"Bloodiron" is a 2-hour feature film that I've been working on for over two years, currently in post-production. It is an exploration of self-portraiture told through the long form storytelling capabilities of film, using a combination of Unreal Engine and digitally altered live-action elements. The film is a fantasy-adventure story set in Islandland, a cluster of three small islands whose inhabitants are near-identical men, all played by myself.
At the end of 2020, I had an idea to make a feature-length space opera. Due to COVID, I downsized to something I could do on my own, hence the minimal actors. I combined elements from that space opera with the characters and world from a short I made in 2018, and Bloodiron was born. Production began in June of 2021, and with the aid of my high school friend Ericson, it was wrapped in August. Post-production was slow, but I was confident I could get at least half the film finished by the beginning of 2023. Near the end of 2022, I found out Ericson had passed away. I couldn’t touch the movie. I wanted to stop. I decided to compromise, finish what I had to in order to get the full length of the film in a watchable state, but don't finish any of the work intensive bits like the effects or the audio. I get to tell the whole narrative, but I don’t have to finish the movie right away. I'm currently on a break from working on it, but I plan on continuing soon. The film is dedicated to Ericson.
The "Green Cut"
In April of 2023, the unfinished cut of the film was displayed at the Virginia Tech Armory gallery, and in May the same cut was shown at the Virginia Tech Moss Arts Center. I call it the "Green Cut" because most of the film is without backgrounds or effects, and the green screen hung on my basement wall is visible throughout much of the runtime.
2018 Short, "The Quest For Harkinson's Steel"
This film has been a long time coming. It began as an entry to a 24-hour film competition in 2018, and ever since then, my ideas for the story got too ambitious and the only option was to turn it into a feature. Here is the original film: