This Friday, “annie?” is only one of the many shorts created in the fall 2016 term of Production I that will premiere on December 2nd at 8pm in the Norton Theatre Building at BSC.

I pitched the script to my class knowing full well, but still too late that it was a movie I didn't want to film. All my other classmates were making original movies about special needs, and superheros, and insanity behind dorm room peepholes.

What was my story about?

At the time, the subject was only half so serious. As my English teacher put it, after hearing me read my short story in class and then saying, “You creepy child,” it was just another monster-under-the-bed story.

And while it was loosely based on true events… well, that didn't help much because so are monsters. Apparently it lacked something distinct to separate it from all the other stories written by other creepy children.

It wasn't until a chilling phone call that the story started to make sense.

Maybe you've listened to this 9-1-1 call from just a few months ago made my an abused victim whose rapist slept next to her.

Compared to the real world, my story was Monster's Inc.

That's when it became obvious: the story couldn't just be a thriller, it had to be ugly and realistic and repulsive.

Rape isn't pretty.

Sabina Vafina is my teammate in production I. Her style is colorful and heavily visual. I brought her with mother to Mrs. Maureen’s -- our wonderful location owner!--beautiful house. We looked around...my brother and sister there too, and tried to get the room as realistic as possible for the character.

Virginia Barr, the talented actress portraying Annie, didn't hesitate to stick her head halfway down a toilet bowl to help me get a beautifully sickening, uncomfortable shot.

My brother Andrew stood on a chair in the shower to hold a boom pole high enough over the toilet to film the vomit sounds. Sabina stood with him behind the curtains, faithfully clinging to the camera as she contorted to get the most beautiful, ugly angles. She definitely had practice after balancing the heavy tripod and the camera while standing on the corner of a bed for the best Dutch Angles.

Stephanie Bailey, one of the PA’s for the film, joyfully smeared lotion on a microwave to make it look used for the film (a beautiful way to keep reflections off the plastic, BTW. We were amazed at her knowledge! And for the record, she wiped the microwave off afterwards).

Claire Campbell, another impressive Production Assistant, patiently held large reflectors and bounce boards to get the best, harshest light on the character.

Susanna would eagerly hold the diffuser if there weren’t enough hands for a shot. My own mother held flashlights behind the diffuser that Claire almost always held incredibly still.

Kimberlee Hudgens, voice acting for the mother and the dispatcher, even came to help organize the crew on the days Sabina could not make it to shoot. She stayed late despite job interviews, and even bought Annie’s characteristic plaid shirt for the actress.

Laura Sundman spend hours volunteering to promote the film on social media, despite the fact that she also came to help during shooting days.

Brady Adler spent a day helping with a test shoot for stop motion.

I haven't even mentioned all of the many people who selflessly contributed to this film.

Finally, after hours of work, the movie is going to be shown on a big screen. It's certainly not the only movie, and it's got a lot of amazing films to compete with if it even wants to be one of the best. It's definitely not going to be the prettiest.

And in the words of Claire Campbell, it's definitely not like the musical.

But it's something that human beings have collaborated on to bring an important issue to life.

Horror isn't just something that you binge watch on weekends with popcorn and fuzzy socks and your lover.

It's realer and closer and uglier than it gets credit for.

Watch the trailer here: