TAINTED, 11min,. Singapore
Directed by Ian Wee
In a world driven by corporate greed and unethical genetic experimentation, Darien, the pioneering human clone, finds himself obsolete against a superior 2nd Generation Clone, leading to his and his mentor's targeting. Following his mentor's death, Darien's hidden hybrid nature—combining human and vampire DNA—surfaces during a critical confrontation, granting him unexpected survival. Marked as a "Tainted" failure yet possessing newfound powers, Darien faces an ambiguous future, embodying the narrative's critique of ambition's perils and the poignant fallout of manipulative sciences.

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Get to know writer/producer Graham John Lamb:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I was Virtual Production Supervisor on a film in Singapore, when the IMDA (InfoComm Media Development Authority Singapore) announced that they were funding projects in this particular area. My producer, director and director of photography were at the time over in the UK at the National Film and Television School also attending a Virtual Production immersion program aimed at industry professionals to learn about this new way of film making. So excited with this new surge of enthusiasm I asked Jeffrey about joining this content creation initiative and we all got together and created Tainted.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

Well actually I wrote the story of 'Tainted' about 20 years ago, thinking it would be a 3D animation, , my background is in 3D/VFX - I do have a VERY mediocre animated trailer that I made back in 2004 - I've refined the story over the years but it never saw the light of day and put it on the back burner. So when we decided to take part in this Virtual Production Short Form - I pulled out the script and said "Let's make this happen" so it was then about figuring out how to create something that is about feature length and then compiling it into a narrative that's 10 minutes without losing the essence of the story. Ian Wee who directed the film took the story and many, many rewrites later we found that we captured the overall sense of the MUCH larger world of the "Tainted" universe. From start to finish we started planning everything in June 2023, shot the film in 5 days in September and final cut in early December. With Producer Jeffery's daughter composing and singing our opening them song.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

I hope that the film resonates with "Exciting" & "Intriguing" - action packed and also the twist in the story.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

The biggest obstacle completing this film was approaching this film with Virtual Production - BUT the team assembled was absolutely marvelous!! We shot the film in 5 days, 1 day for technical setup with the Virtual Production studio and then 4 days of shoot - The vibe on set was fantastic, everyone had a blast and really came together. Aside from the team who had done some Virtual Production before there the bulk of the crew had never done it before and everyone was very interested to experience it for the first time. I think shooting this method gives the actors a better performance being able to react to the LED wall instead of a greenscreen, the explosion scene for instance - we can keep replaying the explosion over and over again and we just had some crew opening 'party poppers' just slightly off camera to give that extra on set practical effect.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

Honestly I got a little teary, when I was looking at the reviews, I am greatly appreciative that the reviewers talk about the whole film in general from stunts, makeup, sound & music to performance and that really shows that the team was really the best - such a dynamic group all around and I have nothing but high praise for everyone involved.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

I played around with the really old, large, clunky VHS film cameras in my late teens and then in my mid-late 20's I wanted to tell stories, when I studied my degree, I was watching alot of South Park and I liked the story of how Matt Stone and Trey Parker came to make South Park. I left my magazine publishing job to study Multimedia, falling in love with 3D as a medium, ending my degree with an animated trailer for 'Tainted' then moving to Singapore just working in the education industry while freelancing. I don't think myself as a filmmaker or even a writer for that matter, I think of myself as a storyteller and I'm aiming to tell more on what's next for Tainted.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

Oh this is tricky... I come from a rural town and at the time the best industry was video rentals, this is blockbuster era time line. I would say that I do love a western, despite this genre being sci-fi, action and supernatural. I'm going to go with "Unforgiven" or even "Silverado" as probably the most often films I've watched over and over. More recently I've watch Infinity War and Endgame back to back many times, you have to watch these together, more likely because of the amount of sheer world building and the culmination of each movie that came to that point, I appreciate the Russo brothers very much right there, especially the scene in Endgame when Antman (Paul Rudd) makes it home and finds his daughter at the door and that moment for some reason really resonates with me.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?

I think I would like to meet other film makers / producers online perhaps in a social zoom call - I'm over in Singapore so I'm displaced from the event otherwise I would love to be there. Perhaps also a pitching event for producers/investors to help realise some of the potential of the IP and where they could go to if taken further.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Oh this site is the best - as a first time film maker / creator, this site has been the go to site for me - it saves alot of time to try search around for various other sites and having everything standardized is something that makes everything ALOT easier to manage.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Ok in Singapore there is a dish called "Curry Chicken" by far this is my favorite meal - it's basically chick and potato in a curry sauce, you can eat it with rice or bread.

11. What is next for you? A new film?

Well for me I want to produce the "Tainted" universe, I've expanded the story into an 8-episode television series arc, I can only aspire for it to be on a streaming platform, I introduce a plethora of characters not even seen in the short film and you won't believe the many twists in the story and easter egg rewatch potential that I have planned. I want to be smart with using Virtual Production, although it is expensive to implement, if done right you can bring down your costs by using digital environments but on the investor and producer side, given your story you can pivot to other platforms of media for more ROI and also narrative expansions. For example, I have my short film completed I already have the large training facility environment seen in the film but also using that scene I can create a fighting mobile game, shooting game, animation, comic/graphic novel - so I have 4 more avenues to expand the storytelling, collect the funds to make it, reinvest into a second season and spinoffs. This approach then leads to using it for marketing with AR/VR immersive experiences and Web3/Metaverse social events then to PS5 and Xbox and PC. So I'm looking more towards making content for multi-platform media, so I encourage anyone to just write stories that everyone globally can enjoy.