Steve Parker talks to the 48 Hour Challenge creator Johnnie Oddball about his debut feature as a producer, the ultra low-budget mockumentary Dark Hunter.

Article first published: Summer 2004

We’ve all heard the myths. Large manhunting wild cats loose in the woods of England, attacking unwary ramblers, picnickers and the odd sheep, whose presence can only plausibly be explained by 60s rock stars buying cute panther kittens, then setting them loose in the night as soon as they outgrow their Whiskas. Hearing eyewitness accounts of one such predator stalking the England/Wales border in Shropshire, two intrepid filmmakers determine to make a documentary about the beast.

To add spice to the story, a local news camerman is sent with them to shoot a ‘making of’ report to be aired on a slow news day. With minimal crew and equipment, and an expert ‘tracker’ to help them find the beast (as well as a gorilla suit for long shots in case they can’t find the real thing), the unlikely low-budget filmmakers set off in search of their dream. The result is Dark Hunter, a 90-minute DV feature that premiered recently at the Curzon Soho to a very positive audience response.

The producer of the movie (and doubling as the local news cameraman) is our very own Johnnie Oddball, the self-styled Ed Wood of the British film industry. Johnnie is responsible for the 48 Hour Challenge, in which filmmakers have two days to shoot and edit a five-minute short, with no previous idea of what the subject or genre is going to be. “The 48 Hour Challenge has so far inspired over 4500 filmmakers to make low-budget shorts over a weekend,” says Johnnie. “I figured the next stage was to show them it’s possible to go out and make a full-length feature.”

Because of his desire to inspire filmmakers as much as audiences, Johnnie wanted the movie to be partly about filmmaking, so that he could show the low-budget process in action. He saw a serious documentary about an alleged black panther in Shropshire, put the two together and came up with Dark Hunter, a movie whose plot inspiration is reminscent of Blair Witch Project, but whose approach is far closer to Spinal Tap. So think Blair Witch but funny.

“The original budget for the movie was £7.50,” says Johnnie, “and it ended up at around £500. Which means we went about 70 times over budget. That makes it one of the cheapest and one of the most expensive films ever made.

“Before I began I sat down and thought, ‘what do I need to make a movie?’ I came up with:

• a story;
• equipment;
• cast and crew;
• locations.

And how many of these did I have? None of the above.”

Johnnie sat down to write the story – and the first draft took hours. About six in all. “I wrote it around people I knew. There were these two actors Duncan Cowan and Mark Jackson. I pictured them playing wannabee directors (which is ironic, because they ended up directing the movie too). I thought it would be easier making a film about filmmakers making a film in a fly-on-the-wall doco style about filmmakers making a film. This way, if I couldn’t get a particular shot to look stylish enough I could show the action from the ‘fly on the wall’ camera, where the production values wouldn’t have to be so high. Duncan and Mark were really funny together. They worked extremely well as a double act both on and off screen.”

Much of the humour in Dark Hunter comes from the on-screen wranglings between the two, with one searching for an artistic angle, while the other is panicking because they’re losing the light. This is accentuated by the reaction of the cast, who become less impressed with the duo as the film goes on.

“I cast all the actors and actresses without auditions,” says Johnnie. “I just got a good feeling from their pictures. This helped when I wrote the script – the photos helped me picture the actors and actresses delivering their lines. I found them all through Shooting People and they were all wonderful. And because we were shooting a mockumentary it meant all the crew could double as cast – for instance, our make-up artist also played the make-up artist in the movie they’re shooting.”

Next came equipment. How do you make a film without a camera? “Easy, we just asked for camops with equipment who would be willing to play a part in the movie if needed. I used the whole cast and crew for everything, so the actors learnt to use cameras and the crew learnt a bit about acting. They all wanted to learn something. I hate people sitting around getting cold, so I only had people on set when I needed them and gave everyone two jobs so they’d always be busy.”

Skeleton crew

“Having a skeleton crew saves on expenses, time and moaning,” says Johnnie. “We all worked as a team – I made as much tea and coffee as anyone. If you treat the crew in the way that you’d like to be treated, it works. Team work was everything in the movie.” When it came to locations, Johnnie was careful not to include anywhere it would be difficult to shoot. “Don’t include a five star hotel in your script unless you’re on really friendly terms with a hotel owner. Find locations, take pictures of them and refer to them when you’re writing the scene. Limit your indoor locations – lighting can change outside, but it’s much easier to set up and light an outdoor shot with DV than it is to set up indoor lighting.

“You have to schedule the film like a military operation,” says Johnnie. “It’s always better to have too much information on the call sheets than too little. I included alternative shots in case of inclement weather, train timetables, what to wear, what to bring, plus information about the shots so that everyone was on the ball and knew exactly what was going on. This saves so much time on set.

“Not that it always worked as intended. One afternoon, we were waiting for our make-up artist Tracy to turn up to the shoot in Shoreham in Kent, when I got a call from her to say she was very close, as she could see the sea. She’d gone to Shoreham in Sussex instead. When she turned up (and we were seriously losing the light), she didn’t have the fake blood. She had this paint with her, but when we opened the pot it was bright purple. We didn’t even have any ketchup left, as catering had used it all on the digestive biscuits while we waiting for Tracy.”

Screening

“The Curzon was very good in putting on a screening of the film back in March. Instead of hyping the film, I told everyone it was crap – the worst DV movie ever made for £500. I think when they saw it, everyone was pleasantly surprised.”

Dark Hunter is now being entered into festivals around the UK.

Steve Parker Steve Parker is editor of the Reel Show. His degree course in linguistics and ergonomics was completely wasted on him. He stood for election for the position of President of the Students Union (and won) so that he could spend a year organizing parties and drinking cheap alcohol. He became a journalist while at university and has been a slacker ever since.