A DARING daylight kidnapping forms the dramatic plot of a film due to be shot in Stroud by an aspiring young director next month.

Former Wycliffe College pupil Guy Davies is set to begin filming his short movie ‘Emily’ in and around the town at the end of March after raising more than £6,000 for the project.

The 21-year-old received more than half of his funding through online donations but he is continuing his fundraising efforts until Friday, February 22, as he says the more money he has to spend on the film the better the final product will be.

The short film, which will focus on the emotions of both the kidnappers and the victim Emily, will mark Guy’s directorial debut.

Despite his age, Randwick-based Guy already has plenty of experience of working in the film and television industry.

Since receiving a scholarship to study cinematography at the New York Film Academy from the director of Rush Hour and X-Men, Brett Ratner, he has gone on to work as a cameraman on hit series such as Casualty and 10 O’Clock Live.

But Emily will be Guy’s first opportunity to take charge of a production and he is relishing the prospect having already signed up Johnny English actor Mark Danbury and local actress Chloe Partridge for two of the main roles.

"I have been working in camera for film and TV so it felt like a natural progression to go on to directing," he said.

"It is a very exciting project for me because it is my first attempt at really directing a film."

"Essentially it is about the kidnap of a girl by two professionals but I want to play with things a bit so it is not like your typical kidnapper film.

"It will be more about exploring the emotions of the kidnappers and their victim, and looking at it from their different perspectives."

Guy, who has just formed a production company called Zebrafish Media with another former Wycliffe student Matt Brawley who is co-producing Emily, raised over £3,000 to help make the film through crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter.

"I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people," he said.

"About half of the money has come from friends and family but the other half has come from people I either haven’t spoken to in years or complete strangers who have just found it online and decided to support it."

Although Guy has already reached his funding target, he is still accepting contributions to cover the full cost of production and to make the film even better.

For more information about the movie or to make a donation go to: http://tinyurl.com/bxe8gy9

Guy is also seeking a large garage in the Stroud area to film in. Anyone who thinks they might have a suitable one should email: daviesg1@live.co.uk