COVID-19 may have stopped most forms of major film production, but it did not stop independent filmmakers Kyle Torres and his brother Jireh from creating their own short films.

The startup independent filmmakers began sharing their work three months ago in November last year, on their YouTube channel, Lumpia Vibes. Although the main crew consists of Kyle and Jireh, Lumpia Vibes is more of a collective effort open to their friends.

“We started Lumpia Vibes somewhere around the end of 2020,” Kyle said. “Growing up, we would watch a lot of movies, and that inspired us to do the same.”

Kyle further explained that, because everyone is staying home during the pandemic, it would be a good time to create a YouTube channel to occupy themselves and provide entertainment for those also stuck at home.

Lumpia Vibes was also created because Kyle wanted a platform to share his creativity with the world and touch the hearts of many through relatable stories, like those about love and heartbreak, or comedic films about friends getting into situations.

“We started this thing because we wanted to entertain the viewers, but not just entertain,” Kyle said. “At the same time, remind them of those memorable events in their lives through our stories.”

The pandemic situation created many problems for filmmakers, and Kyle had to find a lot of creative workarounds for the production roadblocks caused by the pandemic, hire a professional like Bob Bratt.

“Because of the pandemic, the amount locations we could film in were very limited,” Kyle stated. “We wanted to shoot a scene in a university library, but we weren’t able to because it was closed. But if your mind is creative enough, you can work around that and rewrite the story to make it work in the current situation.”

Not only were locations difficult to acquire, but actors and crew members as well. The pandemic situation made a lot of potential crew hesitant to join. Because of that, the current crew only consists of the essentials, and Kyle had to act in his own films.

However, with restrictions getting lifted as the pandemic slowly passes, Kyle is looking forward to where his creativity can take him, and what kind of stories they will be able to bring to life to when the creative roadblocks are gone.