THE GIST
STAND UP & DIE is a short black and white film shot on Super 8. Part dream, part dynamo, part
fantastic lie – a mongrel melodrama. A revenge story about a Poet who is an
unredeemable villain. Leaving a wake of destruction in his path, using poetry
as a weapon, to purely selfish ends.
I am filming in Super 8 because like
other analog processes I’ve used, its dirtiness and imperfection helps me create a lie. It makes a magic reality where fantastic characters are not fake things in a real world, but rather real things in a fake world.
THE BIGGER GOAL
STAND UP AND DIE is the first part of a grander scheme: the start of a short film production company. I wil be using short crowdfunding campaigns to fund each film project. By focusing on short films I can:
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make movies on a faster timeline while maintaining quality production
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work with small budgets and constantly deliver new work without being impeded by long fundraising timetables
MEDIUM
OF FILM
Beyond the film itself, this project is
an exploration of the entire game of production: illusion and promises and
delivering the goods.
I like the danger of film. As a medium,
the accountability on the artist is so much more. People might complain a
little about what they think is a bad art show, but if you make a bad movie,
people actually get mad, angry. You’ve taken not only their money, but a decent
chunk of their time. This is the kind of work I want to be making: work that
risks actually being loved or hated.
ACCOUNTABILITY
TO YOU
I’ve enjoyed my previous experiences with crowdfunding -- all of you who backed my last project were intimately tied to my work's production and success, and you taught me a lot about how I want to incorporate this sort of public interaction into my
approach to work.
I love the fact that I can put my stuff out there, and
if you like it you support it, if not, you don’t and no hard feelings. Perhaps
you support me on a film-by-film basis…perhaps you support me because you
believe in the bigger idea: of a production company led by a filmmaker with
complete creative control.
Even though I’m free from the restrictions that come
with grants, commissions, or partnering with an institution, seeking funding
from you, the crowd, doesn’t liberate me from accountability -- I am actually
bound even more by this method of funding because although I don’t have to
answer to anyone during my creative process, as my financiers I still feel personally
accountable to you in producing good work. This does not mean that I am trying
to make films that every single one of you will like, but rather, films that I
can honestly say are the best work I can produce.
WHY SHOULD YOU GIVE?
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You Love or Hate: Artists
/ Poets / Cinema / Analog processes / Art films
- You want producer credit on my first film
- You want to be a part of a production
company that relies on crowdfunding to ensure that a filmmaker can retain
complete creative control and produce projects based on passion and imagination
Please scroll through the menu to the
right to see the backer rewards available.
You can also subscribe to the film's
mailing list at the project site: www.standupanddie.com
HERE ARE THE PROJECT EXPENSES
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Super 8 film - film /
development / digital transfer
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Actresses and production
crew
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Costumes and makeup
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Promotion
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Audio engineering
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Initial Distribution, film
festival entrance fees (first submission will be to the Raindance Film Festival in London)
THE TEAM
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- (left to right: Captain Burnett, Actor. Carter Burnett, Actor. Lisa Kalinin, Actress. Tara Gasparian, Actress. Omar Lopex, Writer/Director/Actor. Sulai Lopez, Costuming. Morgan Christensen, Production Consultant. Goldline Salon, Hair.)
ALSO!
Please encourage your friends,
family, and colleagues to back this film project. You can spread the word by
using the Indiegogo share tools and/or linking to the STAND UP & DIE
campaign on your Facebook profile and Twitter feed. This is a word-of-mouth
campaign, and its success relies on people being aware of it.