I needed to make another movie, and I was thinking about the best way to do it.

There's only one story that ever really scared me as a child, and it was called "Harold". It was from a Scary Stories book by Alvin Schwartz. Being a collected legend, it would no doubt be in public domain, so I wrote a story based on it.

In "Harold" two men make a Scarecrow and beat it, until one day it comes to life and beats them... or rather kills them. The Urban Ghost Story was most definitely a warning to the young not to pick on people weaker than them.

Lizzie Webb, who played an instrumental part in putting together the set and the sound design for Harold, had a boyfriend named Conrad Wendland at the time, and I wrote the script with him in mind.

I expected he could star in the film, but due to his parents believing it to be a pornography, they wouldn't let him come. Not only that, but he also had football practice.

I wrote the second human part for Justin Meeks who I've worked with before, and he's good at obeying me, which is an admirable trait in an actor. In High School I helped him and his drama partners ascend to first place in the Speech and Drama competitions. As a side note, that's not particularly difficult. He agreed to do Harold, and so I only had to find two more actors.

Hallie Brown, who had been waiting around for me to make a movie, would take the role of Harold. It's a strange role for Hallie, mostly because she's the only real actor in the film and you never see her face, but she agreed because she claimed she needed a real acting credit.

Sadly, I couldn't think of a single place to turn for another actor to replace Conrad. But as I sat thinking, I remembered a High School Production of Bye Bye Birdie which I had seen. The boy who played the bartender was very funny.

I asked my cousin, and dear friend, Elizabeth to track him down and ask if he would be in my movie. His name was Patrick Linn, and his looks and build reassured me that at least teenage girls would want to watch this short film. I had targeted my audience! Woot!

Pat was eager to come, and I think it was quite a bold step for him to travel six hours to make a short film with complete strangers when he had little desire to be an actor.

During a drive to town with my father I looked out into a field and saw an abandoned train car. I wondered whose property it was, because I thought the train would make a good setting for my film. My Dad pulled over to some workers in a field, some workers who worked for him, I might add, and asked whose property it was.

As it turns out, the land belonged to the Halvorson's who were parents of a girl who I became good friends with in grade school. I asked my friend Kayla to pay the Halverson's a visit and ask to film on their property.

The Halverson's were more than eager to help out, and gave me free reign over their property. They also helped me fill out my prop list. They read my script and thought my film was a wonderful idea.

Having asked Dad to make the scarecrow, Harold, he set to work on it. The first scarecrow he made displeased him, and he started working on another. The second scarecrow looked incredibly amusing and altogether too jolly, and so I told him that I preferred the first one.

He went back to work on it and finished it.

On the day before shooting, Elizabeth called and said that there had been a death at her school, and Pat needed to attend the funeral. They all talked to each other and decided to head out after the funeral.

Every day Harold was on the verge of falling apart. This is why I'm losing my hair.

So, they day of filming arrived. Hallie Brown showed up and we put together the scarecrow, Harold, and then went to town for the equipment.

Around six, Elizabeth, her husband Ryan, his daughter Rylie and Patrick Linn all showed up. We banded together, drove out the Halverson's and started filming.

Next we moved onto the Night Scene in the train. Hallie arrived, and everything went smoothly, though I felt that the lack of food in the crew's bellies made them a little less attentive. Let that be a lesson to you other budding film makers... keep your crew well fed.

During one scene Ryan's daughter, Rylie, cried "Eeeew!" The fire danger was high that summer and we were fairly surprised to see the lights outside smoking. Luckily it was just bug aflame, and after a few moments of cooling, we started filming again.

The night shoot wrapped up around one a.m. during the dialogue at the broken truck.

While Justin was well composed, without sleep Pat becomes a ninny. He was drifting through the scenes in a sort of dream state, and so I sent the boys to bed.

The next morning, Mama Gina who was allowing everybody to stay at her house, woke, greeted and fed everyone then sent us on our way.

Pat was constantly grinning from ear to ear, happy and excited to be doing something so different, and he botched innumerate scenes by breaking down into laughter.

I had written his character for a quiet and pensive, slightly agressive young man. Pat was happy, energetic, and friendly, and so it was like forcing a square peg through a round hole.

It's because of him that I decided to make my next short film a comedy. There's no way I could every succeed in horror.

Pat and Justin got quite a work-out running up and down the train's impossibly steep entrance.

Through the whole shoot Justin seemed to be slightly confused. He said he was trying to stay in character, but I also assume the experience was fairly rushed, hectic and slightly confusing for him.

Pat's character, Conrad, being the main character, called for a little bit of actual acting, and so I told him how important the denouement was. I was surprised that I was able to capture a few moments of fleeting fear in his eyes. It just goes to show that Meisner's technique can help anybody act.

That's right budding film makers, learn your acting techniques.

Sadly, none of the actual acting made the final cut. Due to a horrendous first draft ending, I had to re-shoot the last scene with Patrick and my brother in a field in Belgrade.

And after a few short exhausting hours, we were done with Pat's scenes, and I could finally send him, Elizabeth, Ryan and Rylie home.

They were all very helpful, especially Ryan who took on the job of Best Boy almost naturally. And while he didn't even know what a Best Boy was, he was sure good at being one.

As for Elizabeth, she came to watching the continuity of scenes naturally, and upon inspecting the footage I noticed that the only continuity errors occur when she wasn't present.

Meanwhile, Hallie and Justin and I went back to the set to finish the movie.

After about an hour of applying death to Justin, we set about filming his death scenes.

It was in the middle that I realized that the scripted ending was horrid, and it wouldn't edit together to be scary, or even to be coherent, but having sent Pat home, there was no hope. I would have to get the extra shots later.

We finished out the day by paying a visit to Mrs. Brown, Hallie's mother, with Justin looking incredibly dead. He claimed that while driving down the street, he caught a few wayward glances, and they seemed slightly worried to see a dead man driving.

As a side note, the very boys who saw Justin driving dead were the boys who would star in my next short film, Daniel Jacobs and Kodiak Krapf.

So In the following weeks, I travelled to Belgrade and used my brother, Tristan, as a Harold stand-in to finish the movie with Pat.

Then came the editing.

I spent a few months immersed in clips of Justin and Patrick, and I started to feel I knew them pretty well.

This is the same thing that happens to movie actors.

The audience spends so much time watching them in films that they begin to feel that the actors are a part of their lives.

While I had actually only spent two days with Pat, he had become so familiar that I felt as if I had known him for years. For him though, there were only two days of knowing me.

When I next spoke to him, I had my first run in with what fame causes. A bizarre hybrid of familiarity and apprehension. We talked about the things I've been describing, and realized how the famous and common feel when they meet.

So whether you in the audience find the film amusing or frightening, I sure learned a great deal filming it and I had fun making it.

As for my advice to young film makers everywhere, use actors, hire someone to do sound, know how to act better than your cast, eat lunch and feed your crew.

Isn't film making fun?