Ellston Bay tells the story of a son’s desperate search for his missing father. Originated entirely in Kodak VistaVision.
My name is Nick. For over a year I have been working on a short film project named Ellston Bay. It is a project that myself and so many others are so passionate about but we need your help to see this small idea become a reality.
Ellston Bay is a highly ambitious short film that is not afraid to push the boundaries of short-form storytelling.
Inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, the project is to originate and be presented in the most immersive of motion picture film formats, allowing for a highly visceral and moving cinematic experience, the like of which is rarely experienced by passionate cinephiles.
Visually, this film is being created at the highest cinematic quality, and will be originated on VistaVision, the highest resolution, widescreen variant of the 35mm motion picture film format.
Keir has not heard from his father for three weeks.
Concerned, he travels to Ellston Bay, where his father lives alone in an isolated property on the coast. Upon arrival, Keir finds the house empty and his father’s boat tied on shore. Neither the locals nor police are concerned by the disappearance, and seem far more occupied with bathing for hours on end in the bay’s hot, languid waters.
Indeed, after his first swim, Keir finds his investigations somehow less appealing than the water of Ellston Bay, and the soothing quality it seems to have on his mind and body. In days, Keir has surrendered to the town’s ritual compulsion – almost servitude – to the water.
When he notices animal-like scratches on the underside of his father’s boat, Keir breaks from this reverie, and becomes suspicious of the waters, the locals, and the police sergeant, who seems to play guardian to the town’s strange relationship with the bay.
Unbeknown to Keir, he is about to discover a dark secret that the town has hidden for a considerable time, and one which will ultimately decide his fate in this isolated, yet beautiful landscape.
For more information about the story please visit the films website:
‘Vertigo’ – Originated in VistaVision
‘The Dark Knight’ utilised VistaVision
We are very happy to announce that acclaimed Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies is on board with this project, playing a part of our cast for Ellston Bay. John is best known to film audiences for his roles in blockbuster hits such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), as well as the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the role of Gimli the dwarf.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the team at Kodak for their continued support, and for enabling us to capture the project in the VistaVision format. We would also like to thank iDailies and Camera Revolution for their kind support and assistance throughout the project.
Hello again. As mentioned my name is Nick Eriksson. I am an award-winning Director of Photography working within the field of Motion Pictures, Shorts and Music Videos. I specialised in Cinematography at the renowned Arts University College Bournemouth (AUCB).
Ever since I was child and I first watched all classic Hollywood movies, I fell in love with film and the concept of filmmaking. One of my dreams from an early age was to shoot a feature film on film. This dream came true in 2015 when I worked on my first ever feature, ‘A Dark Reflection’. That same year a music video project I had worked on, won Best Music Video at Raindance Film Festival for the Stealing Sheep’s song ‘Not Real’.
After falling in love with the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, I have long wished to bring his work to the silver screen in some visual form. Following a lengthy, but highly creative conceptual period, it gives me great pleasure to finally take this ambitious project to the next stage.
As a great lover of both the Hollywood Golden Age, and large-format cinematography, I decided to revive the long-lost film format and originate Ellston Bay entirely on VistaVision. Although this is a great challenge, through the support of our partners such as Kodak, the tireless work of our incredible production team, and the help of you, our audience we can make this dream become a reality.
For more details about my and his work, including showreel, please visit my website:
Your support and funding will get us the minimum we need to go out and shoot the film, which is due to begin in September 2016 for approximately one week.
Our ultimate ambition is for this film to be one of the British contenders for the Academy Awards. We’ve got an amazing team on board who have delivered dozens of films between them. Although the project is ambitious, we believe this film has the potential to be ground-breaking in the world of short films.
We’re aiming for the films release in 2017.
Working alongside me in this project is the incredible production team at Fact Not Fiction Films.Established in 2006, Fact Not Fiction Films is an award winning Independent British film production company specialising in Documentary and Feature Films.
Their aim is to produce through provoking films exploring matters of significant public interest. Combining passion and skill with high end equipment they regularly produce films of superior standard. The main mission of the company has always been to produce captivating and compelling films that highlight key issues and make a difference in society.
Filmmaking can always present uncertain and unseen risks.
Whilst shooting ‘Ellston Bay’, our main challenge will be the weather conditions. The production of ‘Ellston Bay’ is very reliant on good weather conditions for the exterior filming, as any bad weather could potentially impact the production schedule. To mitigate against this we have interior scenes which we can shoot on rainy days.