An independent zombie virus film made in Letchworth and Biggleswade is now winging its way to festivals across the globe – and its creators have saluted the community’s support.
Fingernail Films team Alasdair McWilliams and Andrew Cant made the short movie Positive Result, set in a world where there is a zombie virus, earlier this year – filming scenes in Letchworth and Biggleswade.
They successfully appealed through the Comet for extras to help populate a nightclub scene shot at Letchworth’s Four Emblems Club, with 50 coming from Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Stevenage and Biggleswade.
Alasdair, from Letchworth, told the Comet: “We’d never have got to this point without all the support we’ve received from the community.
“More than 600 people from the area round Letchworth and Biggleswade got in touch with us, offering to help with Positive Result.
“It was very humbling to have complete strangers get in touch and offer to sacrifice their time and effort to help bring our idea to fruition.
“Seeing those people on screen is a reminder that they believed in the story and project enough to turn up to volunteer for a whole day to help make it happen, and it’s a boost all of it’s own.
“It’s also a reminder that there’s an obligation to respect those people, and not to waste their time and effort – that switching off the screen and letting the project quietly fade away isn’t an option.”
The community appeal also attracted the film’s sound editor Michael Kumar and score composer Christos Andreou, who Alasdair said both got in touch after reading about the film in the Comet.
The 38-minute offering – the first of four intended instalments – is now live on Amazon Video and Vimeo On Demand, and has gone out to international film festivals including Portland, Toronto, Berlin and London.
Alasdair said: “When Andrew announced that the film had gone live on Amazon, I immediately switched on Amazon Fire and went hunting for it. The moment it came up on the TV, with the first few notes of Christos’ score, I burst out laughing and had to shout upstairs to the kids for them to see.
“Of course, this is just the start. With three more short films scripted and in planning, and a feature film script in progress, we’re just heading out on a long journey.”
Positive Result has also had its first review, courtesy of UK Film Review editor Chris Olson, who concluded: “McWilliams and Cant show themselves to be intelligent storytellers and the overall aesthetic has a compelling feel.”
Positive Action, the next instalment, is set to start shooting next month.
If you’d like to help fund the next instalment from Alasdair and Andrew, see indiegogo.com/projects/positive-action-short-film-zombie-drama.
You can also get in touch with Alasdair and Andrew through facebook.com/fingernailfilms.
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