Logan Payne, director, actor and journalism major at Fresno City College, put on a film over the weekend that exceeded expectations. Friends and family joined together to celebrate the release of “Kaycee Brown” on the big screen, in a private event hosted by Payne at Maya Cinema.

The crowd was welcoming and full of banter as you walked in. Everyone seemed very excited, gearing up to watch the film as no one seemed to have viewed it beforehand.

The premiere of this movie landed on Payne’s birthday, Friday, Sept.13. Known as an ominous day for some, the film was playing on the perfect date.

Payne created the film to emulate his passion for horror movies and videography.

“My favorite movie is ‘The Shining,’, so it is something I have been raised on and I have never tried this area of movie before,” Payne said. “It’s just not something I have tried to do, so I wanted to stretch my boundaries and take a risk.”

Payne has done other projects that helped get him to where he is now. He’s filmed and edited for his own YouTube channel and for The Rampage, Fresno City’s student-run newspaper.

“I wanted to be a filmmaker long before I wanted to be a journalist,” Payne said. “I didn’t want to be a journalist until about a year ago. There is something so intoxicating about film that I can’t get it out of my head, but since I started with the Rampage, I realized that I can combine my love for filmmaking and my love for editing with something more important than fiction.”

Kaleah McArtor-Garza, pre-music major, specializing in vocal performance at Fresno state, who played Kaycee Brown, showed her gratitude towards Payne and the production of the movie as it was her first time acting in a film.

“I do appreciate how he sort of explains the fact that a lot of hard workers in the production of making this film, and not just this film, but any film, kind of go unnoticed,” McArtor-Garza said. “I want the audiences to see how much fun we had making it and it was a joy working with him and a joy working with all the other cast.”

The total budget of the film cost Payne $643 for both renting the theater out for the night and the filming process.

Payne mentioned that the actors were paid in free popcorn, drinks and hugs.

The film takes place in a YouTube watching experience, where the main character, Kaycee, is an aspiring actor who gets a job with the help of her mom at the Snow White movie theater.

From the beginning of the film, you can feel that ominous presence of dark lighting and how suspiciously fast she got the job, especially as the film goes on. The movie is shot mainly with a phone and is seen through the eyes of the viewer watching the YouTube clips that Brown was producing for herself and her boss, Charlie Warner, played by Payne.

Warner gives off the vibe of a creepy uncle. Though he is only on screen for less than 20 minutes, Payne’s performance makes a huge impact on the audience.

The character of Warner is partly influenced by Payne’s father, who sadly passed away about 4 years ago. The character pays homage, emulating parts of his dad.

“I love movies because of my dad,” Payne said. “Me and him would go to the movies every Friday and my fondest memories are with him.”

His father from the perspective of Payne truly is the sole inspiration for the character.

Tension filled the room as he spoke, but at the same time, laughter was felt in the audience as Warner’s charismatic dark tone shined half way through his introduction on screen.

The film continued to build a sense that something just didn’t sit right as the audience saw Brown working through the theater and all the “interesting” people she encountered.

One of the scenes shows a young boy, who we learn is Warner’s child later on, saw Brown and then disappeared back inside the building with no sound. Brown started to walk back inside puzzled at the response after taking out the trash, but then reappeared behind her seconds later.

This was a clear tribute to the trope seen in horror films where the ghostly figure walks behind the main actor for a split second. It was a genuine scare in my book.

Brown had this monologue with herself where she speaks to the audience, her YouTube subscribers, about wanting to quit her job at the cinema because of all the paranormal stuff happening to her.

As I watched the film, I felt connected to Brown, because who would even want to work in a lonely environment where every other day something is going wrong or something scary happens? Absolutely not.

At the end of Brown’s last shift, she approached a figure sitting in the theater. It turned out to be a pale white, slender, eyeless “thing” staring directly at her. She ran away, but was confronted with another, and then another as she fled outside.

Warner confronted her outside and told her his master plan of why she was hired. Instantly you can feel that something is about to go down, but your eyes are glued to the screen in intrigue and you don’t want to look away.

Trying to escape, she eventually makes it back inside, but keeps running into these pale, human-like figures.

The whole audience rooted for Brown to get out of the theater, but she does the same thing most people do in horror movies and returns inside like every slasher ever.

At the climax of the film, we see shaky camera work, purposely done, as Kayce is being pursued by these pale figures and needs to desperately get out and escape.

She ended up coming across a dark movie projecting room, the camera pans towards the screen as the audience saw one of Brown’s acting monologues she performed in her bedroom on the theater screen, and people laughing at her and she ran out screaming into a hallway.

Before she could make her escape, she came across a room with her last paycheck and some presents. She is panicking at this time and so was I watching the film, feeling for her in this situation.

You can feel the audience’s shock as you see her, frame by frame, get tortured by the masked men with flashing lights and horror images that creeped me out and intrigued some audience members.

Disgust and confusion were plastered across my face as I watched the whole scene unfold.

The film concluded with Snow White and Seven Dwarfs playing in the background and you see that ominous shadow of the father and son duo embrace, as the ending credit of Snow White appears with an edited title card with the written handwriting of the boss saying “The End.”

After, Payne and McArtor-Garza took center stage and asked the audience questions or comments they had about the movie.

Both of them answered questions diligently for about 30 minutes and it was the highlight of the night, followed by the audience singing “Happy Birthday” for Payne at the end.

The film can be found in all its purposeful authenticity on the Kaycee Brown YouTube channel .

Payne left the audience with a lasting thought about his feelings, impressions and a glimmer of hope for the students out there who want to make and put films on the big screen.

“We need to use what you have at your disposal,” Payne said. “It doesn’t have to be expensive to be good. It doesn’t have to be expensive to be unique. Starting is really scary. I sat on this idea for a long time before doing anything about it, but once I got started I had to finish it.”