_|_  |__   ___       __ __   __  |__, o  __   __       __  _|_ 
       |_, |  ) (__/_     |  )  ) (__( |  \ | |  ) (__|     (__)  |  
 _____   _  _      _____  __   _  _____     _   _   _   _      _       _____  
/  ___/ | || |    | ____||  \ | ||_   _|   | | | | | | | |    | |     |___  | 
| |___  | || |    | |__  |   \| |  | |     | |_| | | | | |    | |        _| | 
\___  \ | || |    |  __| | |\   |  | |     |  _  | | | | |    | |       |_  { 
 ___| | | || |___ | |___ | | \  |  | |     | | | | | | | |___ | |___   ___| | 
/_____/ |_||_____||_____||_|  \_|  |_|     |_| |_| |_| |_____||_____| |_____/ 

            The Making of Silent Hill 3 

            No part of this transcript may be reproduced without express
            written permission from myself.  You can contact me at the
            Silent Hill 3 message boards at GameFAQ's if you are requesting 
            to use this transcript, or have comments and/or corrections.
            (C) 2003 Parjay


            === VERSION HISTORY ===

            06/06/03 - v1.01  First Version!
            17/06/03 - v1.02  Some grammar and spelling, also added
                              English translations of the French
                              chapter titles.
            26/08/10 - v1.03   Contact and layout changed

            PART ONE   - Frequently Asked Questions
            PART TWO   - The Transcript
            PART THREE - Thanks

            === F R E Q U E N T L Y    A S K E D   Q U E S T I O N S ===

            Q:  Where can I get the "Making of Silent Hill 3"?
            A:  At the moment the only place you can get the full 
                feature is on the magazine "Playstation World" (PSW).
                The "Making Of" is featured on the free DVD.  This is
                a U.K. only magazine, and is issue number 43.

                   Addendum:  Seven years later, it's obvously now
                easy to find this documentary on YouTube etc.

            Q:  Did FUN TV produce this "Making Of"?
            A:  No, unlike the "Making of SH2", WE PRODUCTIONS created
                this feature for SH3.  However, much of the same team
                that created the previous feature for Fun TV, worked
                on this one.

            === T H E   T R A N S C R I P T ===

            FADE IN:

            TITLE SEQUENCE

            Red tinted frame, on the soundtrack a baby is crying against
            a harsh, horrific sound effect.  Captions appear:

                             KONAMI & WE PRODUCTIONS

            On the soundtrack, a familiar voice speaks:

                                LISA GARLAND
                      ... that child alive?!

            The image of Heather's actress fades in on the left frame as she
            looks toward camera, while a montage of images and their
            captions appear on the right:

            ILLUMINATION  The image of a script page.
            CREATION  A pencil sketch of Heather Morris' face.
            EMOTION  Akira Yamaoka playing guitar.

            Heather Morris appears, turns and looks at camera before
            fading away to the feature title:

                            S I L E N T   H I L L   3
                           Naissance d'une Renaissance
                               (Birth to Rebirth)

            FADE INTO

            GAME FOOTAGE: Heather Morris awakens in a cafe. 

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU
                      In this sequence, which takes place at
                      the beginning of the game, the color of
                      the sunset is redder than it is in
                      reality.  This is the way of telling the
                      player, right from the start, that in
                      Silent Hill 3, something "red" is waiting
                      for him.

                              C H A P T E R   O N E 
                                    La  Genese

            MONTAGE: Aerial view of SH3 development team offices, and
            various shots of staff working at their computers.  The
            narrator speaks over this (note: same guy as Making of SH2).

                      This orange-red alludes to the Autumn
                      season in which the first sketches of
                      Silent Hill 3 were made.  This was back
                      in the Autumn of 2001, just a few days
                      after the release of Silent Hill 2.  The
                      team was in the middle of the creative
                      phase.  Fortunately the script, written
                      by the script-writer who wrote Silent
                      Hill 2 was ready.  The team was working
                      on a key Silent Hill component: Fear.

            GAME FOOTAGE:  Heather is attacked by a giant monster.

            The script-writer is interviewed at his workstation.

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU
                      The feeling of fear prevailing in Silent
                      Hill 3 differs from that Silent Hill 2. 
                      In Silent Hill 2 we tried to create a
                      sense of fear sustained by silence. 
                      That silence lying within each individual
                      which is progressively transformed into
                      anxiety.  It was a kind of fear that
                      built up little by little.  Gradually it
                      escalated into horror.

            GAME FOOTAGE: From Silent Hill II.  James has just defeated the
            two Pyramid Head's near the end of the game.

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU (CONT'D)
                      For Silent Hill 3, a different approach
                      was used.  We wanted to create a more
                      violent, direct feeling of fear.

            GAME FOOTAGE:  Heather repulsed in elevator.

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU (CONT'D)
                      Something shocking, to contrast with the
                      atmosphere in the previous title.

            GAME FOOTAGE: Heater enters an elevator in the alternate shopping

                      This decision guided each member of the
                      team.  Just as it was decided to impose
                      that blood red color at the beginning of
                      the game, the art director in charge of
                      creating monsters used strong symbols to
                      raise player anxiety.

            The Art Director is interviewed.  He points out features and
            details on his monitor display of one of the monsters from
            the game.

                                MASAHIRO ITO
                      The dog wrapped in strips is the first
                      monster that you encounter in the game. 
                      This is a way of telling the player, that
                      he is entering a hellish world.  These
                      dogs will be taken universally as a
                      reference to the watchdogs of Hell,
                      especially with that jaw cut in half. 
                      That's the idea behind this design.

                      It's the same for the set.

            MONTAGE:  Various locations in game, and their real life
            counterparts that they were based on.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      As usual the set crew worked on ways of
                      producing a realistic effect.  But this
                      time they wanted to find a new idea that
                      would take the game player by surprise.

            GAME FOOTAGE:  Heater enters a hallway.  The walls begin to
            pulse and bleed with blood.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      This effect makes the sets come alive,
                      like these walls that bleed, or burn.  Or
                      these floors that swarm.  A concept
                      that's inherently obvious and yet,
                      you've never seen it before.

            Interview with Main Programmer, Yukinori Ojina.  On the
            monitor behind him, we can see the various bleeding walls,
            burning, and swarming floor effects in-game.

                                YUKINORI OJINA
                      In the video game industry, this was a
                      first, especially in real-time.

                      As with most of these technical
                      challenges the Silent Hill team didn't
                      forget that the most important thing is
                      to immerse the player in a credible
                      world, even if that meant using pretty
                      basic methods.

            CLOSE UP:  Chapel Map, drawn in large bright crayons,
            obviously a child's scrawl. 

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      If that strange looking map you can see
                      in the background looks realistic, it's
                      because ...

            Yasunori Kanetake, Set Designer.  On the monitor, we can see
            the chapel map.

                                YASUNORI KANETAKE
                      It was really drawn by a child.  I think
                      he's about five years old.  He's the son
                      of a friend of one of the designers.

            MONTAGE: of the main characters featured in Silent Hill 3.

                      Luckily, when it comes to character
                      design, the creators of Silent Hill don't
                      have to turn to pre-schoolers.  They can
                      rely on the most talented of their

                             C H A P T E R    T W O
                              Et Dieu crea la Femme
                             (And God Created Woman)

            MONTAGE: Heather walking against a white background, music
            track "You're Not Here" playing in the background.

                      For the first time the KCET team chose
                      to have us feature a heroine, Heather. A
                      young girl that above all, they saw as
                      "innocent", the first sketches are
                      evidence of this.

            MONTAGE: Some early sketches of Heather. All featuring an
            innocent, angelic face, and long flowing hair.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      But they found this design a bit to
                      "nice" so the supervising illustrator
                      went elsewhere for his inspiration.

            Interview with the supervising illustrator, Character
            Designer Shingo Yuri.

                                SHINGO YURI
                      I based this character on Sophie Marceau
                      and Charlotte Gainsbourg

            CLOSE-UPS: on several sketches featuring these two people.

                      But Yuri wasn't the only one thinking
                      about the characters.

            MONTAGE: of two women as they work on their computers,
            digitally drawing Heather Morris' face.  One of the women
            examines her own lips in a mirror as she draws the details
            onto Heather's.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      Two young women where working with him,
                      and sometimes there was a clash in
                      feminine and masculine thinking, but not
                      in a way you might imagine.

                                SHINGO YURI
                      As far as Heather's clothes were
                      concerned, I saw her wearing jeans.

            MONTAGE:  Various development sketches of Heather, wearing

                                SHINGO YURI (CONT'D)
                      But the female members of our team saw
                      things differently.  They thought Heather
                      ought to show her legs, it would be more
                      feminine and look prettier.  They
                      convinced me.

            MONTAGE: More development sketches of Heather, this time
            with her legs showing.  Most are mini-skirts, one has Heather
            sporting purple tights.

                      Contrary to what you might have expected,
                      these young women were the ones to
                      insist on giving her some sex appeal,
                      in a very discreet way, it was the same
                      for the cut of Heather's slightly curly
                      hair.  Her hair style was the result of
                      discussions worthy of a hair salon.

                                SHINGO YURI
                      Another debate concerned Heather's hair. 
                      In the final version, she has curly hair. 
                      Initially, however, her hair was more
                      natural, less elaborate. 
                      But my female team-mates thought that
                      curly hair would be more suitable for a
                      young girl.  And because I know they know
                      more about fashion than I do, I trusted
                      their judgment on this.

                      Fashion also inspired the team of artists
                      with an ambiguous design for Claudia. 
                      She's a woman suppose to give the player
                      the impression of being in danger.

            GAME FOOTAGE: Claudia speaking to Heather in the chapel.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      When the team created Claudia, the basic
                      idea was to make her look strange but
                      conventional.  This subtle concept really
                      put the creativity of the designers to
                      the test, as her preliminary sketches show.

            MONTAGE: Development sketches of Claudia, all drastically
            different from the final design.  Most wearing elaborate long
            dresses of varying colors.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      As you can see in these drawings the
                      clothes were originally far more
                      sophisticated, even Claudia's skin was more

                                SHINGO YURI
                      At first one of the ideas we had for
                      Claudia, was to draw her head shaved and
                      with tattoo's all over her body.

            CLOSE UP: Claudia sketch, she is naked, shaven head, with
            only tattoo's on her skin.

                                SHINGO YURI (CONT'D)
                      But this way of revealing her malevolent
                      side was to obvious.  We thought we'd
                      better go back to a simpler idea.

                      Inspiration struck when they were
                      flipping through a fashion magazine.

            CLOSE UP:  The cover of a fashion magazine, the girl on the
            front cover has no eyebrows.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      When they saw this picture, they realized
                      because she had no eyebrows, they
                      couldn't decipher her feelings.  So they
                      used this idea for Claudia's face,
                      although this detail is barely visible it
                      manages to provoke a subtle, uneasy

            Shingo Yuri opens the cover of a film soundtrack, and points
            out a picture on the inlay.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      The masculine characters in the game like
                      Douglas, the detective, who was based on
                      the priest in "The Fifth Element"; were
                      also created to be like real human beings
                      with their failings and complexes.

                                SHINGO YURI
                      Douglas is an old man, he's losing his
                      hair.  He's going bald and doesn't want
                      anyone to notice, that's why he combs his
                      hair back so that nobody will see his
                      bald spot.  

            MONTAGE: Still shots of Vincent.

                      As for Vincent, he's a hypocrite behind
                      nice clothes and a neat appearance.  The
                      animator wanted to make Vincent's
                      hierocracy emerge through the way he acts.

                                SHINGO YURI
                      When you look at Vincent's clothes there
                      is nothing to tell you how hypocritical
                      he is.  On the other hand, he always
                      laughs like he is hiding something nasty. 
                      Watch his eyes ... when he speaks, you'll
                      notice that one of his eyes is not
                      looking at the observer.  Take attention,
                      it's subtle.

            GAME FOOTAGE:  Vincent talking to Claudia.  Paying attention,
            you can defiantly notice his "stray eye" as he slowly

                      And so on and so forth for each
                      The KCET team didn't set out to invent a
                      video game hero, but a character that
                      would be like a person from real life:

            WIDE-SHOT: of Heather and Douglas' voice actors, as they
            practice their lines.  They are acting out the scene from the
            mall, when Douglas first approaches Heather.  (Note: I want
            to marry the actress playing Heather).

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      That's why they use actors to play the
                      characters in the game.  And to choose
                      the right actor, auditions are held, just
                      like a movie.  Here's the actress that
                      played Heather.  This is the actress that
                      was chosen.  Actually, the heroine was
                      named after her because her name is
                      Heather, Heather Morris to be precise.

            MEDIUM SHOT:  Heather Morris acting scenes wearing motion
            capture equipment.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      Then comes the next step.  The actors
                      really play the game scenes for the
                      motion capture, which requires
                      considerable physical and emotional
                      involvement.  Of course the actors also
                      record the voices of the characters. 
                      Once again every component was geared to
                      an emotional impact.  Like the music for
                      instance ... Music, the definitive
                      universal language of feeling.

                          C H A P T E R    T H R E E
                               La voix de l'ange
                              (Voice of an Angel)

            MONTAGE: Akira Yamaoka as he works in his recording studio.

                      The man behind each melody and each sound
                      in the series, is Akira.  He doesn't use
                      direct inspiration or any reference to
                      familiar pieces of music; to compose, Akira
                      allows the emotional content of the
                      script to guide his fingers.

            MONTAGE: Akira jams on his guitar.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      For the first time in the Silent Hill
                      series, Akira wanted to include songs
                      with vocals. 
                      To find thee voice, he flew to Los
                      Angeles.  He had a fairly accurate idea
                      of what he wanted 

            Interview with Akira Yamaoka, Sound Designer.

                                AKIRA YAMAOKA
                      When I went to the audition, I was
                      looking for a voice like the female
                      vocalist in the Garbagge band or P. J.

            In the background, the solo vocal from the song "Lost Carol"
            on the SH3 soundtrack is heard.

                      Akira auditioned about fifty candidates,
                      and when he heard the timber of this
                      voice, he completely fell under its
                      charm.  In addition to the music, Akira
                      had to create new and particularly hair
                      raising sounds.  For example lets take
                      this deep cavernous voice, it was pure
                      chance that he found it.

                                AKIRA YAMAOKA
                      In fact I was looking for a low, deep
                      voice for the game.  One day I was
                      watching TV, and a program about Voodoo
                      came on.  It explained how a ceremony is
                      carried out.  I could hear all the words
                      and sounds of this ceremony, I heard a
                      low, deep voice and I decided to use it
                      for the game.

            GAME FOOTAGE:  Heather enters a corridor, on the soundtrack we
            can hear the low, deep voice chanting that Akira is talking
            about.  This chant also appears on the original soundtrack,
            entitled "Prayer".

                      This manner of discovery may seem strange
                      but the origin of the sound made by this
                      monster is even stranger.

            GAME FOOTAGE: of the "Closer" monster.

                                AKIRA YAMAOKA
                      It's the sound of a rhinoceros.  I took
                      the bass sound made by a living animal,
                      and mixed it with digital effects to get
                      the sound used for the monster.

                      Monsters as varied, and disturbing as
                      ever.  Straight out of the imagination of
                      a talented illustrator.

                          C H A P T E R    F O U R 
                          Les  monstres de l'enfer
                             (Monsters of Hell)

            MONTAGE: Masahiro Ito sketches a drawing of the "Closer"
            monster on a blank piece of paper.  Finished, he signs it and
            angles it better for the camera frame.

                      Each of the monsters in Silent Hill is
                      there to disturb the player.  Ito's
                      secret is that he refuses to use elements
                      that are too far removed from the human
                      being.  His monsters don't have horns or
                      tentacles, their weapons consist only of
                      deformed human appendages.  Here, a head
                      that attacks.  There, swollen heavy arms. 
                      But to arouse the feeling of disgust in
                      the player, Ito also draws on the
                      collective unconscious, and the history
                      of art, for instance, this obese monster.

            MONTAGE: of paintings and drawings that inspired Ito.  However,
            even though he is talking in great detail about this, for some
            reason none of this part is subtitled.  :(

            GAME FOOTAGE:  Heather in the mall bathroom at the beginning
            of the game.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      This is not the only allusion to
                      tradition in Silent Hill.  Now you are
                      finally going to understand why the
                      "toilet" is a recurring theme throughout
                      the series.  In the first episode, there
                      are toilets everywhere.  In the second,
                      the game begins in a toilet, and in the
                      third the world seems to turn upside down
                      as the player "goes through" the toilet.

                                MASAHIRO ITO
                      In Japan, there is a tale of horror that
                      takes place in the toilets.  All Japanese
                      children are familiar with this tale,
                      that's why we connect the toilets with
                      fright and horror.  That's not all. 
                      Until recently, the Japanese still used
                      the "squat type" toilet, that looks like
                      a hole between two footrests, in which
                      dejections where directly falling.  There
                      was a story that some children had fallen
                      in and vanished.  In a way, the toilet
                      can be taken as a spooky hole, impossible
                      to get out of once you fall in.  Hence
                      the connection with horror in Silent

                      On the same subject of following
                      tradition, you'll note that there is a
                      moment in the game where one of the
                      monsters covers the face of a woman.

                                MASAHIRO ITO
                      In many countries, custom dictates that
                      when a person dies, a veil must be drawn
                      over that person's eyes.  That's the idea
                      underlying this scene.

                      Now it's up to you to figure out this
                      metaphor in this story.  You'll also
                      have to make sense of the valve-opening
                      monster that you encounter at regular
                      intervals throughout the game.

            GAME FOOTAGE: Heather climbing a ladder, passing by Bobble
            Head who is working at turning valves.

                                MASAHIRO ITO
                      Water flows through pipes.  Valves are
                      used to allow or obstruct that flow.  In
                      Silent Hill 3, you go back and forth
                      between the real world and a parallel
                      world.  Valves that the monster opens and
                      closes represent the passage between
                      these two worlds

                      Two obscure worlds in which you always
                      feel lost, always feel surrounded by a
                      void, always feel full of doubt ... and
                      doubt is what gives rise to fear.

            GAME FOOTAGE: The "Happy Birthday" phone-call scene.

                          C H A P T E R    F I V E 
                            La tentation du doute
                            (Temptation of Doubt)

            GAME FOOTAGE: Vincent speaking with Heather in the chapel

                      The creators of Silent Hill had a central
                      idea: create a hostile world, permeated
                      at all times by doubt.

            Interview with script writer, Hiroyuki Owaku.

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU
                      Some philosophies explain that what you
                      see is not necessarily reality.  What you
                      are seeing may not be what I'm seeing. 
                      The same is true of the monsters that you
                      encounter in the game.  It's the idea
                      when Vincent looks surprised when Heather
                      talks about the monsters.  Vincent says:
                      "monsters?" as if they were not monsters
                      for him.  

            GAME FOOTAGE: The scene that Owaku mentions

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU (CONT'D)
                      Maybe they are human beings just like
                      you, maybe even your neighbors.  What
                      you see might be true or false

            GAME FOOTAGE: Heather inside the confessional at the chapel,
            with someone begging for forgiveness on the other side.

                      A little bit later in the game, you find
                      yourself in an unexpected and particularly
                      disturbing scene.  What are you suppose
                      to do?

                                HIROYUKI OWAKU
                      In life, no choice are truly right or
                      wrong.  The idea in the confessional
                      scene is to make the player chose one of
                      two possibilities, but neither is right. 
                      If you say to this person telling you her
                      confession that, yes, you pardon her then
                      you are lying and, in a way, you justify
                      her worship of evil.  If you say no to
                      this person trying to save her soul, you
                      are refusing her the right to be forgiven
                      and take the weight of her conscience. 
                      The idea is put to you in an
                      uncomfortable situation, in front of a
                      choice that will make you uncomfortable. 
                      I have already found myself in a similar
                      situation and I wanted to share this
                      experience with the players.

            GAME FOOTAGE:  The amusements montage.

                      All the characters in the game, where
                      created like this.  Like in this
                      sequence, you never quite know what to
                      expect.  Good and evil are engaged in an
                      never-ending battle.

            MONTAGE: Game footage of each of the main characters.

                                NARRATOR (CONT'D)
                      So nothing is ever black and white. 
                      Everything is always relative.  Including
                      you, especially when you find out ... who
                      you really are.

            A baby cries on the soundtrack.

            FADE OUT



                      Lionel Sautier

                      Franck Lepagnol

                      Olivier Mortier / Ladybird Studio

                      Alice Parte (anglais)
                      Stephanie Fuoss (allemand)

                      VOICE OVER
                      Nicolas Beuglet (french)
                      John Forbes (english)
                      Werner Kolk (german)

                      Guillaume Lubrano
                      WE Productions

                      DIRECTOR - JOURNALIST
                      Nicolas Beuglet

                      THANKS TO KCET

                      Akira Yamaoka
                      Hiroyuki Owaku
                      Masahiro Ito
                      Shingo Yuri
                      Yasunori Kanetake
                      Yukinori Ojina
                      Minako Asano
                      Sachiko Sugawara

                      Yoshi Aoyagi
                      Hirotaka Ishinkawa
                      Heather Morris
                      Links Digiworks Co. LTD

                      Kunio Neo
                      Stephanie Hattenberger
                      Hans Kohrs
                      Dave Cox

                      All the KONAMI FRANCE team
                      Patrick Bossard and Chisa Kurita
                      Oliver Pannequin
                      Copyright WE PRODUCTIONS / KONAMI 2003

            === THANKS ===

            Konami - For making such a great sequel.
            WE Productions - For making an insightful documentary.
            Akira Yamaoka - For the great background music.
            PSW Magazine - For actually getting to publish the feature.

            === LINKS ===

           You can find me (Parjay) lurking in the Silent Hill forums 
           at GameFAQs.