Unknown Entity is a short film created by students at the University of Sunderland for a dissertation project.
Unknown Entity is a short film created by students at the University of Sunderland for there final dissertation project.
A group of friends travel out into the countryside for a relaxing week away. When a member of the group, suffering from severe mental health issues, begins witnessing strange events, the group struggle to believe her. When the events begin to escalate, the group must begin to truly know how much they care for and understand each other, which will either drive the group apart or bring them closer than ever.
We are creating this short film in awareness of mental health, especially depression and how it can effect people suffering from this. It is not a subject which is not often widely understood so creating a short film surrounding this will hopefully make people more aware of what someone is like and how they act when they are suffering from depression.
Director – Carlton Barton
Producer – Lianne Bower
Production assistant – Emma Horton
Cinematographer/editor – Ben Smith
Camera Operator – Ollie Clydesdale
Script Writer – Ryan Monty
Editor – Tom Glenwright
Your funding will be added to our already £1000 budget which we all put money in ourselves. Our location is based at a old kitted out barn, being the perfect place for us to capture some amazing shots. The barn will truly bring our film together as it gives us a true representation of the genre. However as we will be staying at the barn due to how far away it is, a lot of our budget will be used for that meaning we have less budget for props and costumes.
To help create the feel of the film with the sub-genre thriller theme we will need special props and set design which will add to the production value of our film.
After the film has been completed, we will be sending it off to many different film festvials thanks to your generousity of helping us fund our film. We would not be able to do this without your help.
Our projects biggest challenge is finding the right location within our budget to truly portray our film. A barn like location is what we are after as it gives the whole film, gives a sense of isolation and the edgy feel which we are after. The barn which we are after is around £2000 for the week, which is completely over our £1000 budget. The producer of the film managed to negotiate the price down to £640 which is in our budget.
Another big challenge we will have to face is spending the budget wisely and making sure every penny counts. As we are looking to go to a barn to find, we would potentially be staying there for the week which will require us catering food and drink for 12 people. As we are all students and used to living on a budget with food, shopping at cheaper supermarkets and buying food in bulk will ensure we have enough for the week.
Other expenses such as petrol will causes a risk as the actors will be unpaid so getting them to and from the locations will be paid by us, which is why the funds we receive will be a very big help. The barn is two hours or more drive away from crew and actors so petrol will cost a lot as we will need to transport 12 people and all the equipment as well.
As the film concentrates a lot on mental health issues, this is a big risk we face as we need to create a film which will not be offensive to people with these types of issues and truly capture what it is like for someone who is suffering with mental health without it being incorrect.