INSIDE THE FEAR - THE MAKING OF FISH FOOD!

[00:00:02] Oiii, Moulternthes! Are you a fan of breaking down personal boundaries, professional distance and the suspension of disbelief? Now, me neither. Well tough, because I'm going to pull back the curtain and reveal the orderably erected man in the shower. That's right. It's behind the scenes time!

[00:00:26] Ever wonder, my house of fear pulled off the first series of terror tapes? I haven't. I was there! It involved highly contentious number of innocent lives, versioned down a well. 200 yards from my favorite ashtree. It's all on Ramonfear.com and that terror tapes part on the so-shows.

[00:00:45] But that's not enough for you. Shuman's, no! So the next three voices you hear will be three of the four members of my house of fear, Ramel. But don't let that put you off! They're all new-tured! Presenting in no particular order, co-creators, Alex Nincenia and Samuel Arthomas,

[00:01:11] and producer, sound engineer and bucket technician Odinorn Hill Marcen. Now listen! Greetings! We are the House of Fear. My name is Alex Lynch. I'm Samuel Thomas, and I'm Odinorn Hill Marcen. And we make a podcast called Ramonfears Territaps. I myself, and the co-creator, co-writer, and co-producer?

[00:01:41] I'm the co-creator and co-writer. And I'm a co-producer and I do the sound and music. Fittingly, I've lost it. But that's fine because I can remember the opening question was what were the inspirations? Yeah! Fish food! Oh look, keep your head up.

[00:01:58] Look at the thing you've got to find immediately in your phone doesn't shut in the face. Anyway this is gold. Yeah, you...this is all going in. Yeah, yeah. So can I ask you? Of course they can. What are the inspirations behind Fish Food in the story?

[00:02:11] First and foremost, Dara, what are you into? Because basically, Fish Food was me wanting to write my own kind of superior. Jalow! Jalow! Jalow! Jalow! Jalow! Jalow's story. Also I had... Oh god, in like sort of just...I have like a sort of doctor-like random stupid pitch ideas.

[00:02:43] I went through a sort of... ...kind of like doing... ...like a month while I was doing pitch a day. So I can't put the pitch for like a TV show. Something we were going to do. I was like, yeah. And it wouldn't be shown to anyone.

[00:02:55] It was just a kind of trying to keep my brain... ...creative brain going when I really kind of stalled. And one idea I came with is a murder in an aquarium. And I didn't do anything with the idea, but I was like the idea of there.

[00:03:08] It was...name in a murder in an aquarium. And the reason I'm in the aquarium is because... ...so... ...actually again, kind of thinking about the music. So in the carnival of the animals, my Camille Sassant, there is a beautiful track called Aquarium, which is very hypnotic,

[00:03:27] very kind of atmospheric and dreamlike. And I always associated... ...a aquariums with that... ...with that sort of feeling, very kind of quite zen. And just very compelling watching... ...the secret just kind of... ...and I want to create... ...in the same way that our genzo creates aesthetically.

[00:03:52] And with the colors, I want to do with the audio equivalent of creating just a very sort of like... ...beautiful sounding and again, I hypnotic sort of peace. Yeah. And the other thing as well, which was purely by accident,

[00:04:13] was I shoved on just a best of goblin on Spotify. And I didn't look at what the tracks were called. I just put on shuffle, whatever. And as I was writing it, I decided to call the main character Jennifer.

[00:04:27] I can't remember why it was just a name, just a name that popped out of nowhere. And then at one point when I was writing her first kind of monologue, I really liked this particular track I was hearing.

[00:04:38] And I looked at what it was called, and it was called Jennifer. Ah! Oh, okay. Yeah, so that was a kind of like... Okay, it's odd. Yeah. And yeah, it was just... ...yeah, I just again wanted to do that.

[00:04:56] I think it was also one of our early contenders. We've decided pretty early on, it was in the... ...in least the long list for the series. It's definitely one of the cool pieces. And also doing it as like a kind of... ...with the voice over.

[00:05:11] And then you're very... That was very... That was very in the sanctum. Yeah. That was very kind of... It's this wonderful fusion, I think, of that sort of... ...50s slightly detached, dreaming us. Yeah. And without it actually being out of sync,

[00:05:27] somehow the same qualities as the jealous sort of audio being a little bit... ...disconnected for real, it's right. Oh, yeah. I don't know if that's a happy accident or... Ah, thank you so much. I think we said it, it's thanks to it. It's a special...

[00:05:40] It was a special... No, it was a special... No, no. We gave them extensive notes. Oh, it's good. Be more track it, yes. We played them, played them clips, I remember. Yes. It was, I say.

[00:05:52] I mean, because people are watching us into this and haven't heard some of the other things we talked about. The inner sanctum was a 1940s and 50s radio series, American Radio series. It was like a Chora Anthology and kind of B-movieish... But like radio. Yeah.

[00:06:14] This is what we took as a big influence towards Territain's in general, but also to fish food. I mean, there was a lot of narration in... Yes. I mean, not in every episode, but they really wonderful sort of slightly hysterical. Yes.

[00:06:33] And it was very much the episode where we decided... Because I say, it wasn't like the first one we wrote because that was... That was Lisa's life, but it was definitely the point when we decided we wanted to make music a big part of it.

[00:06:48] Because we were writing these like monologue essentially for Jennifer's character, played by Lexima Dugel to perfection. And because it was a kind of like monologue and very much in your area, we were like... This has to have like incredible soundscape and... School. You see, go with it.

[00:07:12] And it definitely has the most amount of music of all of that. Yeah, but again, that's why it's been... That's why Alexander was right in the first episode of series. Because when people hear that as the first episode,

[00:07:25] it sort of nails what we're going for, what the show is, what we are trying to do. The other two... The other two, like brilliant essence of the show as well, I think that is a good starting point. Yes. It was absolutely the right move to make.

[00:07:43] Because we were calling card, I mean Lexima Dugel. Oh my God. And Bethel? Yes. The audio drama queen Bethel. I mean to be honest, the double act. Absolutely. I think there's something so funny about putting Bethel who plays such rich and beloved characters in audio drama.

[00:08:07] And taking me from wood and overcoats, being the bad guy. So just having that sort of be sort of... Just awful. I don't think I'm playing like that. Yeah, wonderful. Once again, yeah, yeah. And then we got Paul Orborough as the head of the aquarium,

[00:08:24] who some of you might know is Professor Elemental. Oh yes. And he is a big horror nerd. Yes. He's someone I've known for years. And he was a huge horror nerd. So I was just like, when I first told him we were making this,

[00:08:38] it was like, you're going to get involved right? And he was like, I'd love to. So that wasn't really good one. And then also there are cameo spots from myself, from Odin, from Sam, from John last Ironhounds, from Alexander as well. That's right.

[00:08:55] And the voice of Dot who is the character who dies at the beginning is one Agnes O'Kacey who was the lead in BBC's drama Ridley Road. And he's a, I'm going to leave the film, but as a film she's in with Laura

[00:09:13] and Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, like she's... She's doing pretty well. Yeah, she did tell us this was preferable to all of that. Yeah, she didn't want to be credited for that reason. Of course, for her. Yeah, that's very great. I mean, she, she very much, she said,

[00:09:27] I think it's a direct quote. She said, the rest or everything else I've done that isn't this bullshit. Yeah, yeah. I just think that's such a testament to the terror teams. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we're better than working with all those people.

[00:09:40] Yeah, I know, but she had to go as well. Yeah. Well, that's really uninteresting. But I just would, so in an attempt to really raise our game, I hope we can maybe go on to the music next. Yeah.

[00:09:58] Yeah, so I think this was also an example of something where when I read the script, I had a particular sort of image of what the sound of the music would sound like. And I sort of, I remember wanting it to have several different characters.

[00:10:14] The all the voiceovers with Lexi sort of really dreaming about the hypnotism and the draw of fish and the sea. I knew that I really wanted that to be like a genuinely sort of earnest and sincere sort of piece of music

[00:10:32] and have this sort of quality of it being genuinely this really much loved space for the character of Jit Jennifer. And then for everything sort of else to be sort of a bit more campy in a little bit more sinister. Because I think, um, yeah.

[00:10:52] And I'm not sure, I do remember the motif for Jennifer sort of when she's sort of really in her head, dreaming about about the sea and fish and how awesome it all is. That I actually, I sort of had an idea for what I wanted it to be.

[00:11:08] But I was whilst we were recording, I actually had my keyboard out and I was playing along to some of the recordings and that's where that came out. That's pretty cool. So that was born there.

[00:11:24] I did sort of going into, I did have an idea that like, I think I want, yeah, these sort of like, thirds scaling up. And yeah, took that, that I knew I sort of had to sort of feel,

[00:11:40] I wanted that to feel genuine because I remember you Alex saying, that maybe the you had in mind, I think that that's sweet for you just talk to you about. You know, that one is a, it's like that one or the water. No, okay. Yeah, yeah, quite right.

[00:12:03] Right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember releasing, you can't make me sing. You don't have to, don't worry. I remember you sending that to me sort of, not necessarily that being like your request of how it should sound,

[00:12:16] but that was sort of what was going on in your head. Remember hearing that thinking, oh God, that is a legitimate way to do it. Just to make it make it a bit, sort of, campy, this sort of, this,

[00:12:26] this interest of hers kind of heightened it in that way. But I just thought there'd be something really nice about taking Jennifer's love of the ocean and the sea. And fish and making it really earnest because she is this earnest character.

[00:12:41] You know, she has so much matter of fact, so straight. And there's something very sweet about that. And if you place that very honestly in the story, such as with the music and with the great performance that Lexi's done,

[00:12:57] then I think you get a lot of humor out of where she is, upon the part of fish out of water. Yeah. And sort of her earnestness doesn't really translate to the world that she's in. But in that regard, you know, that, that motif isn't super far,

[00:13:14] and the other sound palette that we have kind of throughout the episode, except I think when the, when, when dot. You have that sort of like piano moving in. That actually starts to go a bit more than I think.

[00:13:27] I mean, it's not super modern, but, but again, that's the range of the soundtracks. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, I don't know you guys really. Oh, I mean, such a high love my favorite bit is when it's the chase and the fight.

[00:13:41] And you've got the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, yeah, which is just, which very, very, reminded me of, I can't remember, it's, it's in superior in it's the, I think it's called Marcos, and it's the kind of,

[00:13:59] it's, it's a very similar sound, they piece of music. I, um, yeah, I can't remember, but it just, it was that thing of it. It goes very fast and that sort of, um, at the sort of danger point as well. So that, that is one of the themes.

[00:14:14] It's not the Jennifer admiring the C theme, but it's another theme, but just played really fast. Yeah, and I didn't notice that until I listened to the sounds. Oh, right. I'm tired of it. And I was like, oh my god, this is the same.

[00:14:27] Yeah, I'm moved to, yeah. It's probably, it worked because it builds and it works, it's probably in the fact that you've got like the aquarium offset with the cave, and then the shark tank and everything. And it's all kind of, it's also got this, um, really lovely,

[00:14:43] uh, I don't know what, it's not muffled, but almost like your behind glass. Yes, a little bit. It's nice, um, everybody fitting to the, some sort of scene. Definitely, I'm very, very intentional, and it also would be quite low sense,

[00:14:55] that I very filtered, so very closed and sort of feel like they're muffled, and underwater, under a lot of weight of, you know, dense momma kills. That sound can't really travel through and, and there is this also, it sort of opens up.

[00:15:08] So there is this sort of feeling of this, this sort of under, underground or under C mysteries kind of opening and revealing themselves to the listener or to Jennifer. Um, I'm trying to think of, I mean,

[00:15:23] I think that, I think, uh, I think fish food has almost has music throughout the entire thing. Yeah. And it was a bit of a challenge, because I don't think a lot of it was written by the time that we decided to release that one first.

[00:15:39] I think that decision was made halfway through. Yes. August, and we were going to release. We finished release the life. We'd already finished release of life pretty much. I had to give a little once over. Yes.

[00:15:50] I was going to do a new york at that time working on a job. And, uh, so it was, but it was the right decision to make. I do remember being in, at that time, really. In my Brooklyn apartment, just, I remember specifically, like,

[00:16:05] being on this, it was not fit for me to use that as a workspace. So I was just like, on this really tall 70s, like cocktail lounge chair,

[00:16:15] on a tiny circular desk with my little keyboard trying to make the soundtrack for a full fish food as quickly as I could. And I do remember us pushing the episodes back actually a little bit, because we kind of had to. Oh, yeah.

[00:16:30] Well, it's a made for you. You know, it wasn't rushed, you know, at that point. Yeah. And I mean, that is, that is my favorite music. I think it's my favorite as well. It's absolutely, yeah. I mean, it's sensational. I did put a lot of love.

[00:16:44] And like, that one I really wanted to have fun with. And the killing theme for the Charlotte and Wednesday clothes. Yeah. Oh, there's a few. I could get started in the video.

[00:16:56] Well, the other piece of music I'd like to talk about is on Bralas, which we touched upon. You might have been on a video. You might have this 80s synth. Very 80s. Yeah. First fake trailer. Yeah.

[00:17:07] I mean, it's one that, um, because that was the pretty much the first trailer that I did the score for. I sort of put in a lot of the 80s sort of tropes. There's the Lindrom, drum machine with the very famous sort of 80s. Maybe even 70s actually.

[00:17:21] Uh, it probably 80s drum machine. That's iconic, you know, you might not know it by name, but you know it by sound. Yeah. And you made a sound of you getting stabbed by umbrella? Yeah. So there's a, oh god. Yeah. There's, there's me throwing in a few desounds.

[00:17:37] And honestly, like, actually, there's a, there's a lot of sound effects of umbrellas. And I, I, I, I managed to find a lot of, you know, rustling sounds sounds of umbrellas. A lot of this and that a lot of umbrellas being open like that was all fine.

[00:17:51] But I just knew that there was something missing. And so, um, I think I remember because these umbrellas are in like, How do you make it sound like there's an umbrella in pailing another human being? You know, like that is actually, like, it's not that difficult.

[00:18:05] But like you had to have to figure that out. And so the, the thing that seemed obvious to me was getting a plastic coat hanger, taking it on this table and just going boiling. And so if you listen to it, like that is there.

[00:18:19] This is a lot of me going boiling. It's the loss sound effect. I see. It's in there. Yeah. We're looking for a way of being pioneering. That is it. Yes. We're just, we're just, we're kind of hanging on the table. Yeah. Yeah. Remember that? You can have that.

[00:18:35] This is our gift to horror. Um, or right now, have you ever been to an aquarium? I haven't been for ages. Do you hate them? Oh, are they sinister places? Uh, or are the fish, no? I mean, I mean, they could be.

[00:18:51] They have a potential to be sinister places. I love them. I actually find them incredibly serene. Yeah. We just thought we'd thought would. We just thought, yeah, I think that was the thing. It was like, where could we have heard it in like, you know, the most calm.

[00:19:04] Yeah. Because, you know, there's just not safe anywhere. But he definitely reflects Lexi's performance. Yeah. That's a floaty serenity as well. Yeah. It's kind of really. And it also like, her things she described up, take care of the octopus.

[00:19:19] What the octopus was always like, my favorite at the moment. Where are my scoots in the rice and the salad? Yeah. There was this octopus that just, um, I was just really fascinated by. And yeah, well, the giant aquarium in Barcelona is wonderful. Really recommend that. Yeah.

[00:19:39] So I don't know. I've just always been really, I've just, yeah, which really loved. And again, I think what helps is that piece of music. Because it's that association that I found that music really relaxing and calm. And because it painted a picture of like an aquarium. Hmm.

[00:19:55] I see that they kind of, it's a weird sort of like by association that I find it very. Yeah. Carming or yeah. So we'd like to apologize for anyone who's looking for a dark origin story. And I went to see world in every from rainbow exposed himself.

[00:20:08] Something like that. Didn't, didn't, didn't, has never happened. Has never happened. Bumble on the other hand. But right. Have I, I mean, I have a use of them. I've never exposed myself and see well. I've been close to you. It's time. It's very time.

[00:20:23] As I get older it seems more appropriate for you. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I kind of, it's been a while like like you say. I mean, I suppose there's a huge one in London. Yeah. I've not been able to go to that one but yes.

[00:20:39] I agree they're really calming. Yeah. But it kind of all adds to the kind of dream equality of performance. It's quite. I think with everything's dark. I'd love to go into an aquarium at night because the one thing that takes. Just kill all the fish.

[00:20:52] Well, the, the, the, the, the one thing that takes you out of the, the calmness of an aquarium is every. I've got a person. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I went into, I went into the Barcelona Aquarium.

[00:21:08] And I was in this like beautiful like place with like the octopus tanks. It was so lively. And then out of the corner you just hear this, Oh, they got a fuck off octopus here. And that's just like, oh my god. And it's like, you're like, oh, yeah.

[00:21:24] Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's a, so yeah. Yeah. People. They're the true horror. There are the true horror. So many ways I mean, you're advocating going wild in an aquarium and killing people. I mean, yeah. I advocate it.

[00:21:39] I mean surely speculating the possibility that it might not be such a bad idea. I agree. I agree. So it's all some problems. And how you guys want to act on that is entirely up to you. Yeah.

[00:21:51] And I'm just going to say, speaking of audience and direction we do have a question. Uh, and what are our weirdest fishes? Oh, my gosh. I can only really think of the angle of fish. The one that has the light and the draw and the special.

[00:22:02] It's all because it's all awful teeth. It's just, it's, I mean, that's horror. That's horror. I need me, my first. Oh, you're sending me. Yeah. Yeah. I was a risk area. I was remembered that the documentary, the deep sea, the kind of the documentary about the crevice,

[00:22:18] where they found all of the fuckers for the first time. Jesus Christ, the nightmare. You wouldn't worry. Imagine being the five person to see that. Yeah. That's horrible. Yeah. I can't get out quickly, but I'm out. I'm out.

[00:22:32] I stuck here for the next 45 minutes to go that much. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, this, yeah. And I mean, probably the puffer fish. Because it's the way it's just in fleets. In our body is, I mean, spiky and then I deflate everything. And it's just, I mean, that's weird.

[00:22:48] Yeah. That's not, no, no crevice should be able to do that. No, right. No, for me, Lionfish, I went swimming somewhere once in another country. And was, was told at the last minute before going in.

[00:23:02] Watch out for Lionfish because they sit on the bottom of the sea bed and they've got, they've got little spikes on their back that will fuck you right up. But they chop it up. Yeah. Yeah. But worse, I kill you sort of things like, Oh, oh.

[00:23:17] You know, so they were, they look cool. They look very strange, but they're horrible bastards by the counts and they're just clean to things. So that's my thought. Why is it? Why is it the least amount of hassle to eat a Lionfish? I don't know.

[00:23:33] Because you can eat them raw. Oh, what? What that? That's bomb shit. Penelis one is one today. I think we're down here. And you're welcome for that. And you're welcome to the Sniffierers. Yeah, Sniffierers and you, like, you're a lucky bastard. Yeah. Well, we hope you enjoyed that.

[00:23:53] Oh, great. Yeah. Thanks so much for being on this journey, Relas. And in-site, to the terror tapes, we'll pass any messages you want onto Rammel. Oh, yes. He's not here. He's not here. He's not behind us. And we've got those, though.

[00:24:06] We've put the bolt on to the sign. We can't get it from theory. Thanks for being with us. Cheers. Cheers. Bye.