By Nick Parry BBC Wales News Online

Most of the film has been shot on location in Pembrokeshire

Swansea University graduate Matt Daniels is working on a shoestring with a small cast of unknown actors for his first full-length movie, Powerless.

The Blair Witch Project became one of the biggest grossing films of 1999 thanks in part to the word of mouth generated by its innovative website.

Powerless, which is being completed in Pembrokeshire's Preseli Mountains, is taking the same tack, and director Daniels hopes it will lead to screenings on the British film festival circuit.

This is guerrilla film making at its best because we have not got money but we have got a product that we believe in Director Matt Daniels

The film tells the story of a family who leave London for a remote farmhouse shortly before a rogue terrorist attack paralyses Britain.

"The film is about how the family deal with isolation, deal with not knowing what is going on and deal with surviving," he said.

The majority of the shoot has been in west Wales and despite the low budget, independent producers This Can Motion Pictures secured sponsorship and product placement deals with the likes of BMW, Tesco and Sony Playstation.

"This is guerrilla film-making at its best because we have not got money but we have got a product that we believe in," added Daniels.

"Our plan is to be involved with the Cardiff Film Festival, we've had a lot of support from the Wales Screen Commission.

"They helped find us locations. We closed Maenclochog down one morning and the residents were wonderful.

"We boarded up the local shop and threw newspapers all over the street. It just looked really eerie. It's a really good scene."

Real life sisters Martha, Bethany and Hannah play key roles

Real-life family the Wilkins were cast in the central roles because Daniels said he wanted the familiarity and chemistry between the actors.

Cardiff University student Bethany Wilkins and her two bothers and two sisters who live in Pembrokeshire, play the lead roles.

"It's kind of like the von Trapp family," she said.

"The main challenge for me was to keep coming back from university and get into character which was pretty difficult."

Her younger sister Martha said: "Sometimes we would have proper arguments as sisters so it was very easy to act the sister arguments.

"But its been great apart from the early mornings and late evenings - it's just really great to be part of this thing."

Director Matt Daniels is hoping to enter Powerless in the Cardiff Film Festival

Daniels brought the cast together on the weekend for last minute pick-ups and now faces a race to get it completed on time.

"It needs to be ready for August for submission at festival time. We will submit it to as many festivals as we can," he explained.

"We have had loads of interest from the website - contact from America and all over the world.

"I never saw the Blair Witch site but the web has been our single most successful development for publicity.

"That kind of word of mouth and the enthusiasm other people have shown in our project has certainly spurred us on."