Watch the original short film:
• THE TUNNEL (Short Horr...
Watch my other short horror films:
• In The Dark (Short Hor...
• The Open Gate (Short H...
• Nope (Horror Short Com...
I don't remember exactly why we went but around 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday night I found myself up in the mountains exploring a tiny trail off the side of the road with a couple of friends.
There was a little creek running through it, a lot of graffiti, and a small creepy tunnel.
When I saw the tunnel I knew it was a location I wanted to shoot at and I was immediately excited to make something there.
I really wanted to capitalize on my excitement because I knew it wouldn't last forever and my tendency is to over think things to death. Once that happens, I end up not acting on them because I can’t seem to get it perfect in my head.
So the second I got home I wrote a super rough script and then called up the same friends that were exploring with me to see if they were interested in helping me shoot something in two days.
Go time. Film it while I'm still excited about the idea. Don't give myself any time to second guess everything.
But there was still one issue. Due to different peoples' schedules and the lighting, we couldn't start filming until 3:30 p.m. and the sun went down at 5:30 p.m. I had exactly two hours to shoot the entire short.
So we all met up at 3:30 p.m. and headed down the trail. I had put together a shot list so that I could quickly see whether or not I was getting the shots I needed to cut together something watchable. After I little bit of setup and direction and some SD card troubles, we were shooting.
And everything went pretty smooth. Although the flashlight I brought wasn't quite strong enough to illuminate the tunnel very well and I ran out of light before I was able to get coverage of the tunnel that I was satisfied with. When we wrapped, I looked at the clock and it was exactly 5:30 pm. Success.
Filming an entire micro short film in two hours felt good. Like I had overcome a huge hurdle, but- I really do wish I had more time to shoot it. I think what I was able to accomplish in two hours was fine but I still wanted more. I wanted to polish up a few parts. Maybe do a few more takes. Get a little more coverage. Not feel rushed the whole time.
Yet with sets I've been on or my own sets, these feelings and desires are always present. Filmmakers rarely feel like they have all the time in the world. It's just the way it is. What I felt on my two hour shoot is nothing even compared to what the director was feeling on a 16 hour set day I worked. The looming burden of time is always there. Haunting you.
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