The Film

Antithesis is a dance art music film about the Big Bang and the tension between three unequal poles: The three phases of philosophical dialectic (Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis) and the three phases of the Synthesis of the universe (creation, duration and dissolution) according to Hindu belief.

Its concept is borrowed from the concept of my typeface of same name, see below.

It’s going to be a stereoscopic (3D) dance music art film of 9–10 minutes length with a contemporary surround sound score composed and produced by a talented young composer. It will be a real film with no computer animation involved and will bo shot in real nature locations, with most likely one scene shot in a studio.

Film poster, photo taken by Daniel Scholz

The Typeface

Antithesis is also a typeface, my Master's piece from the Type & Media master of type design in the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Its concept is also based around the tension between three unequal poles, and from there I borrowed the basic concept for the film. More on the typeface here.

What you get

The original Antithesis typeface

Because this film project is conceptually related to my typeface, I have a perk to offer that goes beyond the usual perks for art films: The typeface itself, in digital form.
I will finish it until beginning of March 2013 to send it out to you supporters soon. It will be a package of fonts including web fonts and you will be allowed to use it commercially, like if you had purchased it professionally.
Please note that the typeface will be marketed together with the release of the film later on, and for a much higher value, about a year from the crowd funding, end of 2013 or very early 2014.

Film posters

I will also send out rolled, unfolded A1-size (roughly 23"x33") film posters. Because shipping of these, especially overseas, is unfortunately a very expensive matter, please excuse that the financial bar here is set a bit higher. Shipping to some places can cost up to 20€, and remember that I need the funding for the film.

Your name in the credits

Without explicitly mentioning it in the perks, I will be happy to mention your contribution in the film credits as well as on the website and banners on local film screenings.

Recently added:
Tree Hugger Title rendering

A new oppourtunity just presented itself to me, 20 hours before the end of the campaign.
Get your name or word of your choice rendered in plants. Choose between Antithesis Regular, Italic or Bold. Get the image as a digital rendering of 4,000px width, suitable even for bigger size poster prints. You’ll get the image in two editions: Branded with the Antithesis film logo plate as a Retina sized desktop background picture as well as a transparent image to apply your own background.
The catch: We need more time for this. The technology is not automatable at this point and a single rendering takes several hours of work. We’re working on automation but can’t offer instant delivery. Therefore a delivery mid of April is realistic, hopefully much earlier than that.
We’ll get in touch by email after the end of the campaign about font style and wording.

See http://antithesis.de/tree-hugger-titles/ for more.

This is Kaffeesatz, not Antithesis. 

Release and screening of film

Because viewing a 3D film is still impossible for most of you home viewers, I want to organize screenings in galeries and film theaters in selected cities around the world with proper 3D film and surround sound equipment for an adequate viewing experience.
Additionally, 2D and 3D versions will be released for home viewers on the internet.

Of course the film will be also be entered in numerous competitions and art film festivals. I hope they will be able to handle 3D and surround sound content.

The Team, so far

Johanna Roggan

Johanna, a contemporary dancer, is the key performance in this film. Together with her I will develop the film’s detailed plot, and she will choreograph and then perform the dancing.
I made a short film portrait about her which you can see here.

Georg Bauer

Georg is a Jazz musician turned Electronic/Psytrance music producer. He is crafting the film’s score, parts of which are already audible in the Trailer. He is a composing genius and perfectionist. 
The music also has three parts. The film’s plot will be developed according to the music and the dreams and thoughts that come to mind when listening eyes shut.

Alexander Stephan

Alex is the 3D mastermind. He has year long grass roots experience in 3D film making and will help in the 3D production.

Daniel Scholz

Daniel is a photographer and long time friend and companion of mine and responsible for most of the great photos that I’m working with, including the Antithesis film poster. His eye will ensure great visual quality of the film footage.
His website here.

Yanone

I’m your host for this show. I engage in graphic design, type design, experimental film making, deejaying of sorts, life, and all the rest.
More here.

Road map

Here’s a rough layout of the time plan:

January/February 2013
Finish Antithesis typeface to send out to supporters by early March

Spring 2013
Preparations, story development

Summer 2013
Production of film

Fall 2013
Post production

End 2013/Early 2014
Release of film

Reaching the goal or not

I chose Indiegogo’s Flexible Funding. Other than with most other popular crowd funding platforms such as Kickstarter, this option enables me to keep most of the pledged money even if the goal isn’t reached.

For a good reason: I’m going to make an art film, and I’m going to make it anyway and with any budget. This is true to the art making maxim of the surrounding conditions influencing an artwork. The budget will directly influence the production and visual quality of the film.
How far can we travel to shoot? Can we travel to the desert? Can we travel to Iceland? Can we travel to the moon? Can we afford a helicopter flight or two? 
All of this will be a direct result of the available budget. In a way, the donators as a mass get they donated for. Of course, convincing your peers to also donate will further increase the film’s quality.

Ideas fit to the budget

This is the main reason why I’m hesitant to completely lay out detailed plans and a plot for the film, or even make those ideas at this point. I don’t want to run into insufficient funding with my ideas. And I also don’t want to run into my ideas turning out too small for a bigger budget.
So although the rough plan is set, many ideas for this film will be made only after the budget is clear.

Overfinancing

Take the $28k goal merely as a hint. This is the amount with which I can confortably make an independent art film with a very small crew and very limited traveling.
But I want us all to reach for the stars! I want to rent or buy professional film light and equipment, I want to be able to consult professional help in production and post production if necessary, and most importantly I want to travel to far away places with my team to shoot in the most otherwordly locations imaginable.

Critical underfinancing

There’s really only one deal breaker: Insufficient funding for a 3D production. 3D film making is a hefty undertaking and requires many additional pieces of equipment to be bought or rented and possibly additional professional man power to be paid. If we run into funding way below the goal, I might decide to make the film in 2D only — The way we’re all used to. This would be sad, but realistic. But only after having tried everything I can to team up with people to make the 3D happen anyway.

A few things I can promise, though: The Film is going to happen, the dancer is going to perform in it, and the music composer is going to make the music! — Regardless of the budget.

More words about the finances