L’appel du Vide tells the story of Mark, an artist working as a temp in an Injury Lawyers office. When the CEO murders everyone but Mark, he starts to experience visions of him killing himself and others around him.
As a release, Mark puts his efforts in to his artwork, a career paths he’s always wanted to be successful in. However, the only inspirations he can now draw from are the visions plaguing his everyday life. Will Mark’s opportunity to fulfil his dreams be enough to save him from the guilt of being ‘the survivor‘?
With money saved from Liam and Peter we have enough to cover lighting, as well as production costs to bring the crew down to Portsmouth. But our art department still needs your help…
We are looking to raise £2000 in order to focus our efforts towards the art department, as the biggest single cost of this film will be special effects make-up. We want it to look and feel real. The money will allow us the help of industry professional SFX artists to achieve the same quality of work you see when you go to the cinema. We want the best prosthetics, a lot of fake blood, and the best team possible to use it.
We also have a total of 6 locations and will need to pay for the use of some, plus transport.
If we’re lucky enough to go over our target, we will firstly assess if there is anything else we can improve. E.g. Can we afford a generator when shooting exteriors? Can we add some more furniture in to Mark’s Flat? Can we buy our team a pint at the end of the week? Anything we think we can make better, we will.
Beyond that, we have very high expectations of ourselves and we’d love to use any extra money to send the film in to festivals all around the globe. As graduating students we want to get our name out there and show the world what we can do.
Our film is about an artist, he makes a lot of it- we think it’s only fair that you share in some of that. That’s why we’ve tried to include the most artistic rewards possible. From the music, to the props and artwork, even a costume (that may or may not be stained red)!
We want you to have a piece of our film that lasts forever. Not only do we want you to enjoy the reward you’re getting, we want them to be as unique to you as possible, and of course we want you to come and see it when it’s done!
Feel like you need some reassurance? We get that, but we also hope you can trust us to make something great. We’ve done it before, and we’ll keep doing it.
Liam is now in his final year at Ravensbourne University. Liam writes dark, twisted stories and makes films that put the audience in to the disjointed mindset of his characters. In the past year he has written and directed three films (Cut, No Idea and Not Gone, Almost Forgotten), produced one film (Trophy) and production designed another (Tyler). Liam also enjoys working closely with other writers in the form of a script editor. He has completed a variety of videography work for musicians and events around London.
L’appel du Vide is Liam’s biggest project yet. Collaboration is such a massive part of his films. Having worked with cinematographer Peter and designer Laura on two of his past three films, he feels as though he he has built an incredibly strong team around him for this project. Liam holds himself to very high standards of filmmaking, expect no less from him for this.
Cinematographer Peter Bishop is incredibly talented and one to look out for! He has been working tirelessly as a Gaffer; being employed on on music videos, commercials and features. These include artists such as Chase and Status, Years and Years and James Blunt and brands such as Guinness, Land Rover and Disney– which has progressed his knowledge as a Director of Photography. Peter is just finishing a pilot for the BBC as a cinematographer and is now working with BAFTA nominated directors, along with a plethora of music videos and short films which can all be viewed in his showreel.
Laura (right) is an Independant Art Director and Set Dresser. She has worked for ITV, Kudos Film, Mamoth Screens and Sky TV. Last year she graduated Digital Film at Ravensbourne, majoring in Production Design. During her time there she was integral in pushing the involvement of Art Department as a part of the course and externally she achieved qualifications from training at Pinewood Studios. Laura has particular experience and interest in construction and special effects.
Laura is keen to be working on such a practically challenging film. She’s confident to be working alongside such a great Art Department team, including the help and advice of an industry professional SFX artist. This is the third time Laura and Liam have worked together on a short film and their collaborations are only getting stronger.
Judy is a producer based in London and studying at Ravensbourne. She has produced a variety of projects from music videos, to commercials and of course short films. She is very well driven, focussed and has worked with an array of budgets successfully. She allows directors the freedom to make their films, whilst managing to focus the production logistically and professionally. One of her most recent projects Salvatore has just premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. This is the first time Liam and Judy have worked together, but it is already proving to be a very strong pairing as pre-production is well under way.
After graduating from Bournemouth Collegiate School in 2014, Michael was accepted to study Performance at London’s prestigious Drama Centre. More recently, he played the role of the Drum Major in and adaptation of George Buchner’s Woyzeck at The Courtyard Theatre in London. This is the second time Michael has worked with director Liam Wallace-Cook.
Don’t worry! We understand. We really, really understand.
If you live in Portsmouth and want to help out, we will be doing a call for extras in March. ‘Like’ the L’appel du Vide page on Facebook or Instagram to find out more.
We are also looking for helping hands behind the camera, so anyone at college or university in the area, contact the director at liamwallace-cook@hotmail.com for more information.
Thaaaaaaaaaaaanks. xo