Faintheart, the winning film in the MySpace MyMovieMashUp competition, is starting principal photography this week.

Director Vito Rocco beat out 800 other hopefuls in the contest to get his film greenlit with a budget of $2m (£1m).

The project, being billed as 'the world's first user-generated feature film,' is a romantic comedy set in the world of Viking battle re-enactments. David Lemon wrote the script.

Allan Niblo, James Richardson and Rupert Preston will produce for Vertigo Films along with James Fabricant for MySpace.com, and Arvind Ethan David, Rachel Connors and Judy Counihan for Slingshot.

Screen WM is co-financing with the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund (which has chipped in $650,000 [£325,000]). Partners are MySpace.com, Film4, Vertigo, Slingshot and Skillset. Vertigo is on board for the UK release.

The project is shooting in the West Midlands.

Eddie Marsan, Ewen Bremner and Jessica Hynes (formerly Stevenson) star, and other cast will be drawn from non-professional actors recruited on MySpace.

'Anyone who loves movies and interactivity will be fascinated to get involved in this pioneering film,' director Rocco said. 'We're giving cinema-goers and online users the first real opportunity to be part of the filmmaking process right the way through from script to seeing the results of their input up on the big screen.'

Sally Caplan, head of the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund, added: 'We are pleased to be supporting a project that is innovative in both creation and content. Reflecting our commitment to new talent and to film in the digital age, this is an excellent first time feature film script emerging from the digital arena.'

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