In 2013, the local public access station I worked at held its first annual independent horror film festival, and I decided to participate. I didn’t have the time or opportunity to gather a crew, so I ended up doing it as a solo effort.
I was going for an Alien sort of feel, and despite how rushed this was, I still enjoyed making it, and it got a good reaction at the showing.
I shot this in the storage/HVAC space of the building, which lent itself well enough to looking a bit like a space station.
While I had an outline for the plot as I was shooting, I wasn’t sure of the exact dialogue. Also, the HVAC system was incredibly loud, which made recording actual dialogue impossible. So I decided to use a full-face helmet as part of the costume to hide my mouth and recorded all of the audio in post.
For the monster, I decided to never show it, pulling largely from the example of Jaws – the less you see of the monster, the more the audience will fill in with their imagination (which is usually scarier than anything you can create), and it simplifies production immensely. I was inspired by several sci-fi movies and shows for the monster’s perspective shots, most immediately the Autons vision from the first episode of the reboot of Doctor Who.