The Story 

Ren's Courage is a music-fantasy short featuring a harpist, a fairy and an abusive parent. Tackling the explosive idea of how child exploitation can grow into older life, live performance is at the centre of this fast-paced and colourful fantasy film, where an encounter with a woodland fairy forces Ren, a musician exploited by their parents for clout, to relinquish the dogmatic principles of a father obsessed with fame- and in a chaotic and exciting confrontation with their demons, they’re led back to their instrument and reminded that music is a gift for other reasons than pure familial recognition. 

Our Crew

This is Theo, the Writer and Director of Ren’s Courage. Theo on writing this project - “The writing process was and has been a long and very winding process.”

- “Ever since the summer after the pitch was submitted in June, the project morphed and changed ever since then the project has been on a slow improvement curve.”

This is Oscar, the Producer of Ren’s Courage. Oscar on why people should watch this film - “I think for a lot of reasons, I think there is so many elements with the music, the harp which is quite unique, the world its in with the fairies and the underlying tones of family and such are big reasons to watch it.”

This is Mia, the Production designer of Ren’s Courage. Mia on what drew her to this project - “I love the fantasy elements and the idea of being able to experiment with that in an artistic way.” 

This is Michael, the Director of Photography on Ren’s Courage. Michael on challenges when it comes to shooting - “As I said shooting outside is a big challenge, it is something we have not really done before but I have had a lot of guidance on how to approach it and be really prepared, also we’ve got a great crew.”

This is Martin, the Sound recordist for Ren’s Courage. Martin on why he wanted to work on this project - “What took me into Ren’s Courage was having the opportunity to work on the fantasy genre and in combination with classical music. What also drew me in was how relatable the story was to many friends of mine who are music students.” 

This is Ron, the editor for Ren’s Courage. Ron on the challenges he thinks he may face - “Some of the challenges I may face when editing Ren’s Courage are definitely in the VFX department, with a lot of mystic and folklore elements of the story I need to be able to mask the fairies and put overlays on them to accentuate their otherworldliness.” 

Where your donations are going…

All donations to this page are going to be equally spent across all departments to make sure this project can be the best it can be! The funding will be spent on our art department, transport (as we are filming in Cambridge), locations and catering. Our university has given us a small grant but we do need more to make this film come to life, so it would be amazing if you would consider donating! 

This is our UAL graduate film, making it extremely important for us to produce a film to a higher standard and your donations will make a huge difference! There are also some great rewards available if you want to donate and get something back!