Caden Butera greeted his friends at the Hayden Discount Cinema with a big smile across his face Friday afternoon. His camera hung around his neck, a symbol of his lifestyle and potential future.

This was the grand finale of his senior project. He had been working since December on his short film “Misdirection” and now it was showing for the second and last time at the local theater. More people showed up for the premiere Thursday night, but he was satisfied with the turnout.

Butera spent about 100 hours shooting the film and another 100 editing it. His friends in Coeur d’Alene High School’s theater department agreed to star in the film and help with makeup and special effects.

He saw another friend at the theater Friday and crossed the room to hug him in his Star Wars shoes, a symbol of his youth, growing up watching pop culture films with his family.

As time grew closer to the start of the movie, everyone grew excited and filed into the theatre.

The movie takes place in a cabin in the woods. Three friends find a magic book and horror ensues.

“I love pop culture-based stuff,” Butera said. “I love overly ridiculous, dumb movies.”

There were some hard parts to making the film, like when Butera’s car slid off a snowy mountain road and had to get towed, or when one of his actresses had to go to the emergency room.

But for all the hard parts, there were many more great parts of making the short film. The high school kids got to use a smoke machine and learn how reversing footage makes it look like the smoke is being sucked under the door, instead of being expelled out of it.

The evil mastermind behind everything that happens in the movie is a white bunny. While the group of friends were filming, a white rabbit appeared by the house they were shooting at.

They couldn’t resist the opportunity for an impromptu scene with the real rabbit, which actually made it into the final edit of the film.

After 21 minutes of gruesome hilarity, the theater erupted in applause and whistles.

“It was really exciting,” said Chance McWilliams, a sophomore at Coeur d’Alene High School and the actor in the lead role in “Misdirection.” “This is what I want to do as a career, so it was cool to get the chance to do something like this so early in my career.”

Butera got up and thanked everyone for being there and gave credit to the hard work everyone had put into the movie.

He said the owner of Hayden Discount Cinema was splitting the profits from the movie with him, and Butera was donating half of his profits to the Coeur d’Alene High theater program.

Jared Helm, who runs the high school’s theater department, has played a huge role in Butera’s career as a producer.

“He went into theater saying ‘No, I don’t want to act, I don’t want to do any of it, I just want to film and direct,’” said Butera’s mom, Jackie. “Mr. Helm made him take theater and told him he wouldn’t be a good director if he didn’t know the other side of it. He tailored a really nice program for him.”

This is the longest short film Butera has ever made. He experimented with filming in multiple locations and learned about going over budget and getting over setbacks. Before posting the film on YouTube, Butera plans to enter it into different film festivals. He plans to submit it to the Sandpoint Film Festival, but doesn’t know which other ones yet.

“I’m just so thankful to everyone who helped out, especially my dad,” Butera said. “He was there every day at the cold cabin helping to spray blood on people's faces.”