The comedy/drama short film “Ghosted” follows Keira, the daughter of a family of mediums, as she navigates a family gathering while being haunted by her past; the ghost of her ex best friend (Laura). Keira’s guarded vulnerability pushes Laura away, until she learns she must face her past in order to let it go. “Ghosted” captures the multicoloured feelings of visiting home and offers a unique perspective on grief and spirituality.

Hello! I’m Olyvia Okochi, a writer/director based in London. I create female lead stories, often playing with genre tropes and drawing from my personal life. The inspiration for “Ghosted” comes from my family. Like our main character, I also grew up in a home of mediums. 

• My mother is a practicing medium. Every Thursday she gathers with other mediums and they communicate with deceased loved ones and deliver messages for their guests. She acts as a bridge between life and death to bring healing to others. 
• My Aunt Rhonda lived in the attic when I was seven. She let me watch poltergeist on the box tv, created fantastical bedtime stories, and we practiced bending spoons with our minds. 
• My Aunt Lisa is a yoga instructor and practices reiki. She told me that her gifts are from my great grandma, who was a healer in Japan. 

I grew up around these magical women. They have shaped me into who I am and have inspired this story. I aim to tell this story with a comedic lens while still respecting the spiritual practices and taking it seriously as mediumship is a part of my family. 

This film captures the transition back home after a year at university. Transitioning from a year of independence to under the watchful authority of your family can be a hard adjustment. I find myself quickly falling back into old family dynamics, and feeling like I’m an angsty teenager again. Keira jumps immediately back into her family dynamics when she returns home to a family gathering and is bombarded by her eccentric pestering Aunts, who offer their healing practices and inquire about communicating with Laura’s spirit. Keira struggles to face her past while balancing her independence and tight-knit family. 

Death is discussed openly in our home and has influenced my relationship with grief. I aim to tell this perspective through Keira’s journey as she tackles the conflicting emotions of resentment towards Laura and their rocky history, while still mourning the loss of her childhood best friend. 

I was interested in exploring the relationship between grief and water. The motif of water appears through the flowing silks in Keira’s home, the underwater dream sequence, the lake in the final scene, and sounds of underwater waves to emulate the feeling of drowning. Keira has continued to push her pain deep inside and she can no longer float above the surface. Releasing her pent up emotions is the only way she can come up for air. 

I am so grateful to tell this deeply personal story. Writing ‘Ghosted’ has helped me through my own grief and I hope it can help others process their own feelings, as well as provide moments of laughter, through hilarious performances and witty dialogue. I am so excited to collaborate with the passionate team to create the unique and magical world of GHOSTED.

Keira’s home is filled with glowing warmth, by lighting the scenes with soft lamps and candles. Moonlight peaks into the home and serves as a motif of Laura’s presence. Contrasting the warm interiors, the cool outdoor scenes are illuminated by blue moonlight.

The cinematography will convey Keira’s emotional journey. The audience will feel Keira’s anxiety and overstimulation at the family gathering with tight claustrophobic frames. We build on the tension of Laura’s presence with sweeping camera movements that emulate a haunting ghost. We end on Keira’s moment of emotional release with static frames to break the tension and allow for a moment of peace.

Production Design is key in building the world of Ghosted, by creating costumes that reflect each eccentric family member and designing a magical lived-in home. The home is full of whimsy with hanging scarves, dried sage, and beaded entryways. Our talented production designer has also created a detailed spell book and personalized altar.

We will create the underwater dreamlike sequence, by layering hanging silks to mimic waves to construct a standout visual motif.

The score for ‘Ghosted’ is inspired by spiritual jazz: Alice Coltrane in particular. We are working with a musician to create a dance-like score and are excited to experiment with instruments like a singing bowl, djembe, gong, and chimes. 

The sound of underwater waves will peak at moments of intensity to convey Keira’s emotional past with Laura and create the feeling of drowning. 

Our sound designer will build a soundscape for the indoor and outdoor scenes to contrast the busy home with the quiet moonlit lake

We are a UAL film production with very limited resources and plan to shoot on location in London. This comes with costs, and in the hope of running a happy and healthy set, we need your help.

This is our second year film and we want to be able to be ambitious with our filmmaking, as well as producing a film that echoes the ethos of a well run set. Our main budget cost will be catering and transport. As we have a large cast and a significant number of crew we need to cover food and travel for all. We would really like to avoid asking the crew to cover their own meals, so your help will be invaluable in this. We also require permits to film at a lake, which will eat into our budget. As this is a production design heavy film, we need all the help we can get to buy props, costumes and set decoration to make our story come to life.

Our current budget estimation is a total of £1,500, and we have already secured part of this - please help us get over the finish line to be able to make our film.

We are grateful for any donation and look forward to sharing Ghosted with you. Thank you so much for your support!

Warm Regards, 

The Ghosted Team