How to Build a VFX World for Your Short With a $700 Budget

Let’s bring it back to 2019. I was still directing music videos and commercials full time. I kept pitching these wild concepts (a lot of sci-fi back then) and it was getting harder and harder to get these ideas to come to life.

Like most young directors, we were just trying to make mini movies with every job we could get. VFX was often too costly for me so I decided to start spending all my free time on YouTube learning 3D. I didn't even have the software yet, but I saw the potential to bring my ideas to the screen. After some weeks of studying and learning, I had a friend help me build a PC, I installed Cinema4D and hit the ground running. I wasn’t known for VFX so I started incorporating a few shots at a time into my own music videos and I would make them for free just to prove that I had the chops to do it. From there, it started snowballing right up until COVID hit. When everything shut down, enough friends knew I was doing this 3D thing and I really got to cut my teeth over those next few years locked away grinding out VFX shots.

Fast forward and I’ve now built a small VFX house called BRAINCHILD VFX and it’s my primary job. After all these years of constantly figuring out how to do something for nothing, I wanted to embrace that mentality with a flagship short film for the company to promote our work and showcase our aesthetic. I wrote "Mr. Claw" mainly because I wanted to bring this cosmic horror film to life, but also, because I wanted to show how you could build an entire world for under $700 with a couple friends and a few pieces of gear.

To talk about "Mr. Claw" for a little, the premise for the film came as an iteration to my previous horror short, "I Don't Want to Go Home". That film was about running from your demons, and for this one I wanted to explore what it looked like to give into your demons. Obviously, things don't end well for our heroine. I would always advocate to fight the good fight, and that's the beauty of film; you can explore topics that seem a little dark or counterintuitive and see where your brain leads you.

The initial idea for the concept came from scrolling on instagram years before. I found artist Jonni Tsay (@jonni0409) who has an anime, synthwave-inspired piece of a girl looking into a claw machine with a doll hanging there. I found it so intriguing. Originally I wanted to adapt a music video idea from it, but then I started asking myself what her story could be. I never want to copy anyone, so I changed the vibe entirely and created my landscapes and characters from scratch and built up an entire world around it. I feel like the claw machine is such a strong visual, and to place it in some crazy liminal setting really excited me.

I really wanted to show that you don’t need much to create a high concept short film. Modern tools have made it so much more accessible and I wanted to see how far I could push this concept with a $700 budget and two (literally two) very talented friends.

I knew the world where the claw machine exists couldn't be found in the real world. I’m sure with a real budget we could have made something in a studio (my plan for the hypothetical feature version) but for our purposes, I chose to shoot on green screen. This way I could really dial everything I wanted in. We did shoot the motel scenes on location in Nashville. My friend Warren Smythe has a small lot with a few different sets on it and it was a great way to get a bang for my buck. I think we only rented it for two or three hours to do all of the scenes.

So we were moving quickly that day. I believe the entire shoot was eight hours long.

In terms of gear I also wanted to prove you don't need anything crazy. My DP, John Spencer, lit the set and shot each scene beautifully. We shot the short on my eight-year-old FS7, which I still love and use all of the time. The lens is probably my favorite zoom lens ever, only second to the classic Angeniuex 20-120mm, but this one was an old Canon servo tv zoom I got for free out of a bin of lenses. For lighting, we used an Aputure nova and an Amaran 150x with a gem ball modifier. Keep it simple!

Our actress Lindsey Akers did an amazing job bringing the character of Liz to life and selling the horrifying concept. She acted in the film, but also did all the VO for Mr. Claw. She’s a really dynamic actress.

When it came time for post, I built out the entire world in Cinema 4D. I chose Cinema 4D because that's what I primarily use in my jobs. That being said, free software like Blender or Unreal Engine would work just as well. Once I assembled and lit the landscape, it was time to design Mr. Claw himself. With each passion project I do, I try to learn a new toolset. This time it was fur simulations. After a few practice attempts, I felt good about bringing him into my shots.

It took a few months on and off in between jobs to get these shots animated, rendered, and composited. I grew up with a music background, so I thought this would also be a great time to create a score and do sound design, as well. Passion projects are amazing like that and allow you to experiment and prove to yourself and others what you are capable of. I would have never volunteered to score a project for someone else. But now that I have experience on my own project, I think that would be a blast if the opportunity presented itself.

All in all, "Mr. Claw" proved to be so much for me. Stylistically and visually, it represents my aesthetic as an artist. Technically, I learned a few new techniques and have some more tools in my tool belt. There truly is nothing better than making art with your (very generous and kind) friends.

There should be nothing that stops you from bringing your vision to life. "Mr. Claw" could have been shot on an iPhone and a pop up green screen if it needed to be. We live in a world where everything is easily accessible and it just takes time on your end to develop the skills you need. So, get after it, learn a new skill, and show everyone what you can do.