High Life was shot after an intensive 3 month rehearsal utilizing improvisation and experimental techniques. The actors and I developed the characters together, and we also developed the character relationships together. Then I sat down and wrote an outline of the movies action. All dialogue is improvised, but the actors had plot points and marks they had to hit.

The story of the movie takes place in one afternoon. We shot in real time. The actors performed the outline of the movie like it was a play, and 3 cameras followed them around. We took breaks about every 20 minutes. We shot the movie twice for coverage. After 3 months of preparation, the production was a total of 4 days.

High Life was shot for under $5,000. The film was made possible by fundraising parties, in kind donations of time, services, and equipment, by several individuals and companies, private donations, and self funding.

Video was recorded using the Panasonic EZ1, one of the first 3 chip dv cameras available. The sound was recorded on an 8 track ADAT. Each of the 8 actors and wore their own radio microphone.