The Keepers

Turn a contained sci-fi chapter into a fully controlled studio production with performance, atmosphere, practical set pieces and a post path that could support substantial visual effects.

The project needed a complete world inside one local stage: controlled darkness, haze, red and blue lighting, performance coverage, action texture, practical props, sound control, and enough discipline in the footage to survive a heavy rotoscope, paint and VFX finish.

KFS supported the production as a physical studio, producing and problem-solving layer while Milton Muller led the official direction and Gneiss Stuff led the VFX path. James Alton contributed around actors, writing support, production structure and day-to-day execution without being credited as the film's director or director of photography. Harrison Mendel shaped the controlled studio look, with the old KFS space used as a flexible sci-fi environment rather than a visible real-world location.

The finished short premiered publicly and later earned 2026 Leo Award nominations for Visual Effects in a Short Drama and Youth Performance, turning the former KFS stage into visible proof that ambitious genre work could be built locally.