Conduit

Often we are told to abandon our childhood innocence as we age. The idea that softness and toughness cannot exist together is something we're taught when we become adults when, in fact, so much of human existence is the juxtaposition of whimsy and horror. Conduit explores that dynamic and counters that our connections to childhood can often be our strengths and that evil is not an enemy to only be defeated in adulthood.

Conduit is a non-dialogue sci-fi horror about a young girl whose otherworldly abilities and her connection to her teddy bear gives her the strength to overcome and escape her captors. Through a series of documented incidents, we see her gain in her power and find the courage to challenge her enemy.

One challenge I wanted to explore while making this film was to shoot the entire thing in one room using actual security cameras. I also wanted the multi-cam setup so that my actors could play around in the space and we'd be able to pick up their movements from as many angles as possible. I also wanted to play around in the editing using a technique called data-moshing. Some of the effects are layers, but some are actually baked in as file corruption.

I've had Conduit in my head in some fashion for years. I've written short paragraphs of plot or aesthetic for it in writing classes and eventually finished a basic one-page script. It's always been about a bear and a child but it wasn't until I learned how to play around with visual effects that it became real. My first concept test was with a very special bear; one that was made out of the pajamas of my grandmother who passed in 2008.

Though I did not use this bear for my film, I'd be remiss in not giving credit where it's due. That bear, whose name is still Conduit, was the perfect example of everything I love about the nature of duality: out of darkness comes the light - or at least perhaps a cuddly sort of catharsis.