THEY might be just out of school but a group of former Redlands College students are about to release a feature length film.
Directed by 18-year-old Harrison Sheppard, Secrets to a Swayin' Band follows a music group that runs into trouble as they try to make it big.
It stars fellow Redlands College graduates Harrison Johnson, Nathan Eban, Ross McCann, Nathanael Weller and Brendan Kater.
Mr Johnson said the script drew on their own experiences in the music industry, with a number of the cast members having played in a band together.
They came up with the idea while still at school and began filming earlier this year.
"We were all mates and we were all doing media and music at Redlands College," Mr Johnson said.
"One of the media projects was a two or three minute piece and a few of us acted in it.
"We thought 'well, why not (do another movie)' and Harry Sheppard started proposing this idea.
"It was loosely based on us because the band I was in would love to be bigger, but it is mainly fiction."
The film has garnered great interest since a trailer was released earlier this month.
More than 1600 people have viewed the two minute clip and the group has grand plans to promote it after the premiere in November.
"It is being seen," Mr Johnson said. "We originally never thought about taking it big but now we have this premiere coming up and there is a lot of interest in it.
"We are going to take it around to film schools and promote it. A lot of the members of the movie would love to continue in the industry."
Mr Johnson said the group had acquired the help of an Italian film composer who was assisting with the music and met a Netflix producer while shooting at Lota.
About 80 per cent of those involved in the production were from Redlands College and instead of money, the cast were paid in KFC.
"Our director is Harrison Sheppard and he made it clear to us that we didn't have the budget of a big movie so we couldn't be paid," Mr Johnson said.
"We said 'that's cool, we can get paid in other ways'. At the end of a day's filming it is a tradition to get a Zinger Box."
Mr Johnson said filming had been disrupted during the height of the coronavirus pandemic but they had just a few shooting days remaining before moving on to post production.
The film is due to premiere at Redlands College on November 13 and will appear on YouTube two weeks later.
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