Make a Horror Film After Dark: Ghosts of Mandurah Filmmaking Workshop 2026
What if the familiar streets, pathways and foreshore of Mandurah suddenly became the setting for your own horror movie?
That’s exactly what Ghosts of Mandurah: Filmmaking After Dark is all about.
As part of Mandurah Arts Festival 2026, I’ll be running this hands on horror filmmaking workshop for young people aged 12 to 17 who want to explore filmmaking, storytelling and the darker side of Mandurah.
Turn Mandurah Into Your Horror Movie
There’s something different about familiar places after dark.
A path you’ve walked down hundreds of times can suddenly feel unsettling. A quiet foreshore can become the perfect location for something strange. Even an ordinary building can look completely different when you change the lighting, sound and way you shoot it.
In Ghosts of Mandurah, we’re going to use that idea to create short local horror films.
You won’t need a professional camera or expensive filmmaking equipment. Your mobile phone is the camera.
Working in teams, participants will create a 60 to 90 second found footage horror film inspired by Mandurah and its locations, stories and atmosphere.
This isn’t just about pointing your phone at something and saying, “Boo!”
We’ll explore the filmmaking techniques that actually create suspense and tension, including cinematography, lighting, sound, editing and storytelling.
You’ll learn how a camera angle can make an ordinary location feel threatening, how sound can create tension before anything even happens and how editing can completely change the way an audience experiences a scene.
We’ll also look at how found footage works as a filmmaking style and why it can be so effective when you want to make an audience feel like what they’re watching could actually be real.
The goal is to take a simple idea and turn it into a short film that feels eerie, imaginative and unmistakably Mandurah.
Mandurah already has plenty of locations that can spark a horror story.
Boardwalks. Foreshore paths. Heritage locations. Quiet streets. Dark corners.
Then there are the stories, rumours and urban legends that help make a place feel like it has a history of its own.
During the workshop, we’ll take inspiration from the places around us and challenge participants to look at Mandurah differently.
The ordinary can become unsettling.
The familiar can become strange.
And your mobile phone can become the tool you use to capture it.
Of course, the main aim is to have fun and make something creepy.
But filmmaking also teaches some seriously useful skills.
Participants will work together to develop an idea, plan their shots, solve problems, communicate as a team and turn an idea into a finished piece of screen content.
For young people interested in filmmaking, social media, content creation, acting, storytelling or digital media, it’s a chance to experiment and create something they can be proud of.
And there’s no pressure to already know how to make films.
You just need an idea, a mobile phone and a willingness to step into the shadows.
Two Nights. Two Locations.
There are two workshop sessions available, but you only need to attend one.
Session 1:
Friday 18 September 2026
6pm to 9pm
Main Hall, Mandurah Seniors and Community Centre
Tickets: $10
The venue is wheelchair accessible and has ACROD parking and an accessible toilet.
Session 2:
Saturday 19 September 2026
6pm to 9pm
Billy Dower Youth Centre
Tickets: $10
The venue is wheelchair accessible and has ACROD parking and an accessible toilet.
Ready To See Mandurah Differently?
If you’re aged 12 to 17 and love horror, filmmaking, storytelling or creating videos on your phone, Ghosts of Mandurah: Filmmaking After Dark is your chance to make something genuinely different.
Bring your imagination. Bring your phone. Bring your best horror ideas.
I’ll bring the filmmaking skills.
Together, we’ll see what happens when Mandurah gets dark.
Book your place now for Ghosts of Mandurah as part of Mandurah Arts Festival 2026. Tickets are only $10 and places are limited, so don’t wait until the ghosts have disappeared.
Book your place for Ghosts of Mandurah
Ghosts of Mandurah: Filmmaking After Dark is presented by Mark Regan as part of Mandurah Arts Festival 2026 with thanks to City of Mandurah.