Mr Abershaw’s Happening Day (2009)

Old age is getting to Mr Abershaw, he wants to be remembered for something he has achieved in his life. He feels that immortality is out of reach as the years slip by, knowing that he will never be famous, with a heavy heart he has accepted his future. Then one day he is tasked with Digging up Donald, as that was the tradition on Happening Days, such as wedding, births, and funerals. Yet this Happening Day an unexpected Happening emerges and Mr Abershaw finds the key to immortality.

This was created as part of our second year at the University of Newport Realism film project, rather than going with the ideas of shaky cam, that is prevalent in modern realist cinema, we went for the long shot with limited cuts. Inspired by the Monologues of Allan Bennett, I adapted this from ‘Digging Up Donald’ by Steven Pirie. The challenge came in shooting this with only a hand full of shots and no trick camera work.

Tagline: Immortality can be found in the most interesting of places.
Status: Released

Director: Lydia Strange-Wood
Writer: Steven Pirie, Gabriel Strange-Wood
Cast: John Jenner
Genre: Black Comedy
Duration: 14m 43s
Release Date: 17 October 2011