Night Whispers

I’m particularly drawn to darker, more atmospheric imagery, and the opportunity to lens a horror-comedy provided the perfect playground to explore the relationship between light and shadow. The visual approach needed to build genuine suspense while retaining enough character and tonal control to support the film’s eventual comedic payoff.

A key part of developing the cinematography was determining how movement could be used to shape the audience’s understanding of the characters and their motivations. From the outset, every movement was designed to feel intentional. We moved between handheld, static and dolly shots depending on the emotional requirements of each scene, using the camera to gradually build tension rather than simply following the action.

Lighting became another essential storytelling tool, guiding the viewer through the changing tone of the narrative. I developed a heavily stylised palette built around rich tungsten warmth and icy greens, creating an oppressive, almost toxic atmosphere that heightened the unease leading towards the punchline. For the lens package, I chose Nikon AI-S lenses for their distinctive vintage character. Their deep blacks and organic rendering brought texture to the image, while shooting wide open introduced a soft, cinematic glow to highlights — perfectly complementing the film’s dark and stylised world.

Adrian Rale is a director specialising primarily in horror-comedy shorts, with an audience of more than 120,000 followers on Instagram. We had discussed collaborating for several years before this project came together, so when Adrian shared three potential scripts with me, this particular story immediately stood out.

The script’s sustained sense of tension, combined with a perfectly timed and deliberately jarring reveal, offered a strong foundation for the kind of tonal balance that makes horror-comedy so effective. From the outset, I was drawn to the challenge of helping build genuine suspense while ensuring the eventual payoff landed with both surprise and humour.

During pre-production, we worked closely through each beat of the script, identifying how the pacing, performances and visual language could guide the audience through the narrative. Every decision needed to feel intentional, gradually building unease before releasing that tension at precisely the right moment. The resulting film stayed true to the strength of Adrian’s original script while allowing the production to bring its own visual identity to the story. The collaboration resulted in a piece that delivered the tension, surprise and comedic release we set out to achieve, while offering a fresh addition to the horror-comedy space.

Official selections at over 15 festivals internationally including Oscars, BAFTA and BIFA qualifiers.