- I first learned about special effects from YouTube.

It was just like small artists doing do it yourself, cheap special effects.

And I just really enjoyed, I don't know, I guess just the process of it.

I thought it was really interesting.

That was when I got just a first bottle of like fake blood and liquid latex and I just started out with kind of similar effects like that.

I just really love the process of being able to like create something.

When I was little, I would kind of force a lot of people to kind of go along with what I wanted to do.

My mom and dad kind of patiently allowed it to happen.

My mom was a bit more enthusiastic, but I don't think this is what either of them expected.

And I think it took a little bit for my dad to get on board.

- He used to sit at the floor and pour over anatomy books.

I used to think, you know, this kid's gonna be a great doctor one day, Mr.

Mark on that one, - He's always been a kid who, when he finds something he likes, he really goes hard.

He really like digs in.

So it wasn't the first of that kind of digging in, but it's definitely the longest lasting.

- The first movie that I watched that had really impressive effects was the original Friday the 13th.

And I was definitely not old enough to see it.

I was like only eight or nine I think.

But I finally convinced my dad to let me watch it and my has a bunch of Tonia effects in it.

- Iowa, I wasn't involved in the Friday the 13th thing.

I thought he was still a little young for that, but did - He watch that with me?

- Yes, yes he did.

I was never a horror person, but I have developed a healthy respect for it.

Thanks to him.

- His choices in movies, I, you know, kind of roll my eyes and, and you know, shake my head and kind of disbelief.

But it has been fun watching him hone his talent over the years from very early age till now.

- I find it funny that some of his special effects are the only reasons I've ever been sanctioned on Facebook.

One time I put a picture of a, he had done a a special effects makeup of Brian with a nail a nail coming out of his eye.

That to me was very obviously special effect, but Facebook didn't like that, which I found very amusing 'cause I was like, really this is what you're concerned about.

- A big thing that I got outta GSA was it was really cool just being with people who are passionate about doing stuff.

I did three years for the technical theater department and then I transferred to the Visual Arts Department for my senior year.

However, because I wanted to focus more on the artistic aspects of what I wanted to do, I got to work on some special effects for some shows and films there.

Inside Voice was a short film at GSA and I made corporate goblins.

I drew a lot of drawings of a couple of ideas and the director, she picked out the ones that she liked.

And then I basically just went through with sculpting three sets of two part full face prosthetics with teeth and bald caps and everything.

And then we did the makeup application.

We shot everything in one day so I'd only have to do it once.

It was weird having to like kind of compromise my ideas for the first time, which I think was really helpful and beneficial because I'm gonna have to continue doing that after high school.

I am looking at going to the Douglas Education Center.

It is Tom Sini school who is a huge name in special effects.

After that, I hope to get a job running cast or doing whatever I can for a special effects company.

And then hopefully, I guess the end goal would be having my own special effects studio.

But that would be way down the line.

- When we actually went and visited this school, watching him there, he just lit up like he's kind of a low key kid and he just had this grin on his face the entire time we were there and you could just kind of get the feeling like this is the right place for him.

So I'm excited for him.

- After I first got into special effects, the first thing that I kind of wanted to do with it was make a haunted trail.

- My son Daniel, is extremely interested in Halloween and he wanted to do this haunted trail since last year.

So we came up with the idea that instead of charging admission, we would try to do it as a fundraiser for the shelter.

And he's been working on it for months.

Dug out the trail himself.

He's made a lot of the props.

He's enlisted his friends to help - The planning that goes in the phobia.

You're no sooner than one, than he's working on the next one.

You know, things that he'd like to do differently.

- I don't think we knew what we were getting into, but it's been a blast and just seeing it evolve every year.

- Yeah, it's a pretty big production now.

I acquire a lot of props that I either customize and try to upgrade or stuff that I make on my own.

And I kind of build on top of that each year.

So the stuff that I made for phobia the year before can get used again on top of any new stuff that I've made.

My family is weirdly into it.

And then my friends, I usually kind of have them do the more active stuff 'cause they're all teenagers, so I'll have them be the ones running around in the woods and that sort of thing.

Okay.

For phobia, this year I'll be a senior, so that means it'll be my last year here and it'll be the last year for phobia.

So basically I want to try to make it as big and as exciting as possible.

My friends don't usually like ask me about it, but this year they have been so I know.

I think everybody's kind of excited for it to be like the last big show of it.

So yeah, - Fresh meat.

- Wow, that was crazy.

Why am I looking a cold sweat when phobia's over?

I think I might be a little bit sad, but not to a huge degree because I'm just gonna end up kind of doing the same thing later anyway.

You know, I get to go to school for special effects and continue what I'm doing.

So even though it'll be the end of phobia, it definitely won't be the end of me making stuff.