Hell is Other People
Tri-Screen Installation and Single-Screen Film
2025 | Noah Read, Hannah Blackwell and Peter Miller, with Eliana Folin & Robyn Dean
Recorded at London Gallery West, 'Hell is Other People' is the product of a heretical infiltration of The Central Corporation's official screening for 'Trial of a Heretic'. Step inside the screening room and become an audience member, experiencing the immersive event in 360º — or experience the film in two-dimensions with the single-screen cinematic cut.
Caution: Contains strong language and violence.
Cast & Crew
Written and Directed by Noah Read
Produced by Hannah Blackwell
INTERROGATOR — Hannah Blackwell
RAY — Noah Read
MAGNUS — Peter Miller
GUARD — Oliver Sherwood
Creative Director — Noah Read
Artistic Direction — Noah Read & Hannah Blackwell
Production Manager — Eliana Folin
Editor — Noah Read
1st Assistant Director — Hannah Blackwell
2nd Assistant Director — Eliana Folin
Directors of Photography — Noah Read & Hannah Blackwell
Production Supervisors — Hannah Blackwell & Eliana Folin
Unreal Engine Operator — Peter Miller
Green Screen Camera Operator — Peter Miller
Unreal Backgrounds — Peter Miller
Camera Operators — Hannah Blackwell, Eliana Folin, Peter Miller, Noah Read, Robyn Dean & Oliver Sherwood
Sound Engineer — Ellie Holmes
Boom Operator — Oliver Sherwood
Lighting Designers — Robyn Dean, Noah Read, & Hannah Blackwell
Behind the Scenes
This project worked a little differently to usual, as instead of starting with a narrative idea, we started with a two-word brief: 'hybrid realities'. From here, we developed the concept of a film for multiple screens, using environments powered by Unreal Engine, and screened in a theatre with a live audience, incorporating performance elements into the installation. We next considered expanded cinema — almost like 3D cinema, but without the need for glasses. We could have smoke / sparks / insects / water / etc. physically come out of the screen, projected onto the walls and using haze machines and in-room lighting, with physical aspects (like blood capsules bursting and leaking out of the screen, or water leaking through) powered by Arduino. This is a (very rough!) sketch of how this could work, if we planted an audience member to be shot through the screen, breaking the forth wall in an extremely physical, performance-based way.
After this, we discussed the possibility of using multiple screens to display different views or aspects of the film. We briefly discussed narrative ideas and the idea of using a horror style with Unreal-powered environments. We looked at existing scripts, particularly from theatre, as inspiration. Hannah suggested the French play 'No Exit' by Jean-Paul Sartre, where three dead people are locked in a room together for eternity, when they discover that that is to be their punishment. It explores the idea that 'hell is other people'. I loved this play when I first read it, so it would have been extremely interesting to use it in some way, whether directly or just as inspiration.
I also suggested Mike Leigh's 'Abigail's Party,' a play I was in in 2023. The extremely dry, extremely British comedy plays out like a farce, with the genuinely cringing humour coming from our character's misfortunes and misunderstandings more than anything else. There is no character you like or hate more than the next, and this works beautifully. This spawned the idea of a dinner party, with three screens showing three adjacent rooms. This could play out as either a comedy or a horror, depending on the action that happens.