Hello friends! This is the fundraising campaign for "Codename Leto," a senior thesis film for a bunch of film students down in San Diego, CA. It's gonna be an action short with thrills, laughs, and some dope fight sequences - but the real heart of the story is the relationship between mother and daughter. We all know moms are badass, but with "Codename Leto" we're gonna show this in a way that's never been seen before. Help us bring it to life!
In Brief -
- We're a group of senior student filmmakers, who have put in a lot of work on a ton of short films during our time in school, and now we're ready to put our work out into the big leagues!
- A well-budgeted, well-produced short film is the calling card that many young filmmakers use to kick-start their careers - and "Codename Leto" will do that for us!
- What is more, we believe that this particular story is one that everyone needs to hear - that of a woman who is a hero, who kicks ass, who puts her life on the line for the people she loves. If that sounds like a woman you know, then this film is for you!
A Closer Look
- We need about $6,000 altogether to bring this story to life. That includes, among other things:
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$1000 for stunt development and supervision
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$1000 for art department (props, wardrobe, set decoration and "breakaways" - expendable props that can be broken and replaced in action sequences)
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$500-$800 to rent camera rigs and equipment. Just shooting on top of a tripod isn't gonna do it!
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$500-$700 to secure our shooting location
- And at least $500 to keep our cast/crew fed, watered and caffeinated. Critical!
- We have some thank-you's in the wings for folks who help us to reach this goal!
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$500 and above: executive producer credit in the final film
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$100 and above: prints of the "Ace Dauntless" superheroine posters used in the film - signed by cast and crew!
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$50 and above: special thank-you credit in the final film and a private link to the final cut
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$25 and above: a special shout-out on our social media platform
- And on top of all that, all donations are tax-deductible since this production is happening under the auspices of a registered non-profit (visit jpcatholic.edu for more info)!
Risks & Challenges
There are two big challenges with this particular production.
The first and most obvious is the action sequences - as you can imagine, big fight scenes are costly to film. They require careful supervision, lots of time, safety gear, backup props and costumes for when things get broken and ripped up (because that's gonna happen no matter what)...and the list goes on. We'll be working with a qualified stunt coordinator and carefully choreographing these sequences in advance, and the more funds we have to work with, the easier that will be.
The second big challenge (and expense) will be our shooting location. Our story takes place almost entirely in a family home - which means renting out an actual house, since we don't just have a standing set handy that we can tear apart at will! We have lots of practice with shooting on-location, because we've done it over and over with our prior films, so we know the drill. But doing it right means reimbursing the owners, getting everything properly insured, and taking precautions to make sure the space is treated with respect and left better than when we found it.
And even if you can't donate...
...give us a shout-out on social media using Indiegogo's handy share tools. We're poor college students ourselves, so we get it - sometimes money is tight. But just getting the word out helps so much!
