It was the beginning of COVID, and I was trapped inside with nothing but homework to think about. But I had the drive to want to make a film in any way possible. I would often make movie reviews at the time, but I would rather strive for those moments to make fun videos with friends. a moment that still came to be very slim in chance, even before COVID.

I had a past in stop-motion animation with legos and some VFX in small videos. But I finally had a reason to use it as a larger portion of a project due to the restrictions at the time.

Originally, that was the whole plan: make only a stop-motion animation movie because I can't make one with real people. But that was the only plan at the time. I really didn't have a story, a premise, or characters, really, if you only count humans. I genuinely just started animating a model doll I got from IKEA for the first shot, to the second shot, to the third, and so on.

I also used this as a time to try out my own homemade dolly (version 1 of many) that consisted of clamping the legs of my older brother's tripod to the corners of a 3-wheeled razor powerwing scooter I found in the backyard.

Soon, I realized that a dancing doll can't make much of a story by itself. So, I knew something, or someone, had to be added to the equation to create some sort of conflict. And because I was already getting tired of animating it, I chose to put myself in the film.

The film that was supposed to be goofy throughout started reflecting how delirious I - and most of the world - felt while being trapped at home for as long as we were. And that's when the film started getting really Raimi-esque.

It's fairly obvious to anyone who knows Sam Raimi's style that I was heavily inspired at the time of making this with all of the quick-paced camera movements, tiny demonic creatures, and splatstick humor. This film serves as a testament to my love of his movies while also being my first dabble in a form of method filmmaking that I could only imagine Bruce Campbell was falling victim to in the making of all three of the "Evil Dead" movies.

This style of filmmaking was one that I could not avoid due to the pandemic, but I was so glad I got to experience it. I learned the importance of the atmosphere of a set to get an actor in a proper headspace for their role. As both the actor and director of the project, it was very easy for me to put myself through hell (sticky fake blood, California hot room, and painstakingly long stop-motion animation sessions) to make the best movie I could, but I can't say that that is a consensus you can just hope an actor will have. After all, it was never easy to convince others to do so before.

And that is what I would later find out. Collaboration is the crux of filmmaking as a whole. Before this film, I had the pleasure of having help from others, but I would ultimately squander its potential. This film was made during a time that everybody would use to reflect on themselves, and that's what the movie really serves as: a reminder that I had a lot to learn in the field of working well with others. The movies I made with others before this would show that my understanding went as far as knowing the meaning of collaboration, but never truly knowing how it works. And what better field to learn that while exercising my creative bone than film.

That's why this marks as my real beginning into filmmaking.