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Crank: When did you start making films?
Octavian Kaul: Inspired by Jurassic Park, I started making films when I was around 4 years old using my dad’s flip video camera.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a filmmaker?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned as a filmmaker so far has been to put in the extra 10% of work whenever possible. If there’s any possible way to make a film better, do it, even if it’ll take hours and will amount to just a second of screen time.
Where did you get the idea for your short film?
I wanted to make a truly terrifying short so I watched The Conjuring and then walked through my house and around my backyard trying to come up with set pieces that would scare me.
How did you find your collaborators for this film?
The people who I worked with on this film are some of my closest collaborators that I met through local filmmaking groups and who I’ve worked on several other projects with.
How long — from start to finish — did it take to make this film?
Start to finish this film took about a month. Pre-production took just over 2 weeks, we filmed for 3 nights, and I spent just under 2 weeks editing.
What is your filmmaking process?
I usually start with a genre I want to make something in, or a scene idea. For this film, I knew that I wanted to make a really scary horror short.
What’s something unexpected about this film?
Unlike many horror shorts where there is just a single horror set piece, this film has three.
When speaking to first-time filmmakers, what advice would you give?
Make as many films as you can and don’t try to start out big. Use your phone and some friends and let your productions naturally get bigger over time.
What else can we see from you?
I’ve already completed two horror shorts since Bump in the Night. The most recent one is called Attack of the Killer Scarecrow, which is set on Halloween night and follows two teenagers who accidentally unleash a killer scarecrow when they trespass on its farm. The next film I’m making is an 80’s creature horror film and is in the early stages of pre-production.
Subscribe to Cranked Up Films on YouTube for new shorts every Friday!
About the Filmmaker
Octavian Kaul is a 16-year-old horror filmmaker based in British Columbia, Canada. He fell in love with film when he was 4 and for the past few years, he has written and directed several shorts and screened at festivals around the world. You can follow him on Instagram @octaviankaul and his most recent film, Attack of the Killer Scarecrow is on Instagram @killerscarecrowmovie.
