Planet I.X. is a 10 minute short film starring Shae Rodriguez and Isaac Andrade. The film is a revenge drama sci-fi fantasy thriller directed by young up and coming director Jessica Coro. Coro is of Guatemalan descent, and based in LA. Planet I.X has won in the best fantasy genre in the Cyrus International Film Festival of Toronto, and best Sci-Fi in the New York International Film Awards in 2020. More awards should be expected as the film continues on its path of circulating through the festivals. Coro was kind enough to chat with our journal to familiarize us with her process as an emerging filmmaker.
Darida Rose, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Hi Jessica, what an amazing production. Can you tell us a bit about your story growing up and what inspired you to get into filmmaking?
Jessica Coro: Thank you so much. I was born and raised in Guatemala City. I grew up watching Star Wars thanks to my brother who loves the movies and so my love for sci-fi started. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I started editing some videos and making them like music videos for some of my favorite songs. I did it mostly for fun and because I didn’t have other things to do after I was done with my homework, I did a few of them and I’d show them to my family and friends. It was there that my sister saw the potential in me and asked me if I was interested in filmmaking. I actually never thought about it before and she suggested to take a filmmaking vocational course that a school called Casa Comal Escuela had for teenagers. I went to their program and fell in love with filmmaking, but more importantly, fell in love with editing. I ended up helping editing three shortfilms we did for the end of the program and I just knew I wanted to do that for the rest of my life.
(UM): Can you fill us in on the process of creating Plant I.X. How long did it take, where did the original inspiration come from and what were some of the most important things you were exposed to/learnt?
Jessica Coro: I had a feature film screenwriting class and we had to come up with an idea for a feature. Since I’m a big Star Wars fan, I wanted to do something along those lines. I came up with the idea of a work that consisted of different planets with different purposes and people (like a mix of The Hunger Games and Star Wars) and I came up with a Villain. I wanted to know more about him and make him as real and human as possible and not just make him evil, so I decided to write his back story. His back story is what became what now is Planet I.X., an exploration of how he became truly “evil”, doing something he did not see as evil. To write the whole thing took me about a year; I had a lot of different drafts and I kept on changing my main characters so the story would make more sense. What I learned the most in the whole process of Planet I.X. is that organization is very important and you have to be prepared. I relied more on my memory because I had so many things to do and because of that, I forgot to take some specific shots or to put specific props in place. Never underestimate prep work and always have people in each important role that will bring stuff to the table and help rather than bring you down.
(UM): How were you able to acquire funds and financial support for such an appealing production?
Jessica Coro: I was lucky enough that Planet I.X. was my thesis project for school. I had a lot of student discounts and I got the equipment for free thanks to the school. Apart from that and for the other extra things I needed, I got it from my pocket saving up for a year and I had help from my family who believed in me and my passion. I can never thank them enough for their unconditional support.
(UM): It seems that making a sci-fi/fantasy in the short film format is a difficult task. Can you tell us about that process and mindset a bit?
Jessica Coro: It is! I had to think outside the box and try not to do the same things that other movies did. I wanted my world to be a new one and that is very difficult to do nowadays with all the movies out there. I first wanted to tell a simple story that people could relate to. I wanted to show a little bit of myself in this and once I had that essence, I made it fantastic; turned it into something out of the ordinary and decorated it with small, out of this world details.
(UM): The acting is wonderful in the film. Can you bring light to your process in working with the performers?
Jessica Coro: It was amazing, I couldn’t ask for better performers. I had multiple meetings with my actors before the shoot to talk about the script. We first had a table read so we could all be on the same page and if they had any questions, I could answer right there so they understood what I was going for. I wanted them to understand their characters and make them their own. Before we even started rehearsing, I did a character interview with each one to see where their mind was with the character. Once I knew they got their essence down, we started rehearsing and I explained any intention that was still unclear. They got everything really fast and most of the things were done in rehearsals. Once we were
shooting, I only tweaked small things here and there. It was all a wonderful experience. We were all on the same page and we all were open to suggestions and trying out new things.
(UM): There is a lot at work in the drama. Revenge, love, morality to say the least. Can you give us your take on the many themes at play in the story? Which is of most intrigue to yourself?
Jessica Coro: I wanted to show a very human story. I am very close to my father and I went into a mindset of what would I do or how far would I go if someone did something to him. The mind is very difficult to comprehend and when we think without a worry of consequences, the mind can go to some dangerous places. The first answer I had to the question, is what Planet I.X. became; I would hunt down and get revenge on the person that would hurt my family. And that’s how the theme of revenge became the one that intrigued me the most. It was a journey of morality or the rules that we each have and what would make you brake those rules and do things based on emotion instead of logic. I let my mind go wild on this and I had so much fun creating the story.
(UM): Can you tell us a bit about your background in editing and your love for music videos.
Jessica Coro: Editing was how I fell in love with filmmaking. I’ve been editing since 2013 and have been learning every year. Like I said before, I edited three short films on Casa Commal Escuela, I helped editing on a friend’s short film before I went to New York Film Academy. Once at NYFA, I helped some classmates edit some of their short films and that’s how my reputation got bigger and was blessed to have editing requests from different people. And with music videos, I love music and one of my goals is to direct and edit music videos for big artists. One of our assignments at NYFA was to make a music video and I wanted to take it seriously. I heard this band Drowsy’s song Lapsing and fell in love and reached out to them. They were so nice and excited to collaborate so we made it happen. That was my first serious music video and I sure hope its not the last one.
(UM): And what can our readers look forward to with regards to your near future in filmmaking?
Jessica Coro: They can look forward to the feature that inspired the making of this short film. And possibly, a sequel short to show a little bit more of what Azuza has planed. Definitely, they will see me working even more on this genre.