It took nearly a year for it to surface after completion but Drew Daywalt's original horror series Camera Obscura has finally hit the web! Today you can check out the first 3 episodes of Drew Daywalt's Camera Obscura along with some cool supplemental material online. We spoke with Drew Daywalt after sampling the first 3 episodes of Camera Obscura last week about what it was like working on the project and why it took so damn long to become available. Check out our exclusive chat with Drew below, along with the first full episode of Camera Obscura and info on how you can see more.

FEARnet: Let's begin at the beginning; can you give us your quick pitch detailing what Camera Obscura is about?

Drew Daywalt: Camera Obscura is about a young woman and she's going through her recently deceased grandfather's things and she discovers he wasn't just a crime scene photographer, he was a demon hunter. And she takes up his mantle, because he's gone and there's still work to be done. And she takes up his mantle where he left off. At its roots it's her getting close to him because in life they didn't have the best relationship. And as she's uncovering things about this supernatural component to her life she's also discovering things about her grandpa, like he did care really more than he let on during life. And even though the relationship was broken, it was a true relationship.

How many episodes are there and how long are they?

20 episodes. They vary [in length], we kept it to story rather than sticking to this runs 8 minutes this runs 4, so about 4 - 8 minutes [per episode] and it runs about 98 minutes total.

So the story dictated the length of each episode?

Yeah

And you wrapped October 2009?

They were talking about [releasing last] October and then I was finished with it in December 2009.

Why did Camera Obscura sit around for so long?

MWG wanted to find the proper home for Camera Obscura and we did with Daily Motion. It just so happened to take a year to solidify that premiere location. We were also looking for something to do with Dread Central and they wanted to co-sponsor with Daily Motion so it was a good marriage.

When you finished in December 2009 did you go back or think about tinkering with it over the course of the following year?

That's a good question. Actually, when I closed the book on it, I really did close the book on it in December. I was pretty happy with it. It was a controlled budget, and the good thing about this is it's the same team of people I do my short films with. So at any point I could have come in and said, 'Hey, let's do another thing on Saturday...' but if I continued to do that I would have driven myself mad. As a filmmaker you can always tinker, tinker, tinker. So I decided to leave it as is. We had shown it and we were all very pleased. We recently rewatched it over the summer and I am really pleased with it.

Does having the will power to not think about tinkering with it drive you mad at all?

(laughs) I kept busy, just moved on to the next thing. It's like when I'm dealing with my 1-year old. Don't just take the toy away, take the toy away and give them another toy.

Much of you're short film work (Camera Obscura included) is really creature heavy, I believe I read someone had compared you and your work to that of Guillermo del Toro.

I look at that as a compliment but at the same time, I find that I'm grabbing plays from the same playbook as Del Toro.

Why is that?

I grew up on Creature Features. I go back to the old Jack Arnold films and big giant spiders, mantis and The Fly, Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Seems like you really pull from all of these indie spirited playbooks. Like using your resources wisely, close knit team, group effort like these earlier films etc.

Yeah, I came home from Star Wars and I drew Storm Troopers for 3 days. I was interested in the characters but the Storm Troopers and Darth Vader were exactly what I wanted to do. I was like how do I make these robots, these creatures. It's interesting that you've pointed that out to me, I guess I did take that philosophy and when I see Guillermo's work, now that it was pointed out to me I see that.

Filmmakers like del Toro have money and connections now, but they tend to support indie filmmakers and take a more traditional approach to filmmaking

Yeah, it's a love of the craft, I think if there's anything in common between us it's that. There's nothing like getting in there and getting down on the ground with the camera and you're in it. That's the reason I like the physical effects too because you can touch it and feel it.

How do you feel transitioning from the short scare to long form?

In the horror genre, Camera Obscura is the longest form I've done. I mean I did a bunch of heist films, action movies back in the day but as far as horror, 2008 was about Fewdio, 2009 was getting all the work done on Camera Obscura, it was about 7-8 months of work, soup to nuts. It's a long narrative but I worked backwards a bit, I had been working in long narrative for 13 years before I started doing the short scares. The short scares were the horror equivalent of comedy sketches. Get in there, get one good scare and get out. Same as the comedy sketches. Get in, get one good laugh and get out in 2-3 minutes.

Unless you're Saturday Night Live...

Right and then it's 8 minutes and one laugh at the one minute mark (laughs) I subscribe to the Monty Python thing, if it's over just roll credit or move onto the next thing. Shorter is cheaper and easier to cut. I love the short format I'm at home in it. Until this world supports people, it's something I'm going to have to continue doing for love not money.

Can you talk a little bit about your go to FX guy, Jeff Farley?

It's his sculpture. Every FX guy has something that they're really good at. For some it's the blood work, really good gore FX, some are good at props. Jeff, his mastery in his sculpture and it's always so real. Every time I see a sculpture that he does, I see a piece of him in it which is a rare thing. When I convey an idea to him in words, I stand back and watch him create it in 3D. I'm flabbergasted at his design work, it's just great. When I tell Jeff to unleash his dreams he really does.

How was working with MWG, producers of Camera Obscura?

I handed them the first draft of the script and they were like, 'Drew, it's the internet, do whatever you want!'

Like it wasn't weird enough?

Yes!

So they were basically telling you to give them more weird?

Yeah, and they were like take your creatures further...

Was there any point in which they said, 'OK Drew, now your creatures are too weird!'

(Laughs) No! Never! I'm used to the studio system where they are like 'Whoa, dude, pull the cart back, what are you doing?' These guys [MWG] know the audience, they know horror. They were like we hired you for your vision on this. For one of the creatures they were like, 'that's too Tim Burton, it's too mainstream'. I started from a conservative place and then they took the leash off the dog and I went nuts!

Check out the first episode of Drew Daywalt's Camera Obscura below and hit up Daily Motion here for the next two episodes and more!