First ever selfie film was made in Hastings

Considered to be the world's first selfie movie comes #Starvecrow which was made by local media students using their smartphones.
#Starvecrow the worlds first movie filmed on smartphone SUS-160120-114433001#Starvecrow the worlds first movie filmed on smartphone SUS-160120-114433001
#Starvecrow the worlds first movie filmed on smartphone SUS-160120-114433001

Improvised throughout, the actors play their own names, contribute to their storylines and character development, filming themselves and each other.

This hands-on approach means there’s no director of photography or film crew, no production designer, no set builder, no special effects and no elaborate post-production.

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What you see is what you get - the focus is on real life acting and story-telling, and an incredible 69 hours of rushes was cut to an 84 minute feature film which is scheduled for released on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

#Starvecrow is the story of Ben and Jess. Ben is a control-freak, charmer, abuser and warped product of the digital age. He films everything. Jess is fresh out of rehab. Their worlds are dominated by each other but Jess needs some space and time apart and is invited by her friends to their house in the woods for the weekend. People arrive and the party kicks off, but not everyone attending has been invited.

This is billed as is a disturbing story of obsession, narcissism and complex relationships, where friendships and families are irreversibly broken.

Filmed over two years at various locations including London, Venice Beach, Geneva, Rome and Norway as well as dark woods near Hastings #Starvecrow features a mix of established actors and talented newcomers, including an appearance by Downton Abbey’s Jeremy Swift, who stars alongside RocknRolla’s David Bark-Jones and The Pillars of the Earth’s Skye Lourie.

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This new method coins the term for a new disruptive genre of film-making known as Hypereal. They are improvised, low budget, Indie feature films that use smartphones to rapidly film and edit life like first person stories. Please visit www.hypereal.global to read more about the process as well as the forthcoming Hypereal Film Festival.

Screenings will run at the Kino-Teatr in Norman Road on Friday January 22 at 4.30pm and 7.30pm. The 7.30pm screening will be followed by a set from soundscape designer DJ Noel Watson.

The screenings’ location pays homage to the collaboration between Director John Carver and Dr Sarah Atkinson (former Principal Lecturer in Film and Media at the University of Brighton) and her third year students, as students worked on the edit also in Hastings.

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