Synopsis: A teenager, Steven, had previously discovered that he has the power of teleportation! This is Steven's journey as he practices with and learns about his new power.....

Written and Directed by Brock Cooper

Edited by Brock Cooper

Starring:
Connor Flanagan
Colin Butler

A message from the director:

This was by far the most challenging short film I've made. I knew exactly how I wanted to film From Thin Air far before I even wrote the script (which had to eventually be cut in half due to time constraints), and I knew filming each shot would take a long time, but frankly I underestimated how long it would take.

For this 3 1/2 minute film, we shot for over 15 hours. And even then there was barely 3 minutes of footage when you splice all of the scenes together. Along with the many hours of filming, there were also the usual (and unusual) bumps in the road. We had to stop shooting due to thunder storms, family matters, and we couldn't film a few key scenes due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Yet, we prevailed. After 5 shooting days and 15 hours, we finished filming and voice overs and I was finally able to put everything together in editing. Editing was a pain in the butt.

Usually editing can go smoothly, even quite fast at times. Not for this project. Because of the teleportation shots, the editing required me to find the exact points of where the camera lines up with Connor when he teleported in and out. Frustratingly enough, some of the shots didn't end up lining up because of wind, a tiny bit of movement, etc.

But I made it work and I think it turned out really well. I've learned so much about film-making during this project, especially in the realm of directing and editing. Directing and editing any project requires an incredible amount of patience, but I believe it's double on something like this. There's an unexpected amount of preparation and film-making knowledge you must know before taking up a film of this style.

Although I have so much to learn about film-making, I knew I could pull this off. The idea of From Thin Air came to me after watching Rian Johnson's 2012 film "Looper", which he implemented this same teleportation style in such a beautiful and elegant way. I knew I had to use it in one of my films and I knew I had to do it before I left for my freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University. There were times where I got nervous and thought it might not work the way I wanted it to, but in the end, everything worked out spectacularly. All the shots, acting, voice overs, music, etc. all worked out fantastically and I can't wait for anyone who is somehow still reading this to watch my brand new short film. It's not perfect, but no film ever is, and I've learned so much about film-making from it.

This is the last short film I make before I leave for college to pursue my career in writing and directing. I know in my heart that this is the job I'm meant to do. I known it ever since watching Star Wars for the first time over a decade ago.

I'd like to thank every single person involved (directly and indirectly) and I'd like to especially thank Connor for his can-do mentality and Colin for his awesome help with audio (and one short scene in the middle).

- Brock

Shot on: Sony a7 III 4K
Audio: Rode Video Mic
Stabilizer: Zhiyun Weebill Gimbal

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