The story behind Man of the Cosmos is a wild one. You probably know by now that I’m no stranger to trying big things with small resources. I’ve shot full-length feature films with next to nothing—sometimes even filming an entire movie in a single day. I don’t do it for the thrill (okay, maybe a little), but because I believe in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible when all you have is a camera, a story, and a stubborn sense of belief.

But with this one… I pushed harder than I ever have. I set out to make a 90-minute sci-fi feature. Not over the course of months. Not even weeks. In one day. Yeah. A full-length, VFX-driven science fiction film in a single day of shooting.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t quite work out as planned.

Why Sci-Fi is a Beast (Especially on a Budget)

There’s a reason VFX-heavy films cost millions. It’s not just the gear or the software—it’s the people behind them. The teams. The years of experience. And the time. I’m not a VFX artist. When I started this project, I had zero experience in visual effects. None. Nada.

But I’m stubborn. I don’t let lack of experience stop me from trying. So I jumped in. I opened up Unreal Engine. Started learning. Late nights. Tutorials. Crashes. More crashes. And soon, reality hit: my 10-year-old iMac wasn’t going to take me very far.

Still, I wrote a script that was ambitious as hell. I envisioned half the film unfolding in real-world locations—forests, cities, rooftops—while the other half would transport us into deep space. Aboard a spaceship. Alien landscapes. Celestial visions. The cosmos itself.

The logline was this:

An enigmatic celestial being must decide the fate of humanity after centuries of observation, exploring the triumphs, tragedies, and contradictions that define the human race in a heart-wrenching battle between hope and destruction.

Sound big? It was. And I meant every word.

Shooting Day

We did shoot the entire film—90 minutes—on my trusty Canon C100 Mark I with a vintage Helios 28mm lens. My actor, Matthew Leonhart, absolutely brought this strange, beautiful character to life. He gave it depth and gravitas, speaking the monologue of a cosmic being grappling with whether or not to wipe out humanity.

We wrapped the day feeling good. Tired, but hopeful. But then came the hard part: post-production.

The Post-Production Reality Check

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “We’ll fix it in post,” let me tell you something: You really, really can’t. Not when you’re working solo on VFX. Not when you’re trying to build whole worlds from scratch using a computer that sounds like it’s about to lift off every time you render five seconds of footage.

I kept trying. I wanted this film to work. I tried every trick I could learn, every shortcut I could imagine. I spent a year grinding through visual effects at home. Some days I made real progress. Other days I wanted to throw it all away.

Eventually, I had to face the truth: it wasn’t going to work. Not yet. Not the way I had envisioned. I had all this footage. All this ambition. But no way to bring it fully to life.

The Pivot

So I made a tough call.

I cut 80% of the film. Let that sink in. All that work. All that planning. All those scenes. Gone.

But I didn’t give up.

Instead, I reshaped it into something smaller—a short film. A proof of concept. A cosmic monologue. A reflection on Earth, and us, and how we’re living on this fragile little rock in the vastness of space.

It’s not what I imagined, but it’s something real. Something finished. Something I can share.

What This Film Means to Me

Man of the Cosmos is no longer just a story about an alien being judging humanity—it became a mirror. A quiet voice asking, “Are we doing enough to take care of our home?”

It’s stripped down. Minimal. Intimate. Just a man, speaking from the edge of the universe, reflecting on us. And maybe, through that, we can reflect on ourselves.

I’ve learned so much through this process. About storytelling. About patience. About not letting your limitations stop you, but also knowing when to adapt.

I know I’ll return to this project one day, with better tools, a stronger team, and the experience I didn’t have back then. But for now, I hope this short film makes you pause. Think. Maybe feel something.

Because even if it’s not the film I set out to make, it’s still a film.
And that matters.

Let’s take care of our planet. Together.