Filming set to start on all-Valleys sci-fi movie

FILMING is set to begin this month on a feature film shot entirely in the Valleys.

Offworld was created by sci-fi author-turned-director Terry Cooper, from Ystrad Mynach, and producer Adam Neal, from Aberdare.

It sees a group of humans crash-land on and have to survive a journey across an alien planet.

Tomorrow the first stage of filming will start inside the spaceship in Blackwood but most of the filming will be done in mid-April.

“We are going to have the main shoot in April but have to shoot some scenes inside a giant 10ft spaceship this month,” said director Terry Cooper, who also wrote the script.

“The bulk of the shoot will be in mid-April. It will be all over the Valleys, including Trefil Quarry that has been used in Dr Who, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Clash of the Titans. The council has been getting us permission to film in different places.”

If filming a feature film in the Valleys was considered unusual, then the timeframe they have given themselves is even more so.

Terry said: “Most feature films are done in eight or nine weeks but we are going to try and film a feature-length film in six days. Industry professionals are probably laughing at us.

“The actors are panicking but they are rehearsing and learning their lines.”

The film will be made on a shoestring budget, with all the money coming from online donations.

“In September we set up a Kickstart fund and we aimed low,” he added.

“With these funds, if you do not hit your target you do not get any of the money. It did really well and we raised £10,000 from all over the world.”