Campaign has ended!

The campaign has finished with $4833 raised! Thanks everyone! The Living the Change project will being on the 19th of January when we fly from Australia to New Zealand.

To follow along with the updates, photos, and of course short films of our journey, check out these links:

Website: http://happenfilms.com

YouTube: http://youtube.com/happenfilms

Facebook: http://facebook.com/jordosmond

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jordosmond

Instagram: http://instagram.com/jordosmond

Welcome to Living the Change: A Documentary Film Series. Our plan is to travel around New Zealand in a waste vegetable oil-powered van making short films about permaculture, tiny houses, natural building, communities, simple livers, sustainability projects, and anyone with an inspiring story to tell.

Hi there, my name is Jordan Osmond. I’m 21 years old and I’m just starting out as a documentary filmmaker. I’m currently finishing filming the feature-length documentary A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity. The last footage is being shot and the files will soon be sent to our editor.

For this documentary I’ve spent the year living in an intentional community with nine others, exploring simple living, permaculture and natural building as ways to reduce our ecological footprint. This experience has cemented my belief that a low-impact lifestyle is not only necessary but a very satisfying way to live, and that changing the world from the bottom up is possible. I’m passionate about sharing this important message through the films I make. This brings me to my next adventure – Living the Change: A Documentary Film Series.

My plan is to head to New Zealand in early 2016 with my partner and sound recordist Antoinette to make short films about people pioneering the transition to a sustainable way of life. We’ll be filming permaculture properties, tiny houses, backyard gardeners, simple livers and anyone with an inspiring story to tell in areas of society such as housing, food, business, healthcare, money, and community.

Below is an ever-evolving list of people and places confirmed so far:

•  Robert and Robyn Guyton's beautiful 17-year-old food forest in Riverton.

•  Wairarapa Eco Farm, the first and largest Community Supported Agriculture farm in New Zealand.

•  Te Manaia Organics, large-scale vegetable growers now part of filmmaker James Cameron's exciting permaculture and food forestry enterprise in New Zealand.

•  Helen Dew, founding member of Living Economies, passionate speaker on savings pools and alternative currencies, life-long vegetable gardener, seed-saver and an incredibly active member of her local community – all at the grand age of 78.

•  Avonstour Heritage Organic Farm, specialising in heritage animal breeds and sellers of high-quality organic meat.

• Innermost Gardens, an exciting community garden project in Wellington.
• Project Lyttelton, a non-profit organization creating a sustainable community through  timebanking, community gardens, festivals, and lots more in the town of Lyttelton.
• Hand Over a Hundy, a great initiative to help people start their own vegetable gardens.
• WindWillow, beautiful baskets made from willow grown on their own property.
  
• The Vinbrux family, practicing self-sufficiency on their 34-acre property in Oamaru.
• Be The Change NZ, an inspiring father and son who travel by bike around NZ sharing stories of change.
  

We're talking with a bunch of interesting folk still to be confirmed and researching more. We'd love to hear your suggestions of inspiring people and places that might welcome being part of our project. Please contact us with your ideas!

We can’t do this without you and we hope you’ll join us on this exciting adventure towards inspiring change in the world.



More of my films can be seen on my YouTube channel.

We're looking to raise $8000 to cover the costs of the trip. Money raised will be spent on buying a van, second-hand materials for converting it to a camper, parts for converting it to run on waste vegetable oil, insurance, food and fuel.

Having lived for the last year with minimal income, eating and living very simply, we feel very comfortable about making this a low-budget trip. To keep costs down we'll be free camping throughout the trip, buying all of our dry goods in bulk at the beginning of the journey, preparing our meals from the back of the van and generally living the simple life we've come to love.

Our aim is to make fifteen short films while on the road, as well as films of the camper conversion for people interested in converting their own vans to run on waste vegetable oil. These short films will be available on YouTube for free and the entire collection along with footage of the journey itself will be edited into a two-hour documentary that will be available early for Indiegogo contributors and sold to the public at a later date.

At the end of the trip we will either keep the van for future adventures or sell it to cover any unexpected costs on the journey that have required us to borrow extra money, and then the rest will go towards our ongoing living costs and the next documentary series (already in its planning stages!).

$10: Handwritten Thank You Letter & Email Updates
For a contribution of $10, you'll receive a handwritten thank-you letter as well as weekly email updates while we're on the road. These emails will include behind-the-scenes photos and our personal experiences on the journey.

$20: Early Digital Download of the Documentary + All of the Above
For a contribution of $20 you will receive an early digital download of the two-hour-long documentary comprised of all of the short films and footage of the journey. In addition you'll receive a handwritten thank-you letter and behind-the-scenes email updates.

$50: Weekly Photo + All of the Above
For $50 you'll receive by email once a week for the duration of our trip a beautiful high-resolution photograph of New Zealand, to use how you like. In addition you'll receive an early digital download of the two-hour-long documentary comprised of all of the short films and footage of the journey, a handwritten thank-you letter, and behind-the-scenes email updates.

$100: Personal Thank-you in Film + All of the Above
For a contribution of $100 I will thank you personally at the end of one of the short films. In addition you'll receive an early digital download of the two-hour-long documentary comprised of all of the short films and footage of the journey, a handwritten thank-you letter, and behind-the-scenes email updates.

$500: A Promotional Video for Your Business
For a contribution of $500 we will make a promotional video for you. No matter the size of your business or organization, if you have a website this would be an invaluable tool for expressing directly to your clients or customers a description of what you do and some footage of what you achieve in your work. You might be a vege grower or a builder, you might be with a local council or run a tourism business. We'll be very happy to work with you as long as you're not, say, running an oil company... Please get in touch before selecting this perk so we can discuss the details.

In addition you'll receive an early digital download of the two-hour-long documentary comprised of all of the short films and footage of the journey, a thank-you at the end of a short film, a handwritten thank-you letter, and behind-the-scenes email updates.

NOTE: If we are not passing through your area, you would need to cover travel costs.

$1000: Collaborate with Us + Executive Producer Credit + More
For $1000 we'll work with you to produce a short film on a subject of your choice in line with the themes of our current films. If there's a subject that you're really inspired to see a short film about, we're here to make it happen with you!

In addition, you'll be named as an Executive Producer in the two-hour documentary comprising all of the short films and footage of the journey, of which you'll also receive an early digital download, plus a thank-you at the end of a short film, a handwritten thank-you letter and behind-the-scenes email updates.

NOTE: Please get in touch before selecting this perk to discuss your ideas for a short film.

When I look at the current state of the world I see a lot of problems, from climate change and peak oil and environmental destruction to the social problems and lack of connection with each other and the world around us that have helped to bring about those crises. It's easy to feel hopeless about it all. Yet I also see a lot of people taking the steps toward a way of life that is sustainable, healthy, and healing of the earth and of people. My dream is that my films will help to inspire others to begin taking the small steps that will help to bring about big changes.

I've been receiving great feedback about my films from people who feel inspired, and who keep me inspired. Here are some of those comments:

"Wow! What Jordan Osmond does is beautiful. We were gob-smacked and so very impressed with his talent for telling our story so well. We really appreciated his thoughtfulness, his approach and thoroughly enjoyed his company. It seemed to us that Jordan Osmond’s way as a documentary filmmaker has a lot to do with his being quiet and still in his craft. These qualities allowed us to locate and speak from the depth of our passion for doing the craziest sane thing we’ve ever done - build a tiny house. Jordan creates fresh, beautiful and interesting films that aim to tell the truth and more. His films also set one’s mind toward imagining alternatives and possibilities, a good thing in these times. We look forward to all the wonderful films he has yet to make."

- Shannon & Fred Schultz, Fred’s Tiny Houses

If you can't contribute with money, that's okay! You can still help out by sharing the campaign on social media:

• Click to tweet about the campaign
  
• Share this link on Facebook: http://igg.me/at/livingthechange
  
• Email people the link to this campaign who you think would be interested
  
• If you're in New Zealand and have anything to donate to help us convert the van we'll be buying (or even a van!) please let us know. For the conversion we'll be looking for secondhand wood to build a bed base, desk and shelving, a gas hob and sink, and other bits and pieces for storing food and implements. If you're on our route and you have extra veggies in your garden, we'd be forever grateful for those too! Feel free to get in touch any time.