An Okotoks filmmaker has big plans after the success of his sci-fi short film.

Shot in Raymon and Champion, Alberta, The Guardian - The Orbs' Archive follows a pickpocket named Emma who crosses paths with the heroic Raddix as they embark on a journey through a post-apocalyptic world.

Dubbed a "no-budget film" by writer/director Aaron Glanfield, it came to fruition largely through donated time from actors and crew.

Glanfield also toiled away at the special effects for several months.

"Green screen is so much fun, you have to have proper lighting and everything. That took a lot of time after we were done filming. The easy part is the filming, it's the post-production stuff that takes so much time and energy. We only filmed for a couple of days, versus the several months it took me to finish the film afterwards," says Glanfield.

the guardian green screenGlanfield was left to piece together several VFX shorts after a few short days of filming.

It looks to have paid off.
 
"We finished it back in January and premiered it in the Okotoks cinema in February. That was pretty exciting, especially for a no-budget film."

That limited budget meant Glanfield wasn't able to tour the short very extensively, but it has gotten recognition in several film festivals.

It received nominations for Best Visual Effects at the Okotoks Film Festival as well as Best Short Narrative at the Central Alberta Film Festival.

Most recently, it was awarded Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy at the Edmonton Short Film Festival.

From here, Glanfield has aspirations to make a feature film and has laid out a plan to get there.

"There's three pieces I feel I really need to be able to attract the proper producers and financiers to make that happen. One of them is to have a full feature script, which is underway., and then have a really solid short film. This one we just released, I'm really proud of it, but there was really no budget, so I'm really looking right now to get some budgeting money so that we can create this next one and make it a really solid piece of work, and I've actually pulled it right from the full feature script."

He continues, "the last piece is to have what we call a 'look book,' which is basically concept art and still images that show the concept, view, and feel of what the movie is meant to look like. You take those three things, package it, take it to producers, and that's really what we're aiming for right now."

He's launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise money for a higher-budget short, with plans to film in Aldersyde in December.

The full original short can be seen on Glanfield's YouTube channel.