“It’s Just a Bit of Hocus Pocus” — Watch the Trailer for GROUPCHAT

In Groupchat, "a grieving game master's new online role-playing adventure spirals into a deadly reality, trapping players in a supernatural fight for survival." From Dan Brownlie, Groupchat was shot over four days with five actors performing in real time in this story of a game that becomes all too real, and we're excited to share the trailer with Daily Dead readers, along with a look at the poster from Graham Humphreys!

Groupchat was written and directed by Dan Brownlie, who also produced the film alongside Mel Morley. The cast includes Marcel Jortzik, Amy Tara, Toby Wynn-Davies, Georgie Rodgers, James Grimm, and Debbie Rochon. You'll also see a very brief cameo from some of Daily Dead's Corpse Club podcast team. We all thought this was a really great concept and something Daily Dead readers would be into.

Synopsis: "After months of absence, Games Master Dean has come back with a brand-new online campaign. Full of twists, turns, adventure and a few special ingredients to make the gameplay more immersive. He has invited his usual crew of Rob (character name Poxxus the Vile), Marcus (character name Thorthog the Mad, half orc) and Laurie (Deloris Ironjaw the adventurer). Dean’s right-hand man can’t make it this time so there is a last-minute stand in. Cassie (character name Belualith the Conjurer).

Though Cassie is new to the game she has a in-depth knowledge of witchcraft as she is a practicing witch. As the game starts and the dice start to roll, not everything is at it seems. Dean is not himself as he reveals that his absence has been to his grieving of the loss of his dad, his behaviour is put down to grief, but Cassie is not so sure. As spells are cast, and the action become a bit more real, what started as a fun game to deal with grief and reunite with friends, turns into a bloody fight for survival.

Who will survive, and what will be left of them? In this online game of witches, orcs, the undead and betrayal."

About the Production: "GroupChat was a daring production. But great things come from those who take risks. The premise of this shoot was to make it as real as possible, with five actors performing in real time with each other spread over what looks like five separate locations. Takes were long and the actors were given freedom to improvise and take risks. The golden rule was ‘STAY IN CHARACTER’. If you miss a line. Stay in character. If someone else stumbles on a line. Stay in character. If someone does something different, or something unexpected happens. Stay in character.

With this in mind, actors were given individual directions that were not privy to the others, freedom to explore their character and environment and certain props were rigged to fly off shelves at inopportune moments. Sometimes halfway through a large part of dialogue. What this created was a living, breathing, evolving shoot, where characters evolved, bonded and created real feeling for those involved.

How was this possible?

Shot over four days. We found a group of amazing actors with theatrical training. So twenty-minute takes were not only feasible, but allowed them to fully immerse into their characters and situations. So, we set up in a location in east London, five actors were situated around the house with a laptop in front of them and a black magic just above the laptop camera to record them and were all mic’ed up so they could hear each other. Each could react in real time to the other actors on the shoot. Someone may react to something happening in the background of another’s actors set that the actor themselves may not be aware of."

Groupchat will be hitting the festival circuit soon and we'll be sure to share more details when they become available. To keep up with Groupchat and Dan Brownlie, visit: https://www.instagram.com/cereal_and_horrorstuff/