Jessica Fichera chats to 20 year old aspiring filmmaker and university student, Edward Drake about his zombie-inspired entry in Movie Extra’s ‘WebFest’ competition, Where Were You and making it to the final 15, with a chance of winning $50,000.
Where Were You is an ambitious take on a well worn cliche – the ‘Zombie’ genre. Set in a future eerily close to our own; a year from today, WWY examines the effects of a ‘21st Century Black Plague’ on a world already at the brink of implosion. Through the eyes of Sarah Finch, a doctor heading a Royal Commission into the events, and Manni, a vengeful youth, Where Were You attempts to figure out why things continually went from bad to worse during ‘Black December’.
1. Tell us a bit about your zombie-inspired web series. What can we expect from Where Were You if your series wins the $50,000?
The Black Plague of the 21st Century has hit. The world is under siege with society literally crawling to a halt. The world has been torn in half. The last great hope for the southern hemisphere lies in Melbourne, a so-called ‘safe zone’. The city is divided into the safe zone, ‘The East’, and the quarantined infection zone, ‘The West’. Society hasn’t crumpled; it’s merely ‘paused’, according to the optimistic.
On November 15, 2010, the virus hit Australian shores. Already aware of the dangers the virus posed, the country was moderately prepared. Prague fell first, then South America. The worlds most barbaric did their best to run riot and wreak havoc. They fought and fought but, hell. It wasn’t worth it. The masses wanted order. They craved instruction and bowed to the most legitimate leader they could find… and where else would they find their saviours but in the remnants of a broken government?
Enter Thomas Hardy, a self-elected bastion of hope in an indifferent world. The people want their Facebook back, along with their Twitter, coffee machines and electric blankets. With a nation of marketing savvy media-tech heads, and a shortage of engineers or tradesmen, Thomas Hardy must undo the technical revolution’s effect on humanity and inspire an uncertain world. That said, Thomas Hardy is a bit more familiar with the infection than most.
Dr. Sarah Finch is responsible for finding the truth of what happened and why. The world was at a perfect tipping point, and the H1 S1 was the perfect way to push into the new world, and throw us back into the old. Appointed by what’s left of the opposition government, Finch has her work cut out for her, with Thomas Hardy blocking her every move to find out the truth.
2. Where did the concept for your web series come from?
The zombie genre is such an untapped well of ideas. You can be incredibly creative, but many fail to understand how versatile the genre is. I always had a fascination with great sci-fi, but the best stories were the grand ones such as Star Wars, but also the intimate, like The Thing.
There’s an awkward middle ground that the genre seems stuck in, and I knew that my idea stood a chance because it goes beyond many of the standard limitations.
I wanted to take the zombie apocalypse, place it in a real world environment, and experiment with looking at the smaller stories spread throughout. This concept evolved and made Where Were You what it is today.
3. Name some of your sci-fi and zombie influences. Do you have any favourite movies, TV shows or novels?
Anything and everything, not just sci-fi either. From District 9 to Frost/Nixon, Gears of War to Left 4 Dead, The Walking Dead to Misfits. Anything and everything – I always take something away from everything I’ve watched, whether it be an idea or an interesting concept, and tried to make it my own.
With Where Were You, I have the opportunity to cross into different genres and really experiment to create some new out of something old.
4. How large was your cast and crew during the filming of the trailer? Did you have a budget?
Our budget was a modest $150. We put the call out for volunteers online and were inundated. The total cast and crew for the trailer was about 10. Since then our support has grown to 25-plus.
5. What camera equipment and editing software did you use?
We shot on a Sony HVR-V1 – a very nice DV camera. Most of the audio was mastered in post too, but we still had on-site recording. Timothy Ratcliffe was the genius behind the editing and visual effects. I had a bad habit of finding interesting effects and showing them to him. Not once did I hear ‘Sorry, can’t do that’. We always found a great compromise. He was using an old PC running CS4.
The original edit was complied in Adobe Premiere, and then we moved to After Effects for the flourishes. We used whatever we could get our hands on, including using tutorials online.
To view and vote for the Final 15 in Movie Extra’s WebFest competition head over to http://www.facebook.com/movieextrawebfest.
