DIRECTOR STATEMENT
The Rage is a short horror film, written, produced and directed by Joshua Cleave. Based in Liverpool and shot on a tiny/zero budget.

Anything I needed was either self funded from my own pocket (food expenses and festival costs) or it was begged and borrowed from anyone i know. Shot on location in a real bio lab (Liverpool science park) and filmed with local actors and film crew from around the city.

The Rage is about a bio scientist (Joe, Played by Christian Greenway) who becomes trapped in a sealed testing lab when a deadly Rage virus is accidentally released. It's then a race against time to escape the lab, find his girlfriend/co worker (Lucy, played by Harriet Davies) and evacuate the building before the Rage infects everything in its path.

Shot entirely on a Go-Pro hero 4, through the main actors POV (point of view), I really wanted the audience to be part of the action, to hear and feel what was going on inside his head throughout the film until the climax at the very end. Shooting in first person was always my vision for the Rage as I feel this will be a great way to really immerse the audience, and build on the fear and tension as you follow Joe on his journey through the film.

The main actor (Christian Greenway) was only available that weekend so i had to get everything I needed in just two days. Not only did I have to direct him as an actor, I also had to direct him as a camera operator as the camera (Go-pro hero black 4) was mounted to a paintball mask that I converted to hold the camera firmly in place just below his eye line as to mimic his POV. This wasn't as easy as it sounds as there were very specific camera movements and angles I wanted. Frustratingly the go-pros we were using constantly lost wifi connection with the viewing monitor or freezing and because we all had to hide out of shot we wouldn't know what had been captured until the end of each take, but with a lot of run throughs and direction we soon got all the shots we needed. Once we had wrapped on the lab scene with Christian, I was then able to take over his roll and act and film the rest of the his scenes. This was much easier and quicker as I knew exactly how it would look and I had complete control over the camera movements and was even able to safely choreograph the action scenes. I could even plan the start and end of every take so I could transition every shot seamlessly in the edit, as I wanted the film to flow as one continuous shot. This helped the assistant editor too when adding the VFX to the transitions in post. We also added a dark and grainy color grade to achieve the moody look I wanted. The music and sound FX also played a huge part in the edit as I wanted to really build the tension in every scene. My aim was to use quieter ambient tones and load Rager (the infected) growls which I hope would have more of an impact on the audience rather than a music video style sound track.

Shooting on location also came with its problems, the day before we were due to film the lab and corridor scenes, the new management of the science park called me to say we were no longer allowed to film outside of the lab or on their rooftop, despite being granted full permission the previous month. As you can imagine this was a massive set back, but despite this it then gave me more time to concentrate on the lab scene. After a few weeks and several new location scouts I soon found a replacement building and rooftop that we had 100% access to... or so I thought. The morning of the final shoot (the biggest Rager scene of the film) I received a call to say we couldn't film on their rooftop because their security had called in sick and there was no one else to let us in the building, this was an absolute nightmare. I then rang every block of flats in Liverpool to find a replacement, but to no avail. With four makeup artists, six extras and four crew all ready for filming, there was no way I was going to cancel this last shoot. I had to do some quick last minute location scouting while the makeup artists got the Ragers ready. Luckily I found a high rise car park in the centre of town and decided we'd have no choice but to gorilla shoot the final scene. With all the crew and extras in full makeup hiding just a few floors below, we snuck up to the top level to get the last few shots. As you'd expect, we were two shots in before we were busted by the car parks traffic wardens, but with a bit of pleading and sweet talking they allowed us to get the last few shots before we were escorted from the premises.

Getting actors to actually turn up on the day also caused a lot of problems. The main actress didn't turn up for the first shoot. luckily my wife ( Harriet Davies, who was also six weeks pregnant) was on set to stand in at the last minute. She nailed every shot first time and with no acting experience she turned out to be better than the original. Frustrating as this was, this happened a lot on the shoots, but these things often happen on unpaid shoots. Fortunately, I had a great crew, actors and friends who all shared my passion for the film and they would all chip in where they could, they even stepped in to play Ragers and dead bodies In a lot of the scenes when other actors didn't turn up.

I am extremely pleased with the finished film, and I am excited to finally get it out there for the world to see. This has been a long and often tiring labour of love, but it's been worth every moment. Making films is a passion that I love and I hope that's evident in the Rage. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did making it.

Since the start of the festival session, the Rage has been greatly received at film festivals around the world and has even won seven awards.

I’m extremely proud to announce that because of the incredible success of The Rage, i am now writing and directing a sequel which is due for release in 2019.

DIRECTOR BIO
Born in Gloucester, Joshua has always had a Passion for film and animation. Playing with vhs cameras and remaking this favourite films with his mates as a teenager. He began his working career as a car mechanic working for his dads company. He then became a fabrication welder, and started writing and directing in his spare time. He then followed his passion and moved to Leeds to study film and television production at Leeds Metropolitan University (Northern Film School) where he graduated with Ba hons in moving image production. Since then he has gone on to write and direct several award winning short films including, The Lolly Ranger 2014, Time 2015 and the multi award winning, horror film, The Rage 2017, as well as continuing to work full time as a fabrication welder.