Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Movie maker Liam moving in right direction
Young film buff on location in his home village
A Salsburgh student overcame the departure of several crew members, “problematic” weather and accusations he was in a cult to successfully shoot his first ever film in his home village.
Liam Downie’s found-footage horror The Rainman may still be at the editing stage, but it has already caught the attention of investors – with a sequel already in the works.
Earlier this year, the Advertiser reported how Liam, 20, would be bringing terror to Salsburgh as part of his HNC Film and Television course at New College Lanarkshire’s Cumbernauld campus.
Liam shot the whole film in just three days and also wrote the script and worked on the sound.
But he had to battle a few setbacks before and during filming, as he explained: “I ended up with just a twoman crew – Scott McMillan and I – after the rest backed out at the last minute.
“Scott messaged me through Facebook saying he would love to help and he worked on the film’s cinematography.
“I directed the movie and did the sound, which all went very smoothly.
“Most of the script was improvised and it made the film so much better as the cast – who were all brilliant – really embraced the challenge.
“The weather was quite problematic as we were hoping for rain and, for once, it was sunny in Salsburgh!
“We had to colour grade shots to make it look like it was night- time because we shot through the day.
“We didn’t come across many locals when we were filming but during a bit of pre-test shooting, a guy out walking his dog stopped and said he thought we were worshipping The Rainman character as part of some sort of cult!”
Liam’s debut movie mixes reality with fantasy as it tells the story of a group of film students creating a documentary on the infamous legend of The Rainman, a malevolent paranormal entity which terrorises Salsburgh.
Liam had to hire his very own cast and was “delighted” with the talented stars who got on- board, including Cairnhill actor David Byrne, 17, who won the Best Newcomer Award from the UK Screen Acting Academy in 2016.
Former Kirk O’Shotts Primary pupil Liam is “over the moon” with the film’s progress thus far and received some exciting news about its future.
Liam said: “I’m still going through the editing process, which has another couple of weeks to go, but have already been contacted by the Centre for Contemporary Arts to say it will be showing The Rainman some time next month. “I’ve already got an investor onboard who is going to fund a sequel and I will return to write it.” Liam plans to make two different versions of the movie – an extended cut to enter into film festivals and the original version for his college studies. He added: “My college lecturer has only seen a five-minute clip of The Rainman but says it looks brilliant and seems happy with it. “Considering this was my first film, and I was the driving force behind it, I’m delighted with how it all went.” For more details on The Rainman, visit www. facebook. com/ TheRainmanMovie/
A guy walking his dog thought we were worshipping The Rainman character as part of some kind of cult!