Wraiths and Shadow: Director's Notes

Ghostly creatures haunt the forests at night.  But then something calls to them from afar...

After almost two years, Stranger Things Studios has returned to film making.  This video is our official announcement!  We have several new films in the works. 

Check out the new movie, "Wraiths and Shadow," below or visit our YouTube channel to see all the other films Stranger Things Studios has put out!

Director's Notes:  Planning a Comeback

June 23, 2016, right around 5:00pm.  I made a Facebook status along the lines of, "I'm about to film for the first time in 2 years.  I'm kind of nervous." 

It was true.  Even though I picked three friends I was extremely comfortable filming with, and I had a script that was very simple and short, I was still on edge.  Everything felt foreign, like I had never done it before, like I had borrowed some other guy's camera and gear knowing that I wouldn't be able to make anything with it.

If you've ever run into that problem, where you're competing with your former self, I can tell you first hand that that feeling goes away fast.  It was there as we met up; and it was there as we drove the five minutes to our secluded filming location; and it was there as I wandered the grounds planning out my shots, thinking to myself "I don't know what the hell I'm even doing." 

But the moment that camera started, that feeling stopped, giving direction came naturally, and I had more trouble getting all the shots that popped in my mind recorded than I did coming up with them to begin with.

The editing was more involved than I thought it would be.  I've made night-time filters before, but never to this extent.  Check out the Before and After:

When I decided to return to filming, I knew I wanted to come back big with a Stranger Things Studios official trailer - something to advertise ourselves and put us back on the radar, something to showcase who we were.  But then I got to thinking: if I put the video out cold, it wouldn't go very far.  I had to warm up the market, so to speak.  So I thought, "I should make a 'pre-trailer' that would get people to keep an eye out for the real thing.  And so, this video came into being. 

But then I thought, "I should make a Facebook exclusive commercial to draw attention to the up-coming Pre-Trailer.  So, by the end of it all, I was releasing a COMMERCIAL for the PRE-TRAILER for the TRAILER for Stranger Things Studios' MOVIES currently in production.  It was getting out of hand really, but that's past now.

Now, we can make movies!