Over Exposure
A 2025 Narrative Short Film
Credits: Director, Editor, Composer
Cosmic horrors invade the mind of a daring photographer.
The first narrative short of 2025 that I directed, this film falls among the collection of improv films that my fellow filmmaking circle took a liking to creating last year.
Per usual, we went to this location without a script or any real planning, and in less than five hours at the location, made this film.
Of course, I spent a substantial amount of time editing this into what it is, not to mention the cost in developing authentic film photos taken on the set and used in the film. On the post-production side, these improvs typically take far more time and energy, and this one was still a punch above the rest in that sense.
Visually, I had a couple inspirations in mind for this film. The most obvious, in my opinion, being Tarkovsky's Stalker, but I also took inspiration from Alex Garland's 2024 film, Civil War, which more specifically gave me the idea for the photograph intercuts in the film. I remember really loving that idea, and seeing it as a unique way to build tension in a story.
These improv films are really fantastic exercises that keep us all fresh and routinely creative, and I really felt like I got to let loose and try some cool stuff out with this one. With it being <6 minutes to boot, it's hard not to be very proud of this. Overall, I would call this a great kickoff to 2025.
...post
A 2024 Narrative Short Film
Credits: Writer, Director, Editor, Composer
An overly ambitious paperboy delivers newspapers at the dawn of the most important day in human history.
I only really go all out once a year for a personal project, and 2024's was ...post, which I can easily say is the best thing I've made since getting into filmmaking.
For reasons I can't say I even know myself, I find that the stories I want to tell are stories that utilize the medium of film to its maximum potential. For every film I take on, I can't help but ask myself the question, "what is it that makes film the best method to tell this story?"
What I love so much about this film, which I can't fully get into without spoiling the whole thing, is that it is truly a story that only film can tell. This is not a story you can read in a book, or see on a painting, or hear in a song. The only way this story can exist is right here, just like this.
The fact that we pulled off such a feat brings me immense joy.
Right now, only the trailer is available to watch, but maybe if you send me an email and say please, I might send you the screener.
Homeroamer
A 2023 Narrative Short Film
Credits: Writer, Director, Editor, Composer
a boy crosses space and time on a hunt for things that don't fit in.
I consider this my first real narrative short film, and while it certainly exudes humble beginnings, I do think there is a unique heart to this film that I can confidently stand behind.
At the time, I remember being inspired by a specific video game genre in which you looked through live security cameras with the goal of spotting strange anomalous differences in the rooms over a period of time.
These were horror games, but I found myself particularly fascinated by the concept as a whole. Finding things that don't fit in seemed like a cool premise, and I latched onto it pretty hard for this film.
This film is... elaborate. I would say it errs maybe a bit too far on the end of indecipherable, which does tend to be a frequent blockade in my writing even now, but there is absolutely a through-line to this. Some people have been able to clock it dead-on, most people never stood a chance, and I can't blame them. Either way, for a first real venture into narrative directing, I'm quite happy with this result.
I actually made the remote used in this film from scratch. Quite appropriately (if you can decipher the meaning from the film at all), it is a hollowed out baby monitor that I then wired myself with LEDs and buttons. As I'm writing this, it's in the cabinet beside my desk, where it serves both as a testament to how far I've come, and as a reminder that this is far from a distant memory.
