Hello Everybody!

Firstly we just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to look at our crowd-funding initiative for our short film project 'One Word'.

'One Word' is a story about an African refugee called Sammy, who along with his mother, has re-located to Manchester in the United Kingdom to escape civil unrest in his own country.

Enrolled in the local high school, Sammy keeps to himself as he struggles to come to terms with his departure from his homeland and the horrendous experiences he's left behind him whilst finding it difficult to integrate into British society and culture. He is often bullied and is a victim of regular prejudice and racism.

To make matters worse, Sammy's mother Olivette is unable to find a job to sustain themselves, making living conditions even more difficult. To make matters worse, they are still waiting for their application for asylum to be granted. This means Sammy's mother Olivette is unable to work to sustain themselves, making living conditions even more difficult. All of these issues make it increasingly difficult for Sammy to adjust and express his feelings.

However Sammy's interest is piqued when his teacher sets him an assignment in the class, a performance piece about self-expression. This leads him to write and perform a powerful spoken word piece, where he is finally able to express his feelings and experiences of his own history and opinions of life in England.

We are Picture Lock Productions, a video production company based in Manchester, in the United Kingdom. The company was set up by Caleb Shaffer and Steven Wyatt in 2010. 

Check out www.picturelock.co.uk

Watch our Company showreel: 

Watch our Drama showreel:

Caleb Shaffer is the Producer/Director and Scriptwriter for 'One Word'. Caleb Shaffer has produced over 30 short films, many of which have been produced overseas. He has over 10 years experience and has worked for screen agencies such as Screen Yorkshire, Northwest Vision&Media, South West Scottish Screen, ERT (Greek National TV), the Italian Film Commission as well as the UK Film Council. He trained at the Northern Film School in Leeds where he attained a BA (Hons) and MA in Film production and met his business partner Steven Wyatt.

Watch the trailer of 'Finding Polish' Written, Produced & Directed by Caleb Shaffer: 

About Steven Wyatt

Steven Wyatt is the Cinematographer for the short film 'One Word'. Steven has shot many short films over the years. Experienced in both film and digital formats, he has shot projects for the UK Film Council and North-West Vision. He received an award for best Cinematography for his work on the foot and mouth disease drama 'Overwintering', filmed on Super 16mm. 

Steven made his debut into feature films in 2012 where he shot 'Ada', an Albanian/British co-production. The film was funded by the Albanian Film Commission and was released Nationally in cinemas across Albania.

Watch the 'Ada' film trailer: 

About Lynette Matthews

Lynette Matthews is our co-producer for 'One Word'. She graduating in TV Production Management at Edge Hill University. She has worked on numerous short film projects: documentary, fantasy and children's programmes. she has also gained valuable experience on various projects for the BBC.

Alongside this she also worked on the 'The Dormroom' music video, in production and produced the stills photography for the video. She brings a fresh sense of enthusiasm and originality to the project. 

About Matthew Giblin

Matt Giblin is our Gaffer for 'One Word' and has worked in the Film Industry for numerous years working across the UK and abroad within the lighting department. Despite looking fresh faced, Matt has accumulated a vast number of credits to his name and is respected by everyone who has worked with him. Matt and Steven Wyatt are long time collaborators having worked together on many short films together including 'Overwintering', 'Top of the Range' and feature film 'Ada'. Matt brings his knowledge of lighting to ensure that alongside Caleb and Steven, 'One Word' is brought to life.

About Joshua Okunsanya

Joshua Okusanya has been cast to play our lead Sammy in the project, having previously gone through a rigorous auditioning process to find a suitable lead.

Joshua is a brilliant young actor, who blew us away in the audition with his portrayal of Sammy. Joshua is a graduate of Intermission Youth Theatre (IYT), where he has performed in a number of Shakespeare adaptations including :
"The playground" where his electric portrayal of "Puck" gained him critical acclaim. Josh also performed at the RSC's Swan Theatre as Friar Lawrence in the Company's adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He went on to perform in Carpe Diem at the National Theatre and Shakespeare's 'PoP Up' with Mark Rylance at the Globe. Josh has played in a number of short films and is also member of Intermission Theatre in Education company (itie) which tours Schools all over London leading workshops with young learners. 

About Suli Breaks

International spoken word artist Suli Breaks is also involved in 'One Word', having written the spoken word piece which Sammy performs at the end of the film.  Suli has an international audience thanks to his YouTube channel and his '80 Days Around the World' tour.

Check out his website : www.sulibreaks.com

Picture Lock Productions produced Suli's last video, entitled 'The Dormroom', based on his EP by the same name. You can watch it here:

About Haider Mohammed Javed

Alongside the main lead and Suli we have also cast Haider Mohammed Javed as the inspirational teacher who guides Sammy at school. Haider and Caleb have a working relationship and friendship that stems back to Caleb's previous film 'Finding Polish' where he played the lead. Haider has appeared in The Bill, Emmerdale, Doctors, Waterloo Road and the Channel Four films Bradford Riots and Britz. 

Quite simple...The subject matter we are covering in 'One Word'. We believe in the issues raised in this film alongside our own love and passion for film-making. We believe that through the film we can hold a mirror up to Western society's misconceptions and mistreatments of refugees living in the UK. We also want to champion the role that art can play in all its different forms as a way of giving people from all walks of a life an outlet to express themselves. We are aware that in order to do this successfully we need to make this film to the highest possible standard so we can compete globally at Film Festivals.

What has changed in the past few years however are the funding options that are available in the UK now for the Arts, especially within the context of film funding. It is now very difficult to gain funding for films, as many of the UK Arts and Film industries have had their budgets cut by the current government.

Having had prior experience of producing short films at a variety of levels and budgets, we feel we have the experience and confidence to be able to create this project. To this end we have decided that our project 'One Word' needs to be produced in this way and this is why we need your support to help make 'One Word' a reality. This is a film about people and therefore it is our aim for it to be funded by them, with no government involvement.

As mentioned before we have produced many shorts films in the past on a number of different budgets; however with 'One Word' we want to be able to do more than what we have previously been able to do due to various budgetary restrictions, small time frames and regulations that were set in the past.

To help bring 'One Word' from script to screen we need your help to raise £20,000.

Why so much money for a short film? That's a very good question and one that we would really like to take the opportunity to answer...

Firstly the budget will enable to make 'One Word' - the short film. Secondly, it will also allow us to make a feature length documentary which will focus on the problems and issues of being a refugee in the UK. 

The documentary will be a very important companion to the short film as it will expand on the issues outlined in 'One word'. Thirdly a behind-the-scenes making-of video will also be created showcasing what went into producing 'One Word'. In addition we will also premier a music video based on the short film, featuring Suli Breaks reciting the spoken word piece!

We hope that with all these pieces we will be able to give our contributors a fascinating insight into this world but also provide a sense of value for money! 

We also want to organise a screening of the film at the Cornerhouse (a Local Cinema) in Manchester for the cast and crew but also for those that have contributed, Please have a look at our perks to buy a ticket! 

At the Cornerhouse we intend to screen the film, the documentary and the behind-the-scenes. We are also hoping to do a Q&A session for the project featuring the Director Caleb Shaffer with co-producer Lynette Matthews alongside Spoken word artist Suli Breaks and Cinematographer Steven Wyatt!

Watch a teaser for the behind-the-scenes video Picture Lock produced for 'The Dormroom'.

As mentioned before the budget is required not just to make the film but to produce the documentary and behind the scenes videos also. So you can imagine there are quite a lot of logistics and planning that need to be put into this to make it a reality. We're looking at shooting on motion picture film but as an alternative we will be shooting on a high-end digital cinema system. The end result either way will be a high production value short film which will have cinematic standards.

Our Production Costs

- Actors & Crew Expenses

- Production Insurance

- Equipment Hire (35mm Camera or Digital Cinema Camera, Grip, Lighting, Sound)

- 35mm Film Stock

- Film Lab (Processing and scanning of film digitally)

- Hard Drives (for Editing/Storage and Backup)

- Van Hire (To Transport equipment)

- Bus Hire (Prop for the Film)

- Petrol

- Food & Drink (We would like to feed our crew well!)

- Location fees 

- Art Department (Costume/Props)

- Hair and Makeup

- Post-Production (Editing, Grading and Sound Design)

- Music Composer

- Film Festival Entries

- DVD/Blu Ray copies

We've thought long and hard about how we can repay our contributors for their contributions, and have come up with a list of perks for you, regardless of whether you've donated £2 or £500+! We hopefully have something for everyone! 

Our gratitude comes in a number of forms, ranging from a thank you on our companys' social media pages where we'll shout out your name, to receiving a film poster signed by the cast and crew with a digital download of the whole project or if you prefer a DVD! We even want contributors to visit the set if they like and get a picture with the cast and crew and an invite to the screening!

This project will enable us to address the issues outlined in the film and bring them to the film festival circuit to gather interest and attention from a worldwide audience. Through the finance that is made through the campaign we feel that we would for the first time be in a position where we can compete globally on an international scale.

We understand how difficult it can be to contribute, but there are other ways you can help this film to get made, Please share this campaign on your Facebook and other social media pages with friends and family! Remember we cannot make this film without you!

If we are able to successfully raise the budget we need to produce the film, then we are hoping to begin principal photography in June 2014. A lot of pre-production has already started with casting, crewing, locations and equipment. In addition footage has already been shot for the documentary, but unfortunately this is as far as we are able to take the project without the necessary funding.