Girl meets boy. Boy meets girl. Girl trolls boy. The classic 21st digital love story is born.
nobblycarrot7 is written and directed by University of Manchester Drama graduate Josh Allott and is the unconventional tale of young love in the digital age.
The film has been selected to screen at the world’s oldest Independent Film Festival, The 47th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in Texas, next month.
Having already screened at film festivals around the world, including the Jaipur International Film Festival and Washington D.C Independent film Festival last month, it seems that every one’s keen to top up their five-a-day with a bite of nobblycarrot7.
The 20-minute film first premiered back in October 2013 at London’s Portobello Pop-Up Cinema to an audience of 300 – just a month after the film was wrapped back up in Manchester.
Speaking of the tight deadline, Josh said: “We set that deadline (in Portobello) before we’d even finished shooting.
“It was also a fundraiser event with film, dinner and cocktails to pay for the production and film festival entries.”
nobblycarrot7 tells the story of young fruit and veg vendor Ruby (Verity Mullan Wilkinson), whose lessons in life have come through a stream of YouTube videos as she masks herself behind the safety of the computer screen.
When she meets online DJ Vinyl Lionel (Laurence Williams) during her daily fruit and veg round, Ruby takes the unconventional route of trolling to win the heart of her dishy DJ.
nobblycarrot7 Trailer from Josh Allott on Vimeo.
The roots of nobblycarrot7’s plot lie in Manchester’s ever-growing performing arts scene.
The 23-year-old director originally directed the play Swordy-Well with the University of Manchester Drama Society, which was later performed at Edinburgh Fringe in August 2012.
It was during this play that Josh first saw the chemistry between nobblycarrot7’s lead actors, Verity Mullan Wilkinson and Laurence Williams.
“Everyone was talking about their two characters after the play,” said Josh.
“They had such a nice chemistry – a real kind of subtle performance going on that would have translated really well into film on a smaller scale and up-close.”
CONNECTION: Verity Mullan Wilkinson and Laurence Williams star in the film
The University of Manchester Drama graduate told MM how the seed of the plot developed following personal experiences of life in the legume industry.
“I was working doing cold calling for a fruit and veg company and hating it. So I started watching YouTube videos about how to improve my skills as I was rather poor at it.
“Then the idea for the film came from that. It was all just what seemed funny and interesting.”
The film was shot in just one week at a number of locations around Manchester including Stockport, Didsbury and Tiger Lounge in Manchester City Centre, before three weeks of post-production.
The film’s crew developed after Josh made contact with Manchester College Film and TV Production student Owen Cant, cinematographer for nobblycarrot7.
“We did stuff together through university and he wanted to collaborate so we started making films together,” said Josh.
“Through him I met all the crew. There was a 50-man crew on the actual shoot so it was a nice fusion.”
ACTION!: Film crew (l-r) Anthony Neverson, Josh Allott and Owen Cant
As the success that is nobblycarrot7 continues to travel to film festivals around the world, Josh has been continuing to develop his experience and career in the film and television industry with production roles on various projects.
“I’ve been working on TV for the past year. I’ve worked on programmes like the Magaluf Weekender, Educating Yorkshire and C4’s The Jump.
“Most of my roles there are shooting/camera-orientated. That’s quite fun.”
Other projects have included the music video for Bombay Bicycle Club’s Lunar and Lapwing by upcoming Manchester musician Werkha.
Speaking about potential feature films to come from the vegetable drawer of Allott motion pictures, Josh seemed keen to fulfil his dreams.
“One Day – hopefully! That would be the dream! But I’m just going to keep working on the shorter pieces at the minute and then build up to that (feature length film).”
Despite moving back to his hometown down South, Josh plans to continue filming up in Manchester.
“I’m hoping to shoot again in Manchester next month,” said the West London born director.
“I love shooting in Manchester – it’s a bit more lawless than London. So we can get away with shooting more willy-nilly without getting told off.”
nobblycarrot7 will be shown on Friday March 28 at Filmed Up – North West Filmmakers Night at Cornerhouse cinema before being played at Chicago Indie Boots Film Festival in May.
TROLL: Ruby (Verity Mullan Wilkinson)
Images courtesy of Josh Allcott, with thanks
