On a night out, a girl overdoses at an underground rave. Unfolding in reverse chronology, Rave traces the events of the night back to the beginning, revealing the intertwining stories of the people involved, including Jade whose night takes an unexpected turn after she finds herself alone at a rave. 

Roaming through the night as questionable strangers turn into fleeting friends, Jade quickly finds herself faced with choices that could have fateful consequences. But only in hindsight can Jade recognise how every choice she made, amounted to disaster.

Rave is a film with the ability to capture a very unique moment in time. The drug-related death of a club-goer on the first post-Covid weekend clearly shows that drug consumption is still a very current problem. Besides the interest of capturing the zeitgeist, I am keen to explore the duality of raving subculture - at once open-minded and communal, yet also full of peer pressure and hedonism. I believe that anyone could fall for either of these two sides with every choice they make.

Rave is a story about these small decisions and the big impact they can have.

But I also want to go beyond the flashy lights and haze-filled rooms of raves and explore the emotions of the characters, creating a sensory experience for the viewer. The themes of loneliness and belonging are central to the script and my vision and are especially linked to the protagonist Jade. Her search for connection in a room full of people creates an interesting contrast between an emotional emptiness and sensory overload of lights, music and bodies.

Emily Macrander - Writer/Director (showreel)

Emily is a London-based director working on short format projects such as music videos, branded content, and internationally acknowledged short films. Her approach to filmmaking blends her knowledge of cinema with an aesthetic focus on mood and feeling. Her award-winning short film ‘Without Warning’ premiered at the BFI in London in July and marks the director’s writing debut.

Kate Shelley - Producer (showreel)

Kate is a South London born producer, working on films focussing on themes of identity, and mental health. In June she crowdfunded just shy of £11,000 for ‘Black & White Duppy’ where she was also the lead Producer, the film is now in post-production, looking at completion in early 2022.

Dylan Bruce -  DOP (showreel)

Dylan is a London based Director of Photography with experience shooting a mixture of short films, music promos and commercials for clients such as Nike. His main passion in cinematography comes from creating a relationship between the characters on screen and the way the camera might respond to their differing emotional situations. Besides his love for simple, humanistic storytelling, Dylan is a keen documentary and street photographer.

Rayssa Scarabelli - Composer (spotify)

Born in Brazil, music played a big role in Rayssa’s life long before she moved to London at age seven and ventured into DJing. To create her atmospheric tracks, Rayssa takes inspiration from artists like Aphex Twin and Vegyn and doesn’t shy away from experimenting with anything from psychedelic guitars to electronic drum machines to continue to create exciting and fresh new rhythms. Last year Rayssa released her EP ‘Isn’t It Magic?’ presenting her as an Alternative House artist to watch and bringing her niche sound and positive energy to a wide audience.

To visualise the story, we are taking inspiration from a range of films. Whilst Morvern Callar (2002) serves as inspiration for cinematography that is sympathetic to the characters’ internal complexity, Victoria (2015) is a key reference for a shooting style that is energetic and tense. We want to create a visual language that is unique and aesthetic but also allows us to highlight details of the film’s world that create the mood with which we guide our audience through the reverse timeline of the night.

The main idea Emily wants to communicate is how in an unusual environment and under social pressure anyone could make the decisions Jade makes. Whilst the audience will engage with the realistic setting and energetic music, the reverse chronology structure invites a more critical look at the choices made by the characters. The audience already knows the outcome of the decisions, but not what led to them, replacing rash judgment with a new viewpoint.

The visual style of Rave:

Shooting will take place on 4 days in early December. We have exciting plans to shoot some of the non-dialogue scenes at a club event we are setting up in collaboration with Romulus Records. We believe that capturing the energy in this authentic setting will increase the film’s realism immensely and also see it as a way to support the music culture. Music is also given a prominent place in the film’s development, as we work with London-based DJ Rayssa and techno producer Tunnelblick 46 on the original soundtrack of the film.