New National Youth Film Academy Product has provided £2,500 of match funding
The Daily Lyre - Short Film
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
A fundraiser for the short film The Daily Lyre! A film that follows a newspaper through decades of corruption!
BEFORE YOU SCROLL ANY FURTHER! Have a listen to our Film Playlist, to get you in the mood for the film!
The journey of the newspaper, The Daily Lyre, through three decades. Starting in 1945 on VE Day, we witness the editor deliberating what the headline should be for a momentous day. As we merge into 1962, we follow the tense situation of the Cuban missile crisis and start to see the fabrication of news stories be embellished into The Daily Lyre. We eventually reach 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the paper now rife with fake news, false stats, and page 3 models. A once compelling, credible newspaper turns to another rag.
As the film is set out in three separate decades we intend to film it in the style of the decade. Starting the film in noir gradually moving to rocking 60’s with technicolor and ending the film in the bright neon ’80s. Our composer Harry intends to write separate music styles for each decade to really encapsulate the era. The film is set all in one office, which we will build in a theatre, and film it more theatrically for the first two decades.
MUSIC DEMO by Harry Binns
We intend to start the film off in Black and White, with very staged shots. The event that we follow in the film is V-E Day.
Now we hop to 1962, in the tense weeks of the Cuban Missle crisis. The film becomes bright and colourful. A huge transformation from the black and white start to the film.
After the bright colours of the 60's, we come to the neon colours of 1989. Strong blush and huge hair here we come! Rest assured there are a lot of shoulder pads involved in this decade.
Gender Stereotypes and Sexism:
The female characters displayed throughout the film, grow and develop exponentially. When we start in the ’40s, the women are housewives and secretary’s and by the ’80s are Editors and lead journalists. Through each decade we see the development of sexism and how it evolves into different forms
Corruption:
We follow the newspaper, The Daily Lyre, on its journey to corruption. We start the film with a stable British credible newspaper as the decades proceed, corruption ensues, with fanatics, businessmen, and conspiracy theorists interjecting their stories to sell more papers.
People and the Public:
Information is power, and Journalism is all about information, no matter how factual or truthful. We understand the importance of Journalism within the world we live in; it affects politics, opinions, and our views of the world. At the end of each decade, we follow the life of a CITIZEN, who we see react and read the paper of the decades. We want to be able to show the reaction of those who read the paper, and how it affects their day-to-day life.
Throughout the film, each actor will be playing 3 separate characters, but each character they will play will be linked by a theme.
Alexandra Finne as Sarah/Sally/Simone
"S" in the film represents TRUTH. She is the character that brings to light the lies that are being told by the paper. Introducing the Award-Winning Actor Alexandira Finne who will be playing the role of "S" in the Daily Lyre.
Zak Russell-Jones as Trevor/Timothy/Terry
"T" in the film represents the corruption and destructive nature of fake news. He is a manipulative, disgraceful character that represents all things fake and twisted in Journalism. "T" will be played by the talented and enthusiastic Zak!
Charley Davies as Ophelia/Opal/Osha
"O" is a character that fluctuates drastically through the decades. Starting in the 1940s a madwoman who thinks the world is conspiring against her to the '60s a bored housewife who makes up stories to keep entertained. Then ending up in the '80s as a fully-fledged journalist working on the gossip collum. Any conspiracy theories, she's the one who thinks of them first!
Rosie Skuse as Abbie/Anna/Alice
"A" represents the drastic change of women's statuses. In the 1940's she is a housewife and dotes on her husband's every need. By the 60's she is the receptionist tired of her lowly status in the office, so much so she will do anything, even doing her boss a few favors late at night. Finally by the 80's she runs the show, the editor of the paper, yet she compromises everything she believes in to retain her role there.
Fred Pearce as Bert/Buster/Benny
"B" represents integrity within the film. He sticks by. his standards and won't let anyone interfere with his stories. He and the character "S" can no longer stand the lies of the paper and decide to make the change they have desired.
Katie Penn as the CITIZEN
The Character of the CITIZEN represents the people who read the paper. We see her through the decades in various moments in her life, getting more and more frustrated with the stories she reads.
Say hello to the director of the Daily Lyre. Daisy is a writer, director, and producer, and has been running her production company, Pie Face Theatre, since age 16. She specialises in comedy and new writing. Whenever she makes a film or theatre production she wants to make sure who and what we see on screen is more reflective of who we are.
Introducing Conrad Pollock who is our fantastic writer. Conrad has been writing for several years, having had a couple of short stories published, and a full play, and several short film scripts produced. For him, writing The Daily Lyre is a great opportunity to write about different time periods and the responsibilities of journalism, a very important subject to him.
Tommy-Joe is an award-nominated film producer based in the South East. A recent film graduate from the University of Kent. In 2019, he underwent a placement at Film4, and took part in NBCUniversal’s HotHouse pitching programme. Tommy-Joe already has found success from his first two shorts – Birdwatching and Intrusion.
Dominic Howlett is a cinematographer from Southampton. He has collaborated on a number of different promotional campaigns for high-end clients including Google, Visa and Gamble Aware. He has also worked on a wide range of award-winning short films, including Mexed, Solvi and the dramatic one-take short film: On in 15.
Bella Bregazzi started working in film in 2017, her first credits being a director for the BFI Film Academy and a runner on the feature film 'Black Site'. She has since produced, written and assistant directed many short films and gained professional credits on feature films as a production assistant and camera trainee.
Harry Binns is a film and media composer based in Manchester. Having been involved with music from a young age, Harry developed an interest in music of multiple genres which led to his interest in film music. Looking to pursue a career in film, Harry has studied composition and music production while working on short films, producing work for artists, and working on his own music.
Stanley Wong is a filmmaker based in Birmingham, specialised in sound. He first played the role of sound technician in the 2018 National Youth Film Academy short “Para” –directed by Charles Solly. Since then he has been making connections within the filmmaking community and building up his portfolio in sound recording and foley.
Benjamin Atkinson is a filmmaker based in Edinburgh, Scotland. With a strong grasp of the key disciplines of the motion picture, he has created a diverse series of short films, commercial advertisements, and promotional materials for his clients.
Jay Seymour is a 24-year-old Filmmaker and Actor from Kent. Jay began his creative career at the age of 6 when he joined the Italia Conti Associates to take Drama classes. He went on to complete all his LAMDA exams at 16. It wasn't until he studied film production at college that he got an eye for behind the camera and turned his focus towards Producing and Editing.
Sam Toller is an experienced indie filmmaker and comedian. He knows how to run a shoot day and keep spirits high, whilst also banging on about film trivia and dramatic methodology. Toller started comedy production company Onsen Presents during the pandemic, where you can find all sorts of funny content that he’s directed, edited, or starred in.
James Short is a filmmaker from Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. Specialising in Screenwriting and Directing. This will not be James’ first time making a film with NYFA, as he was the Director of Photography for his #SetReady film, 12 Minutes (2018, dir. Julia Whitehouse). He chose to join the crew of The Daily Lyre as he thinks that it will bring people to talk about trusting news media, especially after recent events.
Here is a little breakdown of what the budget of the film is, rest assured every penny will be used wisely. Building the set for three separate decades is no cheap trick and will take several materials and a crew to make it possible. Luckily Director Daisy has a whole costume cupboard full of era-appropriate clothes for the shoot but will need a few extras here and there.
By donating to our project you will help make this short film a reality! We are really excited to get started on this project and your support will be able to make this a reality.
If you can't donate, that's fine too! You can still support us in different ways! By sharing and liking our Social Media pages on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok you can help us expand our social media coverage. After all we need an audience to watch this film and that starts by gaining a following!
Instagram: @TheDailyLyre. TikTok: @TheDailyLyre
This project successfully funded on 26th June 2021