Creative Sprint: "LUCID" - A Short Film by Andrew Perper
Helping to Bring Andrew's Vision to Life
Role
Executive Producer
Industry
Student | Film & TV
Duration
4 months
The Project
LUCID is a short film about a young adult grappling with the loss of his girlfriend. The grief, has manifested as a world of dreams that traps him between memory and reality.
Filmed locally against the backdrop of the Colorado Flatirons, for Andrew this project was not only his first fully self-written and directed film, but it was the culmination of everything his work meant at CU Boulder.
His story, his vision, and his direction was the primary driver from start to finish. I came on as a key helper and was credited as an Executive Producer.
How I Got Involved
Andrew brought me in early, starting with a script reading to gather feedback on dialogue and overall structure. From there, my involvement extended across the full production arc.
During filming, which ran from February through April, I attended three of the six shooting sessions, operating on-site audio equipment, serving as a general production aid, and helping direct actors against the script. We raced the clock, and ever-changing Colorado weather conditions. Off set, I worked closely with Andrew during the edit. He led the cut, but I served as a pacing and audio consultant which meant I got to be the person in the room asking whether a scene was earning its runtime.
The Work That Mattered Most
The biggest creative problem we solved together was pacing. Andrew's initial cut ran 16 minutes, we knew we needed clear goals moving forward. The dream sequences needed to feel disorienting, fast and desperate. His shot list for the sequences had chase scenes, and intimate yet kinetic camera work. The waking reality in contrast, needed to feel slower, heavier, detached. It was crucial to get the rhythm of cuts between those two states to feel different, which took many iterations.
We spent long sessions, with more than a few "eureka" moments included, figuring out what the film needed to make people feel what scenes had to say. Through sound direction and pacing decisions, we brought the film down from 16 minutes to a tighter, more deliberate 11. Every cut we made in that process was in service of the emotional arc, not just runtime.
As Executive Producer, my role throughout was to be a trusted second opinion. Andrew sought my input on creative decisions throughout, but the vision and the final call were always his to make.
LUCID premiered in early May 2026 at the department's film festival. The reaction in the room said everything. Audience members left teary-eyed and most described it afterward as a deeply touching story.
This wasn't a marketing project, but it was a creative one.
The instincts it called on are the same ones I bring to brand work: understanding what an audience needs to feel, and making deliberate craft decisions in service of that feeling. The difference between the 16-minute cut and the 11-minute cut was clarity. In cutting down runtime, Andrew wasn't trying to meet a rubric, he was telling a story that gripped audiences. Such work is necessary for a film, and it's also necessary in a campaign.
Brands go to agencies to plan and execute, and agencies come to brands with ideas that elevate the mission of their cleint and serve the audience that truly matters, the customer.
Being trusted with real creative authority on someone else's deeply personal project and helping to make it better taught me all about what it means to be a creative partner, and collaborative support. It was some of the fulfilling work I have ever done, supporting Andrew on this project and elevating his vision to create something he was truly proud to call his own.
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