My Second Short Film

Inside Out

– a story about a female ghost who finds herself torn between her current realm and the place where her twin flame resides. Will her memories keep her connected to him or will she abandon all hope of being able to touch him again while slowly losing herself in the grey?

A girl can dream, can’t she?

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In my first short film titled Upside Down, I introduced the viewer to a guy who finds himself torn between his present world and past memories of his deceased twin flame. As you dive into the film with each heart wrenching scene, one begins to wonder if the fading memories of her will keep him from the point of no return?

Upside Down is a fictional script of heartfelt words spoken with a thin slice of masculine molasses and emotional, southern draw. The short film captures your attention from the first scene and gives you a glimpse into the life of a man that has nowhere to turn, him fighting his inner self as he tries his best to exist in a world that has forgotten him.

Upside Down revolves around the one thing that connects all of us as human beings – that thing being loss.

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My new sequel titled Inside Out is a fictional rollercoaster of emotions and will have you pulling for the unlucky couple by its inevitable end. It is a film that is far from perfect but still packs an emotional punch just like its counterpart.

Inside Out is told from the perspective of a heartbroken female ghost, an embodied, wandering specter that one wishes they could wrap their arms around and hold onto. The film’s underlining premise revolves around something that connects all of us as human beings, that thing being the ability for us to see or touch a deceased loved one, even if it is for a minute or two.

Will the love lost couple be able to disappear to a place where their shared love burned the brightest and felt the warmest or are they destined to wander their separate realms alone forever?

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So what does the film mean to me as a director, writer, and producer?

For me, the answer is simple even in its most complex way. Upside Down and Inside Out boils down to the most beautiful war that all of us will ever face – that battle being the journey behind finding, protecting, and holding onto unconditional love. We get aggravated with love when our special someone is by our side day after day after day and we never really begin to appreciate that closeness until we are separated from that love forever and can only revisit it in dreams and memories.

Upside Down was a learning experience for me, and I was pleased in the way the narrative came together with the footage I had stored up over the past couple of years. If you asked me why I chose to go with black and white film, my honest reply would be the fact that I needed the character’s world to be void of color so I, so we, could understand their point of view through their words.

My wife was hesitant in using our personal footage for fictional use, but she understood the merit in doing so when I revealed to her the plan I had inside my head. I asked her if she wanted to be the narrative voice for the female ghost, but she politely passed on it. The search then began for the female narrator I needed even though I already had a choice in mind.

Inside Out was a journey all to itself because I had to fully rely on someone else for the narration while my main focus was capturing the essence of her words with fresh film and cut scenes. I knew that the voice of the ghost had to captivate whoever listened to it. It had to draw the viewer in with each sentence and, when listening to the way I had envisioned my female ghost to sound, my first choice was my only choice and the rest is casting history!

Inside Out was shot entirely in black and white to capture that same essence of Upside Down even though I inserted a couple of scenes in full color to have that saturated twist that needed to exist in order to bring closure to the end of their story.

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I am extremely proud of my first two short films even though I have no education in the film school studies and all my knowledge comes from personal world observations, trial and error, and studying other people’s styles. My editing might be rough around the edges, but it is what it is considering I did most of it from the coffee table in my living room. I find it hard to apologize for something that I think is ruggedly imperfect and beautiful considering the current world that we live in and the many masks it chooses to wear day in and day out.

All of the scenes were shot on a cell phone and vocally recorded with basic computer programming to show the struggling underground artist that you do not need expensive things (even though those things are great and do help) to prove a point or get your artistic idea across. If you can do great things with the bare minimum, just think what you can do when you are given a chance, big budgets, fancy equipment, and a team to stand with you at that line in the sand as you forge a film that will be felt by anyone who takes time to watch it.

I am ecstatic to share with you, the viewer, my new project, and I am thankful to everyone who was involved with Upside Down and Inside Out. I stand by these two films, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed putting countless hours into them.

I now present to you Inside Out, the ending sequel to one of the many countless, great love stories that has ever been told.

Sometimes, you catch yourself in the middle of being Upside Down and, sometimes, you find yourself being pulled Inside Out.

Which one are you, if any?

The question is not when because that is #inevitable for all of us.

The real question is how and the affect it will have on us as the weeks slowly turn into months slowly turn into years.

Enjoy!

Much love!

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