Here is the trailer for 'I Bet You', my second feature film ...

 

 

SYNOPSIS: Dan is a normal teenage boy - at least that's how he appears to his family, but on his birthday he decides that there are a couple of people who have done unforgivable things to him. So he hatches a plan to kidnap, torture and kill two of these people. Joining him on his grisly mission is his best friend Matt, who tags along for the sadistic thrill of filming the murders. The first person they kidnap is Shane, a local drug dealer. Dan and Matt wait for him outside his house, ambush him and take him to the woods where they give him the punishment they feel he deserves. After him comes Michael - a friend of Dan who has deeply betrayed him. 'I Bet You' is a gritty revenge thriller told in flashbacks - each one revealing a deeper layer of the plan and its origins.

BACKGROUND: Before the script for 'Take' was even written, Josh had this idea for a revenge movie called 'I Bet You'. He had made a short film before 'Take' called 'Separation' (which I acted in), that borrowed elements from this original idea, but it wasn't until 'Take' got into a film festival that we felt confident enough to make it properly as a feature (as the subject matter was considerably darker than 'Take'). Josh wanted to do a project that was mostly his this time (seeing as 'Take' was mostly mine), so he came with the story and directed the film, while I helped with the screenplay and served as co-director.

One of the reasons we initially thought that 'I Bet You' wasn't filmable was we didn't think we had the resources. But if 'Take' taught us anything, it's that you have to make the most out of whatever resources you have (after all, we wanted to be film-makers, not excuse-makers). So we reviewed the original story and made a few tweaks to make the project do-able on a very low budget.

The final story ended up being quite different to the original idea (MAJOR SPOILERS!) - originally, the bet between Dan and Matt was that Dan could kill three people in one hour (one of them being an abusive stepfather). Dan's sister Amy was also meant to be 13 in the story (rather than 18), but we didn't want to force an actress that young to act in a rape scene (and frankly, none of us wanted to perform in a scene like that either). Also, the ending originally involved Dan killing Matt by crushing his head in a car door, and then burying him. All these changes (as well as the decision to tell the story in a non-linear fashion) were made when we were re-shaping the story, and we are happy with how they turned out.

I think Josh will agree that his taste in film's is a little more 'dark' than mine - he is a big fan of horror and 'extreme' world cinema (which I have nothing against - I just enjoy the odd comedy or two!). When he first described the film he wanted to make, he had three primary influences - Gasper Noe's 'Irreversible' (which the rape scene and the fragmented narrative are clearly inspired by), Shane Meadows' 'Dead Man's Shoes' (another countryside-set revenge film), and Ben Coccio's 'Zero Day' (which is also about two boys who document their criminal activities with a camcorder).

Using the same camcorder we used on 'Take' and reuniting with Ben Arnold (who also acted in the film, as well as serving as the primary cameraman, sound recordist and editor), we gathered together a small crew of family members and friends who had enjoyed 'Take' and wanted to be part of our latest project. One big difference between 'Take' and 'I Bet You' was that 'I Bet You' was that dialogue scenes in were mostly improvised (albeit guided), whereas 'Take' (which was pretty much non-stop dialogue for an whole hour) was extensively scripted and rehearsed.

Another big difference was whereas 'Take' was filmed in two hours on a Saturday morning, 'I Bet You' was filmed in bits and pieces over several months (hence in the final film you may notice me and Josh's hair changing length between scenes!). It was an odd process - the lack of pressure was liberating at first, but it did lead to a bit of procrastination (during the scene where Josh and I examine the weapons in the trunk of the car I even caught myself making that stereotypical director's complaint "Hurry it up! We're losing light!")

Editing was an interesting process - we applied some of the things we learned from 'Take' (such as getting a clear buzz track etc.) but there were still things we discovered about the art of movie-making - including the use of our very first special effect, courtesy of our jack-of-all-trades Ben Arnold. We're all proud of 'I Bet You' - it's a very different film to 'Take', but in a way it's also a nice companion piece (and considering we had already bought a camcorder, it only cost us £150 to make! Is that 'Low Budget Film-making' or what!)

 

"I BET YOU" was completed in August 2009, and has been submitted to several film festivals. In the meantime, check out I BET YOU's IMDb page - where you can watch the WHOLE film - by following the link below...

(I'll soon get around to posting some screencaps).