BECOMING ARNOLD
Basic Information
With the advent of reality shows not only
did the media landscape change, but it also brought a new, fast pace of endless
new faces to the television sector. To become famous is the
motto. Doesn't matter what it costs, or how much embarrassement it causes,
as long as they get more ratings and an ever growing audience.
Countless new TV formats including
American Idol, Big Brother, Dancing With The Stars and the Next Top Model
franchise brought short-lived, self-created stars to light. On the Internet the
trend (often called a 'meme') has been noticeable too, and thus came the rise
of the youtube internet celebrities.
So I had the idea of finding the perfect
charakter to market over the internet. Leopold Himmelfahrtspointner from Styria
in Austria - Who wants to become a professional bodybuilder and dreams of
getting career tips from his hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a end goal of
essentially "Becoming Arnold†himself.
What we did
In September
2011 we shot four 'webisodes' of Becoming Arnold. For publicity, we created a
facebook page, a homepage, and a trailer. Then from mid-November through til
December I uploaded a new webisode each week and posted it to friends all over
the world. Since I'm a member of the KinoMovement which was founded 1999 in
Montreal in Canada it was also possible to show the trailer at some monthly
KinoScreenings in Berlin, Hamburg, Mainz, Bratislava and Vienna. At around one
month since uploading the first webisode had over 13,000 views and was also
shown at OKTO TV - a community channel in Vienna – along with an interview with
myself. I also send a “best of†from all 4 webisodes to some short film
festivals including the Arnold Sports Film Festival in Ohio, USA which takes
place in April 2012.
What We Need & What You Get
To make new webisodes and truly make Mr. Leopold Himmelfahrtspointner “internet famousâ€. There are already existing media contacts for print, radio or TV shows in Austria and Germany. In order to continue promoting and producing Becoming Arnold, this is what we need & what you will get:
Shooting more webisodes and eventually producing a full mockumentary requires a fair bit of money, even for a low budget project. Film Equipment gets cheaper but we still don't have the money to rent all the equipment such as the cameras and especially professional sound equipment. Also when shooting on locatio in the country side we have travel costs including petrol, housing and food. In addiction, in order to promote the already existing Becoming Arnold shorts for festivals we will need to pay festival fees – these are usually between $30-$60.
We know we can do maybe one or two new webisodes quite cheaply but we would like to do more than that and have some ambitious ideas which will be more expensive to produce - like a skiing webisode. We already invested 2000 Euros of our own money because is can be extremely difficult to receive public funding for a comedy as unfortunately some don't view the genre as being 'artistic' enough.
But we still need a further $2000.
That is why we need your support. Whatever money you donate to our project, it will be used for Leopold Himmelfahrtspointner to become a professional bodybuilder and you can be part of a big, ambitious project and help us to promote Leopold Himmelfahrtspointner and make him famous enough that he will truly end up “Becoming Arnoldâ€.
What we will give you for your support will be hand signed photos, DVDs with a 'best of' reel, traditional red and white austrian mountain shirts, traditional mountain hats and every investor will go into a lottery to win the outfit of Leopold Himmelfahrtspointner - a traditional Austrian leathertrouser, a hat and a shirt. Bigger sponsors will get an extra special package and get their own traditional leathertrouser or can even have their own webisode.
For all sponsors we will make you your own own thank you video.
So please support us and take part in our enormous, gigantic project BECOMING ARNOLD and help Leopold Himmelfahrtspointners reach his goal of becoming a world famous professional bodybuilder like Mr. Schwarzenegger – BECOMING ARNOLD.
Sharing is Caring
SPREAD the WORD and share this project over your network.
Tell your family, friends, colleagues and everyone you know about BECOMING ARNOLD and give them the opportunity to help and support our project.
…and donate! Even if it's a small amount, it brings us closer to our goal. Every single cent will be appreciated. Thank you.
Who are we
Leopold Leskovar
creator, producer and Leopold Himmelfahrtspointner
Leopold Leskovar, (major in
philosophy) Born in Neunkirchen - lives in Vienna. Studied at the University of
Vienna, "Journalism and Communication Studies" and "political
science" and at the Film School in Prague where he specialized in
directing and cinematography. Leopold worked as a journalist for the weekly
magazine NÖN, completed internships at the ORF - Austrian Broadcasting
Cooperation, and in the press department of the Austrian Embassy in Washington
DC. He gained work experience in television, feature films and documentaries in
Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Repbulic, Germany, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and USA.
Leopold was the director of
several music videos like "Tender Loving Care" from dAVOS which was
shown at the music TV channel goTV 2011 for several weeks. He also directed a
TV documentary "7210 Mattersburg" for the last European Soccer
Champion Ship 2008 in Austria and several short films like "7 Minutes"
which was shown at several film festival around Europe like "Clip
Award" in Mannheim Germany, "Crank Cookie" in Passau Germany or
at the section "Court Metrage" at the Festival de Cannes.
In addition, he has since 2006
worked as a teaching assistant for cinematography and editing for the European
summer programs of the New York Film Academy. He organised several film
workshops mostly in cinematography and the Festival TV at the Film Festival
Crossing Europe in Linz 2011. Since 2005 he has been a member of the
Association Kino5 - a platform for independent filmmakers and NISI MASA
(European Network of Young Cinema).
Markus Lanxinger
cinematographer
Markus Lanxing, born 1980, Lilienfeld -
lives in Los Angeles - California. Bachelor of fine arts at Columbia College -
Hollywood. Markus gained work experience in feature films documentaries and
music videos in Los Angeles. In addition to the Kodak Scholarship Award 2008,
he was nominated for the ASC Student Award and is a member of Society of Camera
Operators (SOC) and The Digital Cinema Society (DCS). Mark has worked for films
such as “Kenny Chesney: Summertime in 3Dâ€, " The Green Hornet", the
new 2012 film “The Amazing Spider-man" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre
in 3D"
Gabriel Körbler
sound engineer
Gaberiel Körbler, born 1985 in
Deutschlandsberg - lives in Vienna. Studies in music science. Sound Training in
the sound studio Seemann Master Sound in Vienna. Gabriel worked on several film
projects including "murderers Sisters" by Peter Kern. Gabriel is
currently working as an sound engineer in the Jazz Club Porgy and Bess in
Vienna
Judith Meister
assistant director
Judith Meister, born 1986 in Freiburg in
Germany, lives in Vienna. She studies film and theater science at the
university of Vienna. Worked as an intern for the Austrian Film production
company "Freibeuter Film". Is currently working for the feature film: BATESIAN