Film features

A budding film-maker from South Devon is hoping his debut offering will help to launch a career in the movies.

Ashley Wing, 26, from Paignton, is a sign-writer by profession, but has always been a big film fan.

Ashley is hoping for a career in films

He's hoping his first film, entitled Between the Lines, will be his breakthrough into the industry.

The film tells the story of four soldiers from the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, who get isolated between the Allied and German lines following the Normandy landings.

Ashley co-wrote Between the Lines with David Murphy, from Brixham.

David has an interest in history, and wartime history in particular. He is a member of the Brixham Battery Heritage Centre Group, which funded the film.

A year before the shoot, Ashley did a one-day short film course at the Ealing Studios. It wasn't just the training which was invaluable.

Ashley explained: "I met an actor up there called Clayton Fussell, and he's one of the main actors in my film."

A scene from the film

Although set in Normandy, most of the filming was actually done in South Devon.

Ashley told BBC Devon: "I shot it all in Kingswear, except the Tiger Tank. That was done in Oxfordshire where the private owner of the tank lives.

"We shot for 12 days and post production took seven months because I did a lot of computer generated stuff."

 "I haven't made a film before, but I've always had an interest in it and have always wanted to make films but thought it would be very expensive.

"Then I realised you could do it with smaller cameras and use filters in post production to enhance the quality."

The film was shown at Brixham Theatre in March 2007 in front of a audience of almost 500.

Will the soldiers get back to safety?

Ashley is also hoping to take the film to festivals.

He isn't making any money from the film: "It was purely just a charity work. I can show the film as long as the money is put back into the charity."

Ashley is now hoping to get more film work - and he'd love to work in films full-time.

"I'm a sign-writer so it's quite hard to juggle it all, but I'm hoping to get into the film industry. That's my ambition," he said.

You can watch a trailer of Between the Lines by using the link on this page.

And you can find out more about the Brixham Battery Heritage Centre Group by visiting the website, also linked from this page.