Dead Shift and Ana Djordjevic

Dead Shift
Written and Directed by: Ana Djordjevic
Featuring: Daniel Green, Kyle Baxter, Gerard Caesar, Evette Henderson
2005
Australia
7 minutes, 20 seconds

This short has gotten around in the internet, particularly at Ifilm.com. The online filmmaking distribution concept has certainly allowed many female horror filmmakers to display their shorts rather quickly and easily, and it’s made my research much easier. Sometimes I come across a gem that I have to share with the world. One such gem is Dead Shift. A selection of the New York City Horror Film Festival this year, it’s certainly making headway very fast . Director Ana Djordjevic is only 21 years old and is already gearing up to direct a horror feature next year under the supervision of producer Stacey Testro (she also produced Saw and Saw II). Dead Shift is a different kind of zombie comedy. Yes, at this point in the history of mankind, we have so many zombie comedies that it’s important to distinguish between the good, the bad and the retarded…

"My initial aim was to write a story not commonly seen in the short film format...i.e. not the usual pretentious 'art'/life drama stories."- Ana Djordjevic

Dead Shift is set in a convenient store where a young clerk witnesses a strange young man return as a zombie to confront his backstabbing best friend, and unfaithful girlfriend.

Ana: My initial aim was to write a story not commonly seen in the short film format...i.e. not the usual pretentious "art"/life drama stories. At the same time, I wanted a "simple" story shooting-wise...ie not too many characters/locations/timeframe etc. And the story had to be entertaining (as my previous short film was a drama...this time I wanted laughter from the audience instead of "serious silence"...I wanted the cheers and applause the comedies received when screened beside my previous short drama film). I had always liked the idea of shooting in a supermarket for aesthetic/geometric reasons...I had a different short musical idea in mind...I watched Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for dancing inspiration...then decided my particular musical story idea was too logistically complicated..and during brainstorming I came up with the idea of a zombie browsing inside a 7-11 (i.e. a "fish-out-of-water" story). I thought it would work great visually (instead of being dialogue-dependant...the multiple characters came into the picture later) and was something uncommon in the short film format.

The good thing about Dead Shift is that it’s so damn funny. Its also tight and is shot well, with no excess dialogue and no uneccesary silences.

Ana: I would never describe Dead Shift as a horror film..I'd describe it as a comedy/horror...but if I HAD to choose, I'd settle with comedy....as I think in pure "horror", the audience expects certain ingrediants such as tension/suspense/death/fear etc. going into the film...which Dead Shift doesn't deliver as nearly as much as laughter.

As a young woman director, Ana is in the minority of filmmakers. Maybe times are a-changin’ if we can see women lke Ana succeed in this genre, but not be confined to it.

Ana: Honestly though, more women SHOULD be directing horror as research states the majority audience of horror and thriller films are females (I hear it's 60/40% female). Additionally, research states that females comprise the majority fans of crime TV shows and murder mystery novels.

Dead Shift was developed in a second-year university film school subject, and cost about 1500 US dollars to make. Watch It Here For Free, and shoot Ana some kudos and cross your fingers for her at the NYC Horror Film Fest.