** 06/02/2016 Update: Only £200 more is needed in order for us to secure the two animators that would turn this idea into a reality, please contribute now for a special thanks in our credits. We are forever grateful to anyone who can support this movement, its ideas, and this film. **
What is this film about?
Effective Altruism: The Movement is a short documentary that revolves around the effective altruism movement, and ultimately seeks to encourage people to consider living more ethically. Essentially, effective altruism applies evidence and reason to determine the most effective ways to improve the world. It’s about ensuring you use your head, as well as your heart, when it comes to giving.
What exactly will you be watching?
My film will present the ideas of the philosopher
Peter Singer, who is the founder of the charity
The Life You Can Save. His ideas will be expressed through extracts from a recent TED
talk that he gave on effective altruism. His talk will guide the film through various effective altruist ideas, values and concerns. All the while, five personal stories will be told by people who have chosen to live more ethically.
Throughout the film we will discover the extreme ways that these individuals' lives and backgrounds differ, for example, José is an art teacher from Portugal, in his mid-40’s, on the other hand, we have Charlie from New York, who is the former president of a large retail company, in his mid 60’s, and then we have 21-year old Anna, a vegan from Russia, who, as a student, is yet to establish her career. Yet they all have one thing in common: the desire, passion and drive to help those in need.
What's the hook?
Rather than creating a film about the amazing difference that donations and outreach can have to the suffering individuals in developing countries, I will be exploring the psychological difference that giving creates to those who give.
I will also be using animation to illustrate the stories within my film.
Animation allows me the freedom to illustrate abstract ideas and express the emotional states of each individual. I will use powerful visual metaphors, similar to the work of animator Katerina Athanasopoulou’s film on self harm in My Blood is My Tears, and will use the animation to link my subjects together on screen, to show them as part of the same, one movement, despite their geographical separation.
What's the point?
The main point of Effective Altruism: The Movement is to express that anybody, no matter what their social or economic position is, can give, and can, or should, live more ethically, in some way. I also want to show that it can be problematic when it comes to giving: “who do I donate to?” “with my skillset, which career shall I choose to most benefit others”, “am I being selfish by eating out with my friends tonight rather than donating”.... but effect altruist ideas can answer these concerns and help people find their way.
How will I make this ambition a reality?
Firstly, I already have the full support of Peter Singer and Charlie Bresler (the executive director of The Life You Can Save) to create this film and I am also hoping to generate a lot of interest from effective altruists. I am very passionate about this movement and have been working for Centre for Effective Altruism for the past four years, so I already have quite a few connections.
Secondly, I need your help and contributions. Most of my budget will go towards paying my animator, so the more money I can raise, the more of an advanced animator I can hire, therefore the more engaging I can make my film. A professional animator will allow me to add depth, mood and detail to my animations, against a tight schedule.
Where will your money go?
Below are the things that my film cannot be completed without:
£500 will be spent on fees for the two animators that I have hired.
£150 will go towards the interviews that I have had to arrange in recording studios all over the world, as my subjects are, you guessed it, all over the world.
£50 will be spent on miscellaneous things such as my travel expense to record an interview in Brighton, batteries for sound equipment used for interviews and sound effects that I record, and so on.
Any further funding will be put towards the essential distribution of my film:
£100+ will be used to submit my film into relevant film festivals to help grow its audience.
Who is this film for?
It’s targeting people who are already aware of the effective altruism movement, but are perhaps feeling a little lost and need to know a good place to start. It is also aimed at effective altruists who might be struggling to find their place in the world of giving and are perhaps becoming a little distressed or depressed, but these stories can show that it’s not just them who have struggled, and there is a whole diverse community of effective altruists that can relate to them and help guide them, no matter what their background is.
I’m also planning to submit my documentary to film festivals in order to raise awareness of this movement and encourage people to give, who have never before considered the idea of living more ethically. I also hope that effective altruists can share my film and its message via various social media platforms.
Mood board:
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