Hidden
| Hidden | |
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| Genre: | Drama, Thriller |
| Broadcast: | 27/11/2018 |
| Producer(s): | |
Hidden is a 2018 short film written and directed by Thomas Schubert, and was the first major production for many freshers of the 2017\18 academic year. It was nominated for Best Drama at NASTA 2019. The film runs for 13:32 minutes, stars Hope Shooter in the main role and was the biggest short film project YSTV had done by that point. It deals with themes of guilt, secrecy and toxic relationships, while being incredibly pretentious. (Note by the author: I directed this thing, I can say this)
Plot
University student Dana (Charlotte Rogers) has been missing for several days. When her best friend Zoe (Hope Shooter) walks through campus one evening, she spots Dana's boyfriend Oliver (Richard Jones). He is hanging up posters in search of his girlfriend, asking for information. When he tries to talk with Zoe, she apruptly rushes off in distress.
Later at night, Zoe sits alone in her living room, drinking vodka to calm her nerves. Desperate, she suddenly grabs her things and heads out to leave - until she is stopped by her girlfriend Vivian (Roxanne Spence). Shortly later, Vivian - having grown suspicious - interrogates Zoe, until she reveals the cause of her distress: A letter by the university inviting her to an interview about the whereabouts of Dana. Vivian is visibly worried by these news as well, but tries to calm down her girlfriend anyway. From this point on forward, the narrative jumps back and forth between the conversation between Zoe and Vivian and the interrogation at the university as if it was in a Christoper Nolan film.
When Zoe is called into questioning the next day, she encounters Oliver who had been in just before her. Since Vivian instructed her to not talk to him, she rushes off again. In her conversation with the university's support worker John (Dean Murphy) she feigns ignorance about Dana's whereabouts, but when John reveals that her and Oliver's stories don't add up, he urges her to tell the truth.
At their house, Zoe's and Vivian's discussion gets more and more heated as the girls grow increasingly worried about Zoe not handling the interview well. Ultimately, Vivian snaps and yells at Zoe, who suffers a nervous breakdown. Reconsidering, Vivian advises her what to say to John. She then proceeds to reassure Zoe and tells her that she loves her.
Zoe opens up and tells John about Dana having run away when she felt overwhelmed by life at the university. Satisfied, John thanks her for her honesty and sends her away. Still in distress, Zoe wanders around aimlessly until she comes across Oliver sitting alone on a bench. Feeling bad about having ignored him before, Zoe sits down next to him. Oliver discloses that he thinks Dana has run away because of him cheating on her... with Vivian.
Shocked by this and broken-hearted, Zoe gets up to leave, before apruptly turning around. She reveals that Dana is in fact dead, killed by Vivian when they got in a fight. Unbeknownst to Zoe, this had been about Vivian cheating with Oliver. Vivian then had Zoe promise her to cover up the story.+
Distressed, but somewhat relieved about having told the truth, Zoe walks off. The final shot of the film shows Vivian and Zoe hugging.
Cast and Crew
Cast
- Hope Shooter as 'Zoe'
- Roxanne Spence as 'Vivian'
- Dean Murphy as 'John'
- Richard Jones as 'Oliver'
- Charlotte Rogers as 'Dana'
Crew
- Director\Writer\Editor: Thomas Schubert
- Director of Photography: Anastasia Arsentyeva
- Produced by: Richard Jones and Stephanie Shires
- Assistant Producers: Erhard Zurawka, Joe Patrick and Aleksandra Rojek
- Music by: Liv Wilson
- 1st AD: Theo Bimson
- Sound Editor and Head of Sound Team: Andrew Battersby
- Sound Team:
- Camera Assistants: Honey Bean and Courtney Brotherson
- Colorist: Stephanie Shires