Post-apocalyptic Edinburgh
AN EDINBURGH director is to release a film depicting the city in a desolate post-apocalyptic world where Edinburgh Castle has turned into a shanty town.
David Lumsden is putting the finishing touches to the short film, called Boat, which sees famous Edinburgh landmarks reduced to rumble and rust.
The film was shot over four days in January this year, three of which were spent using green screen and one day beside Edinburgh Castle.
The 28-year-old wrote the film in late 2010 and found matter painter Anthony Devine to design the concept art which includes a submerged Forth Road Bridge and dilapidated flats in Sighthill.
The Edinburgh College of Art graduate plans to premiere the movie at film festivals in autumn this year.
Most of the films crew worked forfree but actors were hired to play the low-budget shorts two roles.
The story features a father and son, trying to survive and find somewhere to live
Mr Lumsden said: ”Its a story about a post-apocalyptic world featuring a father and his son who are basically trying to survive at sea and find a place to live.
They sail between different buildings, a bit like a version of The Road on water, looking for somewhere to call home.”
The father is under a lot of pressure and there are a lot of dream like sequences that might be real or might be in his head, which makes it a bit like Inception.”
The film has been produced by Edinburgh-based Katie Crook under her company, Blue Iris Films.
Mr Lumsden added that he wanted to include as many recognisable Edinburgh icons in the film as possible, including the Balmoral, the Castle and Lothian Buses, to make the film more eerie.
”The Forth Road Bridge will be rusty and have moss hanging off and the Castle will be covered with rubbish with shanty huts built along the side. It will be familiar but tainted.
A team at Abertay University has kindly offered to help us with all the visual effects, based on the concept paints. We’ll be starting the next leg on Monday and we hope to take the film around festivals in autumn.”
Jake Wilson, 11, from Lanarkshire, and Owen Gorman, from Paisley play the father and son and Edinburgh based Krish Shrikumar is director of photography.
Mr Lumsden earned a BA Honours and Masters in film and TV and won the city’s Halloween Horror Challenge in 2008 for a five-minute horror film, called 5 Steps.
Fans can get more information about the film at www.boatthefilm.com.
