> cat ./story.txt

Behind the Scenes

Sleepy was made in one week for the Film Riot 1-Minute Short Film Competition — during finals week. Two impossible timelines colliding at once.

Baptism by 3D Fire

Before Sleepy, my VFX experience was limited to compositing in After Effects. This film demanded fully rigged, animated 3D characters — a boogeyman that needed to move through a room, interact with the environment, and feel physically present. Rigging and animation were entirely new to me. I learned them on the fly, rendering overnight between exam study sessions.

The Real Challenge Was the Story

The VFX were brutal, but the harder problem was narrative. Telling a complete, self-contained story that stands on its own — with setup, conflict, and payoff — inside sixty seconds is unforgiving. Every frame has to earn its place. The solution: a comedic premise with clear stakes. A sleepy man, an annoying boogeyman, and the most obvious solution to the problem.

!NOTE Look for the easter egg hidden in the CGI television broadcast. There's also a shot in the film with zero VFX — can you spot it?