I am not afraid anymore.
Days after an alien invasion, a young man desperately tries to hold on to hope of a better life.
Earlier, before the COVID-19 crisis, we were hard at work on a post apocalyptic alien invasion film. After everything was locked down and and the whole world seemed to fall apart, it was decided we would wait until summer to start filming. Fast forward about a month and a half and ArtsQuest announces they’re holding a 48 Hour Film Challenge. I instantly wanted to join and make something. After some thought, I decided to create a tie in to our delayed film.
What I think is really neat about Seclusion is how although it’s set in some extreme, out of this world (literally) scenario, it deals with a topic that everyone can relate to. This film tells the simple story of someone wanting to leave their current situation for something better. Except of course, Seclusion is set days after an alien invasion. At the time I was writing this, I’d been going through some really awful things for the past few months. I was able to channel that energy into the script and acting and that allowed me to come to terms with my own situation. Using a personal, real world experience and allowing that to influence a film of mine is something I’ve never done before. It was an unexpected cathartic experience that I will always be thankful for and proud of.
Filming this was a huge challenge, mainly because I was doing literally everything myself. Getting the focus right was the hardest part for me because I would have to set the focus, stand back, saying to check the small monitor to see if I was in focus or not, act out the scene, and then really tell what’s in focus or it and either start over or leave it as is. I started running out of time, so you’ll find a few out of focus shots in the film, but they’re not as bad as they could be. When I’m behind the camera, I’m very particular about depth, as I feel depth is what really separates the experienced from the less experienced. I’ve always had an issue with how some student films give off the look of a “student film” they’re often flat with no depth, no real color, just kind of bland and thrown together. I’ve always seen depth as being the key to solving that. I tried, it didn’t work in some places, but in others it worked really well. I think I got some fantastic shots in this. I will admit that I for sure went a little overboard on this Atmosphere in a Can stuff. I got a bunch for our initial project before the whole quarantine happened and I was really itching to try it out, I ended up spraying way too much for some scenes, it’s very noticeable.
In the film I make this suit, it went through a few iterations before I decided I was running out of time and I just needed to make it as simple as possible. The last straw was when I tried to wrap myself in trash bags (one over my body, two over my legs) and tape them all together to create some sort of hazmat suit (I was very inspired by 10 Cloverfield Lane) but it was so unbearably hot and sweaty and gross. I gave up as soon as I finished taping them all over me because I knew it just wouldn’t work. Not only that but the bags just wouldn’t stay in place and kept slipping down my leg and it was just an awful experience. I decided on just using an old paintball vest and air tank, and my CPAP mask to create this breathing apparatus. Then I realized I needed a helmet or a face covering of some kind so I just constructed one out of a water jug. It looks really stupid, but also very DIY, in that sense I think it’s realistic. Implausible, but realistic. It works, okay!!
Seclusion is the result of 27 hours of work over a 48 hour period. It’s flawed in some ways but shines in others. I’m very proud of it. All in all, it’s not much, but Seclusion will act as a tie in to Intrusion (our next film), which will hopefully be out at some point this year. We will step back into this world at some point and get a much different story from it.
-Nick