Man-At-Arms is a story about a young boy from a broken home with a ferocious imagination who becomes immersed in a fantastical war game as he plays with his toys, the latest addition - an action hero bought by his PTSD suffering ex-military Father. Within the child's imagination his characters fight a mission to extract an injured Brigadier from a warzone, an all too familiar persona. The boy’s father. As the events of the characters ‘mission’ unfold they are met by impossible obstacles and situations only a child’s mind could conjure, some being gory and outlandish, especially when the boy tries to make sense of the world around him and his father’s trauma creating almost comedic situations. Ultimately the boy tries to extract his injured father/Brigadier from the warzone, raising questions of paternal love and trauma.

ENTITY is a Manchester-based creative collective of independent filmmakers which specialises in creating beautiful content. This company has been assembled from creative and business entertainment students, and budding professionals with the common goal of producing the independent film, Man-At-Arms.

Trailer for our previous work;

Entity seeks a capital investment of £1,000 (British Pound Sterling). 

The Production Team’s primary objective and mission is to produce an independent short film that will emulate the look and appeal of a studio produced film through collaborative efforts of an experienced, resourceful, and professional production team as well as an experienced and desirable cast.

Therefore, we humbly seek your support to make this film a reality. Each pound contributed to the project will be spent on production, as well as marketing and exhibition. 

Film Festival Strategy

These festivals are appropriate as they are predominantly based in the North of England where our target audience mostly is. Each of the festivals is a different tier. Leeds international is Academy Award qualifying and would give my crew and I recognition should the film be selected and win - it being screened could open the film up to distribution opportunities. Bolton International is a mid-tier festival, it is widely respected in the UK film festival circuit and also offers distribution opportunities. Both Bolton and Leeds have received 5-star reviews on all fronts; overall rating, quality, value, communication, hospitality and networking. Southport Film festival however is brand new and will be in its first year of existence when we enter. Southport itself is a retirement town and has a population perfectly in-line with our target audiences of 15-24-year-olds and 45-50-year-olds.

We intend to build alliances with distributors through our Film Festival Strategy as well as self-distribution in the form of Video on Demand (VoD). Self-distribution includes companies such as; Shorts international, Prime Direct Video, OpPrime and HBO Europe. I know that my audience is in the UK however it is clear a film of this content could also thrive in America and Easter markets due to its military content and fantasy elements. However self-distribution is a very likely and viable option due to the reputation of both cast and crew being fairly green within the film industry. VoD targets the younger audience demographic of 15-24 who prefer to stream films within their own homes rather than go out and witness a film at their local cinema.

Production Risk
Inexperienced filmmakers often make the mistake of underestimating the costs of development and production of a motion picture, then begin pre-production and principal photography before all the elements are in place for the successful completion and delivery of a quality product.

The story of this motion picture relies solely upon the acquisition and use of the Tanks and military equipment of Rob Goldstone. The acquisition of this resource falls under the stated capital investment.

The Producers of Man-At-Arms intend to mitigate these production risks in three ways.

1.    Ensuring key elements are satisfactorily addressed and resolved before the production phase (larger expenditures) begins. Such issues include finalising a script that demands recognisable talent, engaging a crew that has both the skills and draw to attract distributors as well as an audience.

2.    Create alternate plans for personnel and workflow that limit production delays due to unexpected circumstances. The Producers of Man-At-Arms are experienced in the field and possess excellent production planning and execution skills. Essential factors in planning are to have qualified personnel available to step into key positions in case of an emergency. Additionally, the Producers will have alternate shooting sites available when inclement weather is anticipated and will build the production schedule so it can easily accommodate necessary changes.

3.    Begin researching and engaging national and some international distribution partners at the onset of production development, rather than as late stage consideration. As discussed above, the Producers have already begun this work.