“ONE MUST STILL HAVE CHAOS IN ONESELF TO BE ABLE TO GIVE BIRTH TO A DANCING STAR” - FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

A doll in a white dress descends eerily to the bottom of a river. A young girl, drenched to the bone and in the same white dress, finds herself in an unfamiliar room with sad, forgotten creatures. A stranger appears from nowhere and offers the girl his hand which she chooses to accept.

He draws her through the mirror into a dizzying world of alternative versions of herself. These multiply and explode revealing the body of the doll in the white dress floating expansively in space.

THE STRANGER : JULIAN BLEACH

Highlights of Julian’s film work include roles in Mike Leigh’s TOPSY TURVEY, Terry Gilliam’s THE BROTHERS GRIMM, Tom Hooper’s LES MISERABLES and Josh Wheedon’s AVENGERS, AGE OF ULTRON. Memorable TV roles include Machiavelli in Neil Jordan’s THE BORGIAS, Davros (Lord of the Daleks) in DR WHO, and Salter in Stephen Poliakoff’s CLOSE TO THE ENEMY. Theatrical highlights include, co-devising and performing the multiple Olivier award-winning SHOCKHEADED PETER, Ariel in THE TEMPEST opposite Patrick Stewart’s Prospero for the RSC, and more recently, THE GRINNING MAN, directed by Tom Morris at the Bristol Old Vic.

NEXT » VICTORIA GONCHARENKO – LEAD ACTRESS

VIKA G : LEAD ACTRESS

Victoria is twelve years old with an interest in comedy, design, poetry, rap, making her own music videos and (more recently) boys.

Outside of her own videos, SUICIDE NOTE is her debut appearance in a film. She enjoyed making the film but admitted to being somewhat “freaked out” by her ghostly on screen alter-ego.

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DIRECTOR'S NOTES

Throughout our lives we steadfastly cling to a series of identities; each one masquerades as our true self, promising us safety and certainty. Through suffering, we move onto another identity and repeat the process all over again. According to the Buddhist tradition, each person contains an infinite array of potential identities none of which represent their ‘true’ self. Only in the acceptance of the transient nature of each identity, and in the letting go of our attachment to perfect certainty, can we embrace and experience completeness.

VISUALISING THE WORLD

Original production sketches by Jason Southgate

CONSTRUCTING THE WORLD

In constructing the world I wanted to minimise visual/digital effects and create as many live effects as possible. My inspiration for this came from Robert Wiene’s expressionistic film THE CABINET OF DR CAGLIARI, Jean Cocteau’s ORPHEUS and David Lynch’s ERASERHEAD. In order to achieve this I worked closely with my DOP Phil Moreton, production designer Jason Southgate and SFX specialist Ritchie Beacham-Paterson from Artemis whose credits include HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD and T2 TRAINSPOTTING.

The Drowning Woman

A large fish tank was used to create the illusion of a woman drowning

Whirlwind

A series of fans were used to create the swirling vortex effect around the girl

Through the looking glass

The actress Victoria was lowered into a black tank filled with water to create the illusion of her walking through the mirror

REFLECTIONS

A series of one-way and two-way mirrors were used to create the multiplication and warping of the girl.

SPACE

The doll was placed on a stick, turned slowly and shot against a back lit black cloth with multiple holes pierced into it. Berlin-based animator Cristian Wiesenfeld later enhanced the shot digitally to create a sense of the doll moving away from us and space/time bending.

CREDITS & SPECIFICATIONS

 
Executive Producer Marc Teitler
Producers Louise Palmkvist Hansen

Chiara Giavarini
Director of Photography Phil Moreton
Production Designer, Storyboard Artist & Dollmaker Jason Southgate
Art Director Molly Tebbutt
Assistant Art Director Crina Ene
Art Department Assistants Loren Wood, Yasmine Holmes

Akhil Kanukuntia

Christine R. Hjalager
Writers Marina Waltz & Marc Teitler
Editor Steve Kenny
Grader Pat Wintersgill
VFX & Credits Cristian Wiesenfeld
Hair & Make Up Artist Roz Gomersall
1st AD Rick O’Connor
Production Manager Paloma Fraile
SFX Supervisor Ritchie Beacham-Paterson
SFX Technician Tim Warren
1st AC Murat Akyildiz
2nd AC’s Max MacGechan

Conor Chalk
Gaffer Ian Stowe
Spark Fev Ozalcin
Still Photographer Paloma Fraile
Runners Abdi Yazdi

Mustafa Basbaydar

The song SUICIDE NOTE was used with permission of ACKOU

Music & Lyrics by Marc Teitler
Production & Programming by Bernd Wuertz
Lead Vocals by Ayu Okakita

A special thanks to the following people for generously supporting our crowdfunding campaign: Paul Abbey, Aleksandra Bartek, Joel and Laura Brown, Alice Cox, Giuseppe D’Annunzio, Daniel Evans, Craig Finch, Claire Fischer, Jerry Kamil, Leslie Koch, Marc Kramer, Mervin Lange, Bruno Mancini, Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Adrian Weber.

© Honeyfly Films

Running time – 05:24
Genre – Horror/Fantasy/Surrealism
Completion Date – September 25th, 2016
Country of Production – United Kingdom
Shooting Format – RED Aspect Ratio – 16:9
Film Colour – Black and White