Have you ever wondered how student films are made? Indie horror fans are all probably familiar with the charming cheese of the movies and short films made by intrepid undergrads between classes, but the process remains shrouded in mystery for the uninitiated. Well, your HorrorBuzz team has a treat for you! The cast and crew of short horror film One have allowed us an exclusive peek behind the curtain following their film’s premiere at Miami Fringe Festival on November 20, 2021.

HorrorBuzz: Okay, let’s start with introductions! I’m Elaine, she/her, from HorrorBuzz, and I’m here with the cast and crew of One, a short horror film that just premiered last night [Saturday, Nov. 20] at the Miami Fringe Festival.

Tyler J. Creech, he/him/his, Director, Actor, Producer – Theatre Major and Dance Minor

Jordan Myers, she/her/hers, Director, Writer, Actor, Producer – Theatre major, Film Studies and Musical Theatre minor

Katie Johnston, she/her/hers, Assistant Director – Theatre/Arts Management Co-major, minors in History and Marketing

Salem Ridley Bosma, they/them/theirs, Director of Photography, Camera Operator – Alumni, Class of 2021

HB: First, what is the Miami Fringe Festival? I had to miss it because of my schedule, so I have no idea how to describe it.

JM: A showing of a combination of artistic pieces created by the students of Miami [University]. You can do anything and everything; plays, musicals, dance pieces, films, and anything your mind dreams up. We were actually the only film!

HB: Would you consider this a student film? Like, was it made for a class, or was it more of a side project?

TJC: This film would be made regardless of whether or not it was approved for the Fringe. We were rather determined.

KJ: As part of the fringe, we were able to earn production practicum credits which count toward our theatre majors.

SRB: As an Alumni this was especially a passion project for me. I worked early shifts at Starbucks so I could film with these guys in the afternoons and evenings. I lucked out and didn’t have to work weekends, which worked out really well for our film schedule.

HB: Kind of a general question, but what goes into making a film as a group of college students? Did the university have any resources you were able to use, or were you pretty much on your own?

SRB: We mostly crowdfunded for our equipment so we could get what we needed for an extended amount of time. We had to shoot in 1080p instead of the usual 4K since 4K equipment and storage was outside of our budget.

KJ: Any Miami stuff we could use was a one-day rental.

JM: We are a very independent bunch. We like to spearhead our own projects!

TJC: That we could film this at all without Jordan and I being bald was a miracle on account of equipment rentals persuading the ripping out of hair.

HB: Speaking of being students, I also graduated from Miami recently, and I know a couple of you from classes and theatrical productions! What would you say are some of the biggest differences between putting together a stage show and a movie?

TJC: Movies are good.

JM: Stage encourages lots of preparation and a small amount of execution, and film allows more creative freedom because you are creating the final product every day.

SRB: Film has an entire world of cinematography that can be woven into the story, whereas everything in theater has to be communicated through actor performance. A single angled shot can speak volumes without any dialogue.

HB: I noticed a lot of you are Theatre Majors. Was making a movie the goal for any of you when you started college? Do you think you’ll stick with filmmaking?

TJC: Film has been the path since I saw my first Bruce Lee movie in the third grade. When you find your passion, it’s impossible to imagine doing anything else.

SRB: I’ve wanted to make movies since I was in high school. When I was 15 years old I went to Disney World and rode the Great Movie Ride (or whatever it was called) before it shut down. There’s a part of the ride where there’s a massive collage of Disney movies with swelling music and I realized then that I wanted to make something that could end up on that screen one day. Now I’m 23 and I want to make horror films centering queer people soooo my trajectory has massively changed but I still want to make movies.

JM: I have always loved movies, but I wanted to pursue stage for the longest time. When that was shut down due to COVID-19, I reached out to Tyler and said, “wanna make a movie?” and now we have made two films! It’s so much fun to do, I am definitely pursuing this for my career. I absolutely adore it.

KJ: I had no idea I wanted to make films until I worked on my first one and I love it. I’m definitely interested in continuing with filmmaking.

HB: Talking about One specifically, what would you say the film is about? From the trailer and promo images on your Instagram, @one_film_2021, it looks supernatural, but that doesn’t necessarily tell us what it’s about. What should potential viewers know about the film before deciding whether or not to see it?

TJC: ONE is about a group of young adults with terrible choices in house guests.

JM: ONE is about an artist named Jess who finds herself in a world plagued with demons who inhabit reflective surfaces. Your phone, mirror, window… nothing is safe. Jess goes through a series of unfortunate and scary circumstances as she tries to save her friends and the world.

HB: What was the most fun about making One? What was the most challenging?

TJC: Being with the cast and crew for that long was priceless. Being fully submerged in a nasty pond is a different story.

SRB: I’ve wanted to be in charge of the creative side of a film production since I participated in the Miami MJF Department’s Capstone Pictures of 2021. As the [Director of Photography], I was in charge of creating the visual look of the film and creating each shot for every scene. It was the most fulfilling film job I’ve had so far. In that same vein, being the DP is a huge job and storyboarding for each scene was far more mentally exhausting than I would’ve thought. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into the cinematography of this film.

KJ: It was so amazing to get to create this piece of art with some of my favorite people in the world and that only made the excitement of solving problems on set more enjoyable. Like, there’s a moment where someone gets pulled through a window, and I had so much fun trying to figure out how to pull that off!

JM: This team is incredible. They made 10 hour days seem like 2 hours. The most challenging thing was simply that we were students and had classes and a lot of monetary restrictions! Despite that, we made a horror movie and we had a blast doing it, there doesn’t seem to be anything better than that!

HB: What were some of your inspirations, as writers, cinematographers, character designers, actors, etc.? Did anyone have any specific influences?

JM: Mike Flanagan is a huge inspiration. My dad and I love his work, and I drew on his directing style a lot for the script of this film. Ouija: Origin of Evil, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle: Creation all served as huge inspirations for the structure and themes.

TJC: Jordan literally texted me that she wrote a demon that may or may not be based off of me because, and I quote, “you give me demon vibes.” I would love to say that I really had to act to play this character, but I would be lying.

SRB: I consulted the visual look on Flanagan’s Ouija: Origin of Evil and The Conjuring 2 for a general idea on lighting and visual look. A lot of the individual shots were inspired by Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (I’m not a Kubrick fan, he was an awful person) in terms of utilizing a long shot as an effective scare and having variation in shot lengths instead of using mostly medium shots and close ups. I’m just a big fan of how a lot of 70s and 80s horror used long shots to scare the audience.

HB: Do you have any questions for me? Or any questions you were hoping I’d ask you that I didn’t already?

JM: How to see what we’re doing!

Instagram (Elaine L. Davis) @spaghettisaurus.rex

Instagram (Katie Johnston) @k_johnston1010

Instagram (Jordan Myers): @jordanamyers1

Instagram (Salem Ridley Bosma) @salem_ridley_23

Instagram (Tyler J. Creech) @_tyler.creech_

Instagram (Official ONE account) @one_film_2021

TikTok (Official ONE account) @one_film_21

HB: Last question: if someone wants to watch One, where can they find it to watch it?

Jordan Myers’ YouTube Channel!

Meeting with the cast and crew of One was fantastic, and we hope we’ve answered some of the burning questions you never knew you had! One is free to stream on YouTube, and definitely worth the half-hour it takes to watch.