Recursion - Sci-fi Horror Short

Space Vessel Iris and its crew encounter a troubling discovery as they embark to what they believe to be an uninhabited planet.
BTS here! • How to Make a Low-Budg...
Written & Directed by Caden Butera
Shot on a Black Magic Ursa Mini 4.6K with a Rokinon 24mm T1.5
Starring:
Stephen Morton
Jeremy John Rogers
Bonni Binoche
Stephen Lloyd
John Gessner
Prop design: Joe Cruzaedo Wagner, Caden Butera, Mark Butera
Bridge set design: Caden Butera, Mark Butera
Cockpit set: Philip Poling
Stunts & wirework: Jerry Buxbaum
Wirework studio & FX : Mystery Ridge Ranch (Jerry Buxbaum, Amanda Steen
Cinematography: Dashawn Bedford, Caden Butera
Camera Operator: Dashawn Bedford
Grip: Evan Olsen
Sound: Evan Olsen
Editor: Caden Butera
PA:Corey Summers
Special Thanks to
Max jordan
Post Falls Costume Place INC
Rylan Butera
Dylan Opp
Kyle & Denise Kennedy
CMTV
Music provided by: Filmstro
This film was made for Filmstro + BAFTA short film competition.
Filmed in Oldtown & Coeur d Alene Idaho.
#scifi #horrorshort

[@robinreelis8357]

For a low budget I think you did an amazing job. Enjoyed. Well done.

[@madaboutpuppets]

The fact that the 'making of' was longer than the short itself is true testiment to how much work actually goes into making these things. I think that the likes of Marvel with hundreds of special effect and compositing masters along with an almost limitless budget make 'low budget' movies hard to compete, but I think this does a great job. Well done.

[@NostalgiNorden]

Most making ofs are longer than the film. Just look at Lord of the rings.

[@markgearing]

1:26 That’s a first, a spaceship with a brick wall.

[@jamieanderson6786]

Yeah could have taken a little time to cover the brick wall. Just some sign board panels even.

[@IceNiner199]

apparently you have not had the glorious pleasure of watching "Space Mutiny" riffed by MST3K or Rifftrax. I will do you the favor of recommending it to you! :)

[@Techrat3D]

Not much worse than Jar Jar Abrams concrete wall on his raped version of the Enterprise. This was visible in the theatrical verion only, as they CGed that out in the DVD/Blu Ray/Streaming version. ;)

[@markgearing]

Don Mason - ... words... fail... me... That was 25% Battlestar Galactica, 25% Richard Simmons workout video and 98% awful. And I never found out if they signed Sherry’s birthday card. But it does win the first “brick corridor in a spaceship” award, so I stand corrected.

[@Dwing26]

What do you want for only $1 Billion?

[@jonathanellis5811]

Your set, props, and costumes were top-notch, along with your cinematography!

[@Vancha112]

Wow :o very impressive. The production value of this is amazing!

[@CadenButera]

THANK YOU!

[@Vickeeo]

The poor creature down there had to wait 52 years for its next meal :(

[@robinayers8107]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@markwiss]

So, Hypernating?

[@brettsmith5903]

I don't think you understood what happend. 52 years ago he himself was eaten by the creature and found his own dead body...

[@Psalm-yg6yi]

Where's PETA!!???? LOL

[@paulmurphy5244]

I've saw this back in 1979. The longer version. It was called "Alien"

[@CadenButera]

Yep that was definitely the inspiration! I’m a huge fan of that movie and wanted to test out some of the practical effects they used! 😃

[@paulmurphy5244]

@@CadenButera Ya, I'm a big fan too! Great movie!! I was Just bein' a wise ass tho! 😁 I enjoyed what you did! Great homage. I love these sci-fi horror shorts you guys do! I can't get enough of em'!!! 🖖

[@TheMikeygas]

the best actor in this was the guy with the beard and glasses that told them about the storm

[@imdoobie80]

Awesome work to everyone who made this. I hope you all continue to make outstanding work like this. I believe you can go far.

[@GradKat]

Wow! Cool movie!! Whenever anyone in a film says “This place is uninhabited” you know immediately they’re going to be proved wrong ...

[@John14-6...]

Watched it again for the 3rd time. I really like this movie! Sci-fi horror and especially cosmic horror like this are my favorite type of science fiction movies. Its hard to find gems like this

[@eddielee6268]

I WANT A PART TWO, OR A CONTINUATION OF WHAT THE IRIS DID AFTERWARDS...

[@thatswhatithought6519]

He opened a burger restaurant

[@your_video_stories]

Great movie! The only thing was to hide the brick wall 1.25, there are no brick walls on spaceships.😇😁

[@oliverhasselbalch832]

5:26 you can see the use of an umpire face mask as some sort of a headrest for the chair, pretty clever use of props

[@CadenButera]

Thanks! You can see what it looked like before in our Behind the Scenes breakdown! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmG8in2Ah85ohbs

[@AnomalyINC]

Aw man, a time-warping tentacle space-gorilla! This always happens! This is exactly why you need to bring tang on every space mission! No exceptions!

[@shipyardtown8155]

So much criticism. Give the maker peace. Well done. It was ace.

[@CadenButera]

shipyard town I love you.

[@slimbim77]

hey c'mon,that was awesome.And i liked the little spacetime twist.

[@MELODYMUNRO]

Those washing machine hose holders come in handy..helmets.

[@spiritgifted]

Moral of the story is... Look both ways before you cross the street. In other words, don't go to planets that you don't know crap about. I think Earth would qualify.

[@Death_Korps_Officer]

I don't know, too overpopulated. Mars on the other hand looks more peaceful and full of promises.

[@John14-6...]

I'm not sure why some of the comments were critical unless they thought they could do something better with a comparable budget

[@bobbybates2614]

This is some like the twirl light zone when a space ship lands on a planet only to discover s crash space ship and they find their own bodies

[@klackon1]

They have washing machine water take-away pipe attached to their protective helmets! Coupled with the brick wall, this is brilliant.

[@VivekTiwari00]

or Vacuum cleaner auxiliary pipes.

[@justme-ij2qy]

Nah. It was faux brick paneling over the ship's steel wall. It was done to give those on the ship more of a feeling of home.

[@DataWaveTaGo]

The Greatest, Most Transparent Yet Necessary & Passed Over Effect Ever Presented in SciFi History - *Earth Level Gravity Onboard Everything.*

[@CadenButera]

Hah, that's a really solid point.

[@smurfalto1]

Really nice job you've done here. No bored moments, really good soundtrack, overall a great short film.

[@jd5787]

Good short, really liked it! The creature was pretty pressed at 9:11!

[@misfits1384]

That was awesome !! Loved it thanks for posting.

[@jonathanporter5223]

Oh snap! That was awesome! This needs to be picked up to be made into a full length film. So cool.

[@kenzij]

5:54 Because those people either died or disappeared. That's always the reason.

[@johnallen7259]

Didn’t see any space monsters too dark and this is what you call a sci-fi short film! I guess this is as good as it gets with this film. All this films did is leave the viewer hungry!😱

[@billyandrew]

Check to the right of the screen, behind him, as he sparks the flare at the closing scene 9:10 Huge, smooth skull and two enormous canines/fangs.

[@DGneoseeker1]

How the hell did you miss the bootleg Genestealer at the end?

[@johnrettig1880]

Time dilation nice catch Great job It reminds me of the old " Twilight zone episode where Jack Klugman and Ross Martin along with one more guy find a crashed ship with their own bodies inside . So .... Are these people dead and don't know it yet ??? Or did they , jump ahead somehow after sending that message to themselves from the past ??? Damn ... I love these " Who Done It , but Not then " .

[@seancairns9749]

wasn't that a outer limits ep? not TZ...

[@johnrettig1880]

sean cairns No it's the an episode of the Twilight Zone . I came across a clip of it on YT sometime back like 6 or 7 months .

[@wanderhoof8529]

So, just to preface my critiques, I did actually enjoy this short. The pacing was good, and didn't leave me bored at any point. The grittiness of the effects made the universe feel 'lived in'. And, overall, I wanted to 'see' more of this narrative. That said, the thematic similarity to the Alien(s) franchise was pretty blatant. That's... not necessarily bad. But, if it isn't meant to actually be a part of the Alien(s) universe, it then detracts from the chance from something truly original. Also, the best part of the story - the 'time loop' - is something that deserves more emphasis. It certainly is the most tantalizing part of this story. It is what it is: A short film. And for that, it was a worthy offering. But, this story deserves a longer showing in order to reach something closer to its full potential. As it is, it was entertaining, but felt too much like just a very skillful Alien knock-off. Again, not inherently a bad thing, but I really want/wanted more.

[@gaargy1]

Actually, when he broke his flashlight and lit the flare, revealing the space monster, I thought that was a blatant rip off of pitch black.

[@alexbadillo9940]

Well written!!!

[@jeremyrogers8828]

This is really incredible! Very impressive

[@northwestmediationcenter2654]

But you were slimed. EEEk.

[@eclipsestorm1975]

This must be a Canadian film. Everyone has a mustache 🤣. Great job

[@CadenButera]

Not Canadian, filmed in North Idaho! But funny observation, lol

[@roachmojo]

Nicely done. When they ejected from the mother ship, I recognized the alarm from Alien when they landed and took damage, heh.

[@digitalplanet6842]

At a 1:20 a crewman asked "where are Fitz and Cruzaedo" At 8:41 Cruzaedo walks over to dead man and brushes off his name tag and it reads Cruzaedo. He realizes it's himself. Very good job. Hoping for a part II

[@loughkb]

"Alien" was a pretty good movie. Nice tip of the hat to it.

[@paulchristman2456]

This is Dan O'Bannon speaking. I'm suing you! This is Walter Hill speaking. I'm suing you. This is Ron Shussett speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Ridley Scott speaking. I'm suing you! This is 20th Century Fox speaking. We're suing you ! This is Brandywine Productions speaking. We're suing you ! This is H.R. Geiger speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Sigourney Weaver speaking. I'm suing you ! This is John Hurt speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Tom Skerritt speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Ian Holm speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Veronica Cartwright speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Yaphet Kotto speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Harry Dean Stanton speaking. I'm suing you ! This is Jonesey speaking. I'm suing you ! You people had better get yerselves a damned good attorney !

[@linclinc5]

The sound levels are all over the place, deafened the fuck out of me

[@thefreedomguyuk]

3-4 "Alien" movies crammed into one short film. How very original. Or something.

[@paulyreyes]

Enjoyed your movie Caden, hope we all get to see more, the storyline was excellent.

[@MisterG2323]

Major props for a what I gather was a no-budget effort. Despite the variety of flaws (the cost of that ship was off by at least several orders of magnitude), I'd watch whatever follows this up...

[@slimdudeDJC]

3:54 . . . " Be careful out there *boys* " Now the counterpart would certainly bring fireworks!

[@TheFlyingRaptor]

I love deep space salvage with mysterious settlement stories!

[@thepuffish]

Ignoring the low budget, it worked well! I got pulled in with the story telling! Great lighting! And all these shoot in 3 days?!?!?! Incredible!

[@seancairns9749]

can definitely tell an "alien/aliens" fan made this. noticed the title "recursion" in alien fashion. also some sound effects from alien and covenant. gave this a like

[@aeureus]

Yep, they got their inspiration there

[@gonzalezjacob.conductor]

Very well done! Excelent pacing, great actors, love letter to first Alien.

[@Raidenze]

"Why would the company keep that from us?" I'm going to let that slide once, but only once, man.

[@antonyvorobyov8022]

So good! Loved the homage to the alien series.

[@genremags8317]

Funny how the old man kept tinkering a panel with only simple 1900s switches and indicator lamps. LOL...

[@1badjesus]

DIRECTING 👍 CINEMATOGRAPHY 👍 ACTING 👋

[@scottbdaniels]

This was awesome, had me on the edge of the seat. More than most big movies these days.

[@crow4freedom603]

Part II?

[@vikinggameprogrammer7233]

Greetings from 2021- just saw your film and I loved it :D Great job to everyone involved!

[@sonyagaskell3648]

All alien monsters now make crustaceous chittering sounds whereas they used to go "RAH!!!"

[@gargoyle38]

Great crewing....looked like just who you would expect to find on a commercial mining vessel

[@rickysanchez8709]

Nice job guys! Looking for a part 2 :-)

[@montecristo3697]

This short was, in a word, outstanding. I love sci fi shorts, and at this point the number I have seen is into the hundreds. This one ranks up there at the very top for me. Every aspect from the acting to the cinematography to the editing was top notch. It was shot very well also. This is the work of a born filmmaker. People criticising the sets/ production value have obviously never made a short film on a small budget. If I had to guess this was made on a micro budget and it was still impressive all things considered. Personally I thought the brick wall down in the "engine room" looked cool. And the vacuum hose around the helmets was genius. Others will disagree, of course, but I enjoyed this 10 minute short made for no money a lot more than many 2 and a half hour 100 million dollar Hollywood crappy movies I have seen over the years. Well done. And to the good people complaining that this short has too much of a vibe from the " Aliens" movies, please chill out.

[@duikmans]

Lemme guess: you're the guy who made the film or are related?

[@montecristo3697]

@@duikmans sorry. You guessed wrong. I am just a huge fan of sci fi and short films. I am also an aspiring filmmaker. Sci fi short films are a particular enjoyment of mine. I just happened to have really enjoyed this one. Nothing more nothing less.😊

[@fauxmanchu8094]

If only this was a full length feature.....enjoyed every minute of this offering, but I want more......

[@joshtblakley]

Dope job on this Caden! You are hustling hard on films bro, I love it!

[@CadenButera]

Thanks, dude!

[@Waywind420]

What was the budget for this short 🧑‍🚀? very well done

[@solarchos8821]

They thought they were landing on TL-14, _BUT IT WAS LV-426 THE ENTIRE TIME!!!!_

[@CadenButera]

😂😂😂

[@cha5]

There really needs to be a Part 2 to this.

[@markcleary9169]

This was really good, but it needs a sequel. C'mon, Cruz finds a dead guy with HIS name on the uniform patch....? Time travel? Or it's his grandfather ? Either way, this needs further exploring . Well done👍

[@LornaHartman]

What we have here is a failure to consider the options. 1. All scripts that are made into movies are made with full budgets, in Hollywood. 2. There's a whole entertainment industry area where people who are studying/pursuing careers in filmmaking or acting make films on very low budgets. You'll see things like brick walls, dryer hoses, and other creatively low-cost props. It's neither embarrassing or surprising to see this; people who aren't famous, rich, or in Hollywood have talent and passion for making films, and they don't let a non-Hollywood budget stop them from collaborating and creating movies. I'm gonna go with option 2. Adding a congratulations to the cast and crew. I remember when this was being filmed. It's great to see it in complete form and I hope we see more of these characters.

[@CadenButera]

Lorna Hartman thanks! You remember when this was being filmed you say? Do I know you...? Are you from the Spokane area?

[@LornaHartman]

@@CadenButera We know each other indirectly, through Facebook and the Spokane filmmaking community. At least they got a cup of coffee first!

[@jad43701]

Anybody else catch the direct reference to Aliens ? "Whatever happened here, I think we missed it" But it turns out, they didn't ?

[@brettsmith5903]

Their was many. The rouge transmission is from the newest aleins.

[@jad43701]

@@brettsmith5903 Haven't watched the new ones yet.

[@juanpascallucianobravado6112]

I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t use cinder blocks or bricks to build a ship for interstellar travel.

[@archnof0]

I love the 22nd century glow sticks

[@roodog3761]

Whoa....excellent! Bring on the rest!

[@TheAverageYouCuber]

Caden this was truly spectacular, amazing effort by your goodself and all the guys, absolutely bravo👏👌🎬 That's a rap folk's! Who needs vast amounts of cgi and rendering time using vfx with Maxon C4d or whatever when the old methods of cinematic story telling in visual effects still stand up to the tests of time! It's amazing what creative cinematic art direction can accomplish after scouting inside an old abandoned sawmill factory with the use of spray paint, overalls, modified football helmets with leds infront of a chromakey green screen studio using fog machines, leaf blowers, body harness, grinders and cine lightning with diffusers for visual effects not to mention with set design with Joe's expertise! The performances and efforts from all the team was really outstanding despite the heavy constraints on a shoestring micro low budget to produce this outstanding short film shot by a Rokinon 24mm T1.5 cine lens with anamorphic effect wow, great 1st AC and visual art coordination work from Dashawn! Caden your goodself and Mark, Joe, John, Jerry, Bonnie, Amanda and both with Stephen Lloyd and Stephen Morton and the rest of the crew would really put certain production groups in Hollywood to shame! It just goes to show that it's not just the camera but it's also the foley and sound effects, vfx, lightning, editing in post production with ideal musical accompaniment, performances and everything else that helps sell the finished production for a wider picture theatre audience! But with all that said the Black Magic mini Ursa 4.6k with it's 16bit really does pack a heck of a punch in the right hands as there's still great functionality from the old dog yet which still makes it an ideal piece of kit in my opinion for Indy vfx production and short films! Perfect sound and fast moving composition consistent with the rule of thirds all checked, couldn't fault it Golden popcorn award definitely! 🎬🍿10/10 👍

[@CadenButera]

Thanks, man! Someone did their research!!

[@BarnardClangdeggin]

1:34 - so they're making spaceships out of bricks now? But - saw it coming at 5:14...

[@SCP-POOL]

Budget cuts, bricks were cheaper...now you know where the term flying brick came from...

[@allthingsfilm-1]

Really well done! Great filmmaking!

[@babaganoosh1969]

A saw mill you say? Very nicely done for what you had to work with

[@aashutoshsinha1253]

Damn!!!! We need a whole movie... I would pay for the tickets to watch this 😁

[@amandachallis5649]

First seeing this now! WOW! Really Well Done!

[@CadenButera]

Well thank you very much, Amanda!

[@TURA_Productions]

Very nice work for ultra-low budget! I was wondering why a Billion dollar ship has old brick walls..Lol. The production value is good and the shots are very nice. The story moved well too. Could have used a couple more re-writes and not to use the piping around the helmet, but great job!

[@scottpatrick8645]

I loved this. Alien inspired for sure which I have seen at least 100 times. 7:00 Are those the same chimey chain sounds from Alien when Brett dies??

[@CadenButera]

Damnnn, as a matter of fact they are!

[@captbob3144]

The vacuum cleaner hose helmets were a nice touch!

[@Echoes_Of_Eternity333]

Won’t lie, thought that planet they landed on was gonna be a gas giant.

[@9186SZ]

Fab film , well done thanks for posting

[@BajaSurf]

I guess a cup of coffee hasn't change in 2 milenios!!! ...and casio g force watches🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@sigmacademy]

Nothing beats "quality engineering"? XD XD XD

[@tesmith47]

CASIO FOREVER!!

[@Death_Korps_Officer]

Well, cups exist long before Jesus Christ and hasn't changed that much in that time. So yes.

[@veritatisamica]

They harvesting resources around the universe but never heard about drones

[@martingoldfire]

I really liked it, even though there were bricks in the spaceship, and that they went to another solar system for recourses when our own has more than enough for tens of thousands of years atleast.

[@bigiee7]

Cool helmets! :) Very creative!

[@linadecaseleycarloss5838]

Damned good job sir! Damned good... More please!!!

[@makonjue]

This shit was awesome! But would have thought that the year 2159 they would have robots to go down and set up beacons instead of humans! Also let’s run further into death building instead of back out the door to the safety of my spaceship, must just be me🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️

[@prasantabehera7461]

Awesome. You sud now try a full feature film

[@SuperWooba]

Temporal Causality Loop

[@TheDive99]

Very effective use of atmosphere. Great job.

[@tomleadbitter7165]

I quit when I saw the bricks, ffs.

[@luiscavalcanti3431]

I'm really surprised and happy that the sequel holds a candle to orher sci-fi... it jogged my memory to alien, Prometheus. I loved the combination of both movies

[@bighonker6842]

Awesome, make another please 😊😊😊

[@JohnRiskyBoltz]

best ending ever

[@mr.wizard9785]

Interestingly, in the initial shot, the planet looks like it has a lot of areas with blue sky and hence no storms. Why didn't they land there?

[@eronacalloway9159]

They NEED TO STOP the Top Gun Beer Drinking talk and act like REAL Astronauts.👽

[@blueeyeswhitedragon9839]

Erona Calloway :- Agreed, the video is well done & got my full attention but for the "Houston astronaut" accent and the cheap helmet hoses. If this was to be enlarged into a TV pilot, those small matters could easily be rectified.

[@Jon6429]

Oh yes liked that :) @9:11 the monster reminds me of Forbidden Planet 1955

[@wutangmatt1]

Great Sci fi short. Well done and would like to see more of this universe 👏👍

[@duikmans]

You got to be joking.

[@johngore5127]

never trust anything from corporate.

[@mandolinic]

8:25 "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

[@G_Cs]

"They must have moved to a different part of the building; we can't get through to them. " "Then boost the signal! " "Are you a fri*kin moron? Don't you think I would have boosted the signal to the max before telling you we can't get through to them? How the hell did you ever get put in control of this mission? We are all doomed to be here forever now."

[@jimblack5726]

Great start - Now let's see the rest...👍😉