Certain Things - Sarah: "Active" background

Background:

Although I can't wait to make my own stab at a classic, atmospheric horror film, the aim of Sarah: "Active" was to make something that felt as real as possible. Therefore, this film is stylistically different from the rest of my films, but for good reason!

As a child, the short stories of A.G.J. Rough contained in the infamous Pan Books of Horror Stories made an impact on me for their disturbing events occurring in everyday situations. After the arduous and expensive journey to complete The Special Effect, I needed a lower budget short that allowed me to explore a different genre. I wrote and storyboarded a couple of short shockers, but budgetary considerations have prevented them from being made so far.

I then became aware of a short film and photography competition open to works that involve those with learning disabilities and the 2010 annual theme was "Active". Having worked with Sarah Gordy before, I contacted her to see if she would be interested to work with me to make a short piece that we could enter and, as the vast majority of works received by this competition appear to be in the video diary / documentary format, I thought we could use that to our advantage and create a fictional piece that would take the judges by surprise and display Sarah's talent.

As Sarah shares my twisted sense of humour, she was very happy to take the starring role in Sarah: "Active".

I wasn't too surprised when the film wasn't accepted into this particular competition and, as it had been written to work as a viral as well as a short film, I stuck it on YouTube and have waited until now, to see what sort of reaction it would get. At the time of writing, it has had over 24,400 hits.

Judging by the comments received, it seems to have been received as planned – visit YouTube.com and search for "Sarah Active - video diary goes wrong" (Psst! But don't give the game away...!)

Tim Prescott
March 2011

Cast:

Sarah
Sarah Gordy

Male
Andrew Holloway

Mum
Jane Gordy

Mum's voice
Valerie Prescott

Crew:

Writer, Director, Camera & Editor
Tim Prescott

Producer & Assistant Director
Miriam Rodriguez