Blog Entry #3 — Into the Fog: Preparing Last Seen
A New Beginning in 2025
Every myth needs its first telling. For us, that moment is now — with the preparation for our first short film, Last Seen.
After more than a decade of dreaming and two years of sharpening our tools, 2025 became the year of action. From February to the end of summer, we moved steadily into pre-production, transforming vision into logistics, sketches into assets, and silence into cinema.
This was the season where Autmenth stopped being only a universe in our notebooks and became a project in motion.
From Universe to Short Film
Autmenth has always been vast. It is a world layered with gods, myths, religions, creatures, relics, and machines. A planet with three great eras: the Old Times, the Steampunk Age, and the Present Silent Era. Every creature humans ever imagined, every god humans ever worshiped, has walked Autmenth in some form.
But every universe must begin somewhere.
We knew from the beginning that the entry point had to be intimate — a story that could be told with the resources we had, but also one that carried the DNA of the greater mythos. That story became Last Seen: a small, human horror tale about a disappearance in a coastal village, where silence and ritual are stronger than reason.
Contained, but resonant. A short film that introduces atmosphere and themes without requiring vast armies or sprawling cities. A single thread of Autmenth, pulled from a tapestry that will one day spread far wider.
Spring into Action (February–April 2025)
The year began with a sense of clarity.
Script Work.
The script entered its final stage of revisions. Earlier drafts had established the bones of the story, but this spring we focused on rhythm — tightening dialogue, sharpening emotional beats, making sure every silence carried weight. By April, the script was leaner, darker, and ready to move forward.
Visual Identity.
We made the conscious decision to lock the film into a grayscale, semi-realistic cinematic tone. This wasn’t only a stylistic choice — it was also strategic. Grayscale creates atmosphere without needing high-budget sets. It leans into horror’s strength: shadows, fog, and negative space. Ritual symbols, ruins, muted palettes — these became our alphabet.
Costumes and Props.
Discussions began on how Amanda/Marina should appear. We settled on minimalist corporate wardrobe — dark blazers, simple blouses — to emphasize her professional control, and to make her later unraveling more striking. Props like the laptop, mirror, and chalk circle were chosen early on, because in a contained story, every object must matter.
The Summer Push (May–August 2025)
Summer became our most productive season yet.
Atmospheric Assets.
We developed high-resolution backgrounds to define the film’s look:
Ruins of temples under fog.
Coastal atmospheres where sea and silence merge.
Black backdrops transitioning into deep red/orange, to match ritual undertones.
These assets weren’t just decoration. They served as testbeds — a way to visualize the tone we were chasing and to create consistent branding across the film’s website, blog, and press kit.
Amanda’s Visual Adaptation.
The main character, Amanda/Marina, was refined further. We tested illustrations that resembled our lead actress candidate, while still keeping her cloaked in mystery. Grayscale sketches gave her a cinematic presence even before casting was finalized. She became what she was always meant to be: the controlled professional whose façade slowly fractures under grief.
The Book.
Parallel to the film, I (Alex) completed the manuscript of Last Seen. By the end of summer, it was fully drafted and now awaits publication. The book expands the story beyond the short film, anchoring it in prose, where more of the mythos and atmosphere can breathe. It also proves what we always intended: Autmenth is not limited to one medium. It will live in literature, cinema, visual novels, and more.
Dimitris’ Contribution.
Dimitris leaned heavily into his role as Art Director & SFX. Already skilled in prosthetics and makeup, he refined his techniques further, building on his experience from Gorton Studio: SFX Makeup & Prosthetics Courses in England.
This wasn’t about learning everything from scratch. It was about seeing how a professional studio operates, adopting new methods, and perfecting what he already knew.
During the summer, he worked on:
Practical prosthetics for wounds and marks that would appear on screen.
Atmospheric craft: fog machines, textures, ritual marks — the details that make horror tactile.
Minimalist art direction: making sure every set element had weight, nothing wasted.
If I was the brain — organizing timelines, structuring narrative — Dimitris was the hands, creating what would be seen and felt.
Balancing Scale and Patience
By now, one truth had become clear: Last Seen had to be disciplined.
It is a self-funded film. Every euro matters. That meant choices had to be deliberate:
Fewer characters, tighter focus.
Contained locations, no sprawling sets.
Atmosphere over spectacle — fog, silence, ritual symbols doing the heavy lifting.
But we’ve learned to embrace that limitation. The smaller the scale, the more intimate the horror. Silence becomes unbearable when there’s nowhere else to look. Shadows stretch longer when the room is smaller.
Patience brought us here, and patience will carry us into production.
Looking Ahead
As of late summer 2025, Last Seen is firmly in pre-production.
The script is polished.
The visual identity is set.
The book is complete and awaiting publication.
Costumes and props are defined.
Dimitris’ SFX methods are prepared.
This is no longer just two kids’ dream from 2008. No longer just the years of preparation between 2022–2024. Now, in 2025, we are walking into the fog with confidence.