Big screen break for idea born in Tullibody
Hamish Hutchinson • Published 26 Jan 2012 08:00
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Chris Summers as superhero Jason Mackenzie in Night is Day: The Movie.
IT began as a science fiction web series, partly filmed in the Wee County.
Now the adventures of Scotland's first superhero, Jason Mackenzie, are coming to the big screen.
Night is Day: The Movie will premiere at this year's Glasgow Film Festival.
The film is the brainchild of 27-year-old writer/director Fraser Coull, founder of Silly Wee Films.
It is based on his self-funded web series "Night is Day" which ran from 2006 until 2009.
Fraser, who formerly lived in Tullibody, came up with the idea for Night is Day when he was on the BBC's E-Force programme.
He said, "I was training at the BBC in Glasgow and there was a competition to make a trailer for a movie, so I thought what would it be like if there was a superhero in Glasgow, hence, Jason Mackenzie was born."
With money tight, it was the goodwill of young talent, including Sweet Sixteen actor Martin Compston, that enabled Fraser to complete the first series. Another swiftly followed.
He continued, "In 2009 the web series came to a natural end. I did other things but after a while I thought, the BBC and STV aren't calling for me, it's time to do something about it."
Inspired by Hollywood filmmaker Joss Whedon who made Serenity, a big screen version of his cancelled scifi TV series Firefly, Fraser began writing a big screen adaptation of Night is Day.
Fraser said, "I called it the Serenity effect. The movie is a complete stand-alone story but there are nods back to the series for those who watched it."
He teamed up with Forth Valley producers, Lindsay Dowell and Gavin Orr, of Goldray Productions, along with Andrew Dougall and Ross Hardie.
Filming began in the summer of 2010 with a 50-strong cast and crew, including Taggart star Colin McCredie and Rab C Nesbitt actress Elaine C Smith.
With a budget just in excess of £4000, the film was shot on weekends over three months in Glasgow and Falkirk.
The story follows Jason Mackenzie (played by Chris Summers), a super- powered vigilante, who leads an investigation into the mysterious appearance of an ancient creature called The Caillech (Catriona Joss) as well as battling corrupt businessman Mr Philips (Tam Toye) and his assassin, Frank Stone (Mark Harvey).
Fraser said, "Last year we showed a 10 minute preview of the film at Kapow (comic book strand of the Glasgow film festival).
"I got a call asking if we wanted to submit the final feature and I said, well how about a premiere?
"£4500 films don't usually premiere at film festivals.
"It's big kudos for the guys that worked on it and big thanks should go to the guys at the film festival for giving us that platform."
The film will premiere on 22 February as part of the Glasgow Film Festival which runs from 16-26 February.
This article appeared in Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser 25 Jan 12
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