Ishana Night Shyamalan set out to defy expectations on The Watchers

Ishana Night Shyamalan had "something to prove" on her directorial debut 'The Watchers'.

The 24-year-old filmmaker has made her bow behind the camera on the supernatural horror flick and was interested in confounding the expectations of those who expected a movie in a similar manner to the work of her father M. Night Shyamalan – the helmer of 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Knock at the Cabin'.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Ishana said: "I was really interested in sort of playing with those expectations. Knowing that my being by him and the kind of audience expects from his filmmaking, I was interested in using that as a thing to start with and then kind of subverting that and surprising you as to where the movie goes and what the tone is, even.

"I think that's all wonderful. I really enjoy having something to prove and starting with what people think."

Dakota Fanning plays the lead role in the film and was impressed by the "creative" and "artistic" approach of the first-time director.

The 30-year-old actress said: "I think every director is unique, no matter what the experience is. Personalities are unique, ways of working and ways of talking about scripts are unique, rehearsal styles are different, so I think it's always a singular experience working with any director, regardless of what they've done before.

"With Ishana, this may be her debut feature film, but she's such a creative, artistic person and has done so much thinking about the film that she wanted to make and the world that she wanted to create, so it was wonderful getting to be a part of that with her."

Dakota continued: "She comes from a family that's very creative obviously, and so it was very inspiring to see her forging her own path within that. I loved getting to work with her and getting to know her, she's also a really nice, wonderful person and happy to have her as a friend as well.

"We could find things as young women to relate on that you don't always find with the director that you're working with."