Throughout history, natural and manmade catastrophes have inspired memorable works of art. Examples include DeFoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year” (1722) and Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937). The latest calamity is  COVID. While this epidemic’s horrors are still being catalogued, the disease has motivated filmmakers worldwide to create movies in many genres. A recent example is “Paralysis,” a horror feature directed by Los Angeles-based mobile moviemaker Levi Austin Morris. The film is slated for distribution this fall. After viewing the teaser, you’ll find an interview with the director who, among other things, explains why he’s attracted to the horror genre.

Interview with Levi Austin Morris

MobileMovieMaking: What motivated you to become a filmmaker?

Morris: I have always loved film. I remember sitting on the floor directly in front of the TV watching movies for hours. I was so entranced with movies that were probably too mature for me at the time, but I didn’t care.  My own experience started in the world of theatre. I fell in love with performing in an elementary school musical and was involved in every performance opportunity available in my tiny town throughout high school. I grew up in a pretty poor community and a very poor family, but my mother was always encouraging me to follow my dreams no matter what.

MobileMovieMaking: So where did that lead?

Morris: I attended college where I was a theatre major (performance and directing double concentration) but hadn’t ever considered film a viable career option. Then upon graduating, a friend asked if I wanted to move with her to LA ,and I jumped at the opportunity. Before moving day came, she backed out but I still made the trek myself across the US and have been making my own work ever since.  At my core I am a storyteller. I have always felt that. I have so many stories that I want to explore.  There has never been any other option for how I will spend my life.

MobileMovieMaking: How did you develop your moviemaking skills?

Morris: I was completely green when I moved to LA and started working in film. In some ways my theatre training translated to film: pulling a performance from an actor, composition/blocking, and the development of scripts/character arc. But trial and error has been a huge part of my journey. There is no better teacher than doing and failing, learning from your mistakes and doing again! But I also began to surround myself with people smarter than me. I asked questions. I took notes. I watched how they made things happen. And I researched like crazy. Amazing YouTube channels on my journey have been: FilmRiot, Mobile Motion, Cassius Rayner, Aputure, and Brady Bessette, I watch movies, behind the scenes specials, and read filmmaking articles.  I decided in 2014 that I didn’t want to wait for permission to act/direct and I didn’t have the money to buy an expensive camera so I researched and found FiLMic Pro. My friends joke that I should be paid by them for how much I upsell their product. I have been an avid user since 2014 constantly creating short films, sketch comedy, and now a feature film. I went from using table lamps and candlelight as my only light sources on my first mobile film in 2014 to slowly building a light kit large enough to turn night into day and create a very specific tone and atmosphere in my most recent project.

MobileMovieMaking: Are there any filmmakers who influenced your approach to making movies?

Morris: My journey as a mobile filmmaker began in 2014. The following year, Sean Baker’s mobile-made “Tangerine” hit the scene and was easily my favorite film of 2015. Then his mobile-made short “Snowbird” came out the following year and inspired me even more. He tells compelling stories regardless of the instrument used to film and made me even more confident that using an iPhone is not a limitation. It’s just a different tool to use in creating. I also found David F. Sandberg‘s short films online (“Lights Out“, “Annabell: Creation” and “Shazam!”) before he blew up in Hollywood!  He has been a huge influence in his low budget approach to filmmaking. And I am grateful that after all his success he continues to post YouTube videos sharing his techniques

MobileMovieMaking: What draws you to other filmmakers?

Morris: I’m inspired by filmmakers with a very clear voice/tone in their work: Barry Jenkins, Wes Anderson, Taika Waititi, Yorgos Lanthimos, Tim Burton. I’m inspired by filmmakers who make shit happen: Reese Witherspoon, Sean Baker, Sandra Bullock, David F. Sandberg, The Duplass Brothers, Mike Flannery. And I’m inspired by a plethora of undiscovered filmmakers whose work I see in festivals, online, or have the pleasure of knowing and working with myself. People who use their passion, drive, time, and talent to make something happen on their own! They inspire me most because we are the same.

MobileMovieMaking: What gave you the idea for “Paralysis”?

Morris: The idea for “Paralysis” came during the COVID quarantine. I am somebody who is constantly creating and I have a “family” of people I continue to collaborate with. I had been isolated from them for so long and was struggling with my mental health. I was in virtual/online therapy confronting grief and trauma that I had never worked through and I was feeling a mix of overwhelmed, unfulfilled, and antsy. So I started to explore the idea of isolation and overcoming grief/trauma through the lens of a horror film. Some of the best horror films are the ones that use the horror genre to explore something deeper. It allows you to use monsters as metaphors. I began writing in November, 2020, and went through six drafts before the feature length script felt ready.

MobileMovieMaking:  How did you plan the shoot?

Morris: In shooting the teaser: I took two short sections from the feature script and mashed them together into a shorter script. I wanted to showcase the tone, the tension, and the fear/feeling of experiencing sleep paralysis.  I storyboarded and made a shot list for the entire thing before we ever stepped foot on set. My process was the same when shooting the feature, which we completed filming  at the end of July after successfully raising the funds through Seed&Spark.  I storyboarded the entire film and made a shot list for every single shooting day before we stepped on set.

MobileMovieMaking: Is there a secret to making a successful teaser?

Morris: Be as concise as you can. People have short attention spans. But make sure you are giving a sense of tone, character, and an intriguing element of your story in the teaser. Do not compromise your vision! I’m incredibly grateful to the Seed&Spark platform for making our campaign stronger in many ways, but they wanted us to cut our teaser down and would not approve our campaign to go live unless we did. My team made the decision to release the full teaser on all social media platforms prior to our campaign launch because we knew the thing that would get people excited was our teaser. And it worked!  We released the teaser a day ahead of our campaign, our social media grew, and for the entirety of the first week people were sharing our teaser that linked them to our campaign. This gave us the momentum to hit and surpass our goal!

MobileMovieMaking: How did you cast the movie?

Morris: I have an incredible group of artists/filmmakers I love to work with. We are all actors and creators so I wrote the film with specific people in mind. For the most part that worked out exactly as I hoped. Unfortunately, one person was unavailable so we auditioned people within our network and on Actors Access for one role and ended up with a phenomenal talent that I hope to work with on many projects in the future.

MobileMovieMaking:  What gear did you use?

Morris: For the teaser: iPhone 11 Pro, FilMic Pro, LumaTouch (for color grading), Final Cut Pro (for editing), Smooth Q Gimbal, MoondogLabs Anamorphic Lens, BeastGrip Pro Lens Adapter. For the feature:  iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 12Pro, FilmicPro, LumaTouch (for color grading), Final Cut Pro (for editing), Smooth Q Gimbal, DJI Ronan-SC Gimbal, Lume Cube Mini Panels, Audio Technica Shotgun Mic, MoondogLabs Anamorphic Lens, Moment Lens 58mm Telephoto Lens, and Moment ND Filter.

MobileMovieMaking:  What are the advantages of shooting with a mobile device?

Morris: There were some really incredible advantages to shooting on a mobile device over a traditional camera: the main one was speed. We were able to set up one camera on one gimbal with lenses, and on another gimbal we set up the other camera. It was incredible not having to rebalance the gimbal everytime we swapped lenses because we would just swap to the other gimbal/camera which sped the process along.

MobileMovieMaking: Any disadvantages?

Morris: The memory space on mobile phones isn’t always efficient enough, which means you have to drop footage. We used the manual setting on FiLMiC Pro to get focus/lighting, but on the small phone screens, even with the focus lines, it can be difficult to see how focused a subject is until post-production. This can lead to reshoots.

MobileMovieMaking: How long did the shoot take?

Morris: For the teaser around 8 hours. For the feature length film 15 shooting days throughout July with some long hours!  There were 8-12 hour shooting days including overnights.

MobileMovieMaking:  During the shoot, did you encounter any unexpected problems?

Morris: The only unexpected problem during the teaser shoot is due to Apple’s new color mapping for dynamic range. This feature overrides the white balance lock in FilMic Pro and causes some major issues if you are doing any panning shots or moving from dark to light. We had to make a few cuts in our teaser edit to compensate for this. For the feature shoot we bought some lav/wireless mics packs from RODE. Unfortunately the mics never performed as they should,  so we stuck with our boom mic throughout the shoot. However, the issue with the wireless mics cut into our time quite a bit. Our Smooth Q gimbal was not strong enough to hold a phone with the additional weight of lenses. After some failed attempts we gave in, dipped into the budget, and bought the incredible  DJI Ronin-SC Gimbal. There’s a lot of troubleshooting with mobile filmmaking: combining shots for time, simplifying shots, or even changing all blocking/storyboard ideas because a location isn’t working the way you envisioned.  That said, the small size of the camera makes this kind of troubleshooting fun and exciting to solve issues on the fly.

MobileMovieMaking: Can you talk about the soundtrack.

Morris: One member of my team studied music in college and composes music regularly.  There is so much joy and excitement in being able to work directly with a composer to create the sound/atmosphere of your project.

MobileMovieMaking: What about the editing?

Morris: The edit was done in Final Cut Pro. I used LumaTouch to color grade the footage and did all sound and picture editing with Final Cut. During filming I had a member of my team keeping track of what takes I called out as my favorite. This significantly sped up the editing process as I already knew which takes I would be using.

MobileMovieMaking: How do you feel about the teaser?

Morris: Overall, I am incredibly happy with it.  We achieved the tone, tension, and feel I was looking for and we successfully raised the funds we needed to make the feature. I wouldn’t change any of it. But with the production of the feature there are definitely changes I would make, mainly more filming days and a slightly larger budget. The footage for the film looks great but with more days we would not have been as creatively and physically exhausted. And expenses always come up that you are not expecting. So on future projects I’ll plan for that.

MobileMovieMaking: What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out making movies?

Morris: JUST DO IT!  Do not wait for permission to create/act/direct.  Create the stories you want to see and develop your unique voice as a filmmaker. But if you can see yourself doing anything else with your life…do that instead.  Because the idea of making movies is fun, but it’s a significant amount of work. After writing “Paralysis” in late 2020, I shot the teaser in May 2021. From May until the end of June we ran a crowdfunding campaign. We then shot the feature.  It was exhausting.  It was exhilarating.  It was creative. But it was work!

MobileMovieMaking:  What’s the best way for readers to keep up with what you’re doing?

Morris: You can read about the film on Instagram and Facebook:  And you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

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The editors of MobileMovieMaking have chosen “Paralysis” as the Mobile Movie of the Week.