“I've been blown away by the amount of people who want to be involved, who genuinely care about the project”

James, Victoria and John drawn by Beth Neilson

Director Victoria Lapping, Assistant Director James Bartlam and Writer-and-Lead-Actor John Turner are well into pre-production on their most ambitious film to date; an indie musical titled Happiness for Ducks. Mark Tyers met with the Sunderland based trio, who collectively formed Twisted Pixie Productions, and discussed their passion for film and their plans, hopes and dreams for their latest feature-length project.

You can help crowd-fund Happiness for Ducks by heading over to Twisted Pixie's Kickstarter page

Mark Tyers: Talk about the film, the story, what should people expect?

John Turner: It's a different kind of love story...I really wanted to write something that felt really real. I wanted it to be quirky, and I want you [the audience] to really root for them. It's a more real love story, one which revolves around the commute to work and just meeting someone and having that connection. Nothing crazy, nothing overboard happens, it just two people having a connection and finding each-other.

James Bartlam: It's kind of about Chris [the protagonist] discovering himself as well...Chris is in a bad place that he doesn't like and until he makes these realisations and accepts them in himself and starts telling the truth to himself then he can't start making the right choices in life. But if he doesn't have the help of those really crucial people in his life who care about him, it's really difficult for himself to point in the right direction.

Victoria Lapping: The film's also about every-day struggles, it's about facing them. Life can get on top of you...if your in a job you don't like, if your having to take responsibilities which are just a bit too much for you, having family that you just don't get on with, that can bring you down, that can cause depression in itself. [This film] is about letting people know it's okay to feel like that and that you need to build the tools to become a better person, to become happier within yourself and to embrace life...Hopefully we can connect with a lot of people. People need to be okay to talk and say “I'm depressed”.

MT: Does this film help people to understand how they can help someone suffering from depression?

JT: I wouldn't say it was exactly guidelines or anything... In film's we all look for people we can relate to...to see “yeah other people are going through it”, to see someone maybe in their situation or a situation like it, and hopefully it gives them [the person suffering from depression] a kind of; “hey, you know what there is an end point in sight, you can move on.”

JB: Everyone's an individual and we all have our own way of dealing with things...Not everybody [who suffers from depression] will relate to [the film] but those who do, we're hoping it helps. That's kind of the point.

JT: And if not, we're hoping it puts a smile on their face! [laughs].

VL: Everyone either suffers from depression or they'll know someone who does. Personally I know and love people who are suffering from mental illness. I want to make a film that people can connect to, something relatable.

MT: When people think of musicals they think of orchestras and choirs and jolly-happy-dancing, but with this musical you've gone in a total different direction with a lo-fi musical approach. Why have you gone for that angle?

VL: We didn't do it on purpose...once we got to the bottom of what the story was about, the songs became naturally stripped down, lo-fi and very personal. Each one of us put a little bit of our souls into it and it became very heartfelt and emotional. Josh [Neilson] wrote a couple of songs...[which were] really heartwarming and give a genuine sense that people are living this. I'm seeing a part of my best friends soul that I've never seen before. I know that sounds really hippy but they're giving their vulnerability to this film....I ended up actually crying listening to one of the songs when [musical director Chris] Binding sang it...it really got me that they actually believe in this film so much.

JB: I don't think it needed that [big traditional musical sound] because it's about quite an interesting subject that does affect so many people...you don't want all the big orchestra and instruments telling you how to feel. You want to connect to the thing and feel the thing that you want to feel about it. The lo-fi music allows people to relate to it so much more.

MT: Do you think this might be the best film you've created to date?

JT: Certainly the best one. It's a culmination of all of what we've done. We've brought music into it, we've brought art into it, we've put a lot of ourselves into it. We've talked about thing's that matters to us.

JB: I've floated between projects, I've done all sorts, I've done a feature film before ... I've done nothing like this. My ethos personally is do-not-go-backwards. The next thing should be bigger, it should be more interesting. Your creativity should have a shelf life. You should always be working on the next project... We did Of the Shadows last year which was awesome. It was large, it was big and it was like how do we go to the next level [after that]? This is the next level. It's bigger, it's longer, it's more impressive, it connects with people more. I've been blown away by the amount of people who want to be involved, who genuinely care about the project and who have brought incredible talents to it.

VL: This is the most ambitious film that I've ever directed. I thought last year was [our] Victorian Vampire [film; Of the Shadows]…there was a ballroom and we used such prestigious locations. That was very ambitious but this is taking it to a whole new level. The fact that it's a musical as well and deals with depression, but I think it's a very compelling story which is why I wanted to bring it to life.

JT: Of the Shadows was probably as ambitious as we could go at that point because locations were incredibly hard. We had set-dressing, everything had to be Victorian. It was incrediblely hard in the modern world, harder than we ever anticipated. All the costume was crazy. There was so much that was hard about it but we learnt so much, going out and getting Seaton Deleval Hall and one of the oldest tutdor buildings in the country. I think we were the first people to film there who weren't BBC or ITV. It was like “ok we know how to get locations now, how to get costumes, how to cater for the needs for big casts and crews”. How can we get higher? We can bring in music, we can bring in animation, we can bring in everyday life.

VL: The fact that we've got people who are award winners, people who live all the way down the country. These people are giving their time and effort, are taking time out of work has really blown us away. It really means so much to us.

MT: What go you into making films?

JT: A life-long love of films!

VL: Since I was a little girl I always did role-play games and creating stories and got my family to act them out so I guess I was directing from a young age. I went into acting and started learning theatre, musical theatre, film-making. I wanted to learn about every aspect of film-making to make myself a better director. I've always wanted to make stories and bring them to life.

JB: Mine's far less impressive [laughs]! Through school I was just bored with everything that I was doing, Geography, English and all the other things you get pushed down.

MT: I promise I won't share this with [your former legendary Geography teacher] Ian Redford!

[laughter]

JB: I got to the end of secondary school, didn't have an idea as to what I wanted to do, just knew I didn't want to do anything else I had been doing at school. My dad pointed out that there was this film course at this nearby college and I thought “yeah cool, that sounds really awesome, I really want to do that”. So I took media, film and photography and whilst I was there [at St Robert's Vith form] my teacher Mr Smith was incredible, one the best teachers I've ever had... bar Ian Redford [laughter]. Through that I was made to make a short film which was terrible and I would never show anyone it, but at the time it gave me the confidence to give a s*** about film so that's why I chose film at university. I had a very good ear for sound and got really into the sound stuff but I'm a very personable person. I quite like to be the centre of attention and I'm quite loud. I just like to be friendly so assistant direction, production is probably maybe the best way to go... I never knew I wanted to do this from the beginning, I just worked up to it.

MT: How did you guys meet?

JT: To long ago to remember really.... I can't remember a time these guys weren't there and a lot of other people involved in the filming like [musical director Chris] Binding and stuff, we literally are like a family. We have been for a long time, we all look after each other, we're all very open...we're more like siblings than friends. That's why we make films together.

VL: I think you've pretty much nailed it!

JB: For me it was weird...you guys had all known each-other a bit before I came into the group...kind of knew Binding from his brother...It wasn't until I started making music and going to the buskers nights that I bumped into all of you guys and...you accepted me in for all of the creative things I did. The stuff I did wasn't normal and was kind of weird and before that people didn't accept it or didn't understand it but you guys were like “this is awesome” and brought me into the group. We all had the same goals and that's what brought us together and makes us such a great team.

MT: What kind of goals?

JB: [To be] Famous! [laughter]

VL: The goal is to make stories, to bring them to life, things that are personal to us....We all enjoy film, we all enjoy music and I think that's what we've combined with Happiness for Ducks. A lot of us have got backgrounds in music, musical theatre for me, we've got musicians in the group so it made sense to make a musical and make something really personal. That's what we want to achieve, to bring; an element of what we'd want to watch and an element of us into our films.

JB: The whole purpose is to connect people...We want people to connect to us, we want to connect people, we do have a very community attitude. Communication is the key, that's how everyone gets brought together and that's the whole ethos of the whole production, the whole group.

JT: And the story itself. Chris [the protagonist] is alone. That's very much what his depression is caused by, he's alone, he's isolated and it's when he opens himself up to something more...I won't say too much [laughs]!

MT: When the film is finished, what's the plan?

VL: We're going to be taking it to as many festivals as we can. There's Underwire for female film-makers and is specifically about getting them recognised... and obviously Cannes and sundance! [laughs].

JT: That's the idea; take it to loads, get it noticed and hopefully people will see it and we [get to] take it to bigger festivals.

JB: The bigger the better! The more people that get to see this film - that's the purpose of making film. You want to get bums on seats, you want to get people seeing everything you make. We're at a point now where we want to show [it] off and really shout about it.

JT: We're making this for a reason. This isn't about money, yeah long-term that would be great if that happens but it's about so much more. This is about us, this is who we are. We are a close knit group, we're all creative, we have performers, we have musicians, we're all making films. We're putting our art out there because that's who we are.

JB: We have no choice! [laughs].

You can help crowd-fund Happiness for Ducks by heading over to Twisted Pixie's Kickstarter page