Last Updated on August 26, 2025 by FANGORIA Staff
Lilly Lives Alone is the story of a struggling mother on the tenth anniversary of her daughter’s death. Tucked away in her small rural home, she experiences a series of hauntings throughout a drug-fueled night. As the ghosts close in and her world becomes more fractured, Lilly will have to come to terms with her greatest fear.
Throughout the film, Lilly experiences a rapidly forming pregnancy. This begins as cell division and quickly becomes a visibly distended abdomen. Our FX artist Carlo Mery designed a practical rig for the outward transformation while on location. For the internal effect, I turned to a mix of liquids and in-studio miniatures.
To feel gritty and realistic, I knew that these shots had to have a certain level of physicality to them – they needed to have weight and dimension. I’ve always preferred practical effects whenever possible, so I began researching and experimenting with a range of materials and set up shop at Framework, a shooting stage in Portland.
For the cellular division, I used a macro lens to focus closely on a mixture of dish soap, oils, and paint in a baking dish. I then prompted various reactions by mixing the elements with an eye dropper. This created surreal effects that played out perfectly for our “cellular mitosis” look. We used a pulsating box fan to give the cells some life and movement.
The biggest challenge was crafting a realistic fetus that would feel large inside a womb. For this effect, I studied a few other productions that had similar approaches and downsized them to work for our shot choices and budget. I started with a medium sized fish tank and cut up plastic bags and silicone into shredded strips. I then fixed them against the glass in layers to mimic the tissue of the amniotic membrane. A custom miniature fetus model was made for the effect and suspended in the tank with a fishing line fixed to a gobo arm.
For the fluid, a combination of water, acrylic paint, food dye, and cooking oil created a colorful mix. Carlo joined and assisted me with the filming and suggested the addition of milk to the concoction. This added another layer of realism and made the fluid a more blood-like, viscous substance.
Once I finished building the miniature display, I used a pico projector to cast subtle loops of microcellular footage along the tank, which added a bit of movement. A backlight was blasted against the tank, which contoured the material and created a dramatic light wrap around the fetus miniature. Since the film plays with surrealism, I triggered the light in pulses to give a sense of an external pounding against the womb. Most of my shots were locked off, but some subtle panning and micro movements along with taps of the gobo arm made the shots more dynamic and provided a realistic kicking effect.
Something that is often overlooked when filming miniatures is film speed. When dealing with non-full-scale models, shooting at high speed (for slow motion) helps suggest a bigger size and weight to the subject. For these shots, we filmed primarily at 120 fps to give our tiny model that extra realism. Finally, with a little post production blurring and a pop of color, the effect was complete.
Although these effects are brief occurrences in the film, the physical presence they bring makes them memorable. Working by hand to make something that appears real and tangible is possible even on an independent budget. It takes planning and experimentation, but the process is rewarding and the end results are worth the challenge.
Lilly Lives Alone is in theaters and VOD August 22.
