In January 2018, we began writing SuperYou, wanting it to be an accurate representation of the daily challenges that women, minorities, and people living in poverty face in their careers. In 2013, just 10% of students attending one of U.S. News & World Report’s top 30 public and private universities were from families with incomes less than $30,000. Only 3% of students at the 146 most-selective public and private colleges in America are from the bottom socioeconomic quartile. Much like the symbolic superhero profession in SuperYou, women are often greatly excluded from STEM fields, with women only comprising 28% of the U.S. workforce for scientists and engineers, regardless of educational attainment. Ava’s struggles to attend The Super Academy are all too parallel to the lived experiences countless women, people of color, and poor people face in their careers.
SuperYou explores overarching themes of feminism and female empowerment by challenging notions of gender inequalities—in particular, white male privilege. Ava’s story is constructed off of the struggles of real-life women, encouraging middle-school aged girls to shatter unfair social constructs in order to fulfill their dreams.
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SuperYou: A Multimedia Story
The essence of SuperYou is not confined solely to a film, but is a story that extends into multiple mediums of entertainment. While we’re currently asking for help covering the costs of our film, we at SuperYou Media are also currently developing a children’s picture book and an online interactive story to continue Ava’s journey as she struggles to become a superhero. Together, the film, picture book, and online interactive story all promote female empowerment through Ava’s story of persistence.
Post-Production Costs
SuperYou began as a culminating thesis film for the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Film & Animation program, spearheaded by lead filmmaker Alyssa Minko. While most thesis films in the program are an average of three to four minutes in length, SuperYou is nearly eight minutes, and is therefore a great deal of labor. In April 2019 as the film approached its anticipated deadline, Minko suffered severe health consequences as a result of working extensively on SuperYou, and therefore was unable to finish the film on time. However, given the film’s aspiritions, the SuperYou team continues to devote countless hours towards completing the film and sharing it with the world.
Making a 3D animated film is a hefty expense due to technological requirements, and is especially cumbersome without the resources that a traditional school provides. In order to give Ava’s story the justice it deserves, we at SuperYou Media need to cover the final post-production costs associated with making a 3D animated film. The $2,500 we are looking to raise is the minimum amount necessary to cover the costs of rendering, voice acting, music and sound, technology, submitting to festivals, and compensating the incredible production crew that have supported SuperYou from the very beginning.
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Of all the remaining areas of production that we are seeking help in funding, the financial and technological cost of rendering our hard work is undoubtedly the most expensive obstacle ahead. In many of the scenes, like the one pictured below, it takes over 24 hours to render just one second of animation.
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Our Team
During the summer of 2018, lead filmmaker, director, and writer Alyssa Minko began her career in feature animation with a coveted internship at Pixar Animation Studios. At the time, SuperYou Media was still being written, and the film’s production had yet to begin. Inspired by the level of teamwork and artistic collaboration at Pixar, Alyssa decided to engage the team members of SuperYou Media in a similar fashion. Rather than producing this film entirely on her own like many of the films made at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Alyssa now runs SuperYou like her own small studio.
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Experience working in a team is vital in the film industry, and is often a key point in landing internships in the highly competitive film industry. The unique dynamic of SuperYou Media encourages younger film students to participate in the production, vocalize ideas at team meetings, learn together, and grow together as animators and storytellers. The students share valuable knowledge with one another while solving creative and technical challenges together.
The team members involved in this film are nearly all students, and are thus already preoccupied with their own rigorous animation projects. A large portion of this fundraiser will supply the students with a small amount of compensation to thank them for their hard work.
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Help us bring Ava's story to life!
Please consider donating to our campaign. If you cannot afford to do so, you can still help to make a stride towards gender equality in the workforce by sharing this campaign and spreading the word about Ava’s mission. Be sure to be on the lookout over the next year to see Ava’s story continue in SuperYou Media’s picture book and interactive website.
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