Making Of

After finishing my last feature, a raw story of survival set in the desert, I wanted to do a project that was completely different in almost every way. I’m a fan of science fiction, and as I was mulling over ideas, the image of a physicist working on a machine in a campus laboratory became the basis of a story in which high-energy physics dovetails with the tragedy of losing a loved one. It was the perfect framework for harnessing glossy effects-driven set pieces, short action sequences, and thoughtful science fiction to the purpose of telling a story as visually as I knew how. The result is the story of a woman who uses science and engineering as a vehicle to escape personal tragedy.

A Video Overview

I had the opportunity to give a presentation at last year’s Amsterdam SuperMeet about how I made “The Place Where You Live,” with a look at how I translated the visuals of the story from the page to the screen. 20 minutes.

Making Of Articles

Shot on RED, edited and composited in Autodesk Smoke 2015, and graded in DaVinci Resolve 11, “The Place Where You Live” squeezes ambitious production value into an indie filmmaker’s workflow. To illustrate how it all came together, I wrote a pair of blog articles at www.alexisvanhurkman.com describing the process of making the film. Shooting “The Place Where You Live” describes the production itself, from design through set construction and shooting. Postproducing “The Place Where You Live” describes the editing process and the very beginning of VFX.