AN ASPIRING film maker has roped in his family to produce a zombie movie he hopes will give him his big break.

Marc Rogerson’s film The Echo of Small Things, which had a “micro-budget” of £200, will have its world premier in the Roxy, at the Tyneside Cinema, in Newcastle, at 7pm on Friday, July 24.

It stars him, his wife Jo, his stepsons Elliot, 17, Archie, ten, and Oscar, nine, and their four-year-old son Beau.

Without giving too much away – the mother is murdered, and the boys are trapped in the house, while the father, who turns into a zombie, is locked outside.

Mr Rogerson, of Waldridge Village, near Chester-le-Street said: “This film began, as a great many creative endeavours do, with a simple question from my wife Jo. 'Why don't you make a film that has the kids in it?'

"I replied it was a great idea, adding it would be 'something simple'.

“That 'something simple' became a three-year labour of love as I struggled with our four boys, whose collective acting experience amounted to one of them playing a cloud in a school play.”

He added: “I don’t think it was quite what my wife anticipated.

"Why can't you make something nice? she asked when she saw me dashing out of the house, trusty tripod in hand, wearing white contact lenses and a blood-stained suit.

“'Because anyone can make something nice,' I would answer.”

Mr Rogerson said the two younger boys were shy about being filmed, so he captured them covertly.

He said: “They play the two older boys when they were younger. It was a way of getting them into it without having to give them lines.

“My wife, for her part, hated every second of being filmed.”

Mr Rogerson completed a four-year course in film and television production 20 years ago, before becoming a nursing assistant.

Since then he has “dabbled” making wedding films and doing work for the Prince’s Trust.

He said: “I have already started submitting my production to short film festivals, which is something that my boys are extremely excited about. Who knows where it will go from there?"

Admission to the half-hour film is free.