New National Youth Film Academy Product has provided £700 of match funding
Deadly Potential - A short murder mystery film
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim
Support us in creating a short murder mystery that sees seven unique students as they are invited to a prestigious dinner club.
Seven unique university students are invited to join Professor Thorpland’s prestigious dinner club. It all goes wrong when the very thing that makes them special leads the professor to his death. Plagued by their disposition to one of the seven deadly sins, the students had made desperate attempts to receive the professor’s distinguished award. One of them went too far.
The situation forces the students to confront their varying achievements, backgrounds and motives. Two siblings, Oliver and Kate, come from old wealth. Ben, from new wealth. Frankie and Aggie are there on account of their prodigious talent, and Harley has worked unbelievably hard. Cora is a medic and proud of her working-class background. Some live for the attention and others envy it.
We need YOUR help to make our film a reality! The creative industry is underfunded, and we are a production company that is both young and independent. We will be depending on the generosity of our friends, family and general public to help fund the making of our short film.
In the post-pandemic age, we want to bring you vivacity and excitement. We want our story to make you feel intrigued, stimulated, tense and frustrated. Tackling the murder mystery genre that Brits love so well, we want to bring you all the same drama and suspense while engaging with our brief: ‘Inclusion and Diversity’. Our film aims to question what inclusion means in a situation where exclusion, or murder, is thrust upon our characters. We will do this by exploring the nuances in human relationships to confront issues of class and ambition - two themes which create the most tension between our suspects...
Our cast and crew, led by our female-strong Heads of Department, have so many skills to offer and are eager to make Deadly Potential a film that stands out in all fields, be it narratively, visually or stylistically. So, help support us to make it the best we can!
Want more of a feel for what Deadly Potential will look like? Here are some images that we’re drawing on to propel the visual aesthetic of our film.
Deadly Potential plays out in an old university room, decked out with all the musty eccentricities of British tradition. It's a setting that will draw out the issues we've been tasked to address: inclusivity and diversity.
As a space steeped in British history, customs and 'norms', it allows our characters to juxtapose old society with new, by bringing to light the differences among us in a contemporary situation.
Our props will be just as important as our set in contributing towards the final effect we want Deadly Potential to have. The film's black-tie dinner club will be dripping with cocktail glasses and candles, featuring a chess set and a piano...with any luck!
We want our shots to add as much to the film as all the other factors. Close-up shots will add to the tension of our murder mystery and low angles like the one above will help the audience place themselves within the scene.
Madeleine Fletcher - Director
Madeleine is currently studying Film Production at Aberystwyth University. Beginning her career in musical theatre, her directorial debut was a production of The Addams Family where she coordinated 100 cast and crew giving her full creative control of the project. She completed a directing mentorship scheme with BAFTA, enabling her to develop a unique style, resulting in films that stand out from the crowd. Her love for character development and implicit changes in tone have ensured that Madeleine’s portfolio of films are always visually intriguing with an emphasis on symbolism through the minute details, bringing the audience into the film world.
Delilah Walter - Producer
Delilah is about to go into her final year studying History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, a degree which has sparked her interest in a wide variety of art and culture. This has directed her love for film aesthetics, giving her a strong idea of what she wants her films to look and feel like. Although she has no professional credits yet, she wants to pursue a career in documentaries, in whatever capacity that might be.
Vicky Angelou - Writer
Vicky has been a lifetime film obsessive. Having always loved pulling plots apart, she went into screenwriting to put her knowledge towards making a film. She has developed scripts before but grew her confidence in storytelling through training as a copywriter and working in marketing.
Catrin Burns - First AD
Catrin is currently studying film at the University of South Wales. Her interest in film and visual creativity developed from spending most of her early years on stage as a dancer. After directing and producing a number of short documentaries on topics including Drag Queens and Irish Dancers, Catrin’s focus on fictional filmmaking has brought her once again to the Set Ready course as First AD.
George Higgins - Director of Photography
George is a videographer based in Manchester and Liverpool. Through his love for music he has worked with a variety of Merseyside artists, and has an extensive background in music videos. He hopes to take this further by making music-based documentaries in the future.
Christian Markham - Crew
Christian Markham is a recent graduate from Queen Mary University of London and The University of Texas at Austin. Studying under industry greats such as Matthew McConaughey, Christian has developed a passion for production and storytelling.
We are lucky to have Dagmar Scheibenreif, an award-winning Director, as our mentor. She loves to explore and dissect stories and characters in depth, two avenues which we are particularly keen to develop in our film. Although a recognised Director, Dagmar has been involved in almost all stages of filmmaking and is highly skilled in cinematography, editing and lighting as well. She is a huge advocate for all members in our production company trying their hand at different skills, so we are extremely excited to have her energy, guidance and expertise.
Naturella M'bokolo
Naturella, the youngest member of our team and has been acting since a young age, with experience in both theatre and short films. Her love for acting, sparked after watching Viola Davie, comes from the excitement that comes with taking characters to the extreme, an invaluable asset for a film exploring the nuances in personality.
Max Jordan
Max is an actor from Northamptonshire. His experience mainly lies in theatre, appearing in plays such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Scaramouche Jones. Max has also had the ability to act and direct in short films and hopes to take this further in the future.
Laura Pidgeon
Although Laura has prior experience in film, her background lies in theatre. In doing this, she has studied how actors develop and embody characters and is looking forward to using this knowledge in regard to her own character, Aggie. In the future, she is interested in heading more into the production side of film instead of acting.
Alexia Diamany
Originally from Birmingham, Alexia grew up abroad and in the process developed her interest and experience in music and musical theatre. She has played roles including Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes and won the British and American Music Award. She continues her love of theatre at the University of Glasgow and is using this to propel her career in film.
Jacob Moreton
Jacob is an actor and writer currently based in London. He has both devised and performed in various plays and is currently playing Henry VIII in a production of Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton. Alongside, he is working on his debut stand-up comedy show Alfa Fail which he will take to the Edinburgh Fringe this August.
Zafra Howard
Zafra Howard is an actor from South East London. Graduating from The Brit School in 2019, she has produced small pieces of work during the global hiatus of the last 2 years. She is looking forward to filming with the rest of the cast and crew in August!
Oriane Kirkwood
Oriane is a student at Fourth Monkey drama school in North London. She has been involved in several short films and adverts and would love to work on more shows and films in the future.
In progressing as a filmmaker, I have started to explore my voice and focus on what it is I want my films to address. A common theme across my portfolio is exploring complexities in different characters. What excites me about this project is the ability to take this further, with a plot that weaves carefully crafted characters in and out of a larger ensemble.
I am keen to use action and reaction as a way to explore complex and diverse relationships, using subtlety to tell the story rather than expositional dialogue. I have taken narrative and structural inspiration from a number of Agatha Christie novels and am working with the scriptwriter and actors to convey the plot in a non-linear sequence, with flashbacks and different points of view.
Cinematically, I have taken inspiration from Knives Out, And Then There Were None and Only Murders In The Building for the way they establish an inviting environment that juxtaposes the tensions that build throughout the film.
Thematically, I want to create a discussion about the associations between intellect, class and privilege. I want this film to engage the audience both narratively and visually while using it to address the culture of exclusivity that remains prominent in British society today.
Our goal is to raise £6,500. We need this to fund all the different stages of filmmaking, including:
- Location
- Camera kit
- Hiring a professional actor
- All props and costume
- Sending it to festivals across the country!
We are also very proud to announce that we were chosen as this year's NYFA film to gain extra funding! This was based on the strength of our story and vision, and the extra £300 will be hugely helpful towards our goal.
THANK YOU for reading our crowdfunding page!
We really hope you can help support our film - have a look at some of the rewards... For more updates follow us on social media:
Instagram: @deadlypotential_film
Facebook: @deadlypotentialfilm
This project successfully funded on 6th July 2022