Codi was the short film I made for college, and it was definitely one of the most difficult movies I’ve ever made. It required me to think of a handful of creative ways to work around the visuals I wanted present throughout the entire film. The most explicit one being the main character walking around in a black void. And I wanted it to be pitch black. Not just a dark room. The first option that came to mind was greenscreen but that would definitely turn out looking like shit. I’ve used greenscreen plenty of times before but It’s extremely limiting in the geometry of the room the actor has available to use. So instead I opted to use a full black tarp that doesn't reflect any light. This was a great solution, though it required me to remember how even when the characters are turning and moving from shot to shot she needs to be moved to have the tarp behind her. This on the other hand gave me unlimited range in where she could go as I could move her as if she was an asset in a 3D software. I know it sounds like I'm overcomplicating it, but keeping the consistency in mind was a huge challenge while filming. Another special effect I used was having a kitty pool to act as a huge body of water the character was sitting in. I had to line the pool with a tarp to hide the fact that it was a bright blue material, and I had the tarp be black to further make it look like she’s still in a void. The most apparent special effect you’ll notice in the first shot is the projector I used to project memories onto Codi’s face. This was a huge challenge for me as I had to mess with the screen ratio as well as the focus to make the effect exactly what I wanted. It also required me to press play, then grab my camera and do the shot since most days it was just me and the actor. Another challenge was cramping such a complicated story into five minutes. I had to cut a lot of content and I wish to this day I simplified it a little bit. This was definitely my biggest leap in the lighting department as I started using storm lights and plenty of gels giving everything a more professional look. This film was originally going to tie into Nexus but I decided to revamp the story letting this one stand alone.