Now Playing: Jaylah (2024) | A Short Film

Our connections can become our light...

After almost a full year and right in time for the holidays, "Jaylah" has been released into the world.

This film was originally intended as a simple anamorphic lens test (Jaylah was filmed using Atlas Orion lenses). I planned a quick three hour production and penned a scenario that I hoped would bring out an organic performance from whomever would play the main character. Oh, how I was surprised when we actually started production.

Thanks to an incredible crew, the efforts of our awesome cinematographer (Jose Babcock), and the remarkable performance of Etalia Sebastian, this project evolved quickly into something greater than the sum of its parts. I for one couldn't have been happier with how everything turned out.

After landing on a edit, it soon became clear that this was a project worthy of additional time and money on the post production side. I found a colorist to add a vibrant polish to the visuals and entrusted the audio elements to music producer Carter Soso - who decided to go all out and compose an original song in addition to his efforts on the SFX and sound mix. The alien creature's voice came to life due to his hard work and our collaboration elevated the project even further.

Jaylah is now available to view on YouTube here.

If you have a couple minutes, please check it out. We began this process way back in January of this year so it's been a silly long time to get it completed. That being said, it does feel like we've reached a destination for sure with this one. Just as Jaylah looks into the night sky with an open heart, I'm also looking forward to telling new stories in the year to come.

Carter has also released the original song he composed, "We All Find Our Star", on multiple music platforms for sale. I will update this post as soon as I have the links to share.

-James