Always on
This project successfully funded on 1st July 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
A Song To Be Murdered By
Southsea, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Aim: Our Film aims to change the narrative for women on screen, showcasing a powerful, fierce female protagonist, Alice Elliot.
A 1960’s thriller. A trauma that resurfaces. A singer trying to find justice.
A Song To Be Murdered By follows an aspiring singer called Alice Elliot who gets her big break performing at 'The Pretty Flamingo' nightclub. However, problems arise when a nefarious gang, hellbent on taking over the club, arrive one night and Alice is forced to connect with her past and the trauma she buried deep from this gang. She takes the gang out brutally one by one to save herself, the club and to get justice.
This is more than just an ambitious film. We may have exciting elements such as fight choreography and a car explosion, but these scenes all help to build up the character and story of Alice Elliot. At the root of the story, it is about her journey of standing up for herself and getting her voice heard.
Exploring both the vibrancy and darkness of the 60's period, A Song To Be Murdered By takes us back to a time where women rights started to see a positive change. However, these rights are sadly slipping away in the present day, and we need more media to challenge these ideologies that are creeping back.
Meet the team:
Producer and Co-Writer
Hello, I am Emelia Johnson, the Producer and Co-Writer of A Song To Be Murdered By. So far, seeing this film come to life has been an emotional journey that I have loved every second of. From beginning the writing process of our film, one of my main goals was to make sure Alice could stand up for herself and stand against sleazy, misogynistic behavior and comments. The reason this was such a big focus for me was due to a personal experience. After applying to film production courses, I found messages of boys saying 'She wants a career in media. If she wants anything good she's gonna have to h** herself out. I can't wait' I knew I wanted to create feminist media since I was young, but this comment powered me through.
In the future, I hope to work on more women led films as this is an area in both society and media that I am passionate about.
Director and Co-Writer
Hi, I'm Daniel Sawyer and I am the Director and Co-Writer of 'A Song To Be Murdered By.' The film came from a passion of all the crew to tell a story that could empower and inspire. We see too many action films even today where the female characters are sexualised, objectified, and secondary in their own story. We wanted to create a character who could rise up against that and be able to take control of her own story. There were many challenges and many highs making this film and we can't wait for everyone to see the finished result. This film was a labour of love and made possible by such a fantastic team who helped bring this film to life.
Listen to Daniel's interview about making the short, ambitious film A Song To Be Murdered By, early in his career: https://youtu.be/LBtN7DFnr4o?feature=shared
Our Assessed members
Jonny Stroud- Director of Photography
Preesha- 1st AD & Welfare Officer
Nia Caswell- Production Designer
Neil Tayler- Editor, Colourist and BTS
Stirling Stratford- Sound designer
Stella Armitage- Ward- Gaffer
We have shot the film... Now what?
In the last stages of post production, we are getting closer to distributing our film to the world. This is where you can help us.
We need to be seen internationally. There has been a surge in ideologies that oppress and harm women around the world and we need to fight back against this Women should have the right and power to do what they want with their own bodies. However, film festivals do cost money, so we need your help to truly change the narrative for women on screen.
Going to film festivals will not only let us showcase our hard work, but allow us to make valuable connections and encourage others to make media highlighting both the successes and struggles women have to face.
To break it down, your contribution would go to the following three costs:
Pick up shoots, Composing a film score, Film festivals.
More information on distribution
We are hoping to have our film screened in the BFI film institute for the In Focus 25 event BAFP are hosting; We know getting these final shots and the score bringing it all together can help us get closer to that goal.
For film festivals, we are aiming for a range of markets. Some include Women X in film, BAFTA qualifying Manchester Film Festival, BAFTA qualifying Aesthetica Film festival and Genre categories of Thriller in festivals like Sunday Shorts.