In Conversation with Director Pedro F.D. Silva: The Vision Behind Paralysis

Interview with Pedro — Director of Paralysis

In this interview, Pedro opens up about the creative and personal motivations behind Paralysis, a proof-of-concept short film that delves into the terrifying experience of sleep paralysis with a psychological and supernatural twist. He discusses the challenges of balancing nuanced storytelling with horror, the importance of working with a trustworthy crew, and the journey of turning a deeply personal experience into a powerful cinematic concept. From creative inspirations to memorable on-set moments, Pedro gives us an inside look at the making of Paralysis and why the project has always been destined for the big screen.

Q: What is Paralysis and what's the goal with this short film?
Pedro: Paralysis is a proof of concept, which means that we're going to take this short and we're going to use it to show what we can do for a feature film. There is so much richness to the backstory of every character. There's so much to play around with in this concept of sleep paralysis, but it being with a supernatural element to it. Obviously, in the short we have a very small amount of time that we have to be able to deliver not only the essence of the premise of the film, but also all these subtleties with the characters.

Q: Why did you decide to develop Paralysis into a feature?
Pedro: Having the actual feature would give us enough space to explore everything that we actually need to explore in order for the story to be as good as it possibly can be. So, the plan has always been for Paralysis to be a feature, and that is because we just tapped into the potential of it and we actually need to be able to bring out all of it so that we can properly enjoy this thing that I am incredibly proud of.

Q: What inspired Paralysis creatively and personally?
Pedro: There’s two different types of inspiration. The first one is creative, and that is from many different types of content that I've consumed. You see some very impressive things that just people post on social media and they just do it with their phones. So, I wanted to create something that gave it a kind of raw feel without having to rely on insane budgets from studios and all that. The personal side of it is I grew up having pretty bad sleep paralysis, nothing to the level of the film, once you watch it. Even still, having that experience made me want to create something around it.

Q: What was the biggest challenge for you as a director?
Pedro: The biggest challenge for me was treating the issues that we address in the short with not only tact, so that nothing feels like it's just being used for shock value, but also with this kind of nuanced approach... if you're going to show a scene that is touching on issues of what we mentioned before with emotional abuse, it can't be done carelessly. It needs to be done with consideration, it needs to be done after you do your research, when you talk to people and you actually understand the issue better than just approaching it blindly and potentially hurting people that didn't really sign up to be hurt when they're watching the film.

Q: What kind of horror experience were you aiming for with Paralysis?
Pedro: In horror, whenever we're building this atmosphere of tension and suspense, a lot of it is not just through jump scares. Jump scares have their place and I enjoy a good sort of jumpy film, but I do prefer to kind of lean in more into the psychological side of it... everything that can contribute to this sense of just something is off, something is wrong here. In terms of which film I would compare it to... I would love to say something like The Conjuring, although that one is a pretty high bar. If I was able to get to 10% of what they achieve with The Conjuring, I would be incredibly proud with Paralysis.

Q: Any favorite moments from set?
Pedro: One of my favorite moments on set was when we had our sleep paralysis demon and it just looked really good, it looked great. It was one of those moments that you can tell that it's going to look even better in the edit. Just seeing that guy, he's like 6'9", so even without the costume he's massive and we're all just looking at him like, what the f***?

Q: What was your biggest takeaway from the shoot?
Pedro: Just being able to fully trust your crew, your heads of department. They know what they're doing. If you have the sound guy doing his thing, you don't want to be overbearing. He knows what he's doing.

Q: What was it like working with Oasis Studios?
Pedro: Working with a production company, specifically Oasis, made the entire difference because when you're directing, producing and writing, it takes a lot of mental energy. So Oasis was able to take so much off of my plate, dealing with all the stuff that is to do with equipment, dealing with a lot of contract stuff so I didn't have to touch it and it made the process so much smoother.

Q: How would you describe Paralysis in one sentence?
Pedro: It's the terror of being in a situation where wherever you look you don't really see an escape and even if the escapes are quite obvious, you don't see them. And the sense of being paralyzed doesn't only come through the actual sleep paralysis but it's everything in the main character's life.