short films, music videos, video art etc.

I am not being utopistic about this though, I know what it is like at the movie business. This will not be my breakthrough-film and it is not intented to be such, but if and when I will get a higher level of eduction in the finnish university of arts as a film director, I will go as far as I can. For now, we are just having fun and doing what we love, but with serious intentions and goals.

If you want to watch some of my earlier short films, they can be found at my own personal channel, which is not linked with Brainfog Productions. These are all short films that I have made in the movie school were I studied for a year. The school was not intented to give an occupational education for the students but to give an introduction for film making.

My personal channel is Behexxxen, which also can be found in YouTube just be searching.

Some finnish language might occure. A short study in finnish language:
Lyhytelokuva = Short film
Pitkäelokuva = Full Lenght film

Also some videos about my band and other shitty stuff. Ignore if not interested.

Last words

I hope I didnt break any of your regulations here? Anyways, I'm happy if anyone got atleast a bit interested. Hope you'll watch it when it comes out. I will be posting the link right here. If you got any questions feel free to ask.

Eh. I'm not a fan of the references to Slender. Have you watched any slenderseries or read any of the blogs? that might be a better place to start before you make your own stuff.

Mm, if you can do something new with the concepts behind just the game, I'll give it a shot and take it for what it is.

But yeah, I'd watch some of the many Slenderseries out there to get some ideas for your short film. Come for the ideas, stay for the paranoia fuel and discussion...

TheFallenenvoy wrote:

Eh. I'm not a fan of the references to Slender. Have you watched any slenderseries or read any of the blogs? that might be a better place to start before you make your own stuff.

I dont think you've understood. The film has already been made. We are not asking for ideas or creative instructions from you. We are simply delivering information about our product. The information about the basic idea of the film is described above. As for criticism, we are open for that when the film is finished and you've watched it .

But as for the question, I have watched some of the vlogs/short films that are out there. I cant really recall any names because they all seemed so alike. None of them did anything to me. I cant say that I have been surfing through all of them but for what I've seen, I cant say I could really use anything I've seen.

Of course one should know how the subject has been used and what are the clishes that it holds, and I dare to say I'm aware of all the clishes that Slender Man or horror in general has to offer. So as I watch these other videos, the only thing that I think is: "This is not the way I'd do this."

The subject is only a tool and so is the idea. The method is the way of delivering the idea into an original form. So the method is more valuable than the subject itself. This is how movies work. You should know that short films are a way different thing than vlogs/blogs. They have a different dramaturgic structure and different audiovisual paradigms. There is nothing bad with vlogs, I'm not in any way disgracing them, but this is not a vlog and that is why I feel it shouldn't be compared to a vlog.

I respect this.

Brainfog wrote:

I don't think you've understood. The film has already been made. We are not asking for ideas or creative instructions from you. We are simply delivering information about our product.

Sorry, but we're kind of pre-programmed to do that here since most people who post about short films or series here ARE asking for help. Sorry you didn't want it. :c

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But as for the question, I have watched some of the vlogs/short films that are out there. I can't really recall any names because they all seemed so alike. None of them did anything to me. [...] Of course one should know how the subject has been used and what are the clishes that it holds, and I dare to say I'm aware of all the clishes that Slender Man or horror in general has to offer. So as I watch these other videos, the only thing that I think is: "This is not the way I'd do this."

Alright, that's commendable. I'll give you that - this Mythos and many of the series in it isn't for everyone and not everyone will be interested in it on the same level. It's why I don't get all pissy about anyone out there who is a fan of the games, but not the ARGs, vlogs, or blogs. If you didn't like the series and don't wanna go that deep, that's fine; at least you did the research and know what you're talking about. See, unlike some fans in this Mythos, I really don't care if you like the game or not - just don't act like you know everything from only the game, and we'll be fine. In fact (and I realize this might sound a bit radical to some of my more serious fellow Slenderfans), I still consider those people Slenderman fans - they're just fans of different aspects of the Mythos than me and I'm alright with that, because I try very hard NOT to be an enormous bitch. ^w^

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The subject is only a tool and so is the idea. The method is the way of delivering the idea into an original form. So the method is more valuable than the subject itself. This is how movies work. You should know that short films are a way different thing than vlogs/blogs. They have a different dramaturgic structure and different audiovisual paradigms. There is nothing bad with vlogs, I'm not in any way disgracing them, but this is not a vlog and that is why I feel it shouldn't be compared to a vlog.

Well you don't need to get so defensive... nobody's attacking you here. We promise we're not trying to bite your head off. But see, most of us here are going to compare your story to stories we consider good - and many, MANY of those stories ARE vlogs. We're not trying to say your story is/should be a vlog. We're just looking in our repertoire of things we've seen and enjoyed, and trying to offer you a little bit of help. But since you don't seem to WANT that help, I don't really understand what you want to accomplish here. Why are you offering this film to people that, according to you, apparently don't want it? If the film's apparently not FOR us more serious Slenderfans, the ones that actually vlog and blog and play the ARGs and stuff, then why are you promoting it on a site made up exclusively of those people and not on a site about the games? If you don't want help, why'd you post on a site where we give help to people who make short films and series? If you don't want anyone's opinion and are just looking for views and commentary, why post in a place that runs on people giving their opinions about things happening in the Mythos?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, and I'm not attacking you. I'm just rather confused here and trying to assume the positive where many others would assume the negative, that's all. I do wanna see this film, if it's going to be good, because I loved the game Slender. But sheesh, you're coming off as acting a bit like you think we're trying to throw you to the wolves. XD

I have to frown on the fact that your first post on this forum was a plug, and not an introduction. That's more of a guideline than a strict rule, but we see this site as more of a community for slender-fans than as a venue for self-promotion :/ In fact, the "new members can't post links for seven days" thing is in place specifically to prevent things like this.

I'm honestly not sure how great a reception your final product will get here, considering you've said that the vlogs we love "did nothing for you". Trying to come into an established fanbase with an idea that's different from what they're used to, different from what they know they like, that's not often easy.

It's great that you have film-making ambitions, but for me at least, part of the appeal of Slender-videos and the like is that anyone with a camera can do it. That's a reason that any Slender Man-based film is a little off-putting to me, personally. I can't speak directly for anyone else, but I know most other "slenderman short film" attempts have also not been very well-received around here. But then again, it's pretty clear you didn't make this movie with more involved slender-fans in mind.

I was about to post a long rant about how much plug and runners annoy me, and how I utterly hated you and it was a few paragraphs long. I think I'll just second Banana's post instead.

You know what? Exactly what Bananas said. I just wanted to at least try and give the benefit of the doubt here.

I've learned so much and gotten so much more involved in this Mythos than when I first joined last month, and I'm still a naive little newb at heart. :c

Plugging and running is off-putting, but I still would like to see something that fans aren't used to. The Slender Man we know and love and the tropes we consider common are considered to be too off-beat and different by "Surgists" who love the original Slender Man concepts.

I respect this guy's idea to make this Slenderman-based short film. So what, the first post he made was about his product he is making, but that doesn't make him someone who should be hated.

It's not the fact that he made a post about a film, Aut0tr0ph, it's that his very, very first post was advertising his film. That is called "Plugging and Running" and we don't like it here because SN's had issues with that in the past. Therefore when we see a thread like this, some of us can get up in arms about it due to the fact that we've seen it so many times before, where people post threads about films that never get off the ground or have to do with aspects of the Mythos that just don't interest some of us.

tl;dr - It's not him, it's past bad blood from other users that color some users' perceptions. Surely you can understand that. And it's nice of you to defend him, but please don't try to be a crusader for some perceived wrong we're committing. We do have a reason for our ire and we're not just trying to mindlessly bash or shut him down.

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Well you don't need to get so defensive... nobody's attacking you here. We promise we're not trying to bite your head off. But see, most of us here are going to compare your story to stories we consider good - and many, MANY of those stories ARE vlogs. We're not trying to say your story is/should be a vlog. We're just looking in our repertoire of things we've seen and enjoyed, and trying to offer you a little bit of help. But since you don't seem to WANT that help, I don't really understand what you want to accomplish here. Why are you offering this film to people that, according to you, apparently don't want it? If the film's apparently not FOR us more serious Slenderfans, the ones that actually vlog and blog and play the ARGs and stuff, then why are you promoting it on a site made up exclusively of those people and not on a site about the games? If you don't want help, why'd you post on a site where we give help to people who make short films and series? If you don't want anyone's opinion and are just looking for views and commentary, why post in a place that runs on people giving their opinions about things happening in the Mythos?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, and I'm not attacking you. I'm just rather confused here and trying to assume the positive where many others would assume the negative, that's all. I do wanna see this film, if it's going to be good, because I loved the game Slender. But sheesh, you're coming off as acting a bit like you think we're trying to throw you to the wolves. XD

I'm confused by your reaction as well. I am not by any means outraged by your comments. It's only that I felt my intentions were not really understood well, and now, as I read, it seems that I haven't really understood the intentions of your forums either. I did read the rules of the forums carefully but I didn't notice a step that clearly forbids advertising your artistic products if they fit the common theme of the forum.

And as for the heart of the debate: I understood this forum as a general forum of Slender Man fans. Therefore it would be logical to spread consciousness about the product here. Where in this do you see the part in which I am insulting your community? Whatever that part may be, if such exists, I am terribly sorry. Should I have said that I love everything done about Slender Man only to access your gratidute even if it would be a total lie? I can only say for what I've seen and felt myself.

I haven't noticed a part in which I claim you dont want to see the film. Where did this idea come from? Do you by this indicate that hardcore-Slender Fans don't want to see anything out of script at all even though they've seen the script a million times? Or even try? I'd like to think that this isn't true. I felt this is a community based on Slender Man - not a community based on vlogs based on Slender Man. If, however, this IS the case, then forget about me - I'm in a wrong place: or direct me somewhere more spesific for this. But if such is the case, then I would say that there is something pretty misleading about the forum outlook, with topics such as "Slender Media" which atleast to me, implies all kind of media based on Slender Man. If, however, this is not the case, then I dont see what is the big fuss here?

EDIT: I see that using this forum is a bit more personal to you than it is to me. I consider forums as bases of information, not friendship. Therefore I didnt feel necessary to commit to the community as a person (as I dont really feel that anything based solely on internet can access a personal commitment from me). If you find this offending, then there is not much I can say expect that I didn't understand the purpose of this forum as you've maybe thought of it.

EDIT2: Now that I've read and thought about what mr. Banana said over there I'm actually getting a little desperate. Maybe you're right. If you really do feel that way, I'm sorry for wasting your time. If you dont want anyone to bring anything new to Slender Man, you should maybe add it to your rules list. Make it really safe, you know.

I'm going to provide the counter-argument that not everything new is necessarily good. I mean hey, you guys played Slender, and now you make a movie about him because it clearly hasn't been done before either, right?

What Banana said in her post pretty much sums up how I feel about this whole thread in general. That's where we're coming from. A movie about Slender Man isn't some new thing. People have tried before. There's a few threads where someone's brought their movie idea or actual movie here and the reception to most of them hasn't been well.

Some movies are good enough to promote the suspension of disbelief, but when it comes to the Slender Man, the original charm in it was that people thought he was real. That's why the vlogs and blogs became so popular. It made you question if it was real or not. You didn't know what it would do to you when it caught you. You don't know why it's coming after you. You don't know what it wants. That's the fear. Quite akin to the fear of death, because you don't know what will happen when it finally embraces you.

... And then there's Slender. The game. You collect 8 pages in the park at night for some reason while he's coming after you. Slender is a fun game. You play it. You get the shit scared out of you by some new creature. And then he gets you and you're "dead" in the game. Slender takes the luster out of The Slender Man. Without that fear there, it kind of ruins the point of him. He just ends up as some generic killer monster that's part of the same cliche thing to get jump scares out of people.

From what you've said, instead of the shaky camera, you went for the third person view, right? The found footage style is one-half of what really sells the Slender Man. That's why vlogs like MarbleHornets got so popular. It's presented in a way that you feel like it could be real. A more traditional style of filming it like a movie takes that charm away.

Then you say that "the film explores the theme of the unknown, the feeling that almost everything is obscured and you can see only the limited area that the flashbulb shows us". While I applaud and appreciate that you understand the concept that the theme of Slender Man would the unknown, I feel as if you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. Enclosed spaces and a flashlight doesn't make things "the unknown".

What makes the vlogs and blogs work so well is that, for one, Slender Man doesn't just appear at night like some boogeyman. The dark helps contribute to the atmosphere, but Slender Man can be anywhere at any time. And when it comes after you, it doesn't just endlessly chase you. It lurks. It watches. And it might give pursuit for a time, but then it might stop and back off, only to torment you further. It might hurt the people you're close to. It might kill your pet or the neighbor's pet. It might not even hurt you. But in the end, we just don't know.

We don't know, and that's part of what makes the whole thing the unknown. You don't really know when he's going to finally get you, and it can drive you insane no matter how much you try to make sense of it. I don't think a movie can incorporate this sense of prolonged dread properly, or the long-term effects of it stalking someone.

You said that "this is the feeling I felt made the original game so effective".
What made the original game was jump-scares and the quick suspense buildup of trying to finish an objective before your timer is up, which the Slender game is chock full of. It works for the game because you know it's just a game, and suspense of waiting for him to pop up is really from you knowing that he's going to cause the game to end if he gets you. While that works for the game, it's not what you want to go for in a movie about Slender Man. What's worked for Slender Man, and has continued to work, is how his presence can instill fear. This is also where the found footage style comes into play, because he distorts electronics. Even in the Slender game, you're viewing the game from the camera's perspective. It can be utilized to let you know he's near, and it helps create better atmosphere for the audience. The static and distortion means he could definitely be around even if you can't see him, but it doesn't always lead up to him appearing. It's a tool that helps build up more suspense and keeps people on the edge when they think it's all clear, and even when the static is long gone, he could suddenly appear and bad things happen.

You also say "The horror doesn't arise when Slender Man is shown, but when you just wait for it and think about it but nothing really happens and the suspense is just growing unbearable". The other half of what sells the Slender Man, is Slender Man. Much like his motives, they way to create suspense with him can vary. One being the distortion method I already talked about, and you can also just have him lurk around. Because of his tall stature, he could even creep outside a 3rd floor window. Even just having him in the background can be creepy. In the movie, The Woman In Black, they pulled off a great method of having the titular entity lurking in the background of some scenes, not using music as a suspense builder, or having suspense built up and leading to nothing. The suspense of him being there can be enough to freak people out, since they might not even notice at first glance.

There's already some pre-established ground in the Mythos of what people generally do, yes. However, while drawing inspiration from the game isn't entirely bad, Slender is like the American remake of foreign films. The original is usually great, but then someone else comes along and tries to make it their own work, and it turns out to be worse than the original, or just plain bad. I mean hey, some of the blogs and vlogs aren't exactly great and do pull the same thing as everyone else. This is also why I say there is a sort of canon to the Mythos, despite how people say there is no canon. But personally, whenever someone says they're bringing something new to the table and they're mainly coming from the game as a way into the Slender Man Mythos, I really have to question how "new" it might be.

In the end, I have not seen your production and won't be able to pass full judgment on it until it's viewed, but this thread is just the reception of Slender Man fans in reaction to someone announcing a movie, and with a pre-existing fanbase, there's bound to be some negative reactions. How you handle the criticism is up to you entirely, and I can't say you've handled it too well. You're right that this is a forum for discussing Slender Man-related media, but there's also a community on this forum, much like there would be elsewhere and it helps to be mindful of that.

On another note, this is also why there's a rule against plug-and-running. It helps filter what people bring in for discussion, like the Let's Play videos of Slender, or the Real Life Slender game videos, or vlogs and/or blogs that are just carbon copies of pre-existing series and media. We figure that if it's actually going to be different, people are going to talk about it. We do like new things, despite the impression you might have formed about us. Some of us are just tired of people passing off something as new when it's already been done. I for one, have read too many topics about people wanting to make movies, and seen people make impossible fundraisers for Slender Man movies while people with little to no budget pop out quality videos. Hell, I even know one movie that can't be seen unless it's bought, and that leads to another discussion about people trying to make money out of Slender Man that I won't go into. It's simply a matter of this not being new to us. I mean I'd be happy to see the final result of your film, but from the community standpoint the game is pretty frowned upon and you've definitely made it clear you came into finding out about Slender Man from the game, which can hold a lot of weight when looking into how one would view the Slender Man. You even said:

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So as I watch these other videos, the only thing that I think is: "This is not the way I'd do this."

And if you're saying that about the vlogs, that honestly worries me.

Thanks for that Zander, even if I don't personally fully agree with you 100% about that game I agree about everything else.

You, however, Brainfog, are starting to chafe me just a bit. I honestly don't know what your issue is, but I think you might be misunderstanding things I and others are saying on purpose. And that makes me kinda sad. :c

Brainfog wrote:

I'm confused by your reaction as well. I am not by any means outraged by your comments.

Could have fooled me. Judging by your reaction to the criticism that's been presented here, even the nicer criticism, you just don't do well being told that people don't like or just might not be interested in your product. You're coming across as annoyed at our opinions, and that does not foster respect in you or good, positive discussion in this or any community. And while we might be a forum about the Slenderman, we're also a community here.

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I did read the rules of the forums carefully but I didn't notice a step that clearly forbids advertising your artistic products if they fit the common theme of the forum.

Because there is not a step or rule that forbids creativity as it pertains to the Slenderman or its Mythos. There is, however, a rule that discourages Plug-And-Run posting, or posting just to advertise a series. We also, as a general rule, don't have a very high opinion on people whose first posts are there JUST to advertise a series, blog, film, Let's Play, game, etc. And I don't want to back-seat mod, so I'm gonna let a mod link you to the rules or post that rule instead. Otherwise the rules are stickyed at the top of every board for you to re-read if you don't believe me.

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And as for the heart of the debate: I understood this forum as a general forum of Slender Man fans. Therefore it would be logical to spread consciousness about the product here. Where in this do you see the part in which I am insulting your community? Whatever that part may be, if such exists, I am terribly sorry. Should I have said that I love everything done about Slender Man only to access your gratidute even if it would be a total lie? I can only say for what I've seen and felt myself.

And I admire your honesty. It's good you wanted to spread awareness about your product and chose this forum as a venue for that. That's a logical conclusion to come to. But see, I don't think you understand the culture of this community of Slenderfans. The culture here, for the most part, does not like things about the game Slender. This community for the most part looks down on that game and feels it's overdone. Not every person here feels that way, but that is the general consensus here and that's not really just gonna change. We are not angry you posted that here, in fact, we're not angry at all and we are NOT insulted. We're just expressing annoyance at yet another film based on that game. Should we lie about how we feel and blindly praise your work when the majority of us do not feel that way? IT IS NOT YOU, Brainfog. Please don't act in a way that makes it appear that you think everything is your fault/revolves around you, because right now, that's what it looks like.

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I haven't noticed a part in which I claim you don't want to see the film. Where did this idea come from?

Because none of us have said we don't want to see it. What we've said is we're tired of the idea behind this film. It's been done before and some of us feel there cannot be anything new added to it. I will probably watch the film just to see what you're doing, because it looks like you're adapting the game, but I am a MUCH more open and laid-back Slenderfan. Not every Slenderfan is like me. Plus, you just said this:

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this is not a vlog and that is why I feel it shouldn't be compared to a vlog.

This:

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I have watched some of the vlogs/short films that are out there. I cant
really recall any names because they all seemed so alike.

And this:

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as I watch these other videos, the only thing that I think is: "This is not the way I'd do this."

Which is VERY worrisome to us because we hold the vlogs in high regard here; some of us even create those vlogs, and we in general consider THOSE to be the template and basis for research you should use for any Slenderfilm. Not the game Slender. What you've done, whether you realize it or not, is discredit the hard work people have put into these stories and tell us "No no no, THOSE aren't what THIS is, my film's BETTER than that! Slender is the true template that REALLY provides the fear, interest, and new ideas for the Mythos!" I'm sure that is NOT your intent, but please understand - that is how we read it, and that reading is very insulting to us.

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Do you by this indicate that hardcore-Slender Fans don't want to see anything out of script at all even though they've seen the script a million times? Or even try? I'd like to think that this isn't true.

Some would say, "Yes, exactly that." I would say no, if you can make the movie be truly different and truly think that you can play with this overdone idea in a way that has not been seen and that actually seems to come from a place that cares about the Mythos. Because right now, I see lots of love for the game, but not the extended Mythos, and that makes me kinda worried about the quality of this film. It's just not very convincing or reassuring to us, Brainfog.

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I felt this is a community based on Slender Man - not a community based on vlogs based on Slender Man. If, however, this IS the case, then forget about me - I'm in a wrong place: or direct me somewhere more spesific for this. But if such is the case, then I would say that there is something pretty misleading about the forum outlook, with topics such as "Slender Media" which atleast to me, implies all kind of media based on Slender Man. If, however, this is not the case, then I dont see what is the big fuss here?

This is a community based on the Slenderman Mythos. That includes vlogs, blogs, ARGs, movies, games, and other things. But you've run into a trap of culture-clashing. You like the game and respect the game, and we really don't all that much here. We are interested in Slenderman Media. IF it brings something new to the Mythos. And this idea, I'm sorry, just doesn't appear to here. We have seen this idea literally a million times. We are oversaturated with this concept. We are tired of it. I really wish you would have lurked a bit and looked at the forum culture first instead of just posting your film and hoping for the best, because we're not all like the newer Slenderfans here. They'd be happy to see this. Most of us? Not really.

And I'm sorry, but now you're making me mad. Excuse me? We're "misleading you" when you can clearly see the reaction to other films like yours in the Slender Media board? We're "misleading you" when several people have clearly stated by now that they are skeptical that your film will be good based on the idea you started it on? What do you want us to do about it, make a rule saying we're sick of it or a warning just because you got upset that we didn't like your idea? Please, please don't make me get sarcastic with you; I don't want to right now and I am really trying to restrain myself from that because the last thing I want is a flamewar and I'm currently perceiving you as stubborn enough to start one, and I KNOW I am stubborn enough to want to end one.

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EDIT: I see that using this forum is a bit more personal to you than it is to me. I consider forums as bases of information, not friendship. Therefore I didnt feel necessary to commit to the community as a person (as I dont really feel that anything based solely on internet can access a personal commitment from me). If you find this offending, then there is not much I can say expect that I didn't understand the purpose of this forum as you've maybe thought of it.

... I don't mean to insult you, but have you ever used a forum before, or is this your first time? Forums are communities, Brainfog. They exist for people with similar interests to discuss things as a community. That includes information, friendship, debate and discussion. It's not just a place where you annouce things happening; that's what a blog or facebook page or twitter is for. If you feel that an online COMMUNITY cannot engage you, then why post on one? I personally find it annoying that you think it's okay not to contribute anything more than posting an advertisement. That's called spam, not contributing.

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EDIT2: Now that I've read and thought about what mr. Banana said over there I'm actually getting a little desperate. Maybe you're right. If you really do feel that way, I'm sorry for wasting your time. If you dont want anyone to bring anything new to Slender Man, you should maybe add it to your rules list. Make it really safe, you know.

... Okay, now I'm pissed off. Congratulations, you just pissed off the nice one, the one person here that was willing to defend you despite the fact that you're acting like you can't take a single spec of criticism on a forum where that is the norm in regards to new series and movies about this character.

WE. DO. WANT. NEW. SLENDERMAN. CONTENT. I can't figure out where you pulled this conclusion from (although I have an idea of where), but it is NOT true that we don't value new ideas in this Mythos. I literally cannot see anything in this thread that anyone has posted that has in any way indicated that we don't want new ideas in the Mythos. What we ACTUALLY don't want is anything else pertaining to Slender because we are sick and fucking tired of hearing about it. Even I, who actually liked the game and still like the game, am sick and fucking tired of hearing about it. THIS IS NOT A NEW IDEA. IT IS NOT REVOLUTIONARY. You are not adding anything new to the Mythos by doing a story based on that game, because it's a limited perspective and very small part of the whole Mythos and it is an extremely alienating part of the Mythos to boot. You are looking at one branch on the whole bloody tree, but you have admitted that you dislike most of the tree, and disregarding it as a result instead of learning anything from it. That sounds like nothing but arrogance and willful ignorance about the rest of the Mythos to me - oh, just take the one itty-bitty little part you liked that got popular, and fuck the rest, nobody cares anyway! Newsflash, buddy - the fad. Is. Over. All the little fairweather fans have moved on to something new. It's been months since that game was relevant. Nobody's going to watch your film because Slender is overdone and it has been for several months now. What about this can't you understand? The mods aren't going to make an arbitrary rule about something you THINK we want just because you THINK we want it. We criticized your film because the idea does not present anything new to us, and if you can't accept or handle that criticism, that is NOT a problem with us. That's a problem with you. And that is incredibly sad.

Maybe you should try posting on forums for those games, because that's not all this forum is about. And next time, test the waters of a forum's community before you just blindly assume things about that community that ARE NOT TRUE.

Shadows out. I need to go cool down.

EDIT: I am so, so sorry for the rant but I had to say something about it because I'm sick of bullshitting around and being nice when people accuse me and the community I love of things that we never did or said. Move this to the Flamewars thread if you have to, but again, I'm sorry for exploding.

EDIT Pt. 2: No really, I feel really bad about what I said here originally (I was guilt-tripping my whole shift tonight at work) so I have edited the ranty parts slightly to A) make a better point and B) take a little bit of the harshness out. This isn't the Flamewars thread and I'm kind of ashamed that I let myself post like it was. If the mods want me to take it down, just say something. I've just been having a bad week this week and have been kind of snappish lately. *sheepishly stares at floor*

I haven't weighed in here before because I actually have very little exposure to the Slender game, but I've built up a small piece to say on the matter.

Firstly, I think there's a large amount of miscommunication going on in this thread. And I hate to say it, but I feel like the greater part is coming from us Slender Nationites. :\

The brief description Brainfog gave of his film actually sounds very little like the game Slender. Nothing like it, in fact. I guess what he meant was his film was based around the "feeling" of Slender? Not having played the game, I can't really comment on that. But what was said about the plot of the film kind of harkens back to the original mythos, what with the Slender Man seemingly going after this young girl and all.

I did go and find your teaser, Brainfog. Didn't get much out of it (being a teaser and all), but aside from the piles of names I'll never recognize, there was a grainy close-up of someone's face and a bunch of disjointed images flashing around. Honestly, made me think of the Blair Witch movie and proxy videos from Slendervlogs, respectively. Given what you've said here about trying to get away from those kinds of things, I'm not sure what your teaser was supposed to evoke.

As others have pointed out, you did get a little overly defensive at the first sign of opposition, so I don't think I need to get into that too much again. I think that horse has been sufficiently flogged.
And you did have the exact opposite idea of this forum when coming in. (Not sure how innocent of a mistake that is; it's been ages since I signed up.) We're a community first, and an ad platform somewhere way after that.

You know what, Bismuth? I did go look back at the thread some and re-read what was going on with a fresh perspective... Maybe I shouldn't have assumed he was just adapting the game, and I shouldn't have gotten so angry when I saw what I THOUGHT was him saying that he thought the game was better than the rest of the Mythos and that he was going to add another Slender game film clone to the pack of far too many Slender game film clones. I probably assumed too much, and you know what they say about assuming, right?

Anyway, I'm sorry if I came off too harsh, Brainfog. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions about this, if I did and if this film IS meant to just evoke the feeling of the game and not actually re-do the game. I misunderstood if that was your intent. I'll still watch this because, again, I did like the game, just because it WAS my first experience with a very small part of the Mythos. I understand where you're coming from here and I admire your will to put this film together. So, good luck with it, and again, I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions.