Forging a place among prominent Australian film writers, Dane and his wife Amy are currently putting the finishing touches on an eight year project.

Former editor of the Glen Innes Examiner, Amy (Slessor) Millerd tackled the project alongside her husband as a contributing writer, set designer and assistant director and, according to writer/

director Dane was an integral part of the project.

“I could not have done it without her,” he said.

Moving to Glen Innes shortly after the film was shot in 2011, Amy took up the editor’s chair in the Examiner office while Dane put his skills to work at Photocreate.

Putting their journalism talents to the test, Dane said a large part of the film’s research was rooted in a number of stories Dane collected while writing for the Gunnedah-based Namoi Valley Independent, before it became part of the Fairfax media group.

Taking inspiration from the vast isolated wilderness of the Australian outback that seized explosive popularity in the arts over previous decades with films like Wolf Creek for its ability to convey a sense of unhomely terror, Dane said the popularity of the Australian horror genre is rooted in the fear of getting lost.

“Eighty-five per cent of our population lives on 15 per cent of the land,” Dane said, discussing the artistic mechanics of the Australian horror industry and the Pilliga bushland which serves as the setting for his soon to be released film There’s Something in the Pilliga.

“It’s easy to get lost out there. Once you go out to the outback, or the gateway to the outback (Pilliga bushland), and you don’t have your bearings about you, there is immediately a formula for a horror story.”

While mainstream horror films, propagated predominantly from the US film industry, typically focus on more urban narrative techniques to establish an element of terror—like taking the wrong taxi, answering the phone at the wrong time, or presenting stock horror characters like the unnerving suburban neighbour—Dane said the outback relies more on a natural mystery that speaks back to the fear of things being beyond our control.

“It is exotic, it’s mysterious, it’s the great unknown,” he said.

“There is a level of fear about these things.”

Adding to the raw nature of the film, Dane said the feature flick was shot in a found-footage style reminiscent of the techniques made popular by the Blair Witch Project in 1999, sparking a more recent trend with films like Cloverfield in 2008 and Chronicle in 2012.

Taking inspiration from the recent hot success of found-footage films and merging themes of popular Australian horror films, Dane said he has managed to avoid many of the clichés of typical found-footage, opting to present a series of events over a number of days, avoiding common found-footage practice to provide a running commentary in place of plot.

Most found footage films have titles explaining gaps in the story or take up a documentary or mockumentary style of explaining what the characters are doing and why they are doing it, Dane said.

Opposing regular practice, the film maker said he has deliberately avoided the excessive use of justifying documentary styles, opting instead to rely on a series of small details to produce plot.

“The devil is in the details,” he said.

Eager not to give too much away, Dane said the film centres on the sociopathic and megalomaniac protagonist Jay, an amateur film maker (justifying the continual found-footage style), and two female characters who travel out into the dense Pilliga bushland. Unbeknownst to the three other characters, Jay is on the hunt for the infamous and elusive Yowie, which has been the topic of numerous local legends and folklore.

Taking inspiration from highly-successful monster/horror movies, like Jaws and Rogue, Dane said the film is about letting the viewer’s imagination run wild with the idea of a giant yeti-like monster roaming the depths of the Pilliga bushland.

Driving the film, Dane said, is sociopathic Jay’s desire for notoriety as the backwoods alpha-male that caught the mysterious monster, luring along an unwitting cameraman and two damsels.

Combining the found-footage style with the elements of suspense and mystery, Dane said there is a rawness about the film that affects the viewer’s belief of the narrative and closes the gap between the viewer’s experience and the experience of the characters on screen in a way that many higher production films struggle to achieve.

Hoping to bring the fledgling Australian feature-film to the Chapel Theatre, Dan said he is currently in negotiations with possible distributors.

Dane said he is expecting he film to be released in 2015, making a tour of cinemas around the state.