Recently, I’ve taken a break from writing as my attention turned to a short ‘prologue’ film related to 4-issue science fiction comic book series Space Precinct Zero.

The short is titled ‘Karaner’ and will cover the backstory of Scheme Officer Lucas Karaner, who is one of the main characters in the books.

Lucas is currently serving time in prison. A lot of time. He has a wife, and a young child that he has never met in person. He sees them on low quality communications once a week. Until he’s given an opportunity to change everything.

Karaner covers Lucas’s entry into the Work Release Scheme, which finds him entered into the Space Corps and stationed on Precinct Zero. 

The motivation to produce the short film grew out of the need to cut my hair! I wanted to include it in the film and so with quite drastically needing a trim, it felt like the time was dawning, and it needed to be done.

I recently picked up a new camera- the SONY ZV-E10 with the intention of producing more content and to (hopefully) a higher standard. So I’m practicing with that and learning how to use it effectively.

I cannot say that I have a strength when it comes to filmmaking, but I feel like my weaker areas are in lighting and audio. I’ll be looking to improve in all areas as I move from project to project!

Knowing that I have limited funding, equipment, props, space, time, I wanted to simplify the production as much as possible. Boil things down to their simplest form. Point the camera and record. I’m trying to focus on what I have at hand and what I am capable of doing. 

For now, the project is predominantly one shot. Lucas Karaner walks into a cubicle, handcuffed. He is to prepare himself for transport to the United Continents Space Corps (UCSC) training facility. He follows the onscreen instructions: he shaves his head and is prompted to shower. When he returns, there are dog tags and a t-shirt waiting for him. Then he leaves how he entered, towards the transport shuttle.

I created the ‘onscreen prompts’ which came out quite nicely, and will obviously feature in the scene, partly as a way to add context and explanation to what is happening, but also as a way of making cuts and trimming down unnecessary parts.

I’m currently editing using CapCut which I’ve found to be easy to use and experiment with. And also affordable! 

I will finish up this scene and premiere it on YouTube, with the possibility of producing additional scenes to add to it. There’s a lot to tell with Lucas, and I’m excited to expand on the scene.

Wish me luck and as always:

If you fancy checking out Space Precinct Zero, the first issue is available for FREE here. Oooor you could read the first three chapters of the novelisation here!