Shot on iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The Unseen is a spoken word film about my personal suffering with a gambling addiction, searching to be free of this “unseen” illness. The film is narrated by myself from a poem I wrote titled "A wheel that spins".

After the unexpected passing of my father last year, the wheel represents that “life goes on”. 

Secondly, the wheel represents to me the game of chance, just as you see with the spin of roulette or slot reel.

The wheel keeps on spinning - morning, noon and night.

Director's Statement

Hi! I’m Tom Major and I’m 34 years old born and living in South East London, United Kingdom.

Australia holds a special place in my heart, having spent around 9 months there in 2007, (before the days of videos on smartphones!). My favourite place being The Great Ocean Road as well as my time spent in Sydney at Collaroy Bay. 

I think it’s fair to say I began my journey into filmmaking in an unconventional way…

I spent 8 years working in the construction industry, always looking for a way out to escape and express my creativity. Having a young family and the pressures of paying rent and bills meant I felt a career change would be impossible. It was during this difficult period that I started learning more about the capabilities of video on my phone, and learning about the movement of “smartphone videography”. I spent my weekends and evenings providing low-cost, affordable videography to charities, community projects and small businesses. 

Fast forward two years and here I am! I am running my own video production company, called iFilmECO, who specialise in affordable, sustainable videography for small businesses, charities and community projects.

My life as a filmmaker is still young. I think it’s important to talk about The Unseen, it’s meaning. It focuses on the life of a compulsive gambler, someone who understands that “life goes on” but the industry is there, morning, noon and night. Gambling has become a global 24/7 industry and I know this better than anyone as it is based on a real-life experience. I am not ashamed to admit that I myself, am a recovering compulsive gambler. 

Although The Unseen is my first ever short film, I feel like it has been in my mind for the past few years, I just needed a medium like SF3 to bring it to life. I saw an advert on my Instagram for SF3, advertising the upcoming deadline to submit. At this point I had zero footage in the can (or phone!). Over a two week period, I wrote the script, which turned into a poem and shot the material by myself (with the occasional strange look from passers-by along the way!) The film was essentially completed on zero budget, apart from the odd coffee and sandwich break! 

I have since entered many other short film festivals on the circuit and have written an additional 7 poems, of which I plan to turn into short films in the coming months. 

SF3 not only gave me the platform to stand on, but it gave me the inspiration to keep moving forward and to keep writing, directing, and shooting. 

Fun Facts

To capture some of the scenes by the River Thames, I had to setup my tripod and camera in location and hit the record button and on occasions, hope for the best! It was at this point that a dog decided to run up to the tripod and leave his mark… not only that but then felt it necessary to knock over the tripod and run away dragging it down the path. The important thing is the phone was OK….. and no animals were harmed in the making of this film!!