One of many standout movies at this yr’s Incredible Fest, Shelby Oaks is the directorial debut function by Chris Stuckmann, a preferred horror YouTube movie critic and main voice in horror tradition. The movie, which had a singular growth that spanned a number of years, is an interesting horror debut that is ready to discover that excellent mix of frightfulness and intrigue.
To convey the undertaking to life, we spoke with cinematographer Andrew Scott Baird, who labored on the undertaking for practically 4 years and was in a position to work with Stuckmann to craft a visible model and colorspace that displays their favourite horror classics, but carves out one thing new and terrifyingly distinctive.
NFS: Inform us a bit about your background in filmmaking and cinematography! How did you come to work on Shelby Oaks?
Andrew Scott Baird: I had spent a variety of time making brief movies and cease movement animations with motion figures after I was youthful. I grew up in Colorado, and dealing in movie didn’t seem to be one thing any regular particular person may do, so I by no means actually thought of it. I wished to be a psychiatrist, and was fully depressing my first yr of faculty. At some point, a pal of mine that I grew up with referred to as and advised me a few movie college in Colorado. I didn’t even present up for my finals that semester and registered for movie college. That was the start of my filmmaking journey.
In 2005, I moved to Austin, Texas, to pursue cinematography. Austin has a reasonably vibrant indie horror scene, and I had met Aaron B. Koontz at SXSW a number of years again and began working collectively. We did a few shorts collectively and finally jumped into options. We did Scare Package deal 1 & 2 collectively, in addition to Pale Door.
He has moved extra into producing recently, however now we have continued to work collectively. I shot Blood Kin with Noah Segan, which was produced by Aaron and Paperstreet, and when Aaron advised me he had met Chris and thought I might be a great match for Shelby Oaks, I scheduled a chat with Stuckmann, and we bonded over films we loved in addition to sure movies we shared a distaste for. We began discussing how we might strategy Shelby Oaks after that decision and spent 3.5 years bringing the movie to life.
Behind the scenes of ‘Shelby Oaks’
Credit score: Brian Nixon/Outsider Visuals
NFS: With author and director Chris Stuckmann’s distinctive background as a YouTuber and movie critic, what sort of conversations went into shaping the visible model of the undertaking?
ASB: Chris is a real lover of cinema and has such a terrific appreciation for visible storytelling. He had directed a handful of brief movies earlier than writing Shelby Oaks, and he appeared to have a transparent thought of sure traps a director can fall into on a low-budget movie. As he was writing Shelby Oaks, he already had these wonderful places in thoughts and constructed the script round these jaw-dropping set items.
He additionally saved the solid pretty small, which actually helped us to maneuver shortly on such a good schedule. It was vital that the documentary felt totally different than the narrative portion, so we had mentioned permitting using Straightforward-Rig taking pictures and extra static B-Roll pictures. The interviews have been impressed by fashionable true crime documentaries when it comes to distinction ratio and intimacy.
Once we converted to narrative movie, we wished to maintain the digital camera strikes clear, intentional, and sluggish. We deviated from these guidelines once we felt it had a story function and introduced consideration to sure moments.
NFS: What digital camera(s) did you shoot on and why?
ASB: We filmed the vast majority of Shelby Oaks on the RED V-Raptor VV. That sensor carried out so nicely in low gentle, and a lot of this movie was going to be in robust environments to gentle, so we wanted to get as a lot constancy as we may from our digital camera package deal. The high-speed capabilities have been additionally vital. We knew we have been going to shoot one specific scene in sluggish movement and didn’t need to compromise picture high quality for that second. It’s a vital scene within the movie, and the V-Raptor gave me all the flexibility I wanted.
For lenses, we used Cooke FF SF Anamorphics for almost all of the movie. They’ve such nice character and sharpness. I used to be actually impressed with the picture. The documentary portion of the movie was additionally filmed with the V-Raptor, however we might swap over to FF Angenieux EZ collection zooms for a extra run-and-gun spherical look.
Behind the scenes of ‘Shelby Oaks’
Credit score: Brian Nixon/Outsider Visuals
NFS: What was your course of for working with the colour grade for the movie?
ASB: We had determined early on that I used to be going to paint the movie as nicely. We didn’t have a really massive funds with put up, and I typically coloration my very own work (although I’ll say, I really like collaborating with gifted colorists when the chance permits). We had messed with a few seems early on and shot with these in thoughts. By the point we hit DI, we already had a glance that we favored, although it had developed a bit since our early checks. We have been in a position to construct a worldwide search for the movie pretty shortly, and that allowed us to spend the vast majority of our time on shot-by-shot corrections.
We did the net and conform within the DaVinci Resolve coloration undertaking, in order quickly as the colour was finished and the VFX and sound mixes have been in, we may render immediately from my workstation for supply. It was an exquisite and painless course of.
When it got here to the HDR model of the movie, we needed to rebuild the look from the bottom up. We had been working in ACES since day one, however doing a trim-up go from Rec.709 to HDR wasn’t going to work as easily as I might have favored. I’m actually pleased with the HDR model, but it surely was a variety of work to complete in such a brief time period.
NFS: What are a few of your favourite horror movies of all time? Did any horror movies particularly assist affect your work on Shelby Oaks?
ASB: My private style in horror leans rather more in direction of thrillers, although I really like a great slasher too. Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs have been movies that have been constant reference factors for us. The Shining and Twin Peaks got here up a number of instances. The Woman With the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher) was a giant affect for a few scenes. Lake Mungo was a giant inspiration for Chris when he was writing the script, so we saved that in thoughts whereas discussing our visible model. There’s additionally a little bit little bit of Poltergeist, The Exorcist, and The Descent within the visible language of the movie.
I believe the general model of Shelby Oaks was a end result of flicks that we had grown up with, and to me, it positively calls again to the ’90s and early 2000s in a giant manner.
Behind the scenes of ‘Shelby Oaks’
Credit score: Brian Nixon/Outsider Visuals
NFS: What recommendation would you give to any aspiring horror filmmakers or DPs trying to create their very own horror shorts or options?
ASB: I can’t emphasize sufficient how vital it’s to write down to your means. Discover wonderful places that you could borrow or get for affordable. Watch out with ensemble casts. It takes much more time to cowl a 6-page scene with 8 talking characters vs. two or three. These particulars are schedule killers. Additionally, spend extra time on the ‘boring’ stuff. Shot record EVERYTHING earlier than manufacturing begins. Create blocking diagrams for each scene.
Storyboard as a lot as you may, particularly the particular results and stunt scenes. All of these parts lengthen past simply the Director and Digital camera division. They inform everybody on set what the purpose is and permit all departments to be on the identical web page. You need to keep away from as many surprises as attainable when you’re on set.
Oh, yet one more factor: Be good to your sound mixers. They’re such a giant a part of the standard of the ultimate manufacturing, they usually typically get the brief finish of the stick. Deal with them nicely. It pays off.
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