Film Name: G.A.W
Director: Andre Harrison
Writer: Andre Harrison
Starring: Juliana Grossi, Nikolas Savvides
In October of 2024, a young couple, Sydney and Jack, disappeared in the woods near the Hackney Marshes whilst camping and getting high. A gen Z hot spot for most, an ancient ritualistic burial ground to others. Their footage was never found.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds, I got a chance to ask Writer-Director Andre Harrison a few questions about his film ‘G.A.W‘, which will have its World Premiere at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday, 17th January at 12:30hrs.
Q. Your film G.A.W has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect?
A. Just under four minutes of intense fun and scares.
Q. What were your inspirations when writing the script?
A. I was walking through a forest one night being guided by the light on my phone. Of course, the mind plays tricks but it did make me think to how much I liked the film Blair Witch (1999). A few weeks later Nik Savvides reached out to me asking if I were making any films which prompted me to turn the venture into a little short. Originally for a bit of fun but it turned out looking alot better than we wanted.
Q. Did you have any of the cast in mind for the characters when writing the script?
A. With this script, not at all apart from Nik who kind of instigated the whole thing. Julianna had been in touch during a previous casting but never got to work together so when a female character was written, she was my first choice.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. The Blair Witch Project and other video cam horrors like Rec (2007), Taking of Deborah Logan (2014).
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. There wasn’t much of a script given the video cam feel of the film. The only script was the ending which we stayed true to. Everything that led up to that moment was pretty much improvised.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Me, dressing up as an old woman.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. Apart from the cold weather when filming outside which caused my fingers to slip off the record button a couple times. All went smoothly.
Q. What makes G.A.W stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. The switch between video cam footage and live action is something I’ve seen very little of which is something we offer in our film.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. To pick up a camera and head into the woods at night and see if they can find the witch. Like we did…
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. There’s quite a few projects in the pipeline with Velvet Vinyl Films but the closest one will be the sequel to Midnight Perturbation which is due to start filming in May.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Be different. Write and direct what you want to see. I started off writing and filming what I believed others wanted for the genres I was filming for however I realise having a unique voice is how to truly stand out and grow apart from the rest.
G.A.W. will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 17th January at 12:30hrs.
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets the G.A.W. here
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
