Hi Livvy, thank you for joining us on Close-Up Culture!
We’re here to talk about your latest short film, Red City, a gothic horror short that examines how immortality, religion, and humanity – or lack thereof – has shaped the connection between two ancient vampires.
Where did the idea for the film come from?
Back in 2019 I had some downtime at work and fell down a rabbit hole in regards to the Highgate Vampire urban legend which ultimately helped form the basis of the main character: Clara Southwood. At the time I was wanting to scratch an itch of writing my own vampire story of some kind after wanting to for so long, and Clara came to me strongly formed after reading about the Highgate Vampire, where I imagined perhaps they were the vampire who was actually spotted in the cemetery. I was 22 at the time, and Clara grew with me over the years, but effectively they were the parts of me I disliked about myself (my anxiety, BPD, stubbornness, etc) written in a way that an audience would root for them as a protagonist.
From there, Red City was initially going to be a webseries I was going to shoot with Ashley Goh, but the idea had legs and shifted into a larger story that felt more fit for television. I spent year upon year shifting and changing elements and characters, adding characters and taking them away, being inspired by and uninspired by various pieces of vampire media along the way. Caecilius Lucundus was meant to be a placeholder name (taken straight from history/the Cambridge Latin Course) because I wanted a character who was Clara’s foil whilst also being on their side.
In 2024 I wrote out the first draft of the Red City short film that a select audience of people and reviewers know, because I simply wanted to show just a slither of the world I’d created on screen. Naturally, showing the depth of the relationship between Clara and Caecilius was the way forward.
Tell me more about your love of vampires and gothic stories!
Like many who are a fan of gothic stories and vampires, I was perhaps exposed to it a little too young with plenty of parental supervision.
My very first distinctive memory I have of vampires was around the age of four, when my auntie came round one weekend and she popped on a video of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was the episode where Buffy sacrifices herself in place of Dawn. I’d been watching the show intermittently with my parents before that point so I knew the context of what was going on. A few years later I remember my parents buying the series 3 DVD boxset of the spin off Angel because 1 and 2 weren’t available and we dived right in. The phrase “hmm, Angel!” from the show is something that gets said in a dreamy voice whenever the show or David Boreanaz is mentioned.
Growing up from there it was things like The Lost Boys, Dracula, and eventually as a teenager True Blood that had me deeply in love with vampires. I’ll go out on a limb and say that Eric Northman is my favourite vampire of all time. I also love the brides in that Van Helsing film starring Hugh Jackman. I don’t get the hate for that film, it’s brilliant. Oh and don’t worry, I watched the child appropriate Mona the Vampire too. I know ball.
Tim Burton was my gateway into gothic even if I didn’t quite understand the concept of “gothic” when I watched Edward Scissorhands for the first time (again, I was quite young). When I was old enough as a teenager I watched Pan’s Labyrinth for the first time – not my first Guillermo del Toro film (that was Hellboy) but definitely a step in the right direction of my love of gothic. I suppose the Sherlock Holmes novels are considered gothic to a slim degree, and I’ve been utterly obsessed with those my whole life.
I think without knowing it I’ve always gravitated towards gothic fiction and horror: for example, as an avid fan of Doctor Who I always found myself enjoying the episodes penned by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat much more than any other writer on the show (if the episodes The Crimson Horror and Sleep No More have no fans then I’m dead). I should have known back then what my tastes were destined for, and they have both ultimately become massive inspirations of mine alongside filmmakers like Del Toro.
Nowadays in the winter months you can catch me curling up with films like Sleepy Hollow or Crimson Peak, and reading ghost stories written by M.R. James or E.F. Benson by candlelight. They both create such horribly eerie atmospheres it’s hard to look away. I’ve been really into the works of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith too: The Curse of the Ninth, How Do You Plead? and The Harrowing are some of my favourite episodes of Inside No. 9 when it comes to the more gothic episodes. Those two have been huge influences for me recently, and I love attending the screenings that either one of them might introduce or Q&A for at places like the BFI and the Prince Charles Cinema – I always learn something new about the horror genre! I also love a bit of Edgar Allan Poe. I’m trying to learn The Raven off by heart so I can recite it as a party trick.
I love vampires and creepy things too, but I’m also such a scaredy cat! What spooks you out?
Don’t worry, I’m also a scaredy cat, but I also love to be scared! I’ll always be caught out by a jumpscare in a horror film but the release it gives and the little bit of nervous laughter after is always fantastic, isn’t it?
Not to be morbid, but I think dying spooks me out. The idea of finite time and too much to do to fill it is terrifying to me. That’s something that’s touched on in Red City but from the perspective of the vampires having an infinite amount of time to fill and the notion of humans possibly being jealous of it. Maybe the whole short film was just me projecting. Then again, don’t all filmmakers do that with their fears?
Oh, and as someone who believes in ghosts, the notion of encountering a malevolent spirit scares me as well. You will never catch me near an ouija board.
Let’s get into the film! You wrote and directed the short, with Dan Robins producing. Do you feel your initial visions of the story have come to life on screen how you’d both imagined they would?
Absolutely I believe they did! Dan messaged me recently saying that because I have such a strong vision and know exactly what I want out of my work he was a tiny bit scared of me. He’s a wonderful producer and he believed in the project since day one, and I knew where we’d have to make comprises on certain things too so as to make it work for him on the money side of things.
We had a few things that delayed production but he’s so wonderfully optimistic and level headed that we were able to push through, and we considered the delays a blessing because it meant the project turned out as we needed and wanted it to. He was also 1st AD on the shoot too, and so he was really hands-on and involved and we had implicit trust in each other to get the job done.
We’re both so pleased with how it’s turned out.
You were also VFX Producer on the film, another big love of yours! How did you get into this area of the industry, and what’s it like running this department on your own projects?
I’m blessed with a dad who works in VFX so it was always an area of film and TV that I grew up knowing about. Some of his stories from over the years are insane in good and bad ways, ha!
Prior to going to university he encouraged me to apply for a job as a runner at the company he was working at at the time. That’s all it was: encouragement. That little bit of experience helped me post university when I applied to work at DNeg as a runner, and from there I worked up to coordinator and have been doing that ever since! I’ve even worked on set as a VFX coordinator which was super rewarding.
That actually gave me the knowledge to understand how to break down a script for VFX purposes – I’ve worked with many wonderful VFX supervisors and producers in my time (shoutout to Will Cohen, Doctor Who would not have been the same without him!) that I’ve learned from to do this. Will actually checked over a bidding document I made for my short film The Witch Trials and gave me a big thumbs up! It also means that as director, I can let the Director of Photography know right away what will be VFX shots because then we can plan for clean plates and balls/charts. Then it gets built into the schedule without hassle.
For Red City it was just me on set for VFX purposes (the vampire fangs popping out!!) but for The Witch Trials I had my very good friend Dan Roberts as our VFX Supervisor so prepping for VFX on set and posting for it was less lonely for both of us! Working with your mates is great in that regard, especially as we’d been colleagues on Doctor Who together (he was our on set VFX supe) so we knew we’d be a great team. Our VFX calls for The Witch Trials would be fifteen minutes of actual work and then an hour of random chitchat.
Plus, on Red City, it meant doing the VFX spot of the edit with my amazing editor Chloë Kilby was much easier and no nonsense. She works as an assistant editor in HETV and film so it felt like another dream team moment. We knew what to give to the post house and request from them. I think it’s such a valuable skill to have as a director – knowing how to work with VFX. For Aetherium we had 5 VFX artists who all said they loved having me as a director because I knew how to give notes and what notes to give so we didn’t run overtime with them!
I’d love to talk about the cast! The brilliant Tim Downie stars as Caecilius. Tell me more about seeing your words come to life through this dream casting.
Tim has a wonderful voice, doesn’t he? Smooth as hell, beautifully dulcet, and yes I did have a few moments of “oh my god it’s Gale of Waterdeep in MY FILM!” I was also quite open with him about that, which I think he appreciated. He knew I was a fan of Baldur’s Gate 3. He also knew I was nervous as hell to work with him because again, I was open about that with him.
It’s so strange to work with someone you’ve been a fan of, but it’s also extraordinarily gratifying and humbling to be on that level with someone you really respect – and I have a huge respect for Tim as a person and actor. The fact he looked at my script and went “oh yes, that’s good” still blows my mind everyday.
We had a lot of discussion prior to the shoot about the characterisation of Caecilius and what we both wanted to get out of it, and I vividly remember one of the few notes I gave to him during blocking was “I’m seeing too much of Tim, and not enough Caecilius. Don’t smile so much.” He understood what I meant, thank goodness. Our sound designer Benji Clifford had one note of making Red City sound like an old Hammer Horror film; effectively giving the dialogue that “recorded on tape” feel and my goodness it enriched Tim’s performance further!
We developed a really good rapport on set, and off set as well! There was a group of us staying in the same hotel for the shoot so we all took breakfast together. What often started as a full table conversation of six people turned into Tim and I breaking off into our own conversation about goodness know what – namely him giving me folk horror film recommendations. Recently at my polite request, he recommended some really freaky body horrors. He knows his stuff, and weirdly enough knew that Titane would be my absolute limit. He’s a good laugh too. An utter gem all around, really. It helped that we had plenty in common.
Friend and frequent collaborator of yours, Ashley Goh, plays the strong and sharp Clara, after starring in your previous short ‘Aetherium’. On your Instagram, you’ve said that Ashley has been part of every iteration of Red City, it’d be wonderful to hear more about your working relationship and your tips to anyone else wanting to work well with their best friends.
Ashley Goh, the platonic soulmate of my whole life! We’ve known each other for 21 years now, so we basically grew up together. We’ve been there for each other’s character development, if you will.
I think being at school together and becoming friends that way and doing group projects together enabled us to understand really well how the other person operates. We also used to make parodies with our other friends for fun, so that’s where I got my start in directing and specifically directing Ashley. We even had to collaborate on a drama scene when we were 14, and it was from an Oscar Wilde play – I think maybe The Importance of Being Earnest. We were hailed as one of the best scenes in the class, if I recall correctly.
We’re both very “work hard, play hard” and you’d think that two best friends working together on set we’d be messing about a lot, but we don’t. Of course we’ll have our silly moments, but for the most part we just get on with the job. We had a huge time constraint with Red City so I was definitely more blunt in my approach on set than I usually am, but Ashley (and Tim and the rest of the crew) didn’t take it personally. If I asked Ashley to do something they would just reply with a swift “yep” or “got it” in response, and if they needed to ask me a question I’d reply in the same swift manner.
We were sharing a hotel room with two other people and the four of us would go back to it at the end of the day having a good old natter before bed, because we’re friends. Oh, and I suppose that’s where all the giggles and laughter and proper silly moments kicked in, rather than on set. Especially when I had to go across the hall in my bright pink very not gothic pyjamas at about half past midnight to help Tim take off a necklace he wore for Caecilius. Ashley had a matching one so I’d already had to help them out with it too!
If you work with friends, you just need to make sure they know what your work ethic and work persona is like. I’m not saying I have an iron fist, but when there’s a significant time constraint involved I go into efficiency mode, organised brain on, and simply do everything to get the job done, even if it does mean my manners might slip in the moment. It’s nothing personal at all.
The visuals throughout are incredibly rich in reds and golds, with shadows eerily establishing themselves, across the frame, as the characters do. That end shot stayed in my mind all day after watching! Tell us more about the colour palette and how you have been both inspired by the darkness of previous horror art yet are carving out your version of the genre away from the stereotypes.
Vampires and the colour red go hand in hand: whether using it in a very literal sense for blood, or on a thematic/emotional scale, I knew that we were going to have use that colour and use it wisely. It was lucky that the main hall at Strawberry Hill House was drenched in a beautiful bright red with the white and gold ceiling, meaning that Ashley and Tim were going to stand out in their costumes. As characters, Clara and Caecilius present themselves as opposites of each other but they’re more similar than the audience initially realises and we represented that with the costumes: Clara wearing more red to show that they’re more likely to wear their heart on their sleeve and be quite open about any emotion they might have, whereas Caecilius’ red tie and socks being a minor detail to show he keeps himself guarded until the last moment.
The team absolutely drew from things like Dracula (1958), BBC Dracula, and Interview with the Vampire to capture the gothic look and feel with the lighting. One thing I love in particular about the old Christoper Lee Dracula films is that there’s a flush of warmth in everyone’s faces yet the environment around them feels a little desaturated. We obviously emulated moonlight with the lighting outside the windows of the main hall to give that eerie effect, with the candles providing the singular element of warmth in the room – we always wanted to give the impression that Caecilius was initially cold and intruding on Clara.
Now, I’m an absolute sucker for the trope of “old vampire man turns attractive young woman,” especially as I was exposed to characters like Angel and Eric Northman in my formative years. Subverting that with the reveal that it was Clara who turned Caecilius is nothing short of delicious, and it’s my way of contributing to a genre that’s inherently subversive anyway. There’s something deliciously fun that Clara has a youth to their immortality that Caecilius can’t have, and it adds a layer of complexity to their relationship by having their perceptions of each other completely skewed. Caecilius often chastises Clara like he’s their father, but Clara’s effectively his mother in many ways and at the end of the day he does view them that way and will do anything they say because of it. It’s a fun dynamic which Ashley and Tim played magnificently, and the tension was palpable. I was giddy behind the monitor at times.
And how did you work with Red City’s Director of Photography Jessie Jing to keep what is simply two people in one room a visual treat for 10 minutes?
There was a version of the script where Clara and Caecilius didn’t move much at all, so when it came to making the shot list Jessie was (rightly) blunt about the fact that it was going to be quite boring if we didn’t have them move about the room. I wrote in movement for the characters, which Jessie was able to work the camera around with a lot of counter movement, so we ended up having to call in a steadicam op – the wonderful Callum Paterson. It ended up feeling like a dance between the two characters, with Caecilius constantly chasing Clara across the room every time they moved. We also broke the script down into each section of the room that the pair of them were in with some overlap, which allowed for longer takes. We had to have a minimal shot list due to the time constraints which ultimately meant seeing less facial expressions and more body movement, but Jessie and the whole camera team did a banging job considering.
Callum was the real star of the show, he barely put down that steadicam rig! He also did an incredible job of managing not to get caught in the reflections of the mirrors that were along one line of the wall in the hall. Same goes out to our sound op Harry Vinall. The pair of them were dancing around the room like Clara and Caecilius. Then you had Louis Peppiatt, our Focus Puller/1st AC who never lost sharps even once with the constant movement. Honestly I’m super impressed by the crew with how they handled that space – especially our Gaffer, Solar Buckler, who wasn’t able to rig a single light to the wall and pretty much had everything lit from the outside in, with a few small key lights inside to provide that bit of warmth.
You’ve said that Red City is just a small snippet of a wider story, what more can you tell us about the future of the world and characters we’re only just being introduced to?
We’ll be diving into more of Clara and Caecilius’ story in a feature film: specifically a secret that they’ve kept for two millennia that just won’t die and now they really have to face the music with it. It really drives home the point that no matter what quarrel those two have, they’ll always stick to each other’s sides first and foremost. It’s how their shared secrets are going to affect everyone else around them. It’ll expand on the short discussing how immortality can change someone for the better and for the worse. There’s going to be an introduction of some new characters too, ones who sadly did not fit the short but are pivotal to the world I’ve created.
I’ve since developed a great relationship with Philippa Beaven, the coordinator at Strawberry Hill House who helped us secure the location and was with us on set. We had such a wonderful time filming there and she’s quite happy to have us back so I’ve ended up incorporating more of that location into the script!
It’s a fun mix of gothic and cult horror. I’ve been really into my Ben Wheatley films at the moment (the holy trinity of Kill List, A Field in England, and In The Earth, to be exact) so between that, my obsession for vampires, and my love for anything the The League of Gentlemen group do, I’ve had a really interesting set of influences that have definitely shaped the writing of the feature film. That’s all I can really say for now.
Where can people see Red City and more from you?
Currently, Red City has been submitted to festivals so we can’t put it out anywhere online yet. We’ve entered it into some niche horror festivals so fingers crossed for acceptances for those! Aetherium is available to watch on YouTube if anyone so desires to see something a bit more folk horror from me. I still need to get my Sherlock Holmes short film Holmes, Haunted colour graded and then that’s going straight onto YouTube as well.
Other than that, you can catch me on instagram @livvyedwards97 or yapping about films on tiktok @livvydotexr if that’s more your speed. Red City has an instagram of @recityfilm and that’s where you’re likely to find more news about where you can watch the short!
Thanks for joining us, Livvy! Good luck to Red City in the festivals.
Photos by Jordan Joshua Smith: https://www.instagram.com/jordan_smith_photos/
Leave a Reply