An Old World
Ex-marine Richard is pushed to his limits as he struggles for survival in a harsh and desolate world. The world has long since died out, food has become scarce and years have passed by since Richard saw any sign of human life. Pushed to his limits he must now take drastic action and venture out from the safety of his shelter in search of more supplies but is there hope for a future when Richard stumbles upon more than what he was looking for? Or has his fight for survival reached an unfortunate end?
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Jessica AllenDirector
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Jessica AllenWriter
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Jessica AllenProducer
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Tommy WakefieldKey Cast
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Steve BarberKey Cast
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Runtime:18 minutes 34 seconds
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Completion Date:May 25, 2017
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Production Budget:0 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes
As a young girl, I have always been creative ever since I picked up a pencil, drawing and colouring with my grandparents was always my favourite thing to do. I have grown up following this passion to create and explore a world of impossibilities, sharing my work with family and friends just to see them smile. Until recently I had never considered a career in film making but as I am exposed to more of the industry I find myself hooked on making stories that allow people to escape from the harsh reality we live in.
An Old World is very much a surreal post-apocalyptic film, it looks at creating a very distorted version of the reality we know in the simplest ways possible. This now decrepit and broken world has been neglected by mankind, what was once a beautiful world has been destroyed by our politics and pollution. It is essentially a subgenre of science fiction but creates a survival situation which is more lifelike and convincing than some of the bigger budget post-apocalyptic films.
I was very much attracted to the idea of making An Old World as I liked the challenges that came with the project. Being a no budget production the idea of making this film with next to no visual and special effects would already prove to be quite the challenge. Also the idea of attempting to create very strong and raw emotions and atmosphere using very little to do so was quite attractive to creating this film. This atmosphere is what I want the audience to feel, they should feel like they too are there struggling through with the characters, empathising with their emotions and feeling the tension. They should feel a sense of vulnerability and loneliness throughout the film yet a feeling of hope should start to show right at the end which I wish for the audience to take with them.
The main character of this film was created very similar to that of a previous project I had worked on; he is very sullen and blank almost, showing very strong emotions through very little actions. Because of this I needed someone who could act very blank face yet still reflect subtle emotions through very subtle actions like their gaze or body language. The secondary character, on the other hand, is quite the opposite; he is very unsettled and uneasy with the state of the world and his surroundings so tries to cover a lot of this by over exaggerating his emotions. The actor who played the role needed to be able to perform these very bold emotions but without pushing it too far to an almost comedic level of acting.
I envisioned the edit to reflect the pace and atmosphere of the scenes throughout the film, mainly using quick cuts to emphasise the faster paced scenes of the film. The sound and music would additionally add to creating this eerie atmosphere shown in the visuals so the use of drones was quite ideal and simple, natural but quiet ambience worked really well alongside the shots. At first this project felt like it needed visual effects to create this dying world but once the shooting had begun it soon became clear we would be able to create a post-apocalyptic world purely through the locations and set ups of the shots. We spent a lot of time filming both at night and during golden hour which created some beautiful environments that felt as if the world was truly burning.