Bond University’s Film & TV students won’t have to travel far for work experience placements over the next few months; their Gold Coast campus is about to become a film set for a full-length feature film.
Pandala Films began shooting The Fear of Darkness this week and have signed on a number of Film & TV students as interns, and graduates in official roles, on the production.
Director of Film and Television Dr Michael Sergi said, “For many students, The Fear of Darkness will be their first experience working on a feature film set and, more importantly, their first professional movie credit”.
“We’ll be filming at a lot of locations on the Bond University campus in the coming weeks – a lecture theatre, one of the cafes, various corridors and the pine forest – as well as using the film school’s state-of-the-art Sony F65 digital camera for filming and the studios for post production,” said producer, Mark Overett.
“We’re also really thrilled to be involving the Bond community quite heavily. Every department has signed on at least one intern from the Film & TV School, and we’re bringing back some particularly talented Bond graduates to work as key crew members.
“We’ve even got one of those graduates – Joshua Beattie – composing music for the film.”
“Getting started is always the most difficult part when you have to transition from an academic environment to a professional one,” said Mark.
“The major benefit of being involved with a real commercial feature like this is that the students will be working with industry veterans – some with more than 30 years’ experience in the game.
“We hope the students will forge some valuable relationships through these mentoring experiences and use the opportunity as a launch pad for future success.”
For Bond University lecturer, and the film’s AFI award-winning writer/director, Chris Fitchett, inspiration for The Fear of Darkness came from his own days at university, studying psychology in the 1970s.
Described as a supernatural thriller, it features Australian actress Maeve Dermody (Serangoon Road, Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch Story, Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo) as Dr Sarah Faithfull, a brilliant young psychologist investigating the mysterious disappearance of a university student. Penelope Mitchell (Vampire Diaries, Hemlock Grove) also stars as the beautiful murder suspect Skye Williams.
Acclaimed Australian actors Damien Garvey (Underbelly, Rake) Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road, City Homicide) and Mark Leonard Winter (Balibo, Van Diemen’s Land) may also be seen around the Bond campus playing key roles.
The Fear of Darkness will be distributed in Australia through Greenlight Releasing, while Arclight Films will handle international sales. The film is planned for theatrical release in Australia early in 2015.