The Sandman Wakes | '80s Horror Short [4K]

When two siblings visit their dead father's house, a forgotten hourglass brings back childhood tales of the Sandman, a terrifying dream monster that may be more real than they thought.
The Sandman Wakes is a short horror film I co-wrote and directed back in 2017 as part of my degree in Film & Theatre. It was the first proper live action short that we created and is something I'm very proud of, despite all the flaws I now see in it. It is an exploration of the tropes and themes of classic 1980s horror films such as Nightmare on Elm Street and Poltergeist through the adaptation of the mythology of the sandman.
Shot on a Canon C300 mkII with whatever lenses we could get our hands on (including Sigma, Canon, Samyang, and some old anamorphic projector lenses hanging around that proved to be slightly more trouble than they were worth). This was an ultra-low budget production and we were all pretty clueless about filmmaking, but we were blessed to work with a fantastically enthusiastic crew and a great cast. The vibe on set was fantastic and the feeling of discovery as we worked was one of the highlights of my filmmaking career so far.
We were screened at several festivals in the UK and picked up an award for best SFX makeup from Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival 2017, as well as nominations for best actress (Connie Jackson) and best horror moment.
Learn more about Northern Frame Productions here:
www.northernfra...
CAST
ALEXA - Connie Jackson
TOM - Kit Clarke
MOTHER - Sarah Eastwood
​THE SANDMAN - James Joyce
CREW
Written and Directed by Benedict Jewer & Kjetil Muri Skarstein
Produced by Louis Taylor-Baggs
Co-Produced by Jake Brown
1st Assistant Director - Enrique Saunders
Script Supervisor - Tom Kitching
Cinematography by Ben White
Sound Recording - Kjetil Muri Skarstein
Original Soundtrack by Benedict Jewer & Kjetil Muri Skarstein
Production Assistants - Diane Pognan, Jenny Sanders, Laura Jenkinson
Photography by Erin Karn
SFX Makeup by Molly-Jane Bowen
Additional SFX & VFX by Benedict Jewer
'Sandman' mask created by Immortal Masks
Special thanks to:
​Riddell Erridge - Ida Nilsen - Huw Smallwood
George Jeronimidis - Lisa Purse
Ian Banks - George Ormisher - Chris Bacon
Pamela Wiggin - Jason Dabydoyal
​Peter Jewer
A NORTHERN FRAME production

[@clawandcleaverflicks]

👍 Fantastic work.

[@bborges367]

The nightmare on elm street influences are clear but well built upon with some great FX really well done

[@darrell9294]

Pretty damn good, acting was solid. With a better story it's got the makings of a solid film. Good job

[@hazzaalhajri8039]

Great job... the team gave their best even with little experience form this you gain knowledge and experience. Little by little you move forward. and thank you for sharing :D

[@eXtremeStreamers]

I like the way you gave it a 70's feel.

[@dommafia]

I'm here for any and all possible Blender VFX use 😎

[@VJ4rawr2]

I can see you were heavily influenced by a certain Netflix program 😂. Great job.

[@FaissalsAnimation]

Stranger Things?

[@jadentheprinceofdarkness4824]

EXIT LIGHT ENTER NIGHT TAKE MY HAND WE’RE OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND

[@MonsterBuddy10]

Dude, that was awesome! This seriously needs more views! I'd really love to see this made into a full length movie, I feel like the sandman could have a pretty cool backstory and be really creepy with the right setting. Great work!

[@BenJewer]

Thanks very much, really appreciated!

[@PraxisVisuals]

Not bad at all! I have a few notes tho. So first off, I love the title animation and design. Very much like Stranger Things and The Thing. The color grading was fantastic, and the cinematography wasn't bad. The music was good... But... It seemed a little out of place sometimes. Like the music would just dominate my experience in some of the scenes. So maybe either tone it down a little or change the music to make it fit a little better with the action in the shots. The story was good, but it seemed a little rushed. It felt like it had great production quality but then it feels like we skipped a chapter or a segment that made me a little confused about who the Sandman was and why he was there. The acting was good but it kinda felt a little fake (youtube quality). I'm not saying her/ his performance was bad by any means... But it could've been SLIGHTLY better. Either way, great job! Very nicely put together a short film! Waiting for more!

[@BenJewer]

Thanks very much, I really appreciate you taking the time to write that! The cross between Stranger Things and The Thing was very much intentional and I'm glad you picked up on it! We spent a lot of time refining that effect (at one point we considered doing it practically like they did on The Thing, with plastic burning away to let light through a cutout) but thought it might be a bit too risky! I have to say looking back on it that I agree with you about pretty much everything else. We created this back in 2017 so obviously have come a long way since then, and only minor tweaks have been made since. The film was made as a university exercise which had a set time limit (7 minutes maximum) which is probably why it feels a bit rushed. We did cut some stuff out of the original script that would have provided a bit more context, but would have certainly pushed us over the time limit (we've added approx. 20-30 seconds of material in from the cut that was submitted). In hindsight we could probably have gotten some more exposition across earlier on in the attic scene. In terms of performances, that's almost certainly down to us as directors rather than the actors - this was the first time we'd worked with actors who we'd found externally (i.e. not just our friends) and I think we were definitely a bit out of our depth, especially early on in the shoot. I'd be interested to know what did come across about the Sandman and the sort of way he worked and how he relates to the characters. Obviously we spent so much time developing it it's hard to know what works/doesn't work with someone watching it for the first time. In terms of other stuff, I personally have one other short (a sci-fi) that I'll be uploading in the future, just waiting for it to play at a couple of festivals before I can upload it. We also have 3 other films that have been made with broadly the same crew but different directors that'll be coming out soon hopefully. We have a 3-year backlog on uploading them at this point just because of how festivals work!

[@PraxisVisuals]

@@BenJewerNo Problem! I always can tell when someone puts forth effort into their films; only then will I dive into a deeper comment rather than "Good work", Lol. And hey, if you ever need any VFX work in your films, I would love to help! I've worked on some Sci-fi shorts for others, including a high production Star Wars Fan Film. Just hit me up if you need help!

[@chrispineapple]

welp, that was a stupid idea to watch that before bed amazing short tho!

[@BenJewer]

You should be fine so long as there isn't an hourglass near you. Many thanks!