Taking Socially Distant to the Next Level

A brand new locally-produced film, ‘Genesis – Project Reset’, is ready despite the writer, cast & crew never having been in the same room at the same time.

The world is in the midst of a global pandemic, Life as we know it has changed (possibly forever), sport has ceased, we were told to stay at home, the TV & Film industry has ground to a halt unless you are a news channel, but in a tiny corner of Flintshire, North Wales a writer & actor (Phil Woods) with a vision, starts to create a script, an actress in Prestatyn (Karen Howard) begins to learn lines, an editor & producer (Hannah Mooney) on The Wirral, Merseyside starts to get creative, a singer in Australia has already unknowingly written & performed the theme tune.

Fast forward nearly five months and a brand new film, ‘Genesis – Project Reset’, is ready despite the writer, cast & crew never having been in the same room at the same time. This makes Locked Down a truly unique film, it’s an apocalyptic mystery with an underlying moral storyline about how we as humans have destroyed the planet we live on.

Onto the film itself, it’s filmed as if it’s a video diary using smart phone cameras to give it that home recorded feel, occasionally reminding us of the genius way ‘Blair Witch Project’ was made. Before we get to the opening credits, we join the video diary of the male character, Cain, on day 48 of the real global pandemic. Things are far from normal anyway because of Coronavirus, but when Cain wakes up on Day 49 everyone has disappeared, he is left alone in the world and we join him as he tries to make sense of it, but what is making those screaming noises? Who or what is following him when he ventures outside? Who’s eyes are those? If things aren’t bad enough already, who is Miss Bale? Are they really the only people left on this planet? Can Miss Bale be trusted or is she somehow involved in everyone’s disappearance? So many questions, so many answers needed.

This film moves from chilling, to an ending which leaves you with moral questions of your own, how do you treat the planet? How do you treat your fellow people? Everything is answered in this unique short film, you cannot miss this. Simply making a film during a global pandemic is tough enough, but ‘Genesis – Project Reset’ stretches new boundaries, taking our real Lock Down and using it as an advantage to tell this incredible story.

What is it similar too? Well, nothing to be perfectly honest. Filmed with no camera operators, instead our cast are armed with smart phones, the director directs without much direction (now that’s a sentence we’ve wanted to write, since the idea started as a seed in Phil Woods’ mind), our editor/producer works in front of a flood of Facebook Messenger replies and Google Drive open.

Our theme tune comes from the amazingly talented Simon Astley, an Australian music artist that Phil became aware of whilst in his role as radio presenter. Simon had already written and recorded the song ‘Make It’, but when Phil heard it for the first time, it was almost as if it was recorded specifically for Locked Down. Phil’s comments to Simon were, “If this isn’t a hit, I’ll eat my hat.” One thing we can be certain of, Phil has nothing to worry about, there’ll be no need to try to digest his woolly hat!”

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Phil Woods – Writer & Actor playing Cain:

“I often start to type and see where it takes me. Genesis – Project Reset came pretty quickly, it is based on my own experiences before and during the pandemic. I am not a do-gooder or a member of any ‘Save the Planet’ organisations, but I often ask myself, what have we done to this beautiful blue and green planet that was created in such a perfect manner?”

“After writing the first scene (a video diary of a person staying at home just as the government told us to do) I asked myself the question, what would someone think and how would they behave, if they woke one morning and everyone had disappeared? Having these open questions made it easier to write, all I had to do is come up with the answers. Sounds simple, but for myself, someone who writes comedy, it was a very different process in my mind.”

Hannah Mooney – Producer & Editor:

“I knew it would be possible, however I also knew there would be a lot of different challenges compared to editing and producing other projects. One issue would be getting the footage sent between each other without losing quality. Phil and I have also never met face to face, so all communication has been by messages and phone calls. It has been very interesting trying to describe ideas and get them right. One of the biggest issues has been trying to stay focused whilst working from home too.”

Karen Howard – Actress playing Miss Bale:

“I have always acted from being very young in school, then I got married and had children, now they have grown up I started getting back into acting again. I took this part when Phil Woods offered it to me because i thought the script was very good and I knew I would enjoy playing the part of Miss Bale*