AUGURY, 5min., USA
Directed by Cousteau Bix Christopher
What do you see?

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?

I have always been fascinated with film, and I fully committed to being a filmmaker at age 11, a passion that has never faltered for me. With the case of Augury, it had certainly been a while since I created my last short film (during the pandemic). A lot of momentum was derailed due to covid, so I switched gears and while working full-time focused on getting my Bachelor's degree in Film and Media Studies through ASU Online. Throughout this time, I also did extensive amounts of personal research into cinematography and film production to learn as much as I could.

Once I finally received my Bachelor's, I decided to put myself to the test. I wanted to make the highest quality production I could with essentially no budget. I believe the total budget for this film was around $200, and it pretty much all went to the prop and craft services. I don't come from a wealthy family, and never had that "rich uncle" or anyone who would be able to fund my film endeavors, so being self-funded I always leaned heavily into how to "get the best bang for your buck." I had some gear I collected over the years, and with my trusty Blackmagic Pocket, two video lights, a little LED light mat, and the absolute unbridled passion from my amazing cast and crew, Augury came to be.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

I first wrote the script at the end of August, 2023. Then, I started asking around with some people I've worked with before. When I asked Lucas Nelson if he'd be interested, he immediately said yes much to my delight. I loved working with him before and he's honestly an amazing actor, very talented and extremely versatile.

With him on board, I was then given the time crunch because I found out he was going to be moving away in 5 days. I rushed to gather a skeleton crew with the help of Sami Skye as my AD for dates of September 8th and 9th, and then proceeded to create a production binder at least a mile long for what was supposed to be this little 2-3 minute film. It certainly paid off in the end though!

We had "a half day" of shooting that Friday night, and a half day of shooting that Saturday as we raced the sun. While Friday was a chaotic scramble of shots done completely out of order to maximize our time, we essentially had to shoot the "dream sequence" segments chronologically, because I wanted the continuity of the sun going down to metaphorically match the dream sequence as it progressed in intensity.

My crew expertly raced through shots with me, Karen Baltzley being absolutely instrumental as our Script Supervisor keeping everyone aligned on the timeline and where we were at in the script at all times, and both days we pretty much finished exactly on schedule as which any filmmaker knows is an absolute miracle.

To me, the biggest miracle was how we perfectly made it to the last shot of the day on day two, right as the sun was setting, and caught that beautiful moment of the gun laying on the robe, perfectly rim-lit by the sunset's beautiful red tones.

Once we finished shooting, I gave myself the spooky deadline of Halloween and got right to work on the edit. All I can say is that there's a lot more VFX in this film than you'd expect and the difference between the RAW footage and color grade is immense. On top of that, this was the most heavily sound-designed film I've ever created.

I ended up finishing the final edit a few days before Halloween and started sending Augury out to festivals! So with all that being said, the answer to the question is that it took 2 months. 😂

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Violence and Ouroboros

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

There were many challenges to completing this film. The fake rain was certainly one of them, with a vendor lying about shipping sprinkler heads in time and being forced to DIY that last minute. The tight time constraint was definitely the biggest challenge though, not only to acquire a cast, crew, and location, but also shoot the entire film in two half days. Huge thanks to Joey Antonucci and his family for giving us the gorgeous area where we shot the dream sequence.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

I was very pleasantly surprised by the feedback and the extent of how much everyone seemed to enjoy the film. I think it can be hard to judge how your film will be received by others when you're so close to it, so it's always an exciting surprise to hear others' reactions. I'm always looking to improve my craft though, so I honestly try to seek out critique and criticism from others. The audience reactions were very complimentary which is a good sign and I'm extremely appreciative of them, but there's still that little part of me that's like "ok, but what could I have done better?" 😂

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

I was 11 when I truly knew without a doubt that I wanted to be a filmmaker. There were definitely signs before then though that certainly pointed towards filmmaking becoming my career path early on. I had always been extremely creative and would mess around here and there creating little videos on our old camcorders, and I loved horror films and content even as a young kid, (and to the dismay of my parents everytime I moped after asking if I could see the hard R-Rated horror movie with the 100+ bodycount). Eventually it all culminated to it just clicking for me one day that I wanted to make films, impactful films, and I could just see myself winning the Oscar, thanking my parents for supporting me in my endeavors, and becoming a force of change through my films.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

It would probably have to either be The Thing (1982), or Mama (2013), though recently I would also like to call out the latest Candyman (2021). I think that film was brilliant in using the horror genre as a platform to shine light upon various socio-political issues and especially racism.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?

I really enjoyed the aspect of having a panel of reactions and feedback to our films, I think that's very helpful and insightful. One thing I would've liked is if as a part of that, there were "Praises" and "Critiques" sections. I feel that would be a great way to single out what aspects of the film really worked, and which aspects could be improved or iterated upon for next time!

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Submitting through FilmFreeway is a breeze and is definitely my #1 recommended way of submitting films. They make it very easy to narrow down which festivals are most relevant to your film and make the submission process as easy as it could possibly be.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Honestly, it scares people, but if you gave me straight Alfredo sauce and a block of Parmesan cheese I don't know if I could be any happier.

11. What is next for you? A new film?

Yes! I think I'm going to create another short horror film that I've had in mind, submit that to more festivals, network more, and then I think I'll look at creating some larger projects. Either a low budget feature or a higher budget "proof of concept" type short!