Film Name: Misconception
Director: Richard Rowntree
Writers: Matthew Davies, Richard Rowntree
Starring: Gemma Campbell, Rachael Grace, Sean Hall, Tracey Joy, Teddy Kelly
A husband & wife talk at cross purposes via text message, resulting in a horrendous discovery for one of them. A short horror-comedy about the importance of context within written communication, and how we as humans really need to learn to communicate more effectively.
In another interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask, ‘Misconception’ co-writer-director Richard Rowntree a few questions about what we can expect from his short film. Misconception will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on January 15th January at 17:30hrs.
Q. Your short horror film Misconception has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. We’re really excited to be playing at Horror-on-Sea again – such a fun festival! “Misconception” is a fun little horror-comedy about how written communications can go disastrously wrong in the modern day – in this case, text messaging between a couple – without the correct intonation and punctuation!
Q. You co-wrote the film with Matthew Davies. What were your influences when writing the script for Misconception and what was the process for you writing together?
A. We had the idea whilst we were shooting our previous feature – we wanted to make something with a bit of shock value and humour to it, to try and bring our dark sense of humour to the screen! We generally talk about the basis for the story, then take it in turns to write drafts and send them back and forth to each other until we’re both happy – it’s a fun process, and one which yields good results we hope!
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I wanted to make something that had a fairy-tale/cautionary tale vibe to it – soft focus, to try and bring out the urban legend sentiment – but also with some vivid colours, particularly reds and oranges in this case – to give the audience some hints of what’s to come with the punchline of the film.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. There was one pretty major one haha! Originally the comedic line at the end was an entirely different vegetable – but after a bit of market research (via asking the Facebook hive mind!), we decided to change it from parsnips to carrots – mainly based on the feedback we had that in the US, a lot of people are unfamiliar with parsnips, so it would have lost its impact with audiences in North America – whereas everybody knows carrots! But other than that, we pretty well stuck to what was written.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. The key prop at the end of the film was a lot of fun – seeing the cast and crew’s reaction to it on set (you’ll understand when you see the film!) – Mel Wignall, my production designer, even said she felt disgusted when I asked her to make it! We also had a lot of fun with the vomiting scenes – well, maybe not Rachael who plays the lead – she ended up having to repeat the shot several times, which I don’t think we very pleasant for her!
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. It was a pretty smooth shoot in all honesty – we had this fabulous house location – and the owners were very gracious. As with anything indie film, the main issue was getting it all shot in time and on budget whilst keeping all of the cast and crew happy – but I’m lucky enough to work with a great bunch of people with some extraordinary talents, and everybody brings their A game to our shoots!
Q. What makes Misconception stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. From the audience reactions we’ve had so far, I think the vomiting scene haha! I’ve had more questions and comments about that than anything we’ve ever shot, I think! The film doesn’t take itself too seriously, and hopefully it has a good blend of WTF horror and some sick (excuse the pun) humour!
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. Well with this one I don’t think we were particularly trying to bring any deep message to the audience – just that maybe they’ll think twice before sending texts to make sure they can’t be interpreted in a way other than what’s actually written! We set out to make something fun and enjoyable, so hopefully audiences will have a smile and feel entertained.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes indeed! We’ve recently started cutting our third feature film – Mask of the Devil which is in a similar vein to Misconception in that it blends dark humour and horror. We tried to make something that will hopefully work on multiple levels, and it has an 80’s sensibility to it – we brought some things that we learned from making Misconception, and also used some of the feedback we had from audiences to it – it should be a lot of fun, and hopefully we’ll be able to bring it to Horror-on-Sea in 2023!
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Just go and do it! There’s all sorts of cool, cheap tech available to make your own films these days – if you focus on the story, then technical misgivings can be forgiven – you only learn by practising and trying out new things, so just go for it!
You can find out more about co-writer / director Richard Rowntree and Ash Mountain Films on the following social media:
Richard Rowntree – Twitter
Ash Mountain Films – Twitter – Instagram – Facebook
You can find out more about the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on the website https://www.horror-on-sea.com/
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!
