Connor McRae

LOST SOULS ARCHIVE is a Science Fiction/Drama short film directed and co-written by Connor McRae.

In the year 2036, a lonely inventor (Nicholas) has created a machine called ‘The Archive’; a computerised hub that is designed to store the souls of despondent people and rehabilitate them. When systematic issues begin to arise with the Archive, not only does it impact Nicholas, but it affects the dream worlds of every patient inside the machine, including Sky and Matt, two unconnected young adults. The burden rests on Nicholas to determine whether or not his machine is working, and how his actions can either help or hinder the lives of others.

LOST SOULS focuses on themes of acceptance, connection and the human condition. Through these characters, the film explores how technology is evolving alongside humanity, how we forge and develop connections with other people, and how we cope with difficult or emotional situations. These themes all interconnect through the differing points of view of the characters, who are all shown in isolation of eachother. 

Connecting and sharing experiences with others is vital for human interaction, and in an age where technology is slowly taking over, we want to implore people to look up from their devices and embrace the company of other people; to embrace the human condition.

MEET THE CAST
Nicholas Zara - played by Benji Groenewegen

Sky Williams - played by Bryony Hindley

Matt Gardener - played by Jackson Peele

THOUGHTS FROM SOME OF OUR KEY CREW
Justin J. Parker - Director of Photography
The cinematography of Lost Souls Archive was employed to produce tangible archival environments for our ‘lost souls’ to explore, as well as to understand their loss through the context of Nicholas’ Archive. Juxtaposing the world of Nicholas and the worlds of his subjects painted a visually deceptive plot device, and telling this science fiction/drama narrative through a visual method was extremely appealing to me. Exploring the effects of high-resolution acquisition as a tool within dynamic scenes, Lost Souls Archive presents a short form narrative that challenges traditional practices, yet adheres to contemporary workflows observedin the industry. The high concept short film was indeed a challenging yet humbling first to begin the pathway of a cinematographer.

Shenae Louise - Production Designer
The production design of ‘Lost Souls Archive’ is constructed to contrast the reality of the ‘worlds’ within the archive with the stylistic experience of Nicholas’ computer setup. Operating within a science fiction narrative, production design is given the opportunity to play with elements of design that border on fantasy. While having a grounding in a realistic world, there are aspects of the design which play into the genre, and allow audiences to experience a more futuristic time period (for instance the A.I. interface Caoimhe). Having these technological advancements of the archive mixed with more common, modern day environments such as a beach and a school, ensures that the audience has a grounding in reality in order to properly immerse themselves in the narrative of the film.

Filmmaking, although incredibly rewarding, is quite expensive work. There is gear to hire, mouths to feed, actors to employ, sets to build, locations to acquire and festival fees to pay. The members of production worked incredibly hard in 2018 and the summer of 2019 in order to have enough money to pay for this film (with some crew members even working overnight shifts to raise the required money!).

The target of $4000 may seem substancial, however it is actually less than one-third of what this film cost to make. If you are someone who is so kind as to put your own money into this project, we'd like to thank you, and we'd also like to show you where some of this money will be going:

PRODUCTION DESIGN AND LOCATIONS ($1000)
This film required 6 separate filming locations, including the grand hall at Melbourne High School, the shores of Black Rock Beach, and Swinburne's Studio just to name a few. Each different location requires different props, different furniture and different styles, all having to be sourced or bought by our Production Design Team. As we had a wide variety of locations and props, our Production Design costs and Location Hire costs were sizeable for this film.

HIRING CAMERA GEAR ($1000)
Lost Souls Archive spent a lot of money to shoot on some state of the art equipment, including the latest RED GEMINI camera. Our DOP Justin made sure we had all the right lenses and additional equipment to get the best image possible for Lost Souls, however this did come at a price.

CATERING ($1000)
Food usually doesn't cost too much for one person. However, when you need to feed 20 people for 8 days of intense shooting, the price becomes inflated VERY quickly. A healthy, wholesome catering makes for a happy filmset - something which is vitally important to this film!

COLOUR GRADE ($500)
We've all applied Instagram filters to our posts before. This is essentially like that, except for a whole 15 minute film. Professional quality colour grades need to be administered by a colourist, and that always adds to the cost of a film.

SUBMISSION TO FILM FESTIVALS ($500)
After this film is completed in November, we intend to enter it into an array of film festivals, both here in Melbourne and overseas. These festivals have entrance fees to get our film even looked at for consideration, so the more money we have to promote our film to different festivals, the more chances we have of getting it screened.