Animal Inside Film Spotlight
Today’s film spotlight focuses on the feature film Animal Inside directed by Shawn Burkett.
What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?
Originally it was BETSY, who is the main character. But since there were issues with the first distro company we felt it was best ti re-title to Animal Inside, which just really seem to fit the overall story.
Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.
In probably 2015 I started writing a script about an escort who woke up at a party surrounded by dead bodies and was also injured, who then fled town and was hiding out in a small town, living at a rundown motel. Needless to say she was bitten by a werewolf, and carnage ensued lol. But after reeling things in the story became about a woman who was attacked as she was walking to her car after work one night. And due to the trauma she moved from the city to a small town where one of her relatives lives. From there she deals more so with the trauma of being attacked, and feels that some of the things she’s witnessing and feeling are because of it. But really there’s something inside slowly clawing it’s way out.
Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?
This is a complete love letter to the Universal era of Monster films. I’ve been a fan of the Wolf Man since I was six years old.
What is the goal of the film for you?
Honestly, to me this is a somewhat therapeutic film about dealing with trauma and striving to make changes. Don’t get me wrong, Betsy has much bigger obstacles in her way lol But you start to care and hope that she overcomes.
What has the journey been like getting the film into production?
We filmed this in February of 2017, and it was fairly easy because I took a minimal approach to the story. Not a lot of cast, not a ton of locations. I shot and edited the film, I had an AD a PA and sound guy and that was the crew. My self and Michael Reeves who ran sound then scored the film. So we defiantly kept it very minimal lol. That and we only had $3,500 for a budget.
One thing you learned from this project?
Filming in February was the worst decision ever lol. It was cold as hell 90% of the time and it would kill the batteries in our gear in no time.
How can folks find you and your film online?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/smburkett
Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/smburkett
Facebook – https://m.facebook.com/
Concept Media Films Store – www.conceptmediallc.com/store
Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?
Sound is more important than video quality lol.
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