Yes, I gave my own short a 5/5; sue me.
I have always been interested in vampires. From an early age, we have been exposed to many different variations of vampiric figures at various stages of our lives. I don’t exactly remember which vampire I had first encountered (it was possibly Count from Sesame Street), but I was always fascinated by them. They are cunning creatures that are often symbolic of sexual desire, given how they often use seductive measures to attain their prey. That mysteriousness has always drawn me to them, and the way they’ve been stylized over the past centuries has been inspiring to watch. From Dracula/Nosferatu, Twilight, Interview with the Vampire, Let the Right One In, and more, I knew I always wanted to make something involving them.
And here it is!
Earlier this semester, I was taking a course that brought us the basics of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. One of these assignments was to create a sequence of shots that could be edited together later. The shots had to be stationary, feature fair composition, number between 7 and 8, and serve as a lead-in to an expanding story.
First, we had to write a 2-page treatment and a storyboard to be submitted. In all honesty, I hate making storyboards. I understand them, but I think I had most of these shots in my head already. I wanted something that I knew would stand out from my class, and one that uses a good level of subtlety rather than heavy exposition.
I struggled briefly before I wrote the treatment, but I had recently watched the Tony Scott film, ‘The Hunger’ starring Catherine Denueve, Davie Bowie, and Susan Sarandon. The look of the immortals in their black sunglasses struck a chord with me, because I could suddenly see everything I needed to do.
This may be a bit of a tangent, but I love sharing my inspirations. We should do it more! While writing the treatment, I envisioned a mix of the costumes of‘ The Hunger’, given the look that Jocelyn is donning, the ambiance of David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’ with the white noise and stark black-and-white cinematography, and the sinister underbelly of ‘Under the Skin’ with the magnitude of what happens to the student.
After writing, I just needed to cast actors, and luckily, I found two who were heavily committed to the project. The first was my friend, Jocelyn. I met Jocelyn earlier that academic year, and I would consider her a great friend with whom I can share my thoughts about Dan Aykroyd. Apparently, she wanted to be a monster actor, so this ended up working out well in her favor. I have to commend her for listening to my weird suggestions and allowing her to explore the creepy physicality of her character. She understood the tone perfectly, and I’m glad she was able to interject any ideas that could help out the production (Jocelyn has a short film coming out soon that y’all should check out).
After I got Jocelyn on board, I contacted a few of my theatre classmates and managed to grab Olivia out of the depths. I've known Olivia for almost 2 years now, and she is very nice and always willing to do anything to help someone. She’s come a long way from our hectic acting class and is coming into her own to become a stellar actress. Though she doesn’t say anything in this short, she manages to convey the emotions required of the student for it to work.
The three of us went to the basement of our college library and filmed 7 shots over a few hours. Though we shot the shit while waiting for it to get dark, we all managed to get something out of the experience. Over the next few months, I will continue editing and eventually reshoot some sequences to deliver the final product. These reshoots included adding a few camera movements and more dead space to build tension. I do feel some of the reshoots are a little obvious, and I could have worked on the sound a bit more, but I did want to put it out there for feedback.
I had a blast making this, and I hope y’all enjoy it.
