A mysterious, skinwalker-like creature stalks its target through an unsettling, maze-like setting in a horror animation by Coronado High School student Tyler Porter.
Porter drew inspiration from Backrooms, an internet horror concept involving endless, unfamiliar rooms and lurking threats. His animation follows the action through a video camera.
The project is one of several original films, animations, and designs that Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA) students have spent months developing for the 18th annual Digital Arts Horror Nights on Oct. 27 and 29.
This year’s theme, “Myths and Magic: Tales from the Edge of Reality,” draws on folklore and mythology. Students had to incorporate three elements into their projects: a character bowing or kneeling, a bone or skull, and a variation of the phrase “May the gods have mercy.”
Porter, a second-year animation student, begins his scenes with line work, then adds color and shading. A single sequence can take several hours to complete, depending on its complexity.
“As an animator, the last thing you want to be doing is procrastinating,” he said.
Porter also helped write the script for the event’s emcees, who will introduce the student films and animations at the two-night event.
Horror Nights started with filmmaking and animation students showing their work in the cafeteria, said Anna Woerman, director of CoSA’s Digital Arts Conservatory. The event has since moved to Coronado High School’s Black Box Theater.
Graphic design students later joined, creating movie posters and digitally altered portraits of their classmates. Now, second-year students in the Design in New Media course handle much of the event’s promotion and production.
“They do all the promotional commercials and they make posters,” Woerman said. “We have a program; we have MCs. We have decor people building things.”
Students began developing their projects near the start of the school year. Animators spent roughly two and a half months storyboarding, drawing, and rendering their work, while graphic designers created mythology-themed posters and altered student headshots.
Graphic design student Eleanor Benzel designed the event’s logo and badges. She said students in different disciplines also collaborated on promotional videos.
“This was our first real big project that we’re actually able to, as a conservatory, meet together as different strands and actually work on one project,” Benzel said.
Graphic design student Zoe Cocanig created the event program and a ticket that visitors can get stamped at activity stations.
The stations include student posters and horror-themed portraits, Greek mythology trivia, an eyeball search and an altar. Visitors who collect all the stamps can earn a prize.
Cocanig designed the program in Adobe Illustrator, incorporating student portraits, names and their respective digital arts disciplines.
She had to make sure the students’ colorful artwork still looked good when printed in black and white.
“We had to change some things to make sure it looked just as amazing as it does in color,” she said.
Cocanig also had to choose fonts that matched the mystical theme without making the program hard to read.
This year’s screening will also feature interviews with student artists about the research and creative decisions behind their films, animations and posters, Woerman said.
Students suggested adding the interviews because the 2026 screening has fewer films and animations than previous years. Woerman said student animations typically run 30 seconds to one minute, while the full presentation is expected to last about 50 minutes.
She said the students have worked well together despite the tight deadlines.
Although students use computers and design software to create their artwork, Cocanig said she values doing the creative work herself rather than relying on artificial intelligence to generate images.
“I really like knowing that I made it, and it’s not just some technology coding that’s just making some image,” she said.
Horror Nights takes place Tuesday, Oct. 27 and Thursday, Oct. 29, at Coronado High School, 650 D Ave. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for students, staff, seniors and military personnel. Tickets are available at cosasandiego.com or at the door.
