The Fairypist

‘The Fairypist’ is a 2024 Student Comedy Short Film produced as part of the BA Film Production course at the University for the Creative Arts as our capstone film project.

The short film tells the story of a woman placed in mandated therapy who is helped (and hindered) by her newly appointed fairy therapist; The Fairypist, who helps her engage with her inner child and overcome her issues, whilst also playing tricks on the terrible Dr. Lawler. Inspired by shows like ‘The Fairly Odd Parents’, characters like Robin Williams’ Genie from Disney’s ‘Aladdin’, and Comedians John Candy and Andy Kauffman.

The film stars a colourful cast of characters including Hannah Jauregui as our lead ‘Janice’, Laura Clements as the terrible ‘Dr. Lawler’, and the wonderful Paul Mansell as the titular ‘Fariypist’.

From start to finish, the film took 7 months to produce (between September 2023 and April 2024). Written and Produced by first time Producer Oliver Izzet, and Directed by first time Director Jos Fotheringham-Bray. Filming took place in Aldershot, Surrey for 5 days (between the 17th to 21st of February), and in post-production therefore after.

The intent for the film was to showcase a more light-hearted tone than other student short films, allowing for some humour whilst also talking about the films central message about mental health. Something a lot of people dealing with mental health issues do but don’t speak about; using humour as a coping mechanism. With this, we chose to utilise bright colours and an upbeat original score to parallel the light-hearted tone to convey our intent.