Director’s Statement

I made Summer, 16 alongside my DP, Donald Nam, as part of a plan to shoot one short film a month. Key to this mission was the promise to not overthink what we make. Instead of shooting one short film a year that we'd spend months rewriting and planning to perfection, we'd just shoot what came to our heads and figure out what works and doesn't work about it afterwards. Surprisingly, this has produced some of my favorite work we've done so far. I think as filmmakers, we have a tendency to overthink things, and I've definitely been guilty of that in the past. Ultimately, Summer, 16 is just supposed to be a short and fun nostalgia trip that doesn't ask much of its audience.

I wrote this script with an emphasis on COVID safety: all exteriors, small cast, and short runtime. We had a crew of 4 people total, shot for 10 hours, and a budget of under $150. The film features simple VFX all done in After Effects.