Short Summary
Our film, Join Us, is a story about a young freshman aged college student
named Devin. The story will centralize around the single exciting night that
all fraternity hopefuls look forward to: pledge night. In the beginning of the
story, Devin sets out on a night that he had previously been anticipating would
be the most exhilarating night of his college career. Yet, as the story
progresses, he finds out fraternity life may not be what he was expecting, and
the people who were supposed to be his brothers might not be who he thought
they would be. Within this story Devin is presented with choices, and he is
forced to find out whom he really is.
Join
Us, was written by Adam Dahlen and Sam Lowe- Anker in an attempt to shed
light on a growing situation in America. Fraternities and other group
institutions are often plagued by a sense of “gang mentality,” that when
combined with delinquent behavior and partying other individuals can be
marginalized and fall victim to sexual aggression.
What We Need & What You Get
To make this important film a reality,
we need funding to recreate a realistic fraternity environment. This aspect of
the film is essential to display the true context of how and why so many fall
victim to these crimes in this particular situation. The acts of aggression and
sexual misconduct that happen in university settings would seldom occur without
the fraternity houses, therefore the funding needed to create a fictional
fraternity is absolutely essential to the story and the correct portrayal of
the problems we are addressing.
Funding will be divided into the following
categories.
-
Production Design: Props, costumes, lights, set decoration,
location rental.
-
Cast and Crew: All cast and crew members will be working for
free, but we will need funds to provide food for them on the days they are
working.
-
Camera gear: Lens rental, tapes, gels, etc.
Team
Producer: Katie Chapin
Director: Adam Dahlen
Director of Photography: Sam Lowe- Anker
Production Designer: Hunter Green
Assistant Director: Morgan Estberg
The Impact
It is impossible to go
through school as a university student, and not hear about the heinous crimes
of sexual violence that are committed on and off campuses everyday. As students
at Montana State University we have been exposed to a recent influx of sexual
violence within our own university, wherein many of these crimes are committed
by and from different groups such as fraternities and sports teams. Our hope is
for this film to reach a wide audience and express what really goes on behind
the closed doors, and further shed light on the seriousness of these situations. We hope that through the creation of this
film we will be able to expose the reality of these circumstances, and by doing
so create awareness that can lead to change.
Risks & Challenges
There is a potential for criticism from people involved in groups such as sororities and fraternities, our goal here is to not point fingers at any one organization or to make generalizations about any group of people. What we want to do is point out that there is a problem to be solved and part of that issue lies in the gang mentality that is predominant in most organized groups of young people. We want to explore the reasons and motivations for these real life events, rather than the how.
Other Ways You Can Help
Some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean you can't help:
- Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign.
- We need lots of extras on this film! If you are interested in being an extra, you can contact us through our Facebook page.