For my directing début, I wanted a horror film with the same low‐budget feel of Evil Dead and Bad Taste but driven by characters audiences could relate to and care enough about that they would want to follow them till the very end. As far as being a low budget film I always intended to embrace this and not hide away from it, I loved the blatant plasticine effects in Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson's début films and didn't want to shy away from using as any effects as possible even if they weren't up to the high glossed computer imaged Hollywood effects we are all used to nowadays.

Within The Woods has also given me the opportunity to humbly attempt to emulate the styles of film makers I admire such as Robert Rodriguez, Sam Raimi, and Shane Meadows. I also reference films which have influenced me through my writing and directing style films as varied as: 　Oliver, Mary Poppins, Jurassic Park, Dead Man's Shoes, Evil Dead, Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring, Jurassic Park, Shane, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, El Mariachi, Midnight Express, Sin City, Planet Terror, Blood Simple, Tombstone, and The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

When I got to doing the post‐production I wanted to create a look unique from any low‐budget horror film I had seen before, this is where the influence of Robert Rodriguez really kicked in. Using the latest in post‐effects software, I painstakingly hand designed over 80 different visual effects to give the film the look it has now. is the part I am most proud of; the sterile comic book look is something I never thought I would achieve to the level we did and I really feel we have created something truly standout in the way the film looks and feels.