I wrote the first draft of ‘Mess’ when I was seventeen, and shot it when I was 19. Over a decade later, I decided to remake it. It’s exciting to me that a few film festivals have deemed this experiment worthy of screening.
‘Mess’ (the new version) stars two of my favourite upcoming British actors, Amy Burrows and Joseph Tregear, and the music is by James Stordy – an award-winning composer who I have worked with consistently throughout my career.
The film was shot in the same way as the original: with no budget and no crew. While the lack of resources could be deemed as a limitation, for me it is a joyful situation where we have only one thing we can turn to: creativity.
What I strive to do when I make films is to do something personal; to create something that means something to me and to those involved. ‘Mess’ captures a little of who I was at seventeen, a little of who I am now, and a little of Joseph and Amy and James. This is our short film and I’m delighted that it’s being picked up by a few festivals.
MESS will be screening at the Studio 35 Cinema Comedy Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio, April 29th-May 31st 2016, and at the Nassau Film Festival in Princeton, New Jersey, on Sunday May 15th 2016. I will be in attendance at the Nassau Film Festival and hope to see you there!
A few facts about the short film, ‘Mess’
- The original film starred William Hartley and Georgia Goodrick.
- I named the film after the Ben Folds Five song, ‘Mess’. I made another film that same year, ‘Losing Simon’ which was named after another of their songs; ‘Losing Lisa’.
- The new version contains one re-written scene.
- A few years ago I re-uploaded the original version to YouTube, which you can watch on Youtube.
Email Me: dj@danieljohnsonfilms.co.uk
Twitter: @DanielJohnsonUK
