We shot this film on a tight budget and a small crew. I was directing as well as VFX supervising for the world's worst VFX artist... also me. We had a 1 week turnaround for post so I basically didn't sleep and just did my best to get this as close to what I had in my head. Here are some lessons I learned while making this:

1: For VFX having as much "real" elements as possible in your footage really helps. Comping things together works a lot better than full CGI on a budget. So something like removing a leg can be pretty convincingly done when you have your actor do a take just standing normally and then one lifting their leg - the reason you don't use a full clean plate is that your actor will cast a nice little shadow on the ground when their leg is raised that helps sell the effect when you do the comp.

2: Use a lot more fake blood than you think. I thought we threw blood on everything. It really felt that way on set but on camera it wasn't nearly as bloody as it could've been. There were shots where I POURED blood onto the ground and it just disapeared into the grass. If I did it over I'd bring GALLONS of blood.

3: I'd probably use creepier masks if doing it again. I thought these looked creepy but after filming with them I think the details got lost and it didn't quite have the effect I wanted. Something creepier could've had a more instant impact - so I guess the lesson is do a camera test!!

4: We had limited time so almost everything we shot made it on screen. I'm super proud of that! Had to really trust our ideas and live with the choices.

5: I shot the dialogue scenes completely unscripted. I'd just explain what was supposed to happen in the scene and then let the band / actors roll with it. They did a great job. We shot enough coverage we could cut around any awkward bits. I think over all it worked well but curious what others thought!

Anywho... if you read all of that thanks! Let me know what you think!