Daren Marc has always wanted to make films ever since picking up a camera and making his first film when he was 12. That short film entitled ‘The Amazing Boy’, which was shot using a hired video camera, sparked an enthusiasm for film making that has not waned to this day. When he left school he decided to study graphic design at Art College. It was there that he was able to gain access to the equipment to make his short films. As well as working on other student projects, he developed his own short films and music videos. His final piece was the music video ‘Ecstacy’ which was written and sung by the band The Condemned.
In the years that followed, he wrote ‘Moonlight Investigations’, a comedy drama about a UFO investigation bureau. The project began filming, but was soon closed down due to lack of funds. He then went on to write further projects such as ‘Wipeout’, a futuristic terrorist hijacking of a carrier transporting colonists to Mars. He also wrote and developed the screenplay ‘Into the Fire’, about a group of friends who are on the run from a drug deal gone wrong, and experiencing the repercussions in the wilderness. He also began writing the screenplay ‘Midsummer’s Nightmare’, which has been an ongoing project since.
In the late 1990’s he relocated to London and studied Film at The University of North London. It was here that he worked on the short gothic horror film ‘Oras De Vampir’, which he wrote and co-directed. The story was about a young couple that travel to London and encounter vampires. He also wrote and directed the short film ‘The Storm’, a suspense thriller about a businesswomen trapped in her apartment with an unknown assailant during a thunderstorm.
When Arron Kasady approached him with the idea of shooting a ghost investigation, Daren was a little apprehensive at first, as he had little interest in making a documentary. He had previously worked with Arron on the horror project ‘Malevolence’, which had been abandoned due to lack of funding. They decided to go ahead with the project ‘The Ghosts of Crowley Hall’, and this was to be Daren’s first feature film project as Director. The documentary movie was to be produced by his own production company Walrus Films, in association with Dark Mask Films.
Daren wanted to turn the documentary approach around and create more of an entertainment movie feel to the whole investigation. This way it would fit in with his own style of filmmaking, and open the movie up to a larger audience. The investigation at Crowley Hall began as they had intended, but after the evening’s attempts to investigate the paranormal ended in disaster, the film shoot was abruptly abandoned.
Daren began to edit what footage they had gathered into the story he wanted to tell, although it very quickly became evident that they need more to complete the story of Crowley Hall. He discussed the idea of going back there with Arron, and completing the investigation as they had originally intended.
After the second visit to Crowley Hall and gathering more footage, he continued editing the movie into something that worked as both a documentary and a movie. Apart from a weekend of gathering interviews from Arron and Annabel, the movie neared completion towards the end of the year. The movie was originally intended to be released on Halloween 2007, however as the post-production approached this date, it was decided to release the full trailer on this date instead. Daren edited the trailer over the weeks before to get it released on the Internet in time.
In the New Year, Daren had almost completed editing when he began the sound mix, gathering music tracks to be incorporated into the movie, along with LadyAxe’s title track ‘The Invitation’. At the same time he was authoring the DVD and cover artwork ready to get it out to the company for printing.
The final edit and sound mix, DVD disc and artwork were finally completed on 2nd February 2008, a weekend that Daren will never forget. ‘The Ghosts of Crowley Hall’ was released for sale on 14th February 2008.
As well as promoting the movie over the Internet, Daren is a web designer and has built all the websites relating to the movie, including this website and his Walrus Films site. He is also responsible for all the graphic work, advertising banners and posters for the movie.
Daren has begun pre-production on the mini documentary ‘The Curse of Crowley Hall’, which is to be an insight into the whole investigation, movie and curse that has plagued the production from the beginning.
