@letterboxd
Instagram · Talking Head Edit
@letterboxd Kane Parsons discusses the influence of the Portal video games on Backrooms. Watch more film and television inspirations for the film at our link in bio. Backrooms is in theaters worldwide May 28 via @a24. #KaneParsons #Backrooms #HorrorMovies #VideoGames
Performance
Video #30891 · Talking Head Edit
[01]
Director Kane Parsons explains how the video game 'Portal' has been the single biggest influence on his creative work. He breaks down the game's mechanics, narrative, and themes, such as its physics-based puzzles, the mysterious AI-operated setting, and its blend of corporate bleakness with absurd humor. He then draws direct parallels between 'Portal's' environmental storytelling (like murals on the walls) and vast, eternal indoor spaces to the aesthetic and narrative of his film, 'Backrooms'.
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What stops the scroll in the first 3 seconds
Title hook · 15%
Kane Parsons DIRECTOR
Verbal hook · 70%
Portal would be the earliest influence.
Visual hook · 15%
A medium close-up of the speaker addressing the camera directly, using expressive hand gestures to emphasize his points.
[06]
Steal this for your own video
would be the earliest influence on .
[07]
The promise the opener makes, and how the video pays it back
Hook
The creator makes a definitive, high-level statement identifying a single, powerful source of inspiration, creating immediate curiosity about the connection.
Payoff
The speaker delivers a final, grand synthesis, explaining how the overall architectural or philosophical structure of the influence is mirrored in their own creation, providing a satisfying intellectual conclusion that solidifies the entire argument.
[08]
The structural pattern this video runs on
Framework
The Influence Deconstruction
A creator systematically breaks down a primary influence, moving from general mechanics to specific thematic and atmospheric elements to reveal a deep, non-obvious connection to their own work.
The Definitive Declaration
The speaker establishes their thesis by naming a specific piece of media as their primary influence, often ranking it above others to assert its importance.
The Mechanical Breakdown
The speaker explains the functional, surface-level mechanics or premise of the inspirational work to provide a baseline understanding for the audience.
The Atmospheric Unveiling
The narrative shifts from 'what it is' to 'what it *feels* like,' describing the tone, mood, and unique environmental qualities that create a specific psychological experience.
The Tonal Thesis
The speaker articulates the core creative philosophy of the influence, often highlighting a paradoxical blend of tones (e.g., humor and bleakness) that they find compelling.
The Emotional Anchor
The speaker isolates a single, highly specific detail or narrative thread from the influence that had a profound personal and emotional impact, moving from a broad analysis to a personal connection.
The Explicit Crossover
The speaker directly and explicitly connects the previously identified 'emotional anchor' to specific moments or elements within their own creative work, providing concrete proof of the influence.
Kane Parsons discusses the influence of the Portal video games on Backrooms. Watch more film and television inspirations for the film at our link in bio. Backrooms is in theaters worldwide May 28 via @a24. #KaneParsons #Backrooms #HorrorMovies #VideoGames
contextual · beginning
Kane Parsons DIRECTOR
Portal would be the earliest influences. The easiest one for me to pin down is like the strongest influence over like everything I've done in my entire life probably. It's a two game series. So if anything I would say Portal two was the bigger inspiration for me. It was all built around this mechanic of having this this gunner tool that's able to open up a portal in one wall and another one tier, and it's sort of a physics based, puzzle game where you're traveling through this AI operated test, center, this testing rank, and and you're slowly unraveling as as you wake up out of a stasis pod at the beginning of the game. You're slowly seeing that there's only like kind of a a monotone, what feels like a robot slightly inhuman voice talking you the whole time and it's very corporate. It feels like there's something slightly wrong with it. It's inherently comedic and absurd and and that's kind of what I like about it. All of these no many, like, kind of bleak creative choices come from, an inherent humor. Well done. Here come the test results. You are a horrible person. There's like one specific thread that really stuck with me when I was younger which was throughout the first game and more so in the second game when they've sort of solidified their art direction, you can see these murals on the wall of like one other worse. Like you can clearly see traces of another human being in this place and there's some specific moments in the film with, with like these murals and and I guess best in general, it's probably obvious how and why this connects to Backrooms. And I think you can probably tell that this is maybe the one that's most special to me because I won't stop rambling about it. The general set construction of the Portal games is something that's been in my brain for so long. I I frequently have dreams where I'm just in in the Aperture Research Center. It's not yellow. It's very it's very gray and and blue and kind of bleak. And by the second game, it's rotting and it's totally falling apart. But but it's vast in in a lot of ways. It feels like an internal indoors that goes on in all directions that, is just absurd in its scope. So I think it's actually very similar to backrooms in that front.