Seen Storytelling Experience · Short Film · 2025–2026
What Was Taken
What
Was Taken
A young woman is prepared by other women as a feast for the Beast. Inspired by real events, What Was Taken uses psychological horror and surrealism to explore violence, domination, and what remains after something has been taken.
The film explores the tension between domination and survival,and between the masculine and the feminine.
What Was Taken asks whether what is taken from the body can ever truly leave the soul.
Produced in Toronto as part of Seen Storytelling Experience, the 7:50-minute short film was developed from concept through production and VFX as one complete visual system.
A young woman is prepared by other women as a feast for the Beast. Inspired by real events, What Was Taken uses psychological horror and surrealism to explore violence, domination, and what remains after something has been taken.
The film explores the tension between domination and survival,and between the masculine and the feminine.
What Was Taken asks whether what is taken from the body can ever truly leave the soul.
Produced in Toronto as part of Seen Storytelling Experience, the 7:50-minute short film was developed from concept through production and VFX as one complete visual system.
Watch the film
What Was Taken, in full.
What Was Taken, in full.
7 min 50 sec.
The story
Building a visual language around the feast.
Building a visual language around the feast.
What Was Taken follows a young woman through a fragmented world where memory and nightmare begin to overlap. Surrounded by other women, she is dressed, arranged, and prepared as a feast for the Beast.
The women take part in a ritual-like preparation, while the Beast remains the figure for whom it is being performed.
Rather than recreating the real events that inspired the film literally, the story uses symbolism to communicate its themes of violence, domination, and survival.
Grapes, candles, serving plates, red veils, white lace, chains, and the dining table became recurring elements of the frame. Objects associated with celebration, ceremony, and abundance are placed within a darker context, transforming the preparation and feast into something increasingly unsettling.
What Was Taken follows a young woman through a fragmented world where memory and nightmare begin to overlap. Surrounded by other women, she is dressed, arranged, and prepared as a feast for the Beast.
The women take part in a ritual-like preparation, while the Beast remains the figure for whom it is being performed.
Rather than recreating the real events that inspired the film literally, the story uses symbolism to communicate its themes of violence, domination, and survival.
Grapes, candles, serving plates, red veils, white lace, chains, and the dining table became recurring elements of the frame. Objects associated with celebration, ceremony, and abundance are placed within a darker context, transforming the preparation and feast into something increasingly unsettling.
The production
One studio. A full production build.
One studio. A full production build.
Principal photography took place in Toronto, Canada, with a cast of 11 and crew of 15, completing the film in a single shooting day inside one studio.
The production was built as a full professional set, with dedicated departments and equipment for camera, lighting, grip, art direction, production design, costume, and sound working around the same visual plan.
The studio was transformed through set dressing, furniture, fabrics, candles, props, table styling, and environmental details. Production design was integrated into the narrative, allowing the grapes, veils, plates, candles, costume, and feast itself to carry information within the frame.
Lighting was fully controlled using professional fixtures and grip equipment, with practical lamps and candles incorporated into the compositions. Camera, lighting, production design, performance, and VFX requirements were planned together, particularly for the Beast sequences.
Principal photography took place in Toronto, Canada, with a cast of 11 and crew of 15, completing the film in a single shooting day inside one studio.
The production was built as a full professional set, with dedicated departments and equipment for camera, lighting, grip, art direction, production design, costume, and sound working around the same visual plan.
The studio was transformed through set dressing, furniture, fabrics, candles, props, table styling, and environmental details. Production design was integrated into the narrative, allowing the grapes, veils, plates, candles, costume, and feast itself to carry information within the frame.
Lighting was fully controlled using professional fixtures and grip equipment, with practical lamps and candles incorporated into the compositions. Camera, lighting, production design, performance, and VFX requirements were planned together, particularly for the Beast sequences.
Location
Toronto, ON
Camera
SONY FX9
Lens
ARRI Signature Prime 6 Lens Kit (114mm) BDC
Ratio
16:9
Runtime
7 min 50 sec
Location
Toronto, ON
Ratio
16:9
Camera
SONY FX9
Runtime
7 min 50 sec
Lens
ARRI Signature Prime 6 Lens Kit (114mm) BDC
The VFX
The Beast Head.
The Beast Head.
The Beast Head was designed and created entirely from scratch, then integrated through VFX to achieve a realistic presence on screen.
The actor’s body and performance were captured practically on set. In post-production, his human head was digitally replaced with the custom Beast Head, preserving the original movement and interaction.
Tracking, perspective, lighting, texture, shadows, and colour were matched to the live-action footage to integrate the head realistically into the photographed environment.
The Beast’s distorted form serves as a symbolic representation of toxic masculinity, domination, and the use of violence as a form of power and control.
The Beast Head was designed and created entirely from scratch, then integrated through VFX to achieve a realistic presence on screen.
The actor’s body and performance were captured practically on set. In post-production, his human head was digitally replaced with the custom Beast Head, preserving the original movement and interaction.
Tracking, perspective, lighting, texture, shadows, and colour were matched to the live-action footage to integrate the head realistically into the photographed environment.
The Beast’s distorted form serves as a symbolic representation of toxic masculinity, domination, and the use of violence as a form of power and control.
The result
What Was Taken.
What Was Taken.
What Was Taken was completed through the combined work of direction, performance, cinematography, lighting, production design, art direction, costume, sound, VFX, editing, colour, and the wider cast and crew.
Principal photography was completed in one studio over one shooting day, with 11 cast members and a 15-person crew working across the production.
The final 7:50-minute film brings together the performances, direction, cinematography, practical sets, symbolic production design, controlled lighting, sound, editing, colour, and the digitally created Beast Head.
From development and direction through principal photography and post-production, What Was Taken was shaped through the collaboration of the entire cast, crew, and creative team behind the film.
What Was Taken was completed through the combined work of direction, performance, cinematography, lighting, production design, art direction, costume, sound, VFX, editing, colour, and the wider cast and crew.
Principal photography was completed in one studio over one shooting day, with 11 cast members and a 15-person crew working across the production.
The final 7:50-minute film brings together the performances, direction, cinematography, practical sets, symbolic production design, controlled lighting, sound, editing, colour, and the digitally created Beast Head.
From development and direction through principal photography and post-production, What Was Taken was shaped through the collaboration of the entire cast, crew, and creative team behind the film.
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