Hi, My name is Heath Whitehill and i'm the producer of the found footage horror film Archive 97' : TAPE_8, Directed by Mitchell Mansfield-Smith. This is our graduate film, and with your help and our dedicated crew, we are looking to push our limits and bring this world to life!

Logline:

A tape is found after the disappearance of a teenager in a small Australian town. on the tape is his descent into a shifting inescapable labyrinth disguised as a childrens tv show....

Directors statment:

This film is something I have been piecing together in my head for the last six months. I’ve always been deeply interested in missing persons reports, internet creepy-pastas and the found footage genre, forms of media that feel uncomfortably real and difficult to separate from reality.

Projects like SCP, The Backrooms, early 4chan posts and Youtube channels such as Nexpo and Kane Parsons Youtube Channel, Kane Pixels, all share a similar atmosphere: they showcase unsettling stories. They aren’t unsettling because of what they show, but because of what they withhold from the audience, The unknown becomes the horror. Internet horror stories and creepy-pastas have a uniquely invasive quality, as they often feel like something you were never meant to find.

The Backrooms, a series of short films by Kane Parsons, has been a major visual influence on this project. It’s ability to fully commit to the found footage aesthetic whilst maintaining a sense of scale and dread perfectly encapsulates the tone i want to achieve with this project. Drawing from these influences, as well as earlier found footage films, my goal is to create something that visually stands apart from others in the genre.

I’ve long wanted to work within the found footage genre, as it rejects many conventional filmmaking rules and techniques. The aesthetic itself is paradoxical: dated, yet timeless. This project places a great deal of trust in the my team and myself to create a visually distinct and deliberately uncomfortable experience for the audience.

I’ve also drawn to the technical challenge of the film, particularly the use of period correct cameras we’ve collected over the past six months. The limitations are not obstacles, but essential in grounding this film in authenticity.

-Mitchell Mansfield-Smith

Every dollar that is raised will go straight towards supporting our vision. Some things your support will help us with:

Everyone who donates will be put in the special thanks section of the credits! Thank you so much for your support.

Please reach out if you'd like to read the script or have any more questions about the project before donating!